60 Things About Me

Some Semi- and Not So Semi-Interesting Facts about Me::

1. You will never see me in light colored pants, i.e., khakis. I just can't do it. I have tried to buy some and I feel like I look ridiculous, so generally black pants or blue jeans.

2. I hide my weight well. I need to lose at least 25 lbs, but nobody believes me. Even when I weighed 103 lbs, people would always guess me at a lower weight, i.e., 90 lbs. Not all bad, but I still need to lose at least 25 lbs.

3. As I've gotten older, I seem to have become obsessive-compulsive about some things. Not in a clearcut OCD way, but an example, when I learned how to knit I started doing it constantly. I always take knitting with me wherever I go (not always to work), but it's there, just in case I have some free time (even just five minutes). I can't go to Grandma's house without my knitting. If we're going to sit around and talk (and there's nothing wrong with that), I have my knitting there so that I'm accomplishing something. Same with the exercising thing. I always said that I never joined a gym because I knew I wouldn't go and it would be a waste of money. Well, I joined the work gym (free) back in February and except when I was sick with Bronchitis and Shingles, I go every day that I can (five days a week at least) and at least an hour of cardio. When I like something I just take off and learn as much as I can about it.

4. I love pizza and could eat it every single day if I let myself, but I don't consider it to be my favorite food.

5. My favorite "salad" is the caprese salad of fresh real mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, fresh basil and drizzled with olive oil. To die for!!!

6. My Grandma is the coolest little old lady ever and I gave her the nickname "Shortstuff" years ago. I think she likes it since she signs my birthday and holiday cards with it.

7. I don't miss San Francisco at all after living there for four years and being back for five. I miss certain friends and my family who live around there, but that's about it. I hated my job there – although I had a great boss.

8. I have been blessed in this worklife of mine in that I have generally had very good bosses. There have been two that I could have lived w/o and one of them was my boss for less than a year (thank God).

9. I have a thing for shaved heads on men.

10. All of my headphones develop a short in the wiring which causes the music to cut in and out – trés annoying – is it me? Or are they just cheaply made?

11. I haven't watched a single episode of a "reality" TV show of my volition.

12. I think Ancient History is so much more interesting than American history. Hell, I think just about all history is more interesting than American history, although I do appreciate and enjoy all the monuments in Washington, D.C.

13. I have trouble picking a favorite classical composer, but I think it's a toss-up between Tchaikowsky and Mahler. Or just about any other 20th center composer which is funny since I was raised to hate modern classical music by FF (Former Father).

14. I have more books on Joy Division than probably any other person in the world.

15. I absolutely and positively hate going to the grocery store.

16. If I never get shingles again, it'll be too soon. If I ever actually get rid of it comopletely.

17. Now that I'm back to 8 hours days I'm actually trying to come in earlier so that I can leave even earlier. We'll see how long that lasts.

18. Polar bears used to be my favorite animals, but they have been usurped by the rhinoceros. While I still love polar bears and dream of visiting Churchill, Manitoba one day, I find rhinos to be just so freaking cool. Check this out. I want him so badly, but behaved myself yesterday at the Festival of Arts in downtown Detroit.

19. I'm not the least bit adventurous when it comes to activities where I could fall and smash my face in. (One of the guys did this last year while mountain biking with his sons and he's still a mess.)

20. Although I've always hated the color pink, I write with a pink pen here at work (or a purple one) because everything else around here is so dull I feel the need to brighten things up.

21. I absolutely hate black pepper. I wish restaurants didn't feel the need to pepper hash browns or French fries. If people like it they can add the black pepper (which cooking does not help in any way), but if you don't like it, you're stuck. And the funny thing is that I like hot (picante, not caliente) food, but in foods that are meant to be spicy, not a potato dish.

22. I love going to art fairs (except for the Ann Arbor Art Fair as it's way too busy and I hate dealing with three hundred trillion people all trying to buy the same "in" ugly metal sculpture or whatever happens to be "it" this year), even shitty ones, because they provide a wealth of opportunity to rip on shit. "Did you see this?" "Have you ever seen anything so ugly?" "Can you believe people buy this shit?"

23. I never considered myself much of a movie watcher until the kind soul invented NetFlix. I'd like to give him/her a hug.

24. I can hear my knees cracking as I walk up stairs. I've always wondered if people walking up with me can hear them as well.

25. I love mashed potatoes (keep that damn black pepper to yourself though), and consider them to be the most fabulous of all comfort foods.

26. I've never been brave enough to use the men's room at the bar, even when the line at the Ladies was a mile long and there was nobody in the men's. I even had my guy friends let me know that it was all clear, but then when I got in I saw that the stalls didn't have doors. No way!

27. I rarely remember my dreams.

28. It used to take a hydrogen bomb going off right next to me to wake me up in the middle of the night. In fact, I've heard something like one thunderstorm in my life. Growing up I slept next to the window, but it was the OS that always had to get up to close the windows because I never heard the thunder. She was the one who had to get up with the YS when the YS would be puking because I just didn't hear it. I always told OS that she was happy that I didn’t wake up because she would have been dealing with two puking sisters then. I still don't wake up during t-storms, so I try not to have anything near my nearly always wide open windows.

29. I tend to walk with my big toes up, so all of my socks eventually develop holes. I threw out of my favorite pairs yesterday. I hate my big toes.

30. It completely pisses me off that the Red Cross desperately needs blood but won't take mine because one of their quickie tests came back positive four years ago for Hep C, but after they ran my blood through the more thorough test, they told me not to worry I don't have Hep C, but they won't let me donate anymore. Even though they only have ONE pint of my blood type at this point. It just seems to me that if I absolutely do NOT have Hep C, that there is no reason why I shouldn't be able to donate since so few people are willing to do it. The Red Cross comes every six weeks to my work building and even though there are 6000 people in this building, they're lucky if they get a few hundred pints. Get off your duffs and donate people. The life you save may be a loved one, or even your own.

31. I hate the intentional walk in baseball. It just seems like Wuss Baseball to me.

32. I always use my turn signal. I've even been known to use it as I pull away from the curb which always makes other people laugh at me.

33. I am completely jealous of people who are able to play an instrument. I always wanted to learn to play the violin. I think it's the coolest instrument, although I'm completely in love with the percussion section.

34. I love olives – green, black, kalamata, etc. I particularly love the big green ones stuffed with jalapeños.

35. The more musicians in the symphony orchestra and on the stage, the more I’m likely to like what they're playing. Something about seventy-five hundred million thousand violins all playing the same bit of music just thrills my soul.

36. I pretend I'm an artist every once in a while and break out the art supplies and then inflict my "art" on my friends. Be very scared – the colored pencils and markers have made an appearance.

37. I pretend regularly that I'm a writer by posting here.

38. I have a tendency to cry when I read my old-fashioned bound journal. Mainly because I only seem to write it in when something is going on in my life.

39. My favorite race to attend is the Cleveland Grand Prix. It's a combination of the track layout (you can see the entire track from our seats, except for turn 8), pits and paddock accessibility (and therefore driver accessibility), and the number of my friends who always go to it. Oh, and it's a nice quick 2.5 hour drive.

40. My age.

41. In a few weeks, I'll have been with my present company five years. Where does the freaking time go?

42. If you ever need to know the timeline for Rulers/Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, just ask me. I bought a regular 12-inch wooden ruler at the SF Legion of Honor museum with all listed. Sometimes you just need to know when Menkuare reigned. (2490 BC, for the record)

43. I'm a hometown team girl. I hate basketball, but I root for the Pistons wholeheartedly, same with football and the Lions. On the other hand, I love the Wings (when they freaking play) and the Tigers. I hated (and still do) the SF teams when I lived there, however.

44. My favorite gemstone is the opal, specifically the black opal (set in white metal). One of my goals last year was to have an opal ring for every finger. I accomplished that goal and promptly stopped wearing a ring on every finger.

45. Although I'm known for my jewelry, I take it all off (except for the polar bear stud earring in my right ear) the second I walk into the house. At one time (a few years back), I would wear 26 rings at ONE TIME.

46. I walk to work even when I know it's supposed to rain. I figure I'm not made of sugar and am not going to melt. I walk to work 99.9% of the time.

47. My plan is never to date an engineer again as long as I live.

48. I own more than 100 t-shirts (it's been a while since I counted, so I probably have more).

49. I own 11 pairs of Chuck Taylors. I wear the monochrome black ones to work 99.9% of the time, and bought a new pair at Showtime in Detroit (who knew it was still open after all these years of Daniel threatening to close and move to NY) yesterday.

50. I went through black phase in the 80s. Everything I owned was black. My grandma likes to tell the story of me visiting my aunt in CA and how when I opened my suitcase, my aunt was stunned by the solid black, completely unrelieved by any color whatsoever. I remember the ex-boyfriend's mother being shocked that my underwear wasn't white, when I did laundry over there once.

51. I have never shoplifted, and I've given back the extra change when a cashier has made a mistake. Comes from being a cashier for six years.

52. I worked at Burger King for six years and it paid my way through college. I was a helluva lot more friendly to the customers than the fast food cashiers seem to be today. One of the managers would harass all the girls by putting his fat arm around our waists and squeezing. When I told him to stop it, he got defensive and said it wasn't harassment. I told him I didn't care what he called it, but that I would prefer he not do it again. He didn't, at least, to me, but he kept it up with the younger girls.

53. I worked there twice. The second time I quit right at closing and convinced one of the closers to quit too. I was trying desperately to burn that bridge, so that I didn't feel I could go back. A few years later the owner called me asking if I wanted to be a manager. Yeah, right. I want to earn $15,000 a year, be on call 24/7 and work stupid hours, so that when you considered the hourly rate I would be making less than minimum wage (which at the time was $3.??).

54. I didn't get my license until six weeks before my 20th b-day. I walked a lot back then. I walked to and from the University a couple of times – approximately 6-7 miles.

55. I flunked swimming as a relatively small child. My parents never tried again. Sometimes I really hate being unathletic.

56. I throw like a girl. This bothered me for many years until somebody pointed out that I was a girl. And then two summers ago it bothered me again when YS and LB laughed hysterically at me. I laughed too, outwardly, but inside I felt like crying, because it made me feel like a failure, which is completely stupid.

57. The FF has a lot to answer for.

58. My family can tell when I don't like somebody because I don’t waste my time talking to people I don't like. I never talked to OS's ex-boyfriend as I thought he was a complete idiot (which he was). And one of OB's girlfriends told me once that she knew I liked her (this was after I said something to that effect) and she said, "Yeah, I know." "How'd you know?" "OB told me that you don't talk to people you don't like." And the thing was that I never knew it until Linda pointed it out to me.

59. I'm getting my new glasses today. In theory, they're cute, so I'll wear them more often. We shall see.

60. My favorite toppings on pizza are onions and real mushrooms (not those nasty slimy canned ones).