Alison's House of Grey - 8 Random Things - a meme

1. I grew up drinking nothing but Pepsi products, and now I will boycott a restaurant if it doesn't serve Diet Coke. Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and all of those products taste gross to me. The only exception is Slice, because it's pretty much impossible to mess up the lemon-lime combo. 
2. I had several cats growing up -- Scruffy, Ernie Pumpkin, Bert Tiger, and Chester. Now I'm deathly allergic to cats. My eyes and throat swell shut when I'm around them. Definitely a dog lover.
3. I learned how to play poker so that I would have an opportunity to flirt with my now-husband, who played all the time with a group of mutual friends.
4. I was salutatorian of my high school graduating class after receiving one A-minus in my Algebra 2 class. The interesting part of the story is that my teacher was the mother of the person who ended up being valedictorian as a result. I plan to write a satire about this someday.
5. I was an English major in college, but I hate reading. I am notorious for starting books and not finishing them. I got through my degree by taking lots of film, writing, and grammar/language acquisition classes. 
6. My middle name is Rose. That's also my mom and grandmother's middle name and my great-grandmother's first name. Eventually, it will be my daughter's middle name too.
7. I have a pretty big thing for John Mayer and have all of his albums on vinyl and framed in my writing room at home.
8. I have a highly seasonal rotation of Bath and Body Works products. Warm Vanilla Sugar in late fall/winter, Sweet Pea in spring and early fall, Juniper Breeze in the summer. But the Eucalyptus Spearmint massage lotion is the best. 

I'm tagging the following 8 people because they are ones from my flist that I don't know really well, and they haven't already been tagged by boofadil. I won't be upset, though, if you don't do the meme. ariaadagio, darkandtwisty02, liljan98, macsmitty, marmarand, redgrey, seattle_dreams, and tracyhodgkins.