103 Things About Me

I compiled this list in response to a Face Book "tag." Since many of you don't use Face Book, and I found it an interesting exercise in an introspective, egocentric way, I thought I'd post it here, too.


1. I love making things -- working with my hands and my mind at the same time.
2. I wish I had recognized earlier in my life how much I am intrigued by textiles.
3. I can’t walk past bolts of fabric without touching them.
4. I have been quilting for a year and a half and still am not very good at it – I learn something with every quilt.
5. I think being a dilettante is a good thing. It puzzles me that the word has a negative connotation.
6. I can be one of the best cooks I know, but I still have many flops and eat junk.
7. I am seriously trying to eat as a locavore.
8. I could never be a vegetarian.
9. Artichokes, asparagus, and avocados are my favorite foods.
10. I like red wine and martinis (but not together).
11. I drink quite moderately but always feel slightly guilty about it.
12. I wish I liked oatmeal better – my mother always called it mush and I think that kind of spoiled it for me.
13. When I have pets, I wish I didn’t – when I don’t have them, I wish I did.
14. I always say I could live alone, but as soon as that happens, someone else moves in.
15. I love my life.
16. I think women need girl friends and I feel sorry for those who have none.
17. I miss the California light and the Pacific ocean.
18. Missouri weather fascinates me.
19. I would love to see a tornado – but still take shelter whenever the sirens sound.
20. I hate fussing with my hair and putting on makeup.
21. I would be happy to wear the same clothes nearly every day.
22. I love catalog shopping and when the stuff arrives, I feel like it is a gift.
23. I am a reluctant geek. I worked in the industry for 25 years and feel obliged to keep up with it.
24. I love travel. When I get home from a trip, if I don’t immediately start planning my next one, I get depressed.
25. I love written language. I like semi-colons; I’m sorry they’re not popular now.
26. John Updike is my all-time favorite writer – mostly for his vocabulary and the way he uses language rather than the story-line itself.
27. I’m also fascinated by Paul and Jane Bowles and the “February House” crowd. PB’s Sheltering Sky is one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever read.
28. I love John Irving’s novels, too.
29. I have no tolerance for boredom or indecision.
30. I am impulsive.
31. Family is very important to me.
32. I am an intellectual snob.
33. My most-hated household chore is folding socks.
34. I never fold my underwear – I just toss it in the drawer.
35. I skipped third grade.
36. I graduated from college 20 years after I graduated from high school.
37. I went to college at night while working and raising a family.
38. I have a degree in Art History (with honors).
39. I have an MBA. (It took two years, while working and raising a family.)
40. I have a math phobia, although I’m very good at basic arithmetic.
41. I was an editor for a small literary publication.
42. Most of my career was spent in accounting and finance for large corporations.
43. I spent five years as a technical writer.
44. Paris is my favorite city
45. I have visited 25 different countries.
46. I have been to every state except South Carolina.
47. My first job was with Bank of America.
48. I always have a messy desk.
49. I like to move. I would still like to live in New York – either Manhattan if I win millions, or in the Finger Lakes region, possibly Canandaigua.
50. I would also like to live on the hillside near La Jolla where I could watch the sun set on the Pacific, but not have sand drug into my house.
51. When I travel, I plan my trip around monuments, museums, cathedrals, etc., but my favorite memories are of people and the landscape.
52. The most memorable place I have visited is Les Eyzies in the Dordogne region of France where I saw 20,000 year old cave art.
53. My most exotic trip was a Kenyan safari. Most memorable aspects of that trip were the birds, the people, the landscape and a pre-historic site on the escarpment of the Rift Valley. You can see the animals in many zoos.
54. I believe Yosemite is the most beautiful spot on the planet.
55. I love to laugh till it hurts and I can’t breathe.
56. I have a blessed capacity for joy, yet I grieve a part of each day.
57. The body’s ability to heal itself astounds me.
58. I have more awe than faith.
59. I hate gambling and casinos depress me. (I don’t know how I’m going to win the money to live in NYC.)
60. I am a morning person.
61. I don’t like cruises (too many people and limited space).
62. I took a 13,000 mile, 2-1/2 month road trip, mostly alone, although various grandkids joined me for pieces of the trip.
63. I don’t like to listen to the radio in the car except occasionally PBS.
64. Classical music is my favorite, especially opera and Gregorian Chants. I also like 50’s music, Broadway musicals, and Eastern European Women’s Choruses.
65. I wish I played an instrument well or had a great singing voice.
66. I love the theatre and movies, but hate TV.
67. I love to drive.
68. Princess Diana fascinated me.
69. So does Oprah, although I’m getting a bit bored with her.
70. Harrison Ford and Jack Nicholson are my favorite sexy men, although they are getting awfully old.
71. I like being single and don’t think I could ever be in a relationship because I hate to compromise.
72. I would like to meet Barbara Kingsolver.
73. I cried just a little when Susan Boyle took second place.
74. I work the puzzles in the paper every morning and barely skim over the rest of the paper; I get most of my news online.
75. Liver and cottage cheese are my most-hated foods.
76. I love to cook for an audience. Feeding the immediate family gets boring,
77. I pick my cuticles, can’t leave them alone.
78. My heart breaks when people are mean to their kids.
79. Christmas still excites me; I leave an artificial tree up year round (downstairs).
80. I have been in hot air balloons over the Napa Valley in California and the Masai Mara in Kenya.
81. Snakes terrify me. I’m sure if a snake bit me, it would be fatal – wouldn’t even have to be a poisonous snake.
82. I have cruised the Nile: seen Abu Simba, Luxor, and the pyramids. Nile Cruises are on small boats and you can always see the shore.
83. I would like to see Antarctica, Iquazu Falls, the Galapagos, Easter Island, and the Amazon Basin.
84. Hawaii doesn’t do it for me.
85. I am legally blind in my left eye.
86. I would attend any “big deal” sporting event, even though I’m not a sports fan. I’ve been to a World Series game, Summer Olympics, seen the Yankees play in Yankee Stadium, seen Willie Mays hit a grand slam home run (don’t ask, “Who’s Willie Mays?”!), been to a bull fight and would gladly go to the Indy 500, the Kentucky Derby, Super Bowl, or whatever.
87. I appreciate excellence in anything, even when it’s something I know little about, or outside my usual areas of interest.
88. I like many needle crafts: knitting, embroidery, crewel, needlepoint, regular sewing, and quilting by either hand or machine.
89. I love color; my favorite changes daily.
90. I have tattooed eyebrows.
91. I love to watch people sleep.
92. I would have a very difficult time telling a dear friend a hurtful truth.
93. I tend to be a Pollyanna – I always look for the bright side, even when it’s not appropriate.
94. My children, Kevin and Colleen, are twins and were conceived in Yosemite National Park.
95. I owned (shared with my brother) a horse (named Nellie-Belle) as a teen-ager.
96. My first car was a ’46 Ford.
97. My favorite car was a blue and white ’57 Ford.
98. I love to drive fast and would love to drive on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
99. I have ridden a camel.
100. I never balance my bank accounts – I just look them over for weird stuff.
101. I don’t see how anyone can eat raw oysters.
102. I love maps and am sad that GPS and MapQuest are making them obsolete.
103. Fireflies (or do you call them lightning bugs?) are my favorite insect and I can’t wait for them to come out each year.