101 Things About Me
1. I was born in Texas.
2. I lived in Texas until I was five.
3. I had a nanny who had hunting dogs, pigs, chickens, and a horse.
4. My father’s family were coal miners from West Virginia
5 My mother’s family came from Wisconsin via Kentucky
6. I lived in South Florida (West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami) until I was 27.
7. I went to thirteen schools in twelve years.
8. My bestfriends from third to ninth grade were Elizabeth and Mickey. I had a secret crush on Mickey for seven years!
9. As a child I wandered around on my own a lot playing pretend and making up stories.
10. But I had a lot of friends and was popular (or notorious depending on your point of view). *grin*
11. I usually got good grades (except in math)
12. But my report card often said “has problems with authority”
13. and “doesn’t apply herself”
14. I went to a Montessori school for 3rd and 4th grade.
15. I would get in trouble for talking too much and losing my pencil everyday before math class.
16. I think the teacher was stealing them...
17. In 5th grade a student in my class died of a brain aneurysm
18. He had asked me to “go out” with him earlier that week and I had declined rather coldly
19. I guess I never got over that.
20. I have five ear piercings.
21. Most of my best friends have been boys.
22. Males expect a lot less from you.
23. I have this thing about always wanting to meet expectations and with men friendship is a lot less stressful.
24. Plus I have a lot of interests in common with men
25. Like I used to work at a comic book store and I still have a large collection of comics
26. I also like science fiction books, movies and television shows.
27. I even play role-playing games. I was the “Role-Playing Game Liaison” at the comic book store I worked at because I had played all the games there.
28. (side note - I met my husband, Pere, role-playing)
29. I love martial arts movies.
30. I LOVE Jackie Chan and I even met him once.
31. I used to like professional wrestling.
32. I was a professional wrester.
33. No, really, I was.
34. I was like a Highlander chick babyface.
35. That life wasn’t for me, but still it was fun, albeit dangerous.
36. I tore all the ligament off my ankle when I wrestled with Psycho Sybil and Joanie (aka China)
37. That injury kept me from getting my black belt in Kyokushin Karate.
38. But I do have a brown belt with a black strip.
39. I also have done archery, knife throwing, fencing, kendo, and kung-fu.
40. I do have a girlie side.
41. Now all my best friends are women.
42. My favorite author is Jane Austen.
43. I collect books on etiquette, home keeping and parenting.
44. I also collect rare books about Japan
45. I have this “thing” for Japan.
46. My “thing” involved/includes - anime/manga, Japanese language lessons, hosting Japanese foreign exchange students, karate, watching Japanese movies, eating all kinds of Japanese foods, and reading every book I can about Japan.
47. 47 is a magical number in our household
48. I am married to my best friend Pere.
49. We have one child - Z.
50. They are both completely awesome.
51. My favorite food is my mother’s seafood gumbo
52. My husband’s cassoulet is a close second.
53. My favorite dessert is lemon sorbet.
54. I love movies. My favorite movies are Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire of the Sun, Drunken Master Two, Hope and Glory, Say Anything... um, there are really too many to say
55. I enjoy photography
56. I am also a writer
57. I wrote a 50,000+ word book last year for the nanowrimo.
58. I used to write for CBS sports magazine.
59. I also used to write for other websites as a tech writer and copy writer.
60. Before that I worked as an efficiency expert.
61. My brain looks at everything to find the most efficient way of doing it. It is not something I try to do. It is just this weird thing.
62. I also owned a used bookstore.
63. I have a very large home library with thousands of books.
64. When I was pregnant with Z we moved to Fairfax Virginia
65. I really loved having four seasons and the history and museums of D.C. nearby.
66. On September 10th 2001 we moved out to L.A.
67. Since then we have lived in five different apartments
68. This year we bought our first home. Yay!
69. When I was eleven started doing local musical theatre. I was in Snoopy, Fame and Godspell.
70. For awhile I thought I wanted to be an actress.
71. My daughter Z was an actress.
72. I have worked for a detective agency, a wrestling company, a comic book store, Motorola, a daycare, a Doctor’s office, a technical recruiter, an online sports magazine, an online gaming company, and owned my own bookstore.
73. I really really love being a full time homeschooling mom.
74. I have spider fear, clown fear, and claustraphobia.
75. I am kind of obsessive about learning and researching. When I get interested in a topic I read everything that I can lay my hands on about it. Who needs school??
76. My favorite place in the world, besides my own home, is probably Paris, France.
77. Summer of 2006 I went to Paris, France and then Antibes in the South of France for two weeks.
78. My favorite holiday used to be Christmas.
79. I was raised Catholic. I have also been Buddhist, pagan, atheist, and Jewish.
80. Now my favorite holiday is Halloween.
81.The first grown-up book I remember reading was Pet Cemetary by Stephen King when I was ten. I quickly read most of the rest of his books that were out at that time.
82. In junior high my favorite author was Kurt Vonnegut. I also liked A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
83. Then I was really into Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.
84. In ninth grade I loved John Irving (like World According to Garp, Hotel New Hampshire, and, my favorite, a Prayer for Owen Meany)
85. My favorite band of all time is the Beatles.
86. In 1984 my favorite song was Van Halen’s Jump.
87. Soon after I got into my New Wave phase and I love Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Ministry, New Order, Skinny Puppy, Dead or Alive, etc
89. In college I finally admitted to myself that I have always liked all kinds of music and that includes Rap and Country.
91. I really like walking.
92. I am addicted to looking up random things on Wikipedia.
93. I started blogging in 2000.
94. I am the keeper of the family memories in the form of old photos, quilts and stories.
95. I don’t have a favorite color.
96. I like to be at home.
97. But I really need to get out of the house once a day or I get cabin fever.
98. I crave mental connections.
99. I need time alone for my own thoughts
100. The older I get the wiser and thus the happier I become.
101. I keep a lot of secrets.
