almost 100

I've been debating about whether or not to post 100 things about me. I hit the 100th post mark tomorrow. On the one hand, I like to write with enough empty space left so that the reader can fill it in with pieces of their own stories. Take what I'm saying and see it in the light of their own lives. I feel like if I fill you in on who exactly I am, there's no empty space left. On the other hand, I've enjoyed reading these lists on your blogs. There are always at least one or two things that strike a chord with me and make me like you a bit more. Also, can I really be summed up in just 100 blips? Not even close... there will still be lots for us to learn.

I guess I'll hope for that.


I've been adding things to this list as they occur to me over the past few weeks, so it's a bit random. And I've only made it up to 63 so far. So, I'll post the first 50 today and finish up on my actual 100th post which is tomorrow.

Here goes...

1. I love the rain. I mean really, euphorically, love it.
2. When I run, especially if I'm running west, I imagine that I'm trying to stay on top of the world as it's spinning past under me. I can never keep up.
3. No, I don't do illegal drugs.
4. I once went streaking. I had a boyfriend at the time who had a habit of streaking parties. We'd be walking though town, see a party and he'd just randomly decide to make a detour... naked. My roommate and I decided to join him once. You know, change it up a little.
5. My eyes changed color when I was 34.
6. I once nursed both punks at the same time at a park when they were about 1 and 3 years old. And no one gave a rat's ass.
7. I am perhaps too empathetic.
8. I enjoyed going to the dentist until I went to one in Italy and they sandblasted my teeth. Seriously. It was the most painful thing that's ever happened inside my mouth.
9. I used to walk to my car with my finger on the trigger of my pepper spray. I now believe that you can be too careful.
10. I broke my left pinky finger playing basketball. I had surgery to reset the bones and they put a half cast on my hand... plaster on one side, but wrapped with a soft bandage. While it was healing, Punkette fell off the structure at the playground and I caught her. It hurt like HELL. When I went back to have it checked, one of the bones had been knocked out of place. The surgeon was pissed. So he put a full cast on me. The full cast made me crazy... full on panic attack. I couldn't close my eyes and had to watch movies all night to keep from hacking the thing off with a saw in our garage. The next morning I went back to the surgeon and begged him to take it off. And I really had to beg. Tears streaming, hyper-ventilating begging, because I was really worried he wouldn't do it. But he did.
11. Rather than claustrophobia, I have a fear of being trapped. For example, I found I could sleep in the coffin like berth on our sail boat, but only if I was closest to the exit (it was a double bed but you could only get in from one side). Apparently it also applies to casts. I am sure that if I am ever unfortunate enough to require a full body cast I will have to be sedated heavily for the entire 6-8 weeks. BAAAH! I can't even think about it.
12. My circulation is very slow and as a result my extremities often feel as if I am dead (as told by my hubby).
13. I don't like the blog world name "hubby" for my husband, but I've yet to come up with a better one. Maybe I'll just call him Matteo.
14. Gregory Harms (see side bar) is a dear friend of mine and nudged me toward the road to where I am today. He wrote a kick ass book designed to bring you quickly up to speed on the Palestine crisis. He also plays guitar. He has graciously entertained my repeated Daniel Ash requests (I love it when he sings Closer to You) and nick-named me "maw." I'll love him forever.
15. There's almost nothing better than a circle of friends playing guitar and singing around a bonfire.
16. I was sweet 16 and never been kissed.
17. I lost my faith in religion during a catholic alternative spring break.
18. I do believe in god.
19. The question "do you love me as much as I love you?" bugs (the hell out of) me.
20. Love some stale peeps.
21. I'm a lefty.
22. I don't mind getting my hands dirty. Actually, I enjoy it.
23. I like soup. All kinds.
24. Since I left the US, I really miss Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Japanese, Cuban, Indian, Afghan, and Ethiopian food.
25. I have a selective memory... bad goes out, good stays in.
26. I wonder about the threads of sanity that keep so many people driving on the proper side of the road.
27. My worst imaginable death would be being buried alive.
28. I used to look for four leaf clovers when my then boyfriend asked me what I was doing. I told him "looking for a four leaf clover" and he bent down and plucked me one.
29. I hate the BBC TV schedule... the wait for Doctor Who is killing me!
30. I like dog people but I don't ever want to be one.
31. My arm goes numb when I sleep flat on my back, but not if I sleep on top of it.
32. My joints crack loudly when I walk... people often look at me and wince.
33. My second toes are as long as my pinky fingers.
34. My uncles used to ask me if I could pitch a base ball with those toes.
35. Also if I had forgotten to take off my skis.
36. Or why I needed skis at all... you get the picture.
37. I love the scene in "Stranger Than Fiction" where he's playing guitar after dinner and singing really softly and she comes in watching him in awe, and he glances up at her as he is singing, and she jumps on him... there have been a few times I would have liked to throw myself on a guy playing guitar, but never have.
38. Now you know how to get me to swoon... play guitar and sing softly.
39. If my kids wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep, we all go out for donuts at "The Donut Wheel".
40. I wouldn't mind being pregnant again but I don't want to have to take care of another infant. Maybe I'd be a good surrogate mom.
41. I was most affected by the movie "Female Perversions." I couldn't come up with a more accurate description of my psyche.
42. I also like the movie Orlando... another one starring Tilda Swinton... love her.
43. Punkone got his (real) name because I met two different Italian men with that name during my first trip to Italy. Both of them had a very genuine quality about them. Like you could just immediately get a sense of their core. Also, I went rock climbing with one and as we were hiking up to the pitch I slipped off the trail. I was literally hanging by a couple of bushes. He bent down and lifted me back up to the path. My hero.
44. I tend to relate more easily to men.
45. I was born in Fort Knox.
46. That means I'm solid gold, baby!
47. I don't shave my armpits when they don't show. For awhile, I didn't shave them at all, but I got tired of it being my defining feature.
48. I once had a pet gold fish that I bought out of a feeder tank when I was in college. I got him my freshman year. His name was Shirley. Shirley had some bowl mates that came and went, but I stopped buying them because I thought it made him sad that his friends kept dying. I got him a plant instead. Shirley lived in a bowl all during college. Every year I'd get him a slightly bigger bowl. Every summer I'd dump out half the water and put him in the back of my car and slosh on home with him. Every winter we'd slosh back to school. After I graduated, I drove across country with Shirley for a 4 month internship. When it was finished, Shirley and I drove back to the midwest, and then on to the East coast for grad school. In grad school, I had a month off for Christmas break, so I put the bowl on my desk and asked one of my lab mates if he could sprinkle food in the bowl once every day or so. He said "why don't you just flush it and buy a new one when you get back?" I flipped out. I'm sure he thought I was nuts.
49. Gross things make me laugh.
50. As do stressful situations.


to be continued...