Nowhere Close To 100 Things

[disbelief11]

This 100 Things meme that has been floating around intrigued me. I've enjoyed reading the lists of other LJers; it's always fascinating to find out more about y'all. So I started my own list last night.

One thing I discovered? I wanted to make each item on the list more than a sentence or two. Just the way I am, I guess.

Another thing? 100 is way, way, way too many for me. I found myself bored by some of the things I was including. So I took my list, cut out what I thought was tripe, and ended up with 21 Tidbits.

1. My dad died when I was about 1. Actually, I just realized that I don't know the exact date he died. My mom never told me much about him – she and I simply don't communicate on that kind of level. My sister and other family members have told me more about him than my Mom has.



2. I admire my Mom for raising 3 children on her own. She did a damn good job overall. It's not her fault my brother turned out the way he did...he simply seems to be living in another reality from the rest of us.



3. My grandfather died 3 years ago. I miss him and I think about him every time I have a cup of coffee. As a child, I used to visit him at his office and we'd go down the corner diner for his coffee break. I used to beg to have a cup too, so he'd wink at the waitress and have her bring me a cup of milk and sugar with a little bit of coffee in it. Over the years I've managed to increase the amount of coffee and decrease the cream and sugar in the ratio, but I still like my java with cream and sugar. This cup's for you, Papa.



4. I met my husband in California. After a long, rather soap-operatic flirtation period (email me if you want the whole story), we started dating. On our first date we went to see The Abyss, but spent most of the time smooching instead. Then, at the end of the date, he tried to dump me. No, seriously, he said he couldn't see me anymore. That wasn't really an option in my mind, so we continued dating. On the second date he told me he loved me and on the third date he told me he was going to marry me. I thought he was craaaaazy. It wasn't until I went back to college at the end of the summer and realized how much I missed him that I admitted he was right. We met in June of 1989, were engaged in October of 1989 and were married in October of 1991.



5. My husband is the first man who brought me to orgasm. The other 6 (or was it 7 or 8? I've lost count) men who I slept with before that just didn't do it for me. Of course, that could have been because I didn't really know yet what I liked and how to ask for it.



6. The Pope is the reason my Mom knows exactly what night I lost my virginity. OK, she may not have known I was still a virgin, but she definitely knew I had sex that night. As for the Pope, here's the scoop: back in 1987, the Pope was on tour. Mom had signed up to take a bus down to the SF Bay area to see him, and it was going to be an overnight thing. Having decided my virginity wasn't an accessory I wanted to take to college with me, I had arranged for my boyfriend to come over to the house for my deflowering. Unfortunately, at the same time there were also a bunch of wildfires raging out of control in southern California and all the buses had been commandeered by the fire department so additional firefighters could go down there to help. Hence, the sound of Mom's key in the door was quite a surprise to me. Ironically enough, for about 30 minutes before Mom got home I kept having this feeling that I should get up and go eat something. But being young and silly, I thought that the "right" thing to do was to stay in bed with my boyfriend even though he was asleep (typical male) and I was wide-awake. If I had just listened to my instincts, Mom would have found me dressed and in a completely different room than the boytoy.



7. The whole thing with the Pope and the wildfires may have been some kind of religious karmic justice since I stopped going to church in my early teens. Now I consider myself to be an agnostic. Or maybe some kind of pagan. I generally try to follow the concept of treating other people with kindness and fairness.



8. I don't believe in a heaven or hell after we die – as Sartre said, “Hell is other people.” I think Heaven is too. All right here on earth for us to experience now. Which is why I usually try to find the good in other people, and why I find beauty in all kinds of individuals.



9. I've slept with one woman and the sex was simply amazing. Big, sloppy kisses and a heartfelt "Thank You" to her. And I'd jump at the chance to sleep with her again, married or not.



10. I have no idea what that makes me in terms of sexuality labels, nor do I care. As Margaret Cho says, "I'm not straight or gay. I'm slutty. Where's my parade? Where's the Slut Pride?"



11. It's funny, at this point in my life, I'm the farthest from the "typical" ideal of sexy (what's shown in the magazines, etc.) that I've ever been. And yet I feel sexier than I ever have. I think there's a real power and conviction that comes with simply having gone through some of the crap that life throws at you, and that that is what allows one to feel sexy and uninhibited.



12. My doctor says I should lose weight. All I know is that I actually like my body now. Yes, now, when I weigh the most I ever have and when lots of people look at me and see only my size. Damn sizists. I don't care a whit that I'm not a skinny minny, and I certainly enjoy life more than the people I know who are constantly dieting.



13. I love to read, although since I've gotten hooked on this Internet smack I haven't read as much as previously. When I was younger, I once read Dickens' entire unabridged David Copperfield in one day. As you may have guessed, I read fairly quickly. Don't ask me what my favorite book is, as I have several and keep finding more as I go along. My favorite play is Cyrano de Bergerac. I adore science fiction, especially Heinlein. Edward Gorey is a genius and I like the way David Mamet plays with language.



14. I would love to be an astronaut. The idea of going into space has always fascinated me. Of course, I'd probably have to get over my fear of heights and my claustrophobia, but what great motivation to do so!



15. I'd also love to be a singer. Not a pop star, more like a jazz club chanteuse. I've sung with choirs before and I miss that. The most fun I've ever had in a choir was with the Microtones – an a cappella group on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA. Though there was plenty of the typical battle of wills between the sopranos and the altos (I'm an alto).



16. Although agnostic, I love Christmas carols. They're so beautiful and peaceful and so satisfying to sing. I own 32 Christmas CDs (just added 7 new ones to the collection this year) and will break out the Bing Crosby or Elvis Christmas CDs when I feel particularly stressed, no matter what time of year it is.



17. I like to be silly and to have fun. As a kid, I was fairly serious. One of my favorite quotes is actually from Mike Myers' dad (Mike Myers mentioned this during his In The Actor's Studio appearance, and since I don't remember the quote exactly, I'll probably flub it up): "Silly is sublime, a state of grace. Serious is what you do until you can be silly again."



18. I always eat my French fries first – life is too short for cold fries. And I almost never use ketchup on them. I used to like to dip my fries in my chocolate milkshake; there's just something good about the salty fries and the sweet ice cream together.



19. Due (at least in part) to my brother's behavior as a child, I have some issues with sharing food. My brother used to gobble everything down when he was high and had the munchies, so Mom took to dividing everything equally between the kids. I'm still learning to get over the notion that food must be divided equally; the first time my husband ate one of what I thought of as "my" cookies I nearly had a fit.



20. I've never done any drugs other than alcohol. For a short time I tried to smoke cigarettes but wasn't any good at it. I do like to smoke a cigar every once in a while, and I am completely addicted to caffeine and chocolate. Thank goodness those are legal!



21. A lot of my best ideas and sudden realizations have come while I am washing my hair in the shower. Must be something about the massaging of my skull that stimulates the firing of the synapses.

You certainly don't have to read them or comment on them. It was an interesting exercise for myself.

(Notice my music selection? The whole time I was entering this post I kept repeating to myself "And a beer!" Those McKenzie brothers are funny.)

Love to you all!

Comments

[mei-x.livejournal.com]

Cool list. I'm with you on:

13. Reading. I also am an avid reader, can finish books in a day, read multiple books at a time. Like you, my reading of "real books" has decreased since discovering writing on the Internet. As an aside -- thanks to your lovely b-day present, though, I just bought one of my favorite yearly treats -- the Datlow/Winding yearly anthology of horror and fantasy stories. So yay! And thanks again. *g*

14. Astronaut. That is my total dream job.

15. Singing. I too would love to be a chanteuse, and have sung in choirs before. I can relate to the battle of the sopranos and altos -- I've been both, and I always think the other has the worse deal depending on the part. When I'm an alto, I think harmony rules and melody is lame, and vice versa when I'm a soprano. The last time I sung, I was a 2nd soprano.

Anyway, these lists are really enlightening and cool!

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

thanks to your lovely b-day present, though, I just bought one of my favorite yearly treats -- the Datlow/Winding yearly anthology of horror and fantasy stories. Mei, glad you used your birthday gift for something you love! Yay!

When I'm an alto, I think harmony rules and melody is lame, and vice versa when I'm a soprano. The last time I sung, I was a 2nd soprano. Oh yes, indeedy. I'm a high alto and can also sing the lower soprano parts, depending upon the songs. So I understand the whole harmony/melody battle. Our choir director was really good about trying to find songs that featured each of the different parts of the choir, so sometimes the tenors, the basses, or the altos got the melody. That was really cool. Although I remember singing "O Tannenbaum" - the altos called it "O Sucky Song" because we literally sang the same damn note throughout the entire song.

[wubba.livejournal.com]

Very cool Dis. Thank you for sharing.

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

You're welcome Wubba! Hope you're surviving and I can't wait to have you back around here more often.

Hugs!

Random reactions in no order.

[spasticat.livejournal.com]

God...I need to be as mature as you about the...oh my!...sex and the self image. And really, both are closely linked. If a gal is more in tune with her self and her body image then it's easier to orgasm. Or maybe it's just about letting go, relaxing and really enjoying who you're with. Well, and it doesn't hurt to learn what it is exactly that will help the big O along! ::bg::

Now for the truly random:

Margaret Cho is a goddess.

Mmm...Heinlein.

The Myer Senior quote is brilliant. We must all endeavour to embrace the silly.

I adore hearing how folks get together. Yours gave me warm fuzzies.

Since you kept hearing "And a beer!" in your head whilst writing this up...well, now it's stuck in my head! Yeesh! ::bg::

Re: Random reactions in no order.

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

If a gal is more in tune with her self and her body image then it's easier to orgasm. Or maybe it's just about letting go, relaxing and really enjoying who you're with. I think you're exactly right. The relaxing and enjoying part makes a huge difference in how satisfying an encounter is.

At some point, I'll tell you the entire story of how Mr. Dis and I got together. It's a doozy.

Speaking of alcoholic beverages, have I told you how much the hat in your icon reminds me of a champagne cork? I keep thinking it's going to pop off the girl's head and go flying into space!

Hey, I heard The Jejunes "I Want An Indy Rock For Christmas" on WLUW this afternoon! Whee!

[claire.livejournal.com]

yay! another person who dips fries in milkshakes - I now know of 3 people who do that ;)

[tigress35.livejournal.com]

I like my french fries dipped in mayo. A lot of people I know think this is disgusting, but it's really good. I dislike ketchup, so I rarely eat it and it totally ruins a hamburger.

I hear that's what Europeans do with their fries though, so maybe I should move out of CA where I'll be more accepted for my french fry habits.

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

When we went to New York last year, we made sure to go to Pommes Frites. It's a Belgian fry place we heard about on The Food Network. The fries were fantastic and they had about 30 different sauces you could have with them - most of them mayo based. Mr. Dis enjoyed the garlic mayo sauce, as I recall.

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

Hee! I haven't met anyone else who does that. Until my friends got used to it, they used to be seriously squicked when they saw me dip the fry in the shake.

[anathema666.livejournal.com]

Mmm, salty-chocolately-creamy-potato goodness. I used to dip my Dairy Queen fries (bland bland BLAND) into the equally bland "icemilk" softserve to get something miraculously scrumptious.

But chocolate milkshakes are better. And McD's fries are the best for it.

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

miraculously scrumptious
Beautiful turn of phrase, Anathema. I shall endeavor (endeavour?) to work that into my lexicon also. What's the royalty rate for this one?

But chocolate milkshakes are better. And McD's fries are the best for it.
I agree, but have to add that the big steak fries can be good for shake dipping also.

[fleegull.livejournal.com]

You got closer to 100 than I did!

Shower realiztions are the best, warm, soapy goodness.

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

You got closer to 100 than I did!

Yes, but you had the snarky funny thing going on in your post about the 100 Things. I only aspire to be as funny as you are.

[zmky42.livejournal.com]

I used to like to dip my fries in my chocolate milkshake

All my friends think this is totally gross, but it's the most amazing thing ever. When I was on my teen tour (and all we ate was fast food) this was my main meal. Seriously. Sure, it was unhealthy as hell, but it was good.

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

Sure, it was unhealthy as hell, but it was good.

Hey, who was talking about healthy? Besides, if we really tried hard to rationalize it, we could say that the fries represent a vegetable and the shake is a dairy item. Both of which are healthy things. Hee.

[zmky42.livejournal.com]

if we really tried hard to rationalize it

Welcome to my life. I once claimed that a cherry slurpee and baked lays was a healthy lunch. Don't ask.