100 Things!

Pete says he will write up a guest-post for me about his July 4^th experiences and he started it but then got busy with work. I am going to harass him into finishing it, though, because I think it will be very entertaining and interesting for all of us!

In the meantime, I was bored and decided to finally go ahead and make that list that I’ve seen on so very many blogs. Yep, that list. Then I can link it in my sidebar and be done with it. I always enjoy reading them when I discover a new blog and find they have one.

100 Things About Me

1. I was born on July 31^st, 1969
2. My father says my autobiography, should I write one, should be called Between the Moon and Woodstock.
3. My favorite number is 12 because it repeats a lot in my family.
4. I don’t have a favorite color, but when forced to pick one I usually say any dark bluish-green color.
5. My favorite crayon was always Midnight Blue because it looked like it was black, but then colored in this incredibly rich blue that I loved.
6. My favorite flower when I was a child was the marigold because my mother used to plant some in a garden out back.
7. My favorite flower later became the Star Gazer Lily, but I feel it is too showy now.
8. I don’t know what my favorite flower is anymore.
9. I do not like any kind of nuts or fruit in my chocolate, the only exception being a Snickers bar.
10. Coffee flavoring, cream, or caramel are some acceptable flavors to be combined with my chocolate.
11. For me, it is not dessert if it is not chocolate.
12. I will have apple pie with vanilla ice cream and enjoy it, but it is a snack, not dessert.
13. Despite what my Uncle thinks, only vanilla ice cream should be served on an apple pie. Any other flavor is akin to blasphemy.
14. Most of the foods I don’t like are more because of their texture than their flavor.
15. I mostly don’t like mushy foods, or foods that combine liquid-texture with firm texture.
16. I loathe and despise flan, crème caramel or anything like that. Flan actually makes me want to throw up just thinking about it.
17. Exceptions to the mushy food clause are mashed potatoes and cottage cheese. I think that’s it.
18. I hated tomatoes and mushrooms when I was a kid.
19. I love mushrooms now and can enjoy tomatoes when combined with other things, which is amazing since I used to not be able to eat a sandwich if it had once had a slice of tomato on it that had since been removed.
20. Because of this, I make it a point to try things over and over again even if I think I hate them.
21. Except for flan. I will not try that again.
22. I have never broken a bone in my body (well, likely my pinky toes a few times, but they don’t count).
23. I haven’t broken anyone else’s bones either.
24. This is impressive because I once fell 25 ft. from a tree.
25. I ended up with a mild concussion and a very impressive black eye.
26. I was wearing nothing but a bathing suit at the time, and was surrounded by my boyfriend’s extended family because they were having a reunion.
27. I bounced when I hit the ground, according to witnesses. I blacked out as I fell.
28. I love thunderstorms.
29. I love being outdoors and hiking, yet I am terrified of bugs.
30. Once while hiking, a cicada flew directly at my ear and bounced off. I almost died.
31. I am so terrified of bees that most people think I am allergic.
32. I always want to lie and say I am, but I never do.
33. I am a terrible liar and always have been.
34. This is because it is impossible for me to keep anything from showing in my face.
35. I have one brother who is 2 ½ years older than me.
36. He lives in Houston, TX and we hardly talk anymore.
37. He and his wife have two girls who I hardly ever see.
38. I wish they lived closer.
39. When I was a little girl I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up.
40. After dropping out of college I thought I’d be a writer one day, but I only waited tables.
41. During those years, people often asked if I was a teacher when first meeting me.
42. I have no desire to be a teacher, though I sometimes think about if I would be good at some sort of counseling.
43. I believe that I give good advice and comfort to others, especially if I can do it in writing.
44. I have toyed with the idea of starting my own advice column.
45. I start things and don’t finish them a LOT.
46. I have discovered that most people are like that.
47. I love reading books and watching movies that make me think hard and look differently at the world.
48. I also love sometimes just watching things get blown up.
49. I think both things are important and good.
50. My absolute favorite Super Hero is Batman. Spiderman is a close second.
51. When I was little, I thought if I spun around long enough and fast enough on my front lawn, I could turn into Wonder Woman.
52. I wanted very much to know that there was a God.
53. I was jealous of the rituals and prayers I saw friends’ perform when I slept over.
54. Becoming a mother was the scariest thing I’ve ever done.
55. It took me a long time to actually feel like a mother—years, in fact.
56. Sometimes I hate it.
57. Turns out, all parents hate it sometimes.
58. I have a closer relationship with my parents than anyone I know has with theirs.
59. I hated my father when I was younger, though. I needed someone to blame, I think, for how messed up I felt inside.
60. My father was the first one to understand and comfort me when I started falling apart at college that first month.
61. Our relationship truly began from that point, I believe.
62. I am a lot like my dad, of course.
63. My parents have been married for 44 years.
64. I am very proud of them.
65. Sometimes I have regrets about doing so many things out of order to the norm.
66. Most of the time I appreciate how all these things helped me become a person I am (usually) proud of today.
67. I was a real ‘loser’ in school as a kid, with very few friends.
68. I was teased a lot.
69. I loved learning and being in school until I was teased so much that school became the enemy.
70. I don’t like scary movies.
71. I don’t mind the ‘slasher’ ones like Nightmare on Elm Street or whatever; it is the subtle, suspenseful, things that might actually happen films that I can’t take.
72. I have slept with the lights on after seeing some movies, including ones that most people didn’t think were all that scary.
73. When I was little, I had one story told to me at camp and saw a movie that both involved a severed hand moving on its own.
74. I was often convinced that I saw a hand coming up the stairs to my bedroom.
75. In some ways I have become more conservative as I’ve gotten older.
76. I try hard to be open-minded and less judgmental, but I still really enjoy making comments about others to my closest friends.
77. I am amazed at the friends I have today, at how rich the relationships are and at how long we’ve been friends.
78. My friend S. and I have been friends for thirty-four years.
79. I am fiercely loyal and protective of my friends, no matter if I’ve known them for 20 days or 20 years.
80. I enjoy writing erotica sometimes.
81. I’m one of those women who like porn.
82. When I was young and idealistic I went back and forth about porn and strip clubs and whether or not it was ‘women taking control’ or ‘women aiding and abetting the objectification of women’.
83. I honestly don’t care that much anymore. As long as everyone involved is an adult, I think its okay.
84. I was obnoxiously idealistic in my twenties.
85. I thought I was born in the wrong time and tried to recreate the sixties for myself in many ways.
86. I wore moccasins and—embarrassingly—patchouli oil.
87. I went to a lot of protests and was a member of a campus group called “People for Peace and Justice.”
88. I didn’t shave my legs or armpits for 5 years or so, the same five years I was a vegetarian.
89. Yes, I still managed to have guys think I was hot.
90. Confronting people and making them face their ignorance was one of my favorite pastimes.
91. I especially liked doing this if I was on LSD.
92. I used to take a lot of LSD and loved it.
93. When I first got sober, the thought of never doing LSD again was the hardest thing to accept. I figured the chances of it being offered were slim, but that if I was presented with the option I just wouldn’t be able to say no.
94. I would say no.
95. My memory is horrible. I forget things ten minutes after I say them…sometimes in the middle of saying them, and I have a very hard time placing any memories I do have in the right context.
96. I only have my ears pierced…two in each. I never had anything else pierced, though I used to have four in one ear and three in the other.
97. I have two tattoos—three if you count that one is a cover-up.
98. I got all three tattoos after I got sober. One on each arm, near the top. Four hours of work on each, about. Yes, it hurts.
99. I want more, but am lazy and particular and have a hard time spending money on it.
100. I though this list would be a lot harder, but its fun when you just let it go as a stream-of-consciousness exercise.

Comments

[kat]

there are lots of items on your list that i whole-heartedly agree with, but i'll just say this one thing about 44:

when i was in college, every few weekends or so i'd set up a little card table and some folding chairs in jackson square and put up a sign that said "free advice." SO MUCH FUN. of course, i'm pretty sure the only place in the world that you could do such a thing is pre-katrina new orleans.

[Catherine]

I really enjoyed reading this!

[Susan]

Great list, Sarah! I didn't think I could like you any better than I already did. I was wrong!

[Amy D.]

you rock, Sarah! I love how it's mostly really visceral...food, drugs, scary movies and porn...crayon colors and flowers and motherhood. awesome!

[The Editter]

I haven't done one of these either, but may follow your stream-of-consciousness advice. This was great to read!

And re no. 44, how about doing a blog-advice column? You could get us to send in our problems and every so often you do a post tackling a few!

[Shelli]

Awesome list. I learned that we have a lot more in common than I already thought we did. You are awesome, Sarah.

[Elise]

I actually did one but I haven't posted it up on my blog yet. Maybe someday I will! Yours was fun to read. I learned lots of stuff about you that I didn't know!

[Libby]

Great list Sarah! So fun to read.

[Cecily]

I knew all of that. Except the advice column. You should so do that! like Moxie!

[julie]

Wow, I loved this. Thank you for being so generous.

I was a loser outcast from 5th to 12th grade.

I sometimes still wear patchouli.

More flan for me!

[Charlie]

Terrific list. Especially #51. I'm a huge fan of magical thinking (and my dad had a crush on Lynda Carter so we watched WW alot).

[Heather]

Good stuff! Flan is disgusting and I still don't like tomatoes and mushrooms. Blech.

[greenie]

Nicely done! It seems so daunting..don't know if I have the tenacity right now to achieve that kind of list. (not that you're asking me, just thinking it through...)

I think we feel totally amazed by our own ability to survive the shit we do...and then look back and wonder how. Glad you're here. Thank the universe for loving fathers...Their love is so...sustaining.

[menoblog]

So, what is the cover up tattoo covering up?

Thanks for the list. It was fun to read. Maybe i'll be inspired do one too.

[sourtimes]

wow, that was a big list :D ! It is very nice-finding things in common with somenome you dont even know :P ! I liked your blog generally ! And the 100 list I think I 'll do it myself too but I dont think that I will ever reach 100 :)