Wednesday, May 28, 2008

112 things

I've read two great blogs lately (emlocke and badlighting.blogspot.com) which featured lists of 112 things about their writers. I thought it was so clever that I did my own list.

These are things you'd know about me only on a "need to know" basis. If you know most of them, you're super special. If you know all of them, you should check to see if you are, in actuality, me.



  1. I love sun-dried tomatoes, but hate fresh ones.

  2. When I was a little girl, I loved to draw. For some reason, the two things I remember drawing over and over again are ballerina feet en pointe, and whale tails.

  3. I always wanted to be an astronaut. The movie "Space Camp" was my personal "Rocky."

  4. I support the anti-fur movement, but secretly think fur feels amazing. I mean, not amazing enough for it to be ok to kill something, but wow.

  5. I've read "Jane Eyre" once a year since I was in the eighth grade.

  6. I'm a stay-at-home mom with two degrees, and no, I DON'T think that's a waste of my education.

  7. I think raw oysters are gross. If you have to serve something with Saltines and Tabasco to even make it appetizing, it's not worth it.

  8. When I was in the fifth grade, I played an angel in the school play. The play was called "Follow That Star," and was about three astronauts who follow the North Star to the baby Jesus. No joke.

  9. In elementary school, I was third-to-last out in the school spelling bee. I misspelled "chimney."

  10. My husband and I, both non-drinkers, met in a bar.

  11. The movie "The Hunt for Red October" can always rope me in.

  12. The last movie I saw in the theater was "Cloverfield." I couldn't even watch all of it due to my crippling motion sickness.

  13. Bing cherries are my favorite fruit, hands down.

  14. The only kind of apple I really like eating is the Honeycrisp kind. It also seems to be the kind with the shortest growing season.

  15. I love good jewelry, but own very little. (If any of you out there are looking for gift ideas, or anything.)

  16. I am terrified of water. Almost all my nightmares have water in them.

  17. I could probably eat sushi, Vietnamese spring rolls, Thai tom kai gai soup or just about any kind of Indian food every day.

  18. When I was in junior high, I starred in an Oscar Wilde play called, "The Importance of Being Ernest." Our drama class was short on literate guys, so I was cast as one of the two male leads, opposite the guy I actually had a "thing" for in real life. So I essentially played a Wilde character in reverse drag to get a guy to notice me. Sometimes all you can do is shake your head and laugh.

  19. My first real job was as a collections manager for Blockbuster Video.

  20. The first cable channel I check when I turn on the TV is the Food Network.

  21. I once tried out for and earned a spot on a professional cheerleading squad. It was as an alternate, and the squad was cheering for a now-defunct arena football team, but still.

  22. My favorite pizza: extra cheese, veggie supreme, 86 the onions.

  23. I think a man's sexiest accessory is a wedding band. Commitment is H-O-T.

  24. I believe everyone has a natural superpower. For instance, I have a girlfriend who can go to the grocery store *without a list* and not forget a single thing she wanted. My natural superpower is estimation. If I'm setting the dinner table and I grab a jumble of silverware and a stack of napkins, I'm likely to get the count exactly right. Please - hold your applause. (I never said it was sexy.)

  25. I always regret eating cinnamon rolls. They seem to embody excess. When I do eat one, I eat it as if I were unrolling a wound-up ribbon. Why would anyone bite straight through a cinnamon roll? You just end up with shards of pastry everywhere.

  26. I love ramen. I really do. It's kind of sad. My favorite kind is the stuff you get from the Asian supermarket. You know, with the instructions in another language, so you're always just preparing it by gut feel? Good stuff.

  27. When I announced I was making a career change years ago, I was told by my then-manager that I was making a huge mistake, and that my choice was a "dead-end." After that, I went on to have eight years in my new field, six of which were in highly competitive consulting environments, where I generated award-winning work and dazzled my clients before quitting to start a family. So there, Don. Don't ever underestimate a smart woman.

  28. One of my favorite albums of all time is Annie Lennox's "Diva." I love just about every song on that one. Same goes for Alannis Morrissette’s “Jagged Little Pill.”

  29. I know every word to "Les Miserables."

  30. Before I made a faith-based commitment to abstain from alcohol, my favorite beers were Killian's Red and Red Stripe. Favorite mixed drink: Midori sour. I never could stand margaritas.

  31. I dislike cheesecake.

  32. I once dreamed of doing language research involving sign language and chimpanzees.

  33. I love the smell of clover.

  34. I believe that dogs have souls, and that cats cannot be trusted.

  35. I've visited 22 states[1]. But I've only lived in two.

  36. I'm great at Pictionary and Taboo, but horrible at Scrabble.

  37. For the most part, I don't really mind public speaking.

  38. I would dance every day if I could.

  39. The last time I wore perfume, it was Happy by Clinique. I also really like L'eau D'issey by Issey Miyaki, and Red Door by Elizabeth Arden.

  40. I can carry a tune, but not with style.

  41. The only way I like scrambled eggs is wrapped in a flour tortilla with hash browns and salsa.

  42. I *love* football.

  43. I hate basketball.

  44. I can tolerate baseball if I'm going with fun people AND it's Dollar Dog Night, when hot dogs are a buck.

  45. I'm already, despite my own valiant efforts to the contrary, turning into my mother.

  46. I give great scalp massages.

  47. I miss the old Sesame Street episodes. After catching a few minutes of it the other day, I was greatly saddened by how different it is now than what I remember.

  48. I realized last week that my son will never know a world without cell phones, laptops or DVR.

  49. I can still hum the melody to the theme song for the 80s show "That's Incredible." It was hosted by Kathy Lee Crosby, Fran Tarkington, and that dark-haired guy.

  50. I remember that Balki Bartokemous of "Perfect Strangers" was from the island of Mypos.

  51. Someday, I want to develop a "look" I really like. I think it'll involve boot-cut jeans, long jackets and scarves. If Catherine Zeta-Jones would wear it while starring in a movie that takes place in the fall in New York City, it's probably for me.

  52. I make a bed like no one's business. The sheets are always smooth and perfectly tucked. I have to get into a "made" bed at night, so I've been known to make a bed just to go to sleep.

  53. I have two freckles on my nose, plus one chicken pox scar.

  54. Thanksgiving is far and away my favorite holiday, because it's about nothing but food and gratitude. I'm a big fan of both.

  55. Halloween is my second favorite holiday, because it's about fun and candy. Love those things, too.

  56. The only other holiday I really like is the Fourth of July. Stuff explodes, you get to smell gunpowder in the air, and if you go to see a real fireworks show, you can usually get popcorn, too.

  57. I never once was allowed to go trick-or-treating as a kid.

  58. I got sick on grape jelly in the third grade. It was almost 20 years before I ate it again.

  59. I don’t know how to pronounce the word “chignon.”

  60. I still think doodlebugs are cool. (You know – those bugs that roll up into a ball when you flick them.)

  61. I only go to bed because I have to. I love staying up late.

  62. I played the flute for eight years and hated it. Then I switched to bass drum. I didn’t play it for enough years. LOVED it.

  63. I made a binding commitment to attend a university I’d never visited.

  64. I will never regret not making the Dean’s List in college.

  65. The smell of freshly popped popcorn at the movie theater or in the airport is literally irresistible to me. Airport popcorn has been known to cure my frequent motion sickness.

  66. I have no idea how the first guy to ever eat durian worked up the courage to try it.

  67. Vacuum lines on a carpet make me happy.

  68. I believe that people judge me based on how tidy my house is when they come by to visit.

  69. When the Challenger exploded, I was in gym class in the fifth grade.

  70. When the World Trade Center was attacked, I was driving to work in the carpool lane.

  71. For me, home is where my husband’s hug is.

  72. I don’t really believe that slot machines are gambling. To me, it’s like playing a video game – you put in money and pay for the entertainment of pulling the lever or punching the buttons. Who ever really expects to win, anyway?

  73. I’m terrible at video games, unless you can succeed by random button-smashing – like Street Fighter.

  74. I used to pretend that the plastic pegs for my Lite-Brite were jewels for my Barbie dolls to mine. That was how they funded their lavish lifestyles, with their mansions, convertibles and horses.

  75. I hate being outside in hot weather. I detest that feeling of dampness in your creases that you get immediately when you set foot outside of an air-conditioned building. I’d rather wear four sweaters in a freezing climate, than feel sticky from the first sweat of the day at 7 a.m. where I live now.

  76. Because I loathe editing, I’ve developed a more or less organized stream of consciousness. That way, when I write, I am assured of at least a partially logical product. (Lists like this don’t count.)

  77. I cannot be relaxed in a cluttered room.

  78. New York City intimidates me.

  79. Whenever I announce to anyone that I’ve never seen “Citizen Kane,” or “Casablanca,” I get a shocked gasp. When I announce that I’ve never seen “The Goonies,” I get the same gasp. This does not bode well for Bogey.

  80. I am grateful to know people who are always looking outside of the mainstream for interesting movies, music, literature and experiences. I am just not one of those people. I’ve always just liked what I liked, whether it was mainstream or “independent,” and I’m finally at a point in my life where I’m not apologetic for that anymore.

  81. My favorite candy bar of all time is the Whatchamacallit.

  82. I cannot, for the life of me, understand the appeal of scrapbooking.

  83. The very word “flea” makes my hair stand on end. Ugh.

  84. I can suppress a shudder. (I just had to, after I typed “flea.”)

  85. I am also capable of sneezing silently due to superhuman stifling abilities. But it hurts.

  86. I love the smell of rubbing alcohol.

  87. I am a great solderer.

  88. I used to fold underwear until I got married. My husband doesn’t, and his logic (“Who’s gonna know if it’s wrinkled?!”) has rubbed off on me.

  89. I miss my gramma the most at Christmas-time.

  90. I collect bookmarks.

  91. I think snowflakes are heartbreakingly beautiful.

  92. I put on a sock-and-a-shoe and a sock-and-a-shoe, not a sock-and-a-sock and a shoe-and-a-shoe.

  93. I’ve never climbed a tree.

  94. I will never understand why anyone buys a Rolls-Royce, a third home or a private jet.

  95. I like the mountains better than the beach, but would gladly vacation in either locale.

  96. I think someone could make a good living at targeting new mothers for in-home spa services. If someone was willing to come to ME to give me a pedicure, I’d pay a fuel premium.

  97. I have almost never been able to eat an entire serving of yogurt. About two-thirds of the way through, the texture always makes me think “gack,” and I have to throw the rest away.

  98. Lovebugs freak me out.

  99. I speak Vietnamese well enough to converse with college graduates, and read it well enough to check a fifth-grader’s homework. But when I try to write it, I sound like I’m three years old. Or a moron.

  100. I heart wikipedia.

  101. When I was a kid, we used to call “sunny-side-up” eggs “dip-it-in” eggs. So now I have to stop myself from ordering them that way at IHOP.

  102. I am addicted to my iPhone, but I don’t think I’m cool enough to be a “mac” person.

  103. I prefer Super-Target to Wal-Mart.

  104. I prefer Coke to Pepsi.

  105. I love the sound it makes when you bounce a playground ball against cement. (“[ting … ting … ting …]”)

  106. I love pie, but prefer crust-topped pies to open ones, unless you’re talking cream or meringue.

  107. I bake better than I cook.

  108. I do great French braids.

  109. When I ski, I get bored on green runs, enjoy blue runs, and have absolutely no desire to try a black one.

  110. I was in a car accident while driving the drivers’ ed car (though it was NOT my fault). After that, every time I got behind the wheel, the instructor would lead us all in prayer.

  111. I think someone should find a way to serve avocado slices on pizza.

  112. I don’t like it when the syrup from my pancakes touches my sausage or bacon. To me, sweetness and meat just don’t go together. (And because I’m a fan of “The Office,” I’m sitting here thinking, “That’s what she said.”)

    [1] California, Washington, Nevada, Colorado, Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Kansas, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico, plus D.C.

3 comments:

Jon said...

this is so fun, blog friends!

the 112 is a tough task, I found it tricky to come up with enough oddities to fill the whole list. Actually, I don't think I've finished ... I've got work to do!

RitaJeane said...

We have 21 things in common (from this list)-- my favorite is how be both heart lines from the vacuum cleaner. Love it!

Phu said...

Jennifer, you are a really, really good writer. I enjoyed reading your blog. I felt a little guilty and deviously proud of your #5 (I've read "Jane Eyre" once a year since I was in the eighth grade.)