Tuesday, April 19, 2011

It's All About Me

I went to the dentist this morning. Apparently I’m on a monthly rotation instead of every six months. Today was just my annual cleaning – no cavities, no crowns, and no root canals! Woot! The hygienist that cleans my teeth is a talker and it really annoys me. I often want to ask if they have a hygienist that is less sociable. “I can’t talk to you when you have your fingers in my mouth so please don’t ask me questions,” is what I want to say to her before we get started; but, I never do. Instead I just keep my mouth shut and roll with the incessant babble.

On to a totally different subject… we are soon to be in the throes of putting together a new pictorial church directory. I’m pretty excited about this because it’s been a long while since we’ve had one made and since we moved to our new location we’ve had a lot of folks place membership and it’s hard to keep them all straight.

This time our pictorial directory will have one page per family and each page will have a bio about that family. This way, we can learn a little more about the family and when a new family places membership, we can just add their page to the directory. Or, if someone leaves, I guess we can rip their page out. You get the idea.

So, yesterday I wrote a bio for myself and laughed the whole time I was writing it. Being the quirky person I am, I wanted my bio to be a little funny and give folks a chuckle. I emailed it out to some friends and they all gave their stamp of approval. Then I got home and looked at the instructions and realized I had too many words in my bio (imagine that!). So, I had to cut it down, which really makes me sad because I loved the original version.

I wanted to share with you all the original and newer condensed version here on the blog so that at least a few people could maybe get a laugh out of it. There are two condensed versions here on the blog. The first is 213 words long and the page will just have a photo of me. The second is 132 words long and in addition to the photo of me, I’ll also include the photo that was on my Christmas card this past year. Let me know which one you think I should go with! Thanks, ya’ll!

The Original Bio (377 Words - Too Long, But My Favorite)

Natasha Parker has been a member of the Memorial Parkway/Chase Park congregation since she was six years old. She is the daughter of former members Steve and Debbie Parker who now work with the Hampton Cove congregation.
Natasha attended the University of Alabama where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and elected as a senator for Student Government Association, representing the College of Arts and Sciences. After two and a half years in Tuscaloosa, she transferred to UAH where she obtained a B.S.B.A. with a concentration in finance and a minor in political science.
A fifth generation Huntsvillian, Natasha works as a program manager for a local defense contractor. Prior to establishing her career in Huntsville, she worked as a Sports Information Intern at Niagara University in Niagara Falls, New York and as the Assistant Sports Information Director at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. In 2003, when she tired of rubbing her last two pennies together and eating Ramen noodles morning, noon and night, she packed up her belongings, left the career she loved and moved back to Huntsville where she decided to put her degree to good use.
In addition to her “real” job, Natasha is also a freelance writer and her work can be found locally in The Huntsville Times during high school football season.
In 2005, Natasha bought her great-grandmother’s house in the Five Points area of Huntsville and, along with her father and grandfather, completely renovated the house taking it down to the studs and building it back up. She has lived in the house since January 2006 and has loved every minute of it, even the unconventional ones.
Natasha’s most loyal companion is her dog, The Tide, who was adopted from the Pitt County Animal Shelter in North Carolina in 2002. The Tide was born with hip dysplasia and has had the joints in both of her hips replaced.
Aside from spending time with The Tide, Natasha enjoys cooking, working in yard, reading, watching movies, listening to music, going to the theater, spending time with family and friends, cycling, watching sports, and searching for a husband.
A self-described old soul, Natasha is a lover of Frank Sinatra and can always be found wearing an apron in the kitchen.

The Condensed Version #1 (213 Words – No Additional Picture)

Natasha Parker has been a member of the Memorial Parkway/Chase Park congregation since she was six years old. She is the daughter of former members Steve and Debbie Parker who now work with the Hampton Cove congregation.
A fifth generation Huntsvillian, Natasha works as a program manager for a local defense contractor. Prior to establishing her career in Huntsville, she worked in the sports information field at Niagara University in Niagara Falls, NY and East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. In addition to her “real” job, Natasha is also a sports writer for The Huntsville Times.
In 2005, Natasha bought her great-grandmother’s house in the Five Points area of Huntsville and, along with her father and grandfather, completely renovated the house taking it down to the studs and building it back up. She has lived in the house since January 2006.
Natasha’s most loyal companion is her dog, The Tide, who was adopted from the Pitt County Animal Shelter in North Carolina in 2002.
Aside from spending time with The Tide, Natasha enjoys cooking, working in yard, reading, movies, music, theater, spending time with family and friends, cycling, and watching sports.
A self-described old soul, Natasha is a lover of Frank Sinatra and can always be found wearing an apron in the kitchen.

The Condensed Version #2 (132 Words – Includes Christmas Photo from 2010)

Natasha Parker has been a member of the Memorial Parkway/Chase Park congregation since she was six years old. She is the daughter of former members Steve and Debbie Parker who now work with the Hampton Cove congregation.
A fifth generation Huntsvillian, Natasha works as a program manager for a local defense contractor. In addition to her “real” job, Natasha is also a sports writer for The Huntsville Times.
Natasha has lived in her great-grandmother’s house in the Five Points area of Huntsville with her dog, The Tide, since January 2006.
Natasha enjoys cooking, working in yard, reading, movies, music, theater, spending time with family and friends, cycling, and watching sports.
A self-described old soul, Natasha is a lover of Frank Sinatra and can always be found wearing an apron in the kitchen.

Don't forget to vote for #1 or #2 - leave your answer in the comments! Thanks for your help.

5 comments:

Erika said...

Bummer :( The first version was so fantastic!

I think I'll vote for Condensed Version #2, as everyone loves to look at pictures, and that was such a good one of you and The Tide.

Anonymous said...

Another vote for #2...but I think you should add a word. I would add "the" to "working in (the) yard.

Melissa said...

I think I'll vote for #2 also - primarily because extra pictures are always good. the original version was my favorite though. You should add blogging to your hobbies :)

Alison said...

Number 2 is great. I especially liked that pic of you and The Tide. Our bio will read "Mark is a robot, Alison is an alien, and Nina is a pirate". Or something.

Kimberly Washer said...

I love the idea of having bios!!! It's like a directory facebook (your favorite) because you can learn about people before you even meet them :). I guess I'll follow suit and choose the second one. I really really really liked how you included searching for a husband in your original one because it gave it that last little umph :). I was so going to tell you what anonymous told you about the "the" in working in ____ yard. Anyway, I want to see these things when they come out!