Okay, challenge time! This should be fun.

Pirate witness @enginewitty nominated me for this one, which was initiated by @twodorks.

Pretty straightforward:

This challenge doesn't have to do anything with Steemit. Each person who decides to do the challenge will have to say at least 10 facts about yourself! Pretty easy right?! After that you need to ask one question and you have to tag that person to play along! Don't forget to use the hashtag #tenrandomthings so we can find your post!

Sure. Why not? Ten things about me…

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^{photo: Nat Anfield}

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When he nominated me (and some other great peeps) in his own post, @enginewitty’s bonus question was “What is the most embarrassing moment in your entire life?”

Yeeeeaah, no. I’m not putting that on the blockchain. But I will share a memory, and make it my first random thing:

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1. I hate feeling the fool.

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Some part of me expects that I should already know everything, and when I’m singled out and laughed at, I don’t like it at all. Worse, I have a tendency to be naïve, for which I give myself a hard time.

I don’t like being made fun of, either. I don’t have that kind of sense of humour—don't like jokes at someone else's expense... unless it’s Tr*mp ‘cause the guzbucking clown deserves it. Hey, everyone is a hypocrite in their own special way.

When I was a girl, other kids got to me easily in school. They loved to tease me, and I didn’t know how to let it roll off my shoulders. I spent a good deal of time trying to convince the nurse to call my mother so she’d take me home. The way the other kids treated me made me sick to my stomach. Mental and emotional are intertwined.

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In answer to Witty’s prod for an embarrassing moment, here’s an example of a time where I felt the fool:

During my career as a yoga instructor, I took many trainings with one particular teacher from whom I learned a lot, yet, like any teaching, I question much of it.

This one day, at one of many week-long trainings I attended with this teacher, I took my notebook and blanket to the front before he called us up to sit around him. He always brought us up to give his introduction—in every single training I’d attended, we’d gather around him like children to hear a story, all of us huddled in a semi-circle around the stage, sitting on whoever’s mats were in the front.

So I figured, why sit on my mat and wait for him to call when I can get settled in a good spot two minutes before class began? As I arranged myself on my blanket to the side of the stage and everyone else situated themselves on their yoga mats, my teacher eyed me.

I knew what he was going to do before he did it, as if I felt the exact moment he’d decided to make an example of me. “Please sit in the center of your mat,” he said, addressing the room, yet singling me out all the same.

Heat rose in my face. I smiled, nodded to him, and went to my mat, trying to swallow my embarrassment. I actually wrote him a note later that day that thanked the man for helping me learn humility, as that was a topic of study at the time. I look back and think, WTF? Had he, really? Had his decision to start the class differently been to help me as a yoga teacher, or had it been about control?

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2. I’m a hopeless romantic.

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The first time I fell in love was in preschool. Greg Jackson befriended me on my first day, and my young heart swooned. Little did he know I’d be chasing him around the playground for the next three years. Yes, I still remember his name.

I write romance novels and novels with romantic subplots, which are not always the same thing. I hop genres—fantasy, contemporary, sci-fi—but there is always an undercurrent of romantic suspense, love, lust, and trust issues.

^{Above scene from Stardust, directed by Matthew Vaughn.}

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3. Did I mention the trust issues?

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Oh yeah, I did.

I’ve got all the trust issues,
Want me count ‘em off?
I’ve got self-doubt in spades
And a mind that won’t stop

^^ Lyrics from my recent #openmic entry, Thick Walled Tender Heart, inspired by @yidneth:

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4. This one time, in New Orleans...

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I once met a concert piano player who was also the captain of a cruise ship. That’s what he told me, anyway.

I was dining on a balcony in the French Quarter, in New Orleans. I must’ve been in my early 20s, maybe younger. This man was playing a grand piano on the balcony next to the restaurant. I complimented him on my way out after dining, and next thing I knew I was in his apartment, on the balcony, with my head in the mouth of the baby grand.

That man, who was way too old for me, asked me if I wanted to hop on the cruise ship with him to Africa the next day. Some part of me wanted to say yes. Ah, young fool I was. I probably would’ve gone if my parents hadn’t scared me off. Best that they did, I’m sure, but Africa on the spur of a moment? Sure, what the hell. That sounded like fun to my adventurous nature.

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5. I like looking at the world upside down.

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Have you ever gone upside down and looked at the world? I’m talking downward dog on the edge of a lake, or a handstand on the beach by the ocean, or a forward bend, backbend… whatever. I like to flip the horizon and take a different look at the world.

Perspective is good.

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6. I love jewelry but don’t wear it.

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I have a collection of semi-precious stones set in silver and on necklaces, but my body doesn’t want me to wear any of it. I feel restricted. Wearing a necklace might give me a headache, and if I have a ring on my finger will begin to ache just enough to make me take it off.

Look at all those gorgeous rings I don’t wear. Been meaning to write a post about these beauties. They each have a story.

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7. I love roses.

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I like all flowers, really, they make me happy. Roses seem cliché to some, but I think they’re lovely.

I love pink ones, red ones, white ones, peach ones… Yellow used to be my favourite, but now I don’t like yellow as much as I do the other colours. When the wild roses are in bloom up in the mountains where I live, each little pink bud gives me joy.

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8. Intelligent, philosophical conversations are my favourite.

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I don’t like small talk. Say something meaningful. Show me a bit of your soul. Thoughtful dialogue is a treasure to me.

This is one of the reasons I appreciate the Steem blockchain—there are so many conversations happening here, on topics that matter.

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9. I believe in dragons.

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Dragons are real. I’ve had conversations with them. I have a dragon watching my back. You might not be able to see them, but they’re there.

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10. Road tripping is the best!

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Oh, the freedom of an open highway, or better yet, a back road. Give me a vehicle I can sleep in, food, water, and a map. I’ll make my way to natural gems and friends scattered over the world. I love to travel, especially when I can do it on my own time, with serendipity leading the way.

No, I don't have that 4runner anymore, but it was fun, let me tell you! ;)

Whoop whoop! Okay, I'll nominate @eveningart, @eaglespirit, @riverflows, @mrprofessor, and @paintingangels. Bonus question: What makes you feel the most free?

You don't have to be nominated to join in! These challenge posts are such a fun way to learn about each other. Hope you found something of interest here. Thanks for reading!

Take care of yourself, you are a gift!

Peace. @katrina-ariel

Photos mine unless otherwise credited. Gifs via giphy.com.

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Author bio: Katrina Ariel is an old-soul rebel, musician, tree-hugging yogini, and mama bear to twins. Author of Yoga for Dragon Riders (non-fiction) and Wild Horse Heart (romance), she's another free-spirit swimming in the ocean of Steem.

dragon art: Liiga Smilshkalne

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