In November, I did a post about how my life wasn’t where I expected it to be at 40. I thought I’d do a little more lighthearted 40 post. Here are 40 things you may not know about me, Shilo Dawn Goodson.
For fun, keep track of how many facts you know about me. You can determine if you want to give yourself credit for anything where you sort of knew the fact. At the end, I will provide 100% scientific results (of course) showing how well people know me.
The Early Years of Shilo Dawn
- I’ve been driving people crazy since the day I was born. While I say that as somewhat of a joke, the doctor who delivered me did end up in a mental institution soon after I was born. As far as I know, I was the last baby she delivered before it happened.
- For a time, my mom thought that I might be a hitwoman for the mafia. When I was nursery-aged (18 months to 3 years old), I took on the whole nursery, trying to beat up the other kids as well as the leaders. Oops!
- I had eleven elementary school teachers. That includes two kindergarten teachers. We moved about 3/4 of the way through the school year. I had three 1st grade teachers. The first became a principal at another school. The second was a long-term sub (about 2 months). The third I had for the last probably 2-3 months of school. Second grade I only had one teacher. In third grade, I again had three teachers. We moved during Christmas break. While we were in temporary housing, I went to school for a short time on the base. Then we moved into a house in early February, where I had my third 3rd grade teacher. I had only one teacher each for 4th and 5th grade.
- When I was about six or seven I practically lived in roller skates. I couldn’t wear them to school, but I’d wear them around the house. I’d also wear them outside, skating in the parking lot of the apartment complex where we lived.
- I see ghosts, (or maybe I just have an overactive imagination). When I was a little kid, I had an imaginary friend named Jennifer. I remember she had siblings, including a sister named Jinx. When we lived in Germany the second time, I was a little scared of going to the bathroom at night. While no one else saw him, I can still picture the king sitting in the bathtub. My family enjoys teasing me about that to this day.
Driving
6. My car has a manual transmission (stick shift). For the most part, that’s what I’ve driven since I got my license. Since manual transmission is becoming less and less common, I’m not sure what I’ll do when this vehicle dies off.
7. I once drove from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Pine Bluffs, Wyoming basically non-stop (15ish hours). I did stop for gas, but that was about it. That wasn’t the plan, but let’s just say that I really don’t like Nebraska. Between a tornado warning in the early part of the state and not having a single rest stop open along I-80 in Nebraska, that was a long day of driving.
8. I hate driving in the snow. This creates somewhat of a problem in Idaho winters. I learned to drive in California. The first time I drove in the snow (junior year at BYU), my car did a 180. Luckily no one was coming the other way, or we may have had a head-on collision.
9. I actually like driving at night. This is under very specific circumstances. I hate driving in town when other people’s lights make it difficult to see. On a road trip, though, there’s something relaxing about there being almost no other vehicles on the freeway. Just me and the semis is perfect travel conditions for me. I haven’t done that in years, though.
10. I drive a Toyota Echo. If you’re unfamiliar with it, think of the “Blueberry” from “Psych.” Mine’s silver and of the two-door variety, though.
Injury-Prone Shilo Dawn
11. I broke my arm roller skating. Yes, that was when I lived on roller skates. I was in the parking lot and fell into a car. No, it didn’t stop me from roller skating permanently, but I wasn’t able to roller skate for about 6 weeks.
12. I’ve sprained my ankle around 13 times. The first three were within about seven months (June, September, and December 1996). Most of them were when I was 12-15. While I did a lot of sports during this time period, none of them involved sports injuries. The closest to a sports-related sprained ankle was when we were running pyramids in PE. While the rest of my body turned, my ankle stayed in place.
13. I once sprained both ankles in one week. The first involved a race to get somewhere before my sister did. The other involved stepping on a tack at the top of the stairs and tumbling down all the stairs. Honestly, I’m probably lucky that it was only a sprained ankle.
14. I once chopped off the tip of my thumb with a food mandoline. Yes, that is probably just about as disgusting as you’re imagining.
15. I have a bathroom shoulder injury that will affect me for life. The rug just outside the shower didn’t have great traction. I slipped on it, slamming my shoulder into the floor. When I went to the doctor, he had me put it in a sling. That was a mistake. Apparently, if I’d gone to a physical therapist instead, the injury could have healed in about two weeks. Instead, putting it in a sling didn’t allow it to heal properly, so two weeks of physical therapy was two months of physical therapy instead. It’s something that four years later occasionally bothers me.
Sports Shilo Dawn
16. I was on an undefeated 4×400 relay team in high school. If you’re thinking, “Shilo, you weren’t a runner in track,” you’re mostly right. I mostly did back-up (okay, back-up of back-up) for the 4×100 relay. Okay, I’ll admit it. Our undefeated 4×400 team was composed entirely of throwers. We only ran one time, we only ran for the points, and none of the other schools had a 4×400 team in the relay. Still, we were undefeated.
17. I was the league champion in the discus in high school. While I also threw the shot put, I was nowhere near as good at that. I was only the JV champion my sophomore year. Still, I did decently well when I moved up to Varsity the next two years.
18. I suffered a colorful hurdles injury my junior year of high school. I’d run hurdles in 8th grade, so when the coach needed another hurdler for points, I said I’d try it. Unfortunately, high school hurdles are a few inches higher than middle school hurdles, and I’m short. Hurdles are not a short-person sport. While I was practicing the day before the meet, I hit the hurdle. Instead of it falling forward, I fell backward, smacking my thigh into the bar on the ground. When I hit the bar, I then slid. I had the biggest bruise that I’ve ever seen. It went from just above my knee almost to my lower back. It healed starting from the middle, so it looked like a dartboard as it started to heal.
19. I’ve never been carded in soccer. While I haven’t played soccer competitively in years, anyone who knows me well knows that I was a pretty aggressive soccer player “back in the day.” I was thinking about this recently, and while I got my fair share of regular fouls, I never got a yellow or red card.
20. I’m a bit obsessed with the Olympics. This obsession isn’t as crazy as it was when I was in my teens and early 20s, but I still really enjoy watching just about any Olympic sport.
Musical
21. I was a bit of a band nerd in middle school and high school. I started playing the flute in 5th grade. Along with that, I attempted to play the alto sax for a while.
22. Despite being in band, I really can’t keep a beat on my own. I can remember during marching band, the guy behind me would often say, “Left, left, left” to try to help me march in sync with the rest of the band.
23. Speaking of in sync, I was a bit obsessed with ‘NSYNC in the late 90s and early 2000s. I may still have a Lance Bass “No Strings Attached” puppet.
24. I was obsessed enough with ‘NSYNC that I created choreography for some of their songs, and made my two younger sisters learn it. The only part that I can still remember involves this crazy knee twist and dance move that goes along with the lyrics, “I’m down on my knees.”
25. While my musical talents involving an actual instrument are pretty limited, I can play my eye.
My Spiritual Side
26. I was baptized on my 8th birthday. I was baptized in the morning, and I felt a bit like I was secretly cheating the system since I was born pretty close to midnight. In my mind, I was able to get baptized before I was technically 8.
27. I have done temple ordinances in the Seattle, Oakland, Salt Lake, Provo, Rexburg, Idaho Falls, Chicago, Nauvoo, Detriot, and Palmyra temples. I have also been to several other temple open houses or visited the temple grounds.
28. I am a bit obsessed with temples. One of my dream road trips would involve visiting a bunch of temples, preferably in an area where temples aren’t super prevalent. I actually have a temple website bookmarked. I can track an assortment of statistics involving temples there.
29. I have been a temple ordinance worker since June 2017. During that time, I’ve served on the same shift the whole time.
30. My biggest “I will go and do” moment was probably going away to grad school in Michigan. I felt prompted to go there without knowing a whole lot about the state. Don’t tell anyone from Michigan, but it was only after I got accepted for grad school that I realized that Michigan has an Upper and Lower Peninsula.
Book Trivia
31. I’ve read the whole “Anne of Green Gables” series multiple times. I actually saw the two movies before I read any of the books.
32. Some of my favorite books are a little morbid. One that comes to mind is We Have Always Live in the Castle. If you’re unfamiliar with the book, I’ll just say that it’s by Shirley Jackson, the same author as “The Lottery.”
33. While I’ve attempted to read it several times, I’ve never made it through all of Little Women. It’s just too long and drawn out. I do like the movie, though.
34. I found one of my favorite writers, Stephanie Black, through a bit of an inside joke. A family member got me the book Fool Me Twice one year for Christmas because of a joke involving the phrase “Fool me once….” Now, Stephanie Black is my favorite suspense writer.
35. I actually read all of the Twilight trilogy. Yes, I’m embarrassed to admit that. I was trying to figure out the appeal, and I am a fast reader. For me, the only appeal was reading about some of the towns that I knew from living in Washington. Let’s just say that I felt like it was clear that she hadn’t actually visited some of the places.
Random Other Shilo Dawn Facts
36. My name came from a song. My mom is a huge fan of Neil Diamond, and he sings the song “Shilo.” It’s about an imaginary friend named Shilo.
37. I have a horrible fear of both heights and drowning. If I had to pick the greater fear, it would be heights.
38. I really don’t like the smell of lavender. It makes me feel a bit nauseous at times.
39. For a while, I owned a crazy number of red pants. It was probably only three or four pairs, but it’s such a random color for pants. Other than Santa, who even owns red pants? I guess that I could be Shilo Clause.
40. From November 2017 to November 2021 I taught English to children in China. Classes were online, so while my students were in China, I was in Idaho. Thanks to the time difference, most of my classes were 3:30-8 am Monday-Saturday. Occasionally, I’d also teach in the late evenings. There were some students that I taught 100+ times. Some of them I miss more than others. I don’t, though, miss the hours.
100% Scientific Results
Hopefully, you kept track of how many things you knew about me. If not, you can still go back and calculate how well you know me.
33+ things you knew = You must be Shilo Dawn’s best friend.
25-32 things you knew= You must know Shilo Dawn pretty well.
17-24 things you knew = You must have at least met Shilo Dawn before.
9-16 things you knew= You must have at least met Shilo Dawn
Less than 9 Things you knew= Who are you? Did you just stumble upon this blog? You clearly don’t know Shilo Dawn at all.
