Face tag

A Facebook friend tagged me and even though I sort of already did this, here on my blog, I think I was able to come up with some new stuff. And since I haven’t posted in awhile, well, here is a really lazy, self-absorbed post.

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you. These are in any random order…

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

1. I get writer’s block just by looking at my closed laptop.

2. I can think of stories and topics I want to write about so easily, and weave sentences together so effortlessly in my mind. But the second I pick up a pen to write it all down, they vanish. Nothing left except the hollow space once inhabited by my creativity.

3. Five beautiful doves have joined the finches and sparrows nesting and living in our backyard aviary. I watch them when I have writer’s block, while I sit at my desk with my laptop open. I’m watching them now.

4. I do not know how to sew or knit. I have no desire to learn how to sew or knit.

5. I love to cook elaborate dinners while drinking wine.

6. I love watching other people cook elaborate dinners while drinking wine.

7. I love hearing songs that remind me of certain friends or moments in time. It is better than looking at photographs; all of the old emotions still hardwired in my brain being pumped through my body,with each meter in the music, feelings that have been there all along, hibernating but still a part of me, as important as my heart, my blood, my memories.

8. I like being nostalgic.

9. Some of those memories and emotions are painful, but I could never wish them away.

10. My sister and I can make each other laugh without much more than a glance.

11. We used to play this game when we were kids, where we’d sit on our beds facing each other and throw balled up socks as hard as we could toward each others’ heads. Once we ran out of socks, whoever could pick one up and shove it into the other person’s mouth first, was the winner… LOL.

12. I usually won.

13. Not all the time, though.

14. And the socks were usually dirty.

15. I do not have a green thumb. But I have this little orchid in my bedroom that is growing beautifully and blooms often and my mother, who has a green thumb and a thousand healthy plants but can’t seem to keep an orchid alive longer than a month, is insanely jealous.

16. I haven’t eaten red meat in 15 years.

17. I’m kind of a flake.

18. I like painting my nails with polka dots.

19. Ladybug design is my favorite.

20. When I was a little girl, I ate onions like they were apples. Just biting right into one!

22. I still love onions. But sliced, in a sandwich or salad, not whole.

23. One of my favorite Christmas presents of 2008 was a purse made from the cover of an old book.

24. I am happy to have no valentine this year.

25. That is my story and I’m sticking with it.

Since I can’t tag anyone here, feel free to leave a comment saying you would like to be tagged. I will reply to your comment, and tag you

sixty-seven things.

I know you’re supposed to do a “100 things” entry as a celebration for your one hundredth post, but I’m just not that patient. Plus I like random numbers. Plus I’m experiencing a bout of writer’s block. ( And I do have over a hundred posts on my MySpace blog, so there.)

Here is to my 67th post on semper scribendi Cheers!

1. I was born nearly deaf. I couldn’t hear much until I had a surgery at age six, and then had tubes in my ears until I was ten. My hearing still isn’t 100%.

2. I strongly dislike mushrooms. I gag when I smell them being cooked.

3.  In business emails, I always sign Best Regards, in the first email to someone new, and Cheers! in each following correspondence.

4. I eat at least one apple a day. And not because of the old “an apple a day…” adage. But because I love them. Pink ladies are my absolute favorites.

5. Cheese and apples is the best snack ever.

6. I love cheese. I can’t even convey in words how strongly I feel about cheese. As third grade me would say, I want to marry cheese. If I had to choose between having cheese and having an orgasm… let’s just say, it’d be a pretty tough choice… Guess it depends on with whom I get to have either

7. I love summer rain on the East Coast. We don’t get that in California.

8. And thunder storms. We don’t get those out here too often either.

9. I don’t listen to much mainstream music, except classic rock and oldies. I like a lot of indie/emo/folk rock. And house music, of course.

10. Pandora.com is my favorite new website.

11. I haven’t eaten red meat since I was twelve.

12. I wrote to Ann M. Martin when I was ten and she wrote me back

13. My sister and I grew up with a bunch of kids in our neighborhood and many Saturday evenings would be spent with all of them in our living room, dancing, the TV blasting Dance Party USA.

14. I’m not very girly, except when it comes to make-up. I make no excuses about that. ( And I’m blonde, I look like I’m twelve if I don’t wear make-up.)

15. My cat, Chester, may he rest in peace, would sit in front of our house waiting for me to walk home from the bus stop every day after school. As soon as I rounded the corner, he would run to me and jump into my arms

16. Chester also liked to sleep on my bum. When my high school bff, Laura, would spend the night, he’d sleep on her bum too.

17. Chester’s middle name was Harrison. And his nickname was Boboli.

18. I think swimming naked, in the ocean, at night, is the most incredibly peaceful and sobering experience in the world.

19. Red tide may be smelly and ugly in the daytime, but at night it is the most beautiful and amazing thing I have ever seen, have ever been blessed to experience.

20. Strawberry is my favorite flavor of ice cream.

21. When I eat ice cream in a bowl, I have to mash it and swirl it all together, to make it creamy. I don’t even take a bite until I do this.

22. I love to exercise, but hate to think about having to do it. The motivating myself is the hardest part.

23. Same with writing.

24. Getting out of bed in the morning is the most difficult part of my day. I seriously, honestly think I have some kind of disorder. But I love mornings. Go figure.

25. On that note, I am slightly narcoleptic. Ask any of my friends. I can fall asleep anywhere, everywhere, in any position.

26. When I was younger, I thought my grandmother got cancer because she was a cancer. Following this logic, I figured I would inevitably get cancer as well.

27. I still think I might, since both of my grandmothers died of breast cancer.

28. I love that numb, raw feeling of your lips after a long make-out session

29. I love Robert Downey Jr. Love, love, love.

30. I will live in Europe, one day soon. I want to be an ex-pat, and sip cappuccinos at little cafes, smoking thin cigarettes, wearing berets, writing in my journal and laughing at American tourists.

31. I have a beautiful antique diamond ring that I wear on my right ring finger every day. I inherited it from my step-grandmother. Turns out, some old lady who lived in the same senior community, gave it to her before she passed away. I found out that a lot of old people do this, trade jewelry. It’s a shame that I’ll never know the amazing history of this 1920s era ring. It really is spectacular.

32. I carry my journal, plus at least two books, with me everywhere I go. My handbag is incredibly heavy but I’m used to it.

33. Even though I carry my journal with me everywhere, I still forget to write some things down, even when I make a mental note to do so.

34. And then I’ll remember them a week, or even a year, later. I do this with stories too. I will think up a story in my head, but won’t start writing it for some time. Months, usually.

35. If I get caught in the rain without an umbrella, I don’t freak out and run for cover. I just keep walking, and get wet. (Unless I have to be somewhere looking presentable.)

36. I’m annoyed at myself that I can’t think of simpler things to write in this post. Like one sentence stuff. I have to write freaking paragraphs.

37. My MySpace blog has been viewed over 15,000 times.

38. This blog has been viewed less than 100 times.

39. I still have my first stuffed animal. It is a squirrel that winds up like a jewelry box and plays Frere Jacques. I love it. I keep it on my bed or on my nightstand.

40. I couldn’t whistle until I was a teenager. Even my sister could before I could. My whole family made fun of me. Remember the oldest son in the first Honey, I Shrunk The Kids movie? I loved him when that movie came out, because he couldn’t whistle either. Now I’m an AWESOME whistler

41. My sister and I occasionally send each other greeting cards. We call them “Mission Statements” and in lieu of writing “life” updates, we write our favorite movie, Friends and The Simpsons quotes in them, and then call each other upon receiving the card to laugh hysterically together.

42. I didn’t light a match until I was 20. I used to be very pyrophobic. I still am, to an extent.

43. I had two recurring nightmares as a child. One was about the whole neighborhood I lived in burning down in an angry inferno and all my family and friends would die in the nightmare fire. In the other, I would be chased down the street by a Tyrannosaurus Rex and have to hide in a rain gutter to escape it.

44. The first time I ever ditched school was in the sixth grade. Kaylee Morrison and I forged notes from our parents and then walked to her house, watched movies, ate candy and jumped on her trampoline.

45. We had many pet hamsters and rats growing up. My last rat, Polly, would sleep on my shoulders under my hair, from the time she was a baby, the size of a walnut, until she was about 5 pounds and ten inches long. She died in my hands and I cried for a week.

46. My favorite dessert is chocolate-dipped strawberries.

47. When my sister and I were little we had these swirls of blonde hair on the backs of our necks. Mine looked like a six and hers looked like a nine. Our parents thought it was the funniest thing. We didn’t understand why.

48. My first car was a ’67 VW Beetle. It was charcoal gray and had a sunroof that was kind of difficult to crank open. Even though it broke down a lot, I loved it. I would like to own another one day.

49. I am a big fan of Formula One. I watch all the races with my dad. He and I went to the inaugural U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis, September of 2000.

50. I am a major Golden State Warriors fan.

51. I don’t know if I could ever live in a place where there weren’t a lot of trees.

52. I love cold weather. Thus, living in California gets kind of annoying sometimes, even though I’ve never lived elsewhere.

53. I really want to live elsewhere. Soon. I hope to only be here for about three more years.

54. I am deathly afraid of jellyfish.

55. Spiders too.

56. I love the smell of chlorine; of swimming pools.

57. My family hates the Red Sox and their fans. We’re Yankees fans or we’re disowned! Kidding. (Sort of.)

58. I read books while walking.

59. It is a goal of mine to speak five languages, besides English, by the time I’m 35.

60. I never, ever wanted a tattoo. Until I started studying Latin. I got my first tattoo last month, while visiting a friend in Baltimore.

61. I love used books. I love the fact that they have a history I can only imagine. Especially old, used books. I try to only buy used books, unless I’m looking for something specific. Even then, I’ll go to an independent bookstore. I am loathe to shop at Borders or Barnes and Noble. (Although I do like to browse in those stores. But not buy. It’s my way of “sticking it to the man.”)

62. I especially love used books that are inscribed, or have notes in the margin. My favorite is a 1936 printing of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, illustrated by Norman Rockwell. On the inside of the cover, in a scrawled cursive; “Bryan, from Grandpa Palmer, Dec. 25, 1968.” I found it at the Berkeley Library bookstore for $3.50. It is a fantastic find and I would have bought it anyway, but the inscription made even more special for me, because it was once special to someone else.

63. I love, love, love wine. I am definitely a product of my home town of Napa, CA. I shudder to imagine a world without wine.

64. I have a scar an inch long on the inside of my lower lip. Every time I feel it, I remember getting smacked in the face by an orange street pylon, which my drunk friend was swinging like a baseball bat. Not looking, I walked directly into his swing. It was a grand slam.

65. I once had a crush on a married man with whom I worked. I’m fairly certain he had feelings for me too. Because I am a good person, and so was he, nothing ever happened between us. Except for a bit of flirting and many serious conversations over cocktails and cigarettes before, during, and after work. It was the best job, the most fun at a job,  I’ve ever had.

66. I secretly loved doing “stadiums” before swim practice when I was younger, but pretended to hate it because I wasn’t the fastest, and I’m very competitive.

67. If stranded on a desert island and could only bring one thing, I’d bring my Concise Anthology of American Literature.