100 More Things About Me

I want to start the sequel meme! I mean, after the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, they released "More Dirty Dancing." After "Songs from Ally McBeal," they released Heart And Soul: New Songs From Ally McBeal Featuring Vonda Shepard. If they can do it, why can't I? :P Here are 100 more things about me:

1. I have never bought or sold anything on eBay.
2. My least favorite household chore is cleaning out the microwave.
3. My second least favorite household chore is ironing. For years I bought only clothes that didn't require ironing.
4. About twelve years ago, I wanted to be a writer for Soap Opera Digest. I mean it was my dream job. Ugh.
5. I love almond butter and jam and honey sandwiches on stone ground wheat bread.
6. I prepare and eat such sandwiches in a ritualistic manner. I put the honey on the bread first, so that it can absorb into the nooks and crannies. Then I apply thick layers of almond butter and jam. When I take a bite, the almond butter and jam ooze out from the crusts of the bread, so in between bites, I constantly run my tongue around the crusts of the bread to catch the excess, like I'm eating an ice cream cone on a hot, windy day.
7. I donate blood every 56 days.
8. I find office supplies, especially the ones that help bring order to one's life, soothing and calming.
9. Often I have trouble sleeping because my mind races.
10. I recently had an epiphany: A man as beautiful as Jude Law (with the body and athletic prowess of Derek Jeter), as funny as Conan O'Brien, as

    passionate and fiery as Lindsey Buckingham performing "Big Love" in Fleetwood Mac's The Dance, as devoted as Percy Sledge in "When a Man Loves a Woman," as socially keen as le Vicomte Sébastien de Valmont (okay, maybe not that keen), and as intelligent as Michel Foucault or Cornel West is never, ever going to come along and fall in love with me. No such person exists, and I need to just accept that fact and stop feeling sorry for myself. I think I can have a happy relationship if I stop casting myself as The Disappointed One and embrace a genuine human being with flaws. Life-sized. No larger.

11. I buy most of my clothes from consignment shops.
12. I'm a teetotaler.
13. Only recently have I learned how to skate on rollerblades.
14. I'm trying to get into the habit of renting DVDs from the public library rather than video stores.
15. I love to cook, and I rarely go out to eat anymore.
16. A few years ago, a psychic told me that sometime in the near future, I would start cooking a lot and that I'd really enjoy it. She said that during that time, I'd meet The One. Not that I believe that stuff.
17. I haven't owned a printer in several months. I'm trying to see how long I can go without one.
18. I'm evil in subtle, harmless, non-threatening ways.
19. I use only organic deodorants with no aluminum. I know there's no proven link between mainstream deodorants and breast cancer, but what can I say? I'm p-noid like Sigmund Freud.
20. I have a morning toothpaste and an evening toothpaste. Both are Crest Whitening Effects, but the morning one is Extreme Herbal Mint, and the evening one is Vanilla Mint. The former is invigorating, the latter soothing. I never use the herbal one in the evening or the vanilla one in the morning.
21. I like my popcorn with hot sauce all over it.
22. Thierry Mugler's Angel is one of my favorite perfumes. I could just huff it.
23. I'm finally starting to get over the prelims.
24. I'm picky when it comes to binders. I don't like for the three rings to be on the spine, and I prefer the ones with zippers.
25. Speaking of office supplies, I am a gel pen fanatic (metallic over milky).
26. I've mentioned in passing that I get in megalomaniacal moods. When I do, I usually like to listen to hip-hop songs about drinking Moet, wearing Burberry and Rolexes, and driving Escalades. My latest favorite is "Drop It Like It's Hot" by Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell Williams.
27. Favorite kind of doughnut: Maple frosted. I also love chocolate frosted, strawberry frosted, and plain. I don't like cake doughnuts or cream- or jelly-filled.
28. Sheesh, most of these hundred-more-things so far are centered on my consumptive practices...which makes me wonder how many "things about me" I can tell you without invoking either a) people with whom I have relationships or b) things I consume.
29. I'm a yellow belt in karate. I took it for a while in 8th grade but then got sick of it, mostly because I found the other people in the class awfully annoying.
30. I have a secret, pseudonymous blog. Sshhh.
31. One of my favorite childhood memories is getting ready for dressy occasions like church or Easter with the family. It tickled my feet when my mom put those lacy ankle socks on me. She had a spray bottle of water that she'd use as she ironed, and sometimes as I was sitting, waiting to put on my freshly ironed dress, she'd spin around quickly and spray me. I'd squeal with delight, laugh, and run away. She did the same with the hair dryer, usually on a cold morning when I was shivering. I'd be watching her as she styled her hair, and she'd spin around and blast me with warm hairdryer air. Then I didn't so much laugh as say "aaaah."
32. It surprises me that I've never received a wrong-number call from another country. From, say, Germany or Kenya. Statistically speaking, I would think it'd have happened at least once in my thirty years on earth.
33. Had my first-ever twinge of car nostalgia today. I was on the road, and in front of me was a red Chevrolet Beretta, circa 1989, just like the car one of my high school boyfriends drove. It made me feel old...and a little like my dad, whose appreciation for old Thunderbirds is unsurpassed.
34. I'm afraid of the water. Lakes and oceans are beautiful, and it doesn't bother me to hang out by the lake or on the beach, but I don't like to get too far out and deep.
35. One of my pet peeves is when someone uses the word "blog" when he or she is actually talking about a blog post. It only peeves me when people who are veteran bloggers who should know better do this.
36. Another pet peeve of mine is when people whistle along to music. Whistling in general doesn't bother me, only when it's done along to music. I'd much rather hear singing along, or even humming.
37. I'd like to have a darkroom in my house someday.
38. When I'm working -- especially when I'm writing -- I have to get my hair out of my way. I clip it and pin it until it looks downright austere, and only then am I comfortable. I suspect many long-haired people do this.
39. At last search, I'm the third hit for a Google search for Clancy. The highest I've ever gotten is number two; I've never been able to usurp that Tom Clancy FAQ page. *hiss*
40. One more pet peeve, which unfortunately you won't understand unless you've lived in the Twin Cities area: I hate it when people say "Dinkytown" when they're actually referring to Stadium Village.
41. On Minnesota winters: I don't mind the cold temperatures, but the snow is too much.
42. I had never seen a snowblower until I moved here. The first time I saw one, I was waiting at the bus stop, talking on my cell phone of course, and I said to my friend: "Hey, I just saw a man with this thing that looked like a push mower, but snow was shooting out the side of it!" She said, "Uh, you mean a snowblower?" (sheepish grin)
43. I just checked out the 20th anniversary special edition DVD of Tron, and I watched it for a while and was like, "Where's Sting?" Then I realized I was getting Tron and Dune confused. D'oh!
44. I have no tattoos or piercings except for one hole in each earlobe. And it will stay this way.
45. I'd like to go to Ireland, France, Greece, and Croatia. I want to hit England, Norway, Sweden, Scotland, The Netherlands, Japan, Italy, and Germany too, but not until I go to the first four places.
46. I used to model for figure drawing classes for extra cash, but I haven't done it in a couple of years.
47. I've also worked as hostess at a steakhouse, concession stand/box office attendant at a movie theatre, and at a comic book store for a man who is JUST LIKE the Comic Book Guy on The Simpsons. It's uncanny, I tell you.
48. A former roommate of mine, when faced with a heavy reading workload that she'd rather have put off, would say, "I know I should read this book; it'll make me smarter." That has stuck with me, and I smile when I think of it.
49. Another thing I picked up from that roommate was the idea to hang a wall clock in the shower. I find it quite useful.
50. I don't like "alt country" music, for the most part. Give me some CAWNtry: Travis Tritt "Here's a Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares" and that ilk.
51. A friend of mine and I are thinking about starting up a community blog for southern Democrats, possibly called "Yellow Dawg." It would be focused on trying to get the Solid South back -- revisiting historical political trends, the FDR administration, etc. and trying to see how to reconnect Democratic party principles with the values of southerners. We'll probably integrate Christian theology as well and foreground Jesus' liberal political views.
52. I'm thinking about trying out a vegetarian diet in order to save money. I spend way too much money at the grocery store on stuff like lamb and scallops. I could, of course, just buy cheap meat. Maybe I'll try both to see which is the cheaper.
53. Someday I'd like to learn more about the teachings of Ram Dass.
54. My common coping mechanisms for dealing with heartache are focusing on the fact that I had a whole life before I even knew [insert person's name here] existed and remembering how heartbroken I've been over other people before, so it's nothing new, and it will pass.
55. When I was a child, I had a Peanuts pillowcase with all the characters that said, "Happiness is being one of the gang."
56. This evening, for dinner I'm planning on baking scallops with garlic, ginger, and sesame oil and putting them on a bed of jasmine rice. **DROOL**
57. One of the "How to be more productive" self-help books I'm reading advises its readers to have a "mind like water," which means a mind that reacts in exact proportion to the situation. When you throw a pebble into a lake, there's a ripple effect that corresponds to the weight of the pebble. The water never underreacts or overreacts. I found the principle so helpful that I now have a post-it on my desk that says "Mind like water."
58. I'm unabashedly girly.
59. Growing up, I had dogs for pets: a beagle named Clemmie and later an old English sheepdog named Spritz. I've never had a cat, but I love them as much as dogs.
60. If I ever have a child, I hope I can do a home birth or a birth at a midwife-run birthing center with as little technological intervention as possible.
61. I love having my back cracked, but I don't have anyone who's willing to do it.
62. I crack everything on my body that will possibly crack. I know, people hate the way it sounds, and it will probably give me arthritis someday. I should try to quit.
63. Someone once said, "The worse the writer, the more attached he or she is to the writing." I've kept that dictum uppermost in my mind as I've been drafting and revising my dissertation prospectus.
64. I can't stand to have my eyebrows waxed or for someone else to pluck them. I flinch when someone gets that close to my eyes. I gotta do the eyebrow maintenance myself.
65. Speaking of eyebrows...I know some consider it metrosexual, but I think men ought to be better about eyebrow grooming, especially once they hit their 30s. I've noticed that some men age 30 and up have these LONG, flagellum-like eyebrow hairs here and there, and I find it sort of repulsive, to be perfectly honest. The grooming I'm calling for doesn't even include plucking, merely trimming with manicure scissors.
66. Per the tactful recommendation of my friends, I've started doing two things: 1) growing my bangs out, and 2) going to counseling.
67. I'm finding counseling very helpful.
68. My parents made me go to counseling when I was in eighth grade. The doctor was a wonderful person who followed my life for years after I stopped going to see him. Anytime anything I wrote was in the newspaper or when there was a blurb about me in the "Academic Achievers" section of the paper, he'd clip it and mail it to me with a little note, encouraging me to keep a scrapbook. He seemed genuinely proud of me. I wonder if he took that kind of interest in all his patients, or if I stuck out for some reason.
69. My parents made me go to counseling again my junior year of high school. That time the counselor was terrible: completely ineffectual. All she did was sit there, unresponsive, while I talked. I would have been better off talking to a brick wall.
70. I find it difficult to read maps. Written directions work better for me.
71. My 2005 wall calendar is so cool: The sheet with the month turns into a file folder!
72. Favorite people to talk to on instant messenger: Josh, Torill, and Jeff.
73. I haven't eaten anything from McDonalds in almost a year, and I'm proud of it.
74. Chocolate before vanilla.
75. Hugs before kisses.
76. Hoes before Bros. :)
77. I used to smoke cigarettes...not heavy smoking, but I did. January 1 will mark my 3-year anniversary of being smoke-free.
78. Sometimes I wonder if I'd date a guy with a mullet. What if he were just right in every way, except the fact that he had an unattractive haircut? What if he were doing it to be ironic, to disrupt cultural norms and assumptions about socioeconomic class?
79. How important is hair anyway? What could I overlook? Could I date a man with a gnarly comb-over? A feathered, Barry Manilow look? Wild C.C. DeVille hair?
80. The next novel I want to read is The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy.
81. The one after that is Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.
82. I've never seen any movies in the Star Wars trilogy.
83. Alias is one of my favorite shows, but I don't care for the heavy-handed Ford product placement. In one episode, Weiss (I think) made it a point to mention that Sydney and Vaughn were going to be in a blue Ford Focus. Marshall said, "Really? I've been thinking about getting one of those!" Then in another episode, Sydney and Vaughn were trying to get away from someone (Sark, maybe). If I remember correctly, they were in a parking deck, and Sydney pointed and exclaimed, "The F-150!" Then they hopped in and screeched off. Surely Collin has also noticed this.
84. Favorite Aqua Teen Hunger Force character: Meatwad.
85. Favorite Star Trek captain: Picard.
86. Favorite Buffy the Vampire Slayer character: Tie between Spike and Faith.
87. I like my Waffle House hashbrowns scattered, smothered, covered, diced, and peppered.
88. Decision 2004 has made me understand the dire need for analysis of rhetorical strategies. Silver lining: I realize that the work I'm doing is very, very important.
89. Pancakes, toast, or biscuits & gravy? Biscuits & gravy!
90. I like grits, but I HATE hominy.
91. I talk to myself sometimes, and I'm mortified when I get caught doing it.
92. I need to have more intelligent discussions with people who disagree with my views.
93. I want to learn how to do simple car repairs.
94. I want to learn CSS...beyond the pittance I currently know.
95. One morning, several years ago, a new boyfriend left me a note: "Ce n'etait pas la parlance d'ivresse. Je vraiment t'aime." I should add that he wasn't French, only shy. :)
96. I'm slowly getting over the whole turning-30 thing. I was in bad shape for a while...took it hard. Now the 30ness is in the background, not something I think about every day.
97. When I rent movies, I mark the due date on my calendar so that I don't forget to return them on time.
98. Some Victorian poets I like: George Meredith, Arthur Hugh Clough, Dante Rossetti.
99. I prefer wedge heels to stiletto heels. They're not as pretty, but more comfortable.
100. I want to burn always with this hard, gemlike flame, to maintain this ecstasy. But it's not easy. Some people can snuff that flame right out.