100 Things

Nothing like insomnia to get the posts flowing . . . I'm not sure how I've avoided this in 2 1/2 years of blogging, and god knows you people must already know 100 things about me, but I've been inspired lately by finding some other people's lists, so here is mine:

1. I'll be 36 in March.
2. Aging is a bit of a dilemma for me.
3. I started my blog originally because I'd taken three exciting trips (Tokyo, Seoul, Bali) in a month (November of 2004) and wanted to share the pictures and experiences with friends and family. I thought I'd be taking lots of fun trips and I wanted a place to document them.
4. After those trips it was months and months before I took another exciting trip, so I just started writing about my everyday life, and I haven't shut up since.
5. I grew up in Central Washington.
6. My kindergarten teacher constantly taught us that we were great. I used to walk around and tell strangers, “I like myself!"
7. What I wouldn’t give for a dose of that confidence now.
8. I went to college in Portland, Oregon.
9. Bible college. (I don’t recommend it - I got kicked out.) (I do recommend getting kicked out if you're already there.)
10. I lived in Portland for thirteen years, and I love it there.

11. Then I moved to Japan for almost four years.
12. I'm in upstate New York now. Sometimes I don't know why. I hope it will grow on me.
13. When I was little I sucked my fingers (pointer and middle) while holding onto a pillow case. When I went to kindergarten I would hide a pillow case in the arm of my coat (right sleeve) so I could have it with me all the time and feel it while walking to and from school.
14. I used to write letters to the priests and put them in the offering basket. When I was nine I wrote to President Carter to express my concerns. When I was ten I wrote to the local newspaper to thank them for their editorial column, and I wrote to the Pope asking why girls couldn't be Altar Boys.
15. Yes, I'm afraid I've always been a bit of an activist.
16. The Pope didn't write back. His assassination attempt happened a few weeks later, so that's probably why.
17. Every day brings with it a new existential dilemma to ponder.
18. I have a hard time being myself without worrying whether or not other people will accept me.
19. I have a sister who is 18 months older than I am and a brother 9 years younger.
20. In third grade I took my brother to school for show-and-tell.

21. I have an extremely sensitive bullshit detector. I can stand very, very little of it.
22. I have about three seconds for homophobia.
23. I've noticed there seems to be a direct relationship between personal difficulties and compassion, but an inverse relationship between religion and compassion.
24. Teaching was my favorite job ever. I wish teachers didn’t get paid jack.
25. Hand washing? Check. Obsessive flossing? Check. Lining papers up so they're parallel with the side of my desk? Check.
26. If Tyra Banks is fat, I just need to give up right now.
27. I volunteered for seven years as a Rape Victim Advocate in Portland. It was amazing work.
28. I've attended Al-Anon off and on for fifteen years.
29. I love it.
30. It’s like church but for people who are real.

31. I used to have a kitty named JJ who liked to hang out on top of open doors on that little space that is about 2" wide.
32. I had to give him to my brother when I moved to Japan. Trauma.
33. I applied for college on a dare in March of my senior year of high school. I was a bit of an underachiever in those days.
34. Now I am a sick workaholic.
35. What happened?
36. I really, really, really want to learn how to surf.
37. I have a loud laugh. You don't have to be around me very long to hear it.
38. I push myself all the time to do things outside of my comfort zone. It’s hard for me, but what's the other option?
39. I loathe the vile, heinous President.
40. I have no sense of direction. When I am trying to find something, I think of what my instinct would be and then go in the opposite direction. It almost always works.

41. Traveling internationally is my favorite thing to do. I feel most at home when I'm lost in a new city.
42. I've visited Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Guam, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand and Vietnam, and most of those a few times each.
43. Yeah, they're alphabetized. So what?
44. I've been in three bank robberies. It's hard to remember to keep the note!
45. Dammit, Shoo Shoo, I love that piano bar!
46. I have a student loan that would make your dog weep.
47. I'm afraid of geckos. Don’t say geckos.
48. I think everyone has a story, and I'm genuinely interested in just about all of them.
49. I’m empathetic to an absolute fault. It can be a problem.
50. When my sister and I are together we frequently laugh until we can’t breathe. Actually, that happens with my brother, too, but we’re not together as often.

51. I'm often single on Valentine's Day.
52. I try to arrange something fun and memorable to do every year on Valentine's Day and my birthday so the years don't just run one into another without me having specific, fun memories.
53. It also helps one not get bitter about being single if one is, say, floating down the Rhine River, riding on an elephant in the jungle, or climbing the Great Wall on V-Day.
54. One year on my birthday morning I was snoozing away in Phuket, Thailand, and the resort staff woke me up singing "Happy Birthday." They brought me breakfast, champagne and a cake.
55. My sister and BIL had called ahead. I couldn't believe it!
56. I had my palm read that day in Thailand.
57. Nothing that he said has happened!
58. I am a little disappointed about it.
59. I believe in making my own luck. (As it turns out, I'm a very lucky person.)
60. I don't believe that everything happens for a reason. Most things, yes. But not everything. Deal with it.

61. I’m definitely shy, at least for a while.
62. I require a crazy amount of time alone. It’s how I recharge.
63. I’d work on that, however, if Anderson Cooper is the clingy type.
64. I’m barking up the wrong tree there, aren’t I?
65. I’m afraid to fly. I’m pretty sure I’m going to die every time I get on a plane.
66. I have a friend who tells me to write notes to loved ones and put them in zip-lock baggies in case the plane crashes over water.
67. I’m kinda into that type of dark humor.
68. I went to Hawaii for the first time last year.
69. It's unreal, I had no idea.
70. I went back again a month later. And again a month later.

71. I love, love, love to read. Books matter to me.
72. "And The Band Played On" by Randy Shilts, "Man's Search For Meaning" by Viktor Frankl, "Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo and “The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver will always be in my top five.
73. In 2001 I gave all of my hair to Locks of Love.
74. I love my attitude problem.
75. I have a very, very soft heart.
76. I’ve been skydiving once.
77. When you pull your chute and stop free-falling, it’s so quiet you can hear birds flap their wings.
78. I was a vegetarian for five years. Nothing noble, just grossed out by eating flesh.
79. Since living in Japan, when I get tired I drive on the wrong side of the road.
80. Maybe I missed NPR more than anything while living overseas.

81. Although tirelessly introspective, I'm not really given to depression, even when things get very bad.
82. Trust me, that's: Nature - 0, Nurture - 1.
83. The person in the car next to you who is singing and dancing? That's me.
84. I've kept a diary since first grade, but I only wrote two entries that year.
85. One says, "I HATE MRS. GARRETT!!!!!!!" (That was my first grade teacher.)
86. The other says, "I HATE MY MOM!!!!!!!" (Not sure what that was about.)
87. I tend to journal mostly when things are bad.
88. I used to worry that someone would find my boxes and boxes of old journals and read them.
89. I went through some old journals in December while unpacking from my move.
90. They bored me to tears. (I'm not that worried about people finding them anymore.)

91. I think I Just Want To Be a Tugboat Captain and I Thought There Would Be Real Dogs & Ponies are two of the funniest blogs out there right now. Very funny, sharp writing.
92. But I bet they never wrote to the Pope.
93. Caveat Emptor is definitely the most original writing. It's such a surprise and a pleasure to read. (I shouldn’t have started this. Now I want to explain what I love about every blog that I read.)
94. What’s not fun about karaoke?
95. Maybe pay-it-forward should be the only religion.
96. It's just a thought.
97. Ice cream is my favorite food.
98. A grad school professor once named my study group "Most fun to party with."
99. We wanted an A on a group paper, but we got that comment instead.
100. I was pretty much ok with it.