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.

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http://ghw.wordherders.net

2. Put a bowl of water in the microwave and nuke it for two minutes. Then wipe out the interior of the microwave with a damp, somewhat soapy sponge. Piece of cake.
5. Yum!
57. I think I'm reading the same book right now.
65. A good barber should do this pretty much automatically.
82. Empire Strikes Back is considered the best, but the first one is my favorite.
83. Great show, as is this season's Lost, created by the same guy.
94. I learned CSS via "Mulder's Stylesheets Tutorial"

Spike, eh? I loved evil Spike

Spike, eh? I loved evil Spike. I loved evil chipped Spike. I wasn't so keen on pining with love Spike (though he continued to have great chemistry with Buffy and I thought much of their story was fascinating), and souled Spike just pissed me off. Which Spike?

Faith was consistently great, but I can't get past love of Giles. (Except maybe for Superstar Andrew.)

And I hate saying blog post, but feel that post isn't clear enough often, so get stuck with elaborate workarounds.

Wolfangel

100 more things about you

Wow, I'm impressed with the 200 things - I've been trying to finish the 100 things about me and am stuck somewhere around 47! You're much more self-aware than I am. ;-)

8: definitely.
22: ick, sad to say. It's a neat fragrance, but it turns to dreck with my body chemistry. You probably know this, but it's one of the very very few women's perfumes that has no floral notes at all.
30: intriguing!
38: definitely.
40: yup.
41: totally the other way around! give me snow, keep the intense cold
57: I just started reading that book this weekend!
66: now I'm going to get paranoid again that my bangs are passe...
89: french toast!
100: awesome statement.

New Kid on the Hallway

chores

cleaning out the microwave is gross.. but my least favorite chore is dusting. it's pointless really. it's just shifting the dust around. it doesn't go away. and it takes too long to do it right.

-grrlpink

83

C, you forgot to mention Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo in your list of inspirational sequels...

re Alias, you're right. It was the first series for which I ever bought a DVD box set, and I tend to do seasonal marathons stretched over a few days. When I do that, the most annoying thing I notice is all the Ford product placement, both in dialogue and in camerawork. The most interesting thing is the truly obsessive repetition of the number 47, kind of reminiscent of Chris Carter's 1013 all over XFiles. It also reminds me of how well JJ Abrams uses commercial breaks to generate tension, since there are none in the DVDs...

cgb

ps. I had that pillowcase (#55) too...

Hi Clancy. I'm sorry that you

Hi Clancy. I'm sorry that you're feeling heartbroken. I hope you soon find someone you like even better.

Thanks!

22 - :) I feel the same way about Lauren Style. I have one of those tear open magazine pages that I keep fondling.

Also, thank you for sharing the quote, "Mind like water." I have lost some time tonight trying to cope with a nice, but not loving email from a relative and when I read that quote, I realized how fitting it was to the situation. Thank you.

88. I checked a book out of the library yesterday called Talking to Strangers by Danielle S. Allen. From what I have read thus far, she has some good things to say on the subject of rhetorical arguments and political discussions. I want to read and write more about it, but I have two proposals to finish first.

99. I've given up wearing most heeled shoes -- I have this bad habit of falling off them. :)

#66

#66

What are you going to counselling for? How are you finding it helpful? Is it to become more productive? What kind of approach do they use?

Your bangs do look nicer grown out. I think a really short, sculptured-looking cut would also really flatter you.

Feeling fine

My reasons for going to counseling can best be expressed in the following passage from Toni Morrison's Beloved:

“She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It's good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind” (p. 272-73).

Defragmentation of the fragmented self, that sort of thing. I'm not heartbroken; I'm great, as a matter of fact, but thanks for your concern!

New Kid, you're too kind with your "self-aware" euphemism. :) And I understand about the Angel perfume; when I first read a description of it, that it has notes of chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and patchouli, I thought, yikes! But then I smelled it and bought it almost immediately.

100 Questions About You

1. Doesn’t the jam kill the taste of the honey?
2. What have you found very long fingers to be good for?
3. What made you turn left? What 'deprogrammed' you?
4. Why do you regret staying in your hometown to go to college?
5. How do you get your feet to feel that good?
6. What do you say when people you're close to bad-mouth the South?
7. How much did you lose on the diet?
8. Do you own paintings/drawings of yourself from your modeling days?
9. Were you always a teetotaler?
10. Do you still go to clubs?
11. Where did you get the necklace that you’re wearing in the picture that’s next to your mom’s picture?
12. Why do you blog so much?
13. What do some of the other post-its on your desk say?
14. How did you get the authority thing down in your classroom?
15. What’s a misocapnist?
16. Will the blogging stop one day?
17. What makes you feel vulnerable?
18. What keeps you motivated?
19. What do you do to keep that “hard, gemlike flame” burning?
20. What kind of computer do you own?
21. What gets you down?
22. What made you go from being intensely jealous to not so much in your relationships?
23. Where did you buy the toothpaste tube flattener?
24. What was your first ever blog post?
25. When you exhibited your photographs, did you worry about what people might ask you about them? What did they ask you about them?
26. Are you very tall?
27. Is blogging infectious?
28. Are you an authority on something?
29. Does your blog make some people jealous? Do bloggers compare visitor stats?
30. Do you prefer carpeting or hardwood?
31. Are you Type A?
32. Have you ever broken up with anyone over ideological/political reasons?
33. What kind of camera do you use?
34. Who taught you to knit?
35. Who do you knit things for?
36. Why would you choose a natural/midwife-assisted birth?
37. What do most of your days look like?
38. What do you do about your insomnia?
39. What does your apartment look like?
40. Do people around you get influenced by you a lot? Have you changed anyone significantly?
41. What advice do you have for a graduate student?
42. What movies made you cry?
43. Are you territorial?
44. Who do you find tedious?
45. Do you consider yourself an activist?
46. What has been hardest to recover from?
47. What’s a good day?
48. What are those subtle ways in which you are evil?
49. What do you consume a lot of?
50. Is being from the South good for conversation?
51. What are you going to do once you’ve finished your Ph.D.?
52. Does your family blog?
53. What else did your psychic tell you? Have you found The One?
54. What’s in your fridge?
55. Does stuff from your blog ever find its way into pillow-talk?
56. Do you know French? What does the note that your boyfriend left mean?
57. How did you get to meet Gloria Steinem?
58. What got you into Rhetoric?
59. What got you into Feminism?
60. Do you pay for your blog? Is all this space for free?
61. What do you do on weekends?
62. What made Lisa Minor your best teacher?
63. What color do you paint your toenails?
64. What is Florence, Alabama like?
65. What picket line did you cross that made you cry?
66. What were your reasons for voting for Bush Sr?
67. How did you crash your car?
68. What’s having a broken pelvis like?
67. What do you think about most of the time?
68. Do most of the people who post on your blog know you personally?
69. What makes you doubt yourself?
70. Has graduate school been good to you?
71. What do you do when you get together with friends?
72. What’s your sense of humor like?
73. Are you of English descent?
74. Do apolitical people get on your nerves?
75. What do you like about knitting?
76. Why do you procrastinate?
77. Is the prosthetic part of your ear a hearing aid?
78. Do you wear glasses?
79. Do you like having friends over for dinner?
80. Do you think you’ll make a drastic career change at some point?
81. What do people like about you?
82. What do you find hard about a lit review?
83. Does writing come relatively easily?
84. Are you good in front of crowds?
85. Are people intimidated by you?
86. What were you saying when you got caught talking to yourself?
87. What do you do when you’re nervous?
88. What are those complicated ways in which you are a Christian?
89. For how much time do you study at a stretch?
90. Who, besides yourself, makes you most happy?
91. Do you like going to conferences?
92. Are you very social and outgoing?
93. Are you the life of the party?
94. How are you usually dressed?
95. What did you do on your 30th birthday?
96. How long will it take for you to finish your dissertation?
97. What usually interests or strikes people about your past?
98. What videos do you own?
99. Are you a collector of shoes?
100. How do you get it all done?

Re: 100 questions

Well hey, stranger. I'm surprised you'd go to all that trouble and not even sign your name! I think I might know who you are, but I'm not sure. ;) At any rate, I'll get to work on those questions when I get a chance.

Edited to add: On second thought, I don't have any idea who you are. The people I had it narrowed down to would have known the answers to some of those questions, even having never met me in person or read my blog for very long.

The "Solid South"

"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."

I'll be interested to see it. But watch out about the "solid South," rebuilding, etc. rhetoric. Until 1968 or so there was a solid Democratic South, but of course the reason it was solid was that the Southern Democratic party was unabashedly the party of militant white supremacy, and it was not until 1968ish that the combined effects of LBJ's realignment and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party broke the back of the Klan primary vote. I'm all about the social justice tradition in the South, but the Democratic "solid South" isn't it (not even vis-a-vis FDR and the New Deal--white Southern Democrats' support for the New Deal was thoroughly intertwined with white supremacy, in the same way that their later support for "populists" such as Orval Faubus, Bull Connor, or George Wallace was.)

If we are going to build our presence in the South so that it's worth anything, we won't be rebuilding, at least as far as the Democratic Party goes. We will be making something substantively new.

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