20, no 40, no 60 Things About Me Which Surprises People Most

You Haven’t Had Health Insurance For How Many Years?????

The twists and turns of my life have led me to make some non-conformist unconventional unusual decisions and experience some notable unparalleled unusual circumstances. Here are the ones which, when I talk about them, surprise people the most.

#1 I have lived in the same apartment for 17 years

#2 I have not had a permanent job since 2010 since I began consulting

#3 I read, write and speak only one language: English

#4 I taught 2 semesters of advertising copy at Loyola College, a Jesuit college in Chennai, India

#5 I completed all of my 10 CTM speeches at Toastmasters in a year

#6 I spend 8 hours every week writing my blog posts

#7 I have read over 100 finance and investment books

#8 I lost 37 lbs in less than 1 year

#9 I have published over 385 posts on my blog

#10 English was the only language spoken in my house growing up.

#11 I used to be so shy as a teenager, if I was alone at home, and a visitor rang the doorbell, I would hide and not open the door, because I did not know what to say to them

#12 I was a pass-out drinker for 2 years in my 20’s. If the night was long, I would drink beyond my limit, pass out and have to be carried home

#13 I entered a disco competition in my mid twenties and won second place

#14 Between the ages of 18-20, I composed 30 songs with basic guitar chords, which I frequently played and sang for family and friends

#15 I regularly go on 5 mile walks

#16 I have done 5 consecutive days of a 24-hour fast

#17 My current diet is a low carb diet of 40 -60 gms carbs a day

#18 My phone is an Alcatel Lucent Fierce 2 phone, which I affectionately call ‘my not so smart phone’

#19 I enjoy being single

#20 I don’t have a college degree.  I dropped out of college, before I got my degree.

#21 I have seen my rent go down a few times, not just up

#22 For most of my career as a Commissions Analyst, I have worked from home

#23 In my leanest income year, which was 2011, I earned a gross of 18,000, and a net of 16,800 after self-employment tax

#24 I used to have an anger management problem which ended only with my mother’s death in 2005.

#25 I detest performance reviews. It is one of the reasons I have resisted converting to permanent employment during the last 7 years

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#26 There was a time in my life when I argued that Dhirubai Ambani was doing more for the world than Mother Teresa (it was many years before I saw the light)

#27 I am a better consultant than I ever was an employee (the freedom, and the respect for my time, brings out the best in me)

#28 After I learned to meditate in 2010, I have had several telepathic experiences. I love telepathic experiences and stories

#29 I have no debt

#30 I am frugal - I drive used cars, I use pieces of furniture until they are worn - my frugality surprises people

#31 I am cool about all my daughter’s choices and desires, having changed for the better when she was in high school

#32 I encourage my daughter to spend her money on experiences, rather than things, because I know from personal experience, as well as reading, experiences make us more happy than things

#33 I never feel hungry (it’s one of the benefits of going low carb)

#34 In my early days of going low carb, I ate a lot of high fat foods for satiety

#35 I also drank Bullet-proof coffee (black coffee with butter and MCT oil) in my early days of going low carb, and I enjoyed the taste, and how awake and alert it made me feel.

 #36 I suffered a depression in my 30s, but it’s all good since then and all good now

#37 For all my love of being single, I enjoy romantic movies

#38 I check out between 15 and 40 books from the public library at a time.

#39 I was the cry baby of the family.  Now, I cry only when I am moved, not out of self-pity

#40 I want to be born again as a vegetarian monk without desires in my next life – if there is a next life

#41 I have 31% body fat, even being as thin as I currently am.  I found this out by doing a DEXA scan.

#42 I was struck by Cupid’s arrow multiple times starting from when I was a teenager, and I had a few different boyfriends and a husband before I became the single person that I am

#43 Before having Tanita, for the longest time, I never had any desire to have a child

#44 I ran a profitable creative shop in India, Purple Patch, for a few years. I had a staff of 6 people, plus up to 30 contingent copywriters, art directors and print production people, helping me

#45 All the Toastmaster speeches I’ve delivered were completely memorized before I went to the mike.

#46 When I ran Purple Patch, I scripted my customer calls and read from the scripts, especially if I was making a call to a client to let them know what I was going to charge them

#47 When I need to think, I like total silence.  In peak Chennai summer, I would turn off the fan when I needed to think

#48 Instead of tracking my budget, I track my expenses

#49 I sleep on the floor on a mattress

#50 I was a hot-headed feminist when I was younger and have walked out of parties when someone said something sexist

#51 The commissions team I am currently on went to lunch at Il Fornaio with the CFO – just us, the commissions team and the CFO - of a company with more than a billion dollars in revenue - it was a first

#52 I read only non-fiction books

#53 I get addicted to a purse and will continue to use it even when it is in tatters. At that stage, I cradle it like a baby in my hands. I tend to settle on a single pair of footwear likewise

#54 I was sponsored by one of my consulting clients to do Varicent training at Toronto Canada

#55 I have documented the commission processes, or written user guides, at 6 different Bay Area companies

#56 I was a vegetarian for 3 years of my life, which is why I want to be born again as a vegetarian monk (see #40) and why I have published a post on vegetarianism The V List, and also reviewed the Amazon book On Becoming Vegetarian by Anita Saran

#57 I have worked at 14 different companies, as a commissions analyst, a commissions software implementer, or a commissions software tester

#58 I remained stoic calm during the 2008 stock market crash due to my investment philosophy

#59 I used only big words for a time in my life (I think it has something to do with being a Mangalorean)

#60 And finally, the biggie, the one that surprises people the most –I HAVE GONE WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS. Read my post What I Learned I Could Live Without and you will understand how that came about.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Ajay, to Audrey, to Jacinta, to Jyothi, to Krysia, to Padmini, to Sangeeta, to Shalini, to and all else for their heart-warming feedback (comments, likes, shares) on my posts Things I Learned I Could Live Without and How I Went From a Girlie Girl to a Strong, Independent Woman.  I need affirmation that I am on the right path and you gave it to me in generous helpings.

NEXT, Thanks to all readers, current and future, for sharing my Journey to Wisdom, Meaning and a Better Life.  Like you I am trying to find my way through this complex maze we call life, and I am honored to have you share my journey, as I continue to seek the wisdom hidden in plain sight.

FINALLY, A Happy Birthday shout-out:  to those with October birthdays.  Hope you use your birthday month to birth something new and wonderful in your life. A commitment to living more authentically and doing things which fulfill you is the way to go. It's okay if other people are surprised by your choices and decisions.

P.S. Not sure if you have time, but if you do, you may enjoy these other posts:

Friendships

The United States of Friendship – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12

Family

Our Cake Boss Family, Family Songs, The Nightdress Brigade, Family Advice I Am Grateful For, The Porki And Bonkers Tradition, No Need for 23 and Me, Letters to Lucas, Flying Lessons

Pets

A Fresh Perspective on Pets, Secrets of The Super Models In Our Family, BowWow, Meoww, Why You Should Not Abandon Your Pet

Nature

Post on Trees, Reprising Joy Kilmer

Hobbies

Cricket, Glorious Cricket, Splendid Post, What!

Managing Your Money

Yoga for Investors, How to Turn Your Girl Scout or Cub Scout Into a Stock Scout, Financial Piece of Mind, Financial Piece of Mind – Part Deux, A Retirement Planning Formula You Won’t Find on Oprah

Simplifying Your Life

You know what Wesabi is, How About Wabi Sabi?  The Simple Life, The Element of Simplicity and Its Hope for Living a More Satisfying Life

Getting Over Your Self-Consciousness

The Element of Release From Inhibition, The Element of Being Less Self-Centered and Its Hope for Seeing Things in The Correct Light, The Element of Getting Out of Our Comfort Zone and Its Hope For Experiencing More of What Life Has to Offer

Learning to Laugh

How To Deal With The Sheldon Coopers in Your Life – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, The Nightdress Brigade, You Aced the SAT, How About the LAT?, How To Cause Atmost Confuzen at the Scripps Spelling Bee, How To Go From Madonna to Lilly to Myrtle in The Course of A Single Evening - And Even Have a Sex Change, A Facebook Face-Off, A Short Stint in Advertising

Learning to Relax

How To Become a Low Maintenance Person, Connected Minds, How To Become The Kind of Person People Want to Work with, How Many Times a Day Do You Visit Ireland? The Art of Carrying Things Lightly

Health
Raising the Bar, 4 Healthy Eating Ideas I Learned from My Friend Julia, The Element of Becoming More Focused and Precise In Our Goals and Its Hope for Achieving Powerful Results

Pursuing A Dream

What’s Next For You? The Element of The First Step and Its Hope for Getting Big Things Started In Our Lives, She Victories