Here we go, 100 facts about me, in no particular order or importance. I started this at least a week ago; it gave me a true picture of just HOW MANY 100 would actually be. And how stuck a person can get. I thought I'd just rattle things off, but I did stop and think about each one: does the Internet a) want to know this, b) deserve to know this, or c) do I have to write another post? Oh well, there it is, it is what it is. There's a cartoon around #86.
1. I love to dance. I was crazy for ballet at a very young age. It was mainly for the leaps and twirls and stuff. I don't ballet any longer, but I do love to move.
2. I skipped third grade. I was the oldest kid in second grade and one of the smartest, so they put me in this makeshift summer school and skipped me. It was horrible. the third graders hated me because I was this smart kid who abandoned them, and the fourth graders hated me because I was this smart kid who usurped their territory.
3. I write poetry, but only when profoundly depressed.
4. Married three times, each one a strangeness upon itself. First one, 22 years older than me; second one, turned out to be gay. Third one, jackpot. If this goes south,(it won't honey!!) no more men, lesbian potato farm in Idaho. At least I'd get some solitude and maybe the remote control once in a while.
5. I was the fourth grade spelling champion, the winner of the Frank Tusa Spelling Award from the Knights of Columbus. The only bright spot in 4th grade (see #2).
6. I have all of my wisdom teeth still.
7. I have an uncanny knack of remembering phone numbers and other bits of scattered info.
8. I can't stand the mayonnaise-yogurt-pudding texture in my mouth. Especially cold. Ughhhhh.
9. Hate boiled eggs. Another consistency issue.
10. Never warmed up to PB & J either.
11. As a result, I ate a bologna & cheese sandwich every day of my elementary school life.
12. Mustard on the bologna side, none on cheese side, preferably in a brown bag that sat next to my desk. The cheese got a little melty and it was a good thing.
13. I rarely eat bologna and cheese these days, having had my life quota.
14. My mother insists I should try out for Jeopardy. Every time she mentions it, I laugh derisively.
15. I secretly agree with her, but would never let on.
16. I have worked as a professional faux finish artist and muralist.
17. I quit after a bad spill off a ten-foot ladder.
18. Partially caused by my boss, who decided she needed to be on the same ladder as I was.
19. She paid for the ER. I was okay, but reallllly shaken up, with a bump on my head and cuts where the ladder dug into my leg..
20. I saw her picture in the paper today, she is the Queen of one of the Mardi Gras krewes here.
21. I give great dinner parties. I haven't given one is quite some time. I miss that.
22. Never been beaten in Trivial Pursuit.
23. Dangerous in Scrabble, too.
24. I'm left-handed, but can function well with my right hand. I used to move the mouse around for the computer, but I stopped because it gave all the right-handed people in my life such fits. I've adapted.
25. I'm very adaptable. I can make the best of what is.
26. I am the grillmeister in the house. Steaks, chicken, ribs, burgers, veggies, you name it I can fire it up.
27. I am also the owner of the tools in my house. Including drill and electric screwdriver. I'd buy a saw but I am afraid of losing a finger.
28. I love flowers and gardening. A little patch of green growing stuff makes me very happy.
29. Right now, my garden is sorely neglected. I need to weed and mulch and put some pansies in.
30. I was raised Catholic, recovering since about 16. I haven't found a permanent spot anywhere else and I miss that.
31. I don't have a favorite color, but I do have a least favorite. Orange.
32. I was born with paralyzed vertical muscles in my eyes, which caused me to look cross-eyed. I had surgery as a child and again as an adult to correct the problem. Sometimes they still misalign when I am tired, just for a second.
33. If pot were legalized, I'd never have another drink.
34. My all-time favorite car was my LeBaron turbo convertible. I drove that car (champagne beige with charcoal top) until the motor practically dropped out of it.
35 My first love drove a red '71 LTD convertible. That was also a fun car.
36. In high school I developed an interest in sports and cars. It gave me something to converse about with boys.
37. Still like sports and cars. Still like conversing with the boys.
38. The first record I ever owned was a 45 of Downtown by Petula Clark.
39. Other early favorites were Sugar Sugar by the Archies, Galveston, Glen Campbell and Henry the Eighth by Herman's Hermits.
40. When I was in sixth grade, my girlfriend Janie and I went to see the Osmond Brothers in City Park Stadium. My mother took us. We screamed.
41. About that same era, I had crushes on, in no particular order: Tom Jones, David Cassidy and Bobby Sherman.
42. I learned to read at three. Reading has been a joy ever since then.
43. I was so jealous of my brother who is 22 months younger than me, that I bit him. That stopped with the introduction of Tabasco into my life by my mother around about the second bite.
44. I met my first husband at my first real job after college. I was news director for two radio stations here and he did voiceovers for commercials.
45. I met my third husband (current and last husband, I might add...) about the same time, he was news guy at the cross town rival station. I didn't have a clue.
46. I met my second husband on a blind date set up by a mutual friend. I've since enforced a firm no blind dates policy.
47. I don't think I have a natural hair color any more. Which is fine, I don't need one as long as there's peroxide, and people who know how to use it in salons.
48. I won't swim in the ocean. I get too distracted worrying about the trespassing issue.
49. I will, however walk on the beach, let my toes get a little wet by waves, and sit comfortably under an umbrella (with 45 SPF, and long shirt...) and gaze at the water.
50. Give me a good swimming pool, and I'm a swimming fool.
51. I am overjoyed that this is past the halfway mark.
52. Referencing #42, I can't bring myself to get rid of books. In my bookcase, I think there may be some college textbooks I used. (I graduated in '81.)
53. I currently have a huge crush on James Spader, mainly because he reminds me of those high school debate guys I hung out with.. Twenty years of unrequited lust, starting when he showed up in Sex, Lies and Videotape. Oh my. I know I'd hurt that boy.
54. Yes, I was a high school speech tournament nerd. Technically, I only debated freshman year. I decided it was not for me after about three tournaments, no wins. Not fun at all, I'd rather humorous interp and duet acting. Those I could win.
55. The other side of that, the guys were fun. Participants and judges, a lively group. Smart, funny, cute. Wore ties, knew a little chivalry, knew many drinking games, eager to lead a willing and susceptible chick astray. And me with that sign over my head: "Lead me astray."
56. I think life would be much easier with daily cloud formations, arrow shaped. With my name on them. So I could check the compass a couple times and realign if called for.
57. Life also would be much easier if we could recycle the weeds in our gardens for cash. Boy, I'd be set for life. As I type, the cocoa grass of death is creeping through my dearly departed tomato plants from last year, those dollar weed things, multiplying heartily choking out the beebalm. (and that's hard to do!)
58. With a nod to John Lennon, life would also be easier if people decided to stop hating because of, in spite of and especially in the name of their religion. How 'bout there would be no religion, just the love your brother and your God whoever or whatever he she it means to you sect. I could go for that one.
59. My left big toenail is missing, a podiatrist took it off years ago because it just wouldn't behave. I don't miss it. I polish the nail bed in summer, and no one is the wiser. Except now, you, dear Internet.
60. I am a professional shopper. i learned when purse-height to my mother, my mentor. She can shop rings around anyone I know, and get bargains beyond comprehension. When she moved from the neighborhood (and mall) I grew up in, the salesladies gave her a cake.
61. I enjoy perfume, but only verrrrry subtly. I like the tiniest bit of Coco by Chanel on wrists and behind my ears. Or this stuff called Inner Grace which smells more clean than perfume-y. Scratch-n-sniff Internet, anyone?
62. Are you as bored with me as I am? I mean, state of the toenails address, jeez. Feel free to click on something.
63. Had my appendix out in the nineties.
64. My surgeon left me overnight with no pain meds ordered.
65. I'm sure the night nurse remembers me still. About 1 AM, the orders were produced.
66. In the morning, he arrived to operate, wearing mirror sunglasses. He'd broken his regular specs.
67. I survived, not a bad scar even. I saw him months ago and reminded him of the scenario. He said, "That was you?"
68. I said, "Ask the night nurse. She'll remember."
69. I wear size 9 shoes.
70. I wore size 8 1/2 before Maxwell. Oh, the cute shoes I had to toss.
71. i have since made up for the loss of those shoes.
72. I own a pair of red patent birkenstocks. Can't beat comfy AND sassy.
73. I also own the required army of black shoes. High heels, low heels, no heels, sandals, boots, flat and heeled. Just a sample, by no means a complete list.
74. Also have black pants and skirts to go with said shoes. Capris, jeans, linen, work pants, dressy palazzos, flowy skirt, pencil skirt, long, short, medium. Again, not a complete list.
75. I have claimed two closets in the house as my own. If I could, I'd sneak and usurp Chuck's poor meager space as well.
76. Th only reason I don't consider Max's closet, is well, obvious. Eight-year-old boy. I don't even look in there if I can help it.
77. Sometimes I can't believe I'm not still 16 years old.
78. Other times it is (thankfully/painfully) obvious I am NOT. Thank you/curse you universe.
79. My mother still believes I AM 16. It's all so fresh in her mind, I think she's still waiting for me to put my eye out or some such.
80. I love getting mail. I check the mailbox daily. I'm even more obsessed with email. I must check in a dozen times a day.
81. The comments on my blog do the same for me, and if I leave one somewhere, I do check back to see others or replies. I'm sure there are sitemeters bulging with my IP addy. Sorry, I'm really not a stalker.
82. I did a huge amount of voiceover work for a while in this market. I was literally EVERYWHERE you turned: TV. radio, phones, documentaries. Easy money, no pressure.
83. I have a friend I hadn't called in a while during this voice-everywhere period... When I finally got back to her, I apologized for not being in touch and she said, "Oh, I miss you but I don't miss you, I can turn my TV on and there you are." That felt weird.
84. I did an intro line for a rehab hospital commercial that got used so much it became bigger than life. When I'd go out with my gay friends, they'd line folks up at the bar to hear me do it. I wish I had a nickel for every run that one had...
85. I disappeared for a while (moved out of the market) and they haven't discovered I'm back. Yet. Maybe I'll go beg for voicework again soon.
86. I love those ancient cartoons - Merrie Melodies, especially the ones where the kitchen utensils have a night out, or the old movie stars are parodied. Love love me some Merrie Melodies. And of course, the "I love to singa" cartoon here.
87. I must iPod to vacuum. Doesn't happen otherwise, and I usually rip one or both earbuds out of my ear at some point getting the little wire caught on the vacuum handle.
88. I didn't say I was coordinated.
89. I'm just the tiniest bit unorganized, as well. And you know, I don't mind. I usually misplace stuff, but I have three possible places it could be. And if it is not ringing, melting into a puddle on some non-water friendly surface or decomposing behind the furniture, I figure it is not too big a deal.
90. I'm almost there! (shameless padding...)
91. I am not a morning person. I function best if allowed to wake up ten-ish and drifty off sometime way after midnight. All these chirpy AM-dwellers really get on my nerves.
92. Again, I've adapted. In my first job after college, I was news director for two radio stations. I got up and cleared the wire, did several newscasts and wrote stories so I had to be very conscious way before noon. I had a break then did the afternoon news cycle and gems like city council, school board and other government meetings at night. It was a LOT of work for little $$, but it got me up in the early morning.
93. My favorite vegetable in the world is an artichoke. Love love me some artichokes, my absolute fave was my gramma's stuffed recipe. Ohhhh yum. But they're good just steamed in the microwave, with a little sauce of olive oil, lemon, vinegar, garlic and Lea & Perrins. If ever I'm on death row, last meal = as many artichokes as the room can hold.
94. I am the oldest of four siblings, I have two brothers and one sister.
95. I was adopted by my parents after they tried for six years to have a child, no luck.
96. They adopted my brother next, he is 22 months younger than me.
97. When we were both headed off to school, my mother got pregnant with my younger brother. Surprise! It could be done.
98. When she was bundling him up to go to kindergarten, another surprise -- my sister was on the way!
99. There are 13 years between my little sister and me, and I didn't really get to know her until we were both adults. But now she is one of my favorite people in the world.
100. YAYYYYYY I'm glad I'm done. I'm sure you are too.
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