Red Red Whine

100 things you’ve been dying to know about me

1. I feel like my first “thing” should be weightier or somehow better than all the others, so I’ve been sitting here, stuck, trying to think of the best possible thing to write and instead writing nothing.

2. I think this same sort of stasis occurs on a larger scale in my life out of my expectation/hope/intention/whatever to do something phenomenal. I end up just doing nothing instead.

3. One thing I like about knitting is I can be lazy, lie on the couch, and watch TV but also accomplish something. I figure I’m the ultimate multi-tasker this way.

4. I hate that I cannot simultaneously read and knit.

5. I am a horrendous housekeeper.

6. When I used to highlight my hair, I convinced myself it didn’t need much maintenance. Consequently, pictures from that time of my life (including my driver’s license photo) show one half of my head as one shade of brown and the other half another.

7. I now only dye my hair its natural color, to cover up my 20-or-so gray hairs. And yes, I’m only 30 and eleven-twelfths and I have gray hair.

8. I sing songs to and about my cats. My personal favorite is “Theeeerrrreee was a cat who was not thin and Alex was his name-o! A! L! Eeeee! X! A! L! Eeee! X! [you can imagine the rest].”

9. I am a huge chicken, but despite that, I have been skydiving and canyoning.

10. Speaking of being a chicken, I didn’t learn to ride a bike until I was twelve. My parents asked me why I didn’t want to learn, I said, “Because I don’t want to DIE.”

11. The last time I rode a bike was almost 10 years ago in Martha’s Vineyard. I’d rented the bike in one town, barely managed to ride the 9 miles to another town without dying of exhaustion to look at an apartment, and when it was time to return the bike to the rental place I called a cab and asked, “Do you have room for a girl and a bike?” The cab guy laughed at me.

12. I love all fruits but only tolerate a few vegetables.

13. I consider myself religiously conflicted.

14. Strangers at odd places (the grocery store, on my college campus, etc) often attempt to recruit me to join their churches. Either they can tell I’m religiously conflicted, or it’s something else.

15. I got knocked out of the 5th grade spelling bee (leaving with a 2nd place ribbon) for misspelling bookkeeper.

16. I’m still embarrassed at myself for that one. Two K’s, GG. Two. Even more embarrassing is the fact that I cried in front of the whole class.

17. I think you can probably tell a lot about a person by the way he or she eats corn on the cob. I just haven’t figured out how to analyze this information.

18. I have no control over when and where my tears decide to make an appearance. I don’t know how men do it.

19. I am left-handed, and the rest of my family is right-handed.

20. I’ve always been “the weird one” of the family.

21. I have a hard time sleeping without my cats purring by my head.

22. Before I met Wilman, I was dangerously close to becoming “that crazy lady with all the cats.”

23. I intend to write a book that involves a slightly fictionalized version of my husband’s family. That’s how messed up I think they are.

24. I adore office supplies.

25. My Christmas list as a child once included “my very own roll of tape.”

26. I still submit a Christmas list to my parents each year. I also do one on my husband’s behalf because he feels too weird to write his own or even to tell me things to put on his.

27. I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve become bored by sudoku.

28. One of my mothers-in-law pronounces it “sokudo” and it drives me absolutely batty. (No, I do not have two husbands. My husband has a mother and a stepmother.)

29. I was named after a character in the movie Dr. Zhivago, and people often mispronounce it.

30. One of my vertebrae is described by doctors as being shaped like a butterfly, and I love this about myself even though it can only be seen in x-rays.

31. I cannot do a cartwheel.

32. I flunked out of beginner’s ballet twice as a child.

33. For about four years of my life, I decided wearing panties made me feel fat, so I just quit wearing them unless I was flying on a plane or visiting my parents. I’m not sure why only those two situations warranted the donning of underpants.

34. I hate the word “panties.”

35. I am back to the land of the under-wearers, and have been for a while, although I’m not sure what made me change my mind about these things.

36. The first time I got my period, I went home and sobbed. To this day, I have no idea why I was so traumatized by it.

37. My favorite ride at the fair is the tilt-a-whirl. Or the swings. It’s a toss-up.

38. I did a study-abroad program in Dublin and hoped desperately to fall in love with an Irishman while there. Instead, I hung out with a guy from Pittsburgh.

39. My favorite beer is still Guinness, although Chimay Blue is up there pretty high.

40. I can play the piano, the french horn, the cello (sort of), and the viola de gamba (sort of), although it’s been years since I did so.

41. I had a scholarship to college for my French horn-playing, but then I switched majors and the scholarship went bye-bye.

42. The only reason I have not tried to sell my car is the fact that I have misplaced the title. I hear there is a way to have the title replaced, though. (Hi, Mom & Dad. I am very mature.)

43. I have yet to locate decent Mexican food in the city and surrounding areas of Philadelphia.

44. A part of me despises Shirley Temple.

45. I have abandoned two friends in my life, after determining the friendship was unhealthy and just not good for me. I used the avoidance method and offered no explanation, and I still feel guilty about it (but have no desire to rekindle these friendships).

46. I made out (once) with what might have been the geekiest guy in my law school class. When I say “made out,” I only mean “kissed.”

47. I have disgusting feet and should get more pedicures.

48. I am addicted to water ice, which is this weird Philadelphia phenomenon that is like a cross between a sno-cone and an Italian ice.

49. I hate our couch. Even though it is comfortable, I still hate it.

50. I am willing to skimp on certain things to save money…but NEVER toilet paper.

51. I love doing “The Cube” (random personality test I read in a magazine) to people; to this day, I am the only person I’ve ever known whose cube was up in the air and twirling.

52. When I laugh at something I read, I always snort – and yet when I laugh in a social setting, there is no snorting at all.

53. I think the best Lean Cuisine, without question, is the 3-bean chili.

54. The page-a-day calendar on my desk currently reflects the date as February 12.

55. Even though I have no clue whether it does anything or not, I still (daily!) put 4 drops of Dr. Bach’s Hornbeam Essence in my water for motivation.

56. When Wilman and I first started dating, he thought I was a big sports fan because I knew a lot about Phil Mickelson. He was wrong. I just had a crush on the guy.

57. At burrito shops, I order tacos so I don’t have to commit to just one kind of meat.

58. I am pretty scared of home ownership – it seems so responsible and like there could be a lot of unexpected costs along the road. I know this is stupid.

59. My hair is naturally curly, but I think it’s getting straighter as I get older.

60. I do not have any tattoos, and although sometimes I get the urge to go get one, I doubt I ever will. Partly because I don’t want an old and wrinkly tattoo on my old and wrinkly body one day and partly because I don’t think I have anything I want to make such a permanent statement about.

61. My favorite Halloween costume of all time was my Annie (as in Little Orphan) costume. I loved that dress so much that I wore it when it wasn’t even Halloween.

62. I believed in Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, and the tooth fairy way longer than I should have.

63. I’ve had my cell phone for over a year and yet still have not replaced the automated voice mail greeting with a personal one.

64. I have done lawyerly things like argue cases before federal judges before, and surprised myself by sort of liking it.

65. I am ridiculously stubborn – so much so that my dad calls me “Diamondhead” on occasion (the implication being that my head is harder than a diamond).

66. I’m a little scared of and intimidated by Los Angeles and yet neither scared of nor intimidated by New York.

67. The one time a bully challenged me to a fight in junior high, I laughed at the absurdity of my wimpy ass showing up. My response was something like, “Um, are you serious?”

68. I think mashed potatoes could be God’s greatest gift.

69. Of all my (obviously beautiful) features, I am most often complimented on my eyes.

70. If I were more coordinated, I’d consider taking tap-dancing lessons. Except then I’d be that freakish adult who actually took tap-dancing lessons, so never mind.

71. I abhor those rubber bands for a cause that people use as sorry excuses for bracelets. I think they look stupid and that, ultimately, nobody really cares what cause anyone supports.

72. I own a toaster, but cannot remember the last time I actually used it.

73. If forced to choose between all the delicious frozen drinks in the world, I’ll always be torn between a frozen brandy alexander, a lava flow, and a bushwhacker. None of the others come close.

74. I order my margaritas on the rocks and yet have never requested “Diet Coke – on the rocks.”

75. I have ridden in a helicopter without doors before, and it was both terrifying and incredibly cool.

76. I believe the most comfortable shoes in the world are Birkenstocks.

77. My favorite kind of cake is yellow – not made from scratch, but made from the box (whichever brand is in the red box with the red spoon on it – the flavor has the word “butter” in it) – with vanilla frosting. Or maybe cream cheese frosting.

78. I just discovered that the Starburst people have changed the taste of the pink ones, and I can’t decide how I feel about the change. I never liked the original pinks…but these are interesting.

79. I refer to Merriam-Webster.com at least once a week, either to check a spelling, make sure I’m using a word correctly, or find a synonym. Regardless, I still overuse certain words.

80. I am jealous of people who have cute sneezes.

81. The first concert I ever attended was Depeche Mode, and I was 14.

82. I did NOT realize what they were singing about in “Master & Servant.” Ha.

83. I was so preppy-ish in high school that the manager of the Gap offered me a job once when I was in there with my mom.

84. The closest Gap was an hour from my home, so I worked at the J. Crew outlet instead.

85. Even though it’s been a good 10 years, it’s hard for me to buy stuff at regular prices after getting a 30% discount on already discounted prices.

86. If my house was on fire and my cats and husband were safe and I only could take one tangible item with me, I’d be emotionally traumatized over having to choose between wedding photos and my iPod. (This is pretending that my photographer had no way of reproducing said photos). (So never mind, That isn’t true in the least, so now it’s obvious that I would take my iPod).

87. I am ridiculous sometimes.

88. When I was a kid, I was surprised when my parents didn’t react to my foibles the same way Mike & Carol Brady did.

89. When anyone offers to “let” me hold their newborn baby, I am afraid of its wobbly, soft head.

90. I really need to do an overhaul of all the clutter in our apartment, and yet lack the motivation.

91. For several years, four friends and I emailed mostly in haiku.

92. I think the new King Kong may be one of the worst movies ever produced.

93. I’m embarrassingly behind on my wedding thank-you-note writing.

94. I think the Hanson song “Mmmmmbop” is catchy and happy.

95. We have about 50 bottles of wine in our house, all brought back from our trips to Napa, and I’m not allowed to open any of them except on special occasions.

96. I find most lines of the movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098300/”> color=”#448888″>Shag funny (although I don’t think they are supposed to be), and a couple friends and I often get into “who can remember the funniest line” contests, where we mimic the accents and laugh hysterically.

97. For a girl who owns and loves makeup so much, I wear very little on a daily basis: tinted moisturizer, BeneFit’s Sunflower powder stuff, and colored Bert’s Bees chapstick.

98. I participated in a “youth in government” program in high school simply because lots of cute boys attended.

99. My favorite games are Scattergories, Taboo, Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, Boggle, Beyond Balderdash, and Cranium. (I know. That doesn’t leave many others).

100. Wilman and I want to get a dog once we have a house and a yard, but we have very different taste in dogs: he wants a rottweiler or white german shepherd and I want a bassett hound or golden retriever.