Way To Much Information

Fifteen years ago, I was busy having a baby. This has got me ruminating on a few things.

A million and a half years ago, the big rage on the blog world was to do the "100 Things About Me" list. Well, since I like to peruse magazines that are ten years out of date to see what fashions I'll be wearing in a couple years, I thought I would give my list a go.

1. I was born in Flint, Michigan.
2. My first job was at a McDonalds. I lasted three hours.
3. Working around food (as in a restaurant) makes me want to puke.
4. Cooking for loved ones makes me annoyed.
5. Still waiting for someone to cook for me.
6. I was given up for adoption to my aunt when I was 18 months old.
7. My cousins are like my sisters and my siblings are like strangers.
8. My daughter is fifteen and my son is thirteen.
9. I don't think all teen-agers suck. Just many of them.
10. My teen-agers rock. But there are many miles to go before I sleep.
11. My heros as a child were Jacques Cousteau and Bob Ballard.
12. They made me want to go to sea, which I did.
13. I sailed on LNG tankers in the South China Sea back in the early nineties.
14. I studied marine biology before I joined the merchant marines.
15. I've chased whales and sharks while in college on the east coast.
16. I just wrote "Wales" instead of "Whales". I have never chased Wales.
17. I have gone through survival training for deep sea and Great Lakes.
18. I would rather be roasting in a life raft on the equator than freezing in a
life raft on Lake Superior.
19. Once while on a 1000 foot tanker near Japan, I saw a submarine rise above the
surface and then decend again. Being the super secret agent type, I leaned over
the rail and waved at them.
20. My biological father died when I was twelve. My brother died when I was fourteen
and my adoptive mom died when I was twenty. It kind of made an impression on me.
21. I consider myself a Buddhist.
22. A bad Buddhist.
23. I often think about death but I don't consider it morbid. I think it's just a
part of living, or rather, not living.
24. At least once a week, I look around wherever I am and think "What if something
happened and I died right here? Would this be a rotten place to die? Would it
look stupid in my obituary?"
25. I have concluded that McDonalds would be a stupid place to die. Electric Fetus?
Not so much...
26. I am addicted to Cinnamom Dolce Lattes from Starbucks.
27. I would rather have Gingerbread Lattes from Starbucks but the bastards make them
seasonal. BASTARDS I SAY!
28. I enjoy small children but I'm always glad when they go away.
29. I've worked in hospitals and on ambulances.
30. I always considered it a privelege to be with people when they are very sick and
the outcome is not so good. Not because I'll learn some deep philosophical
teaching, but because that's when people are most frightened. If I can do
anything worthwhile with my life, it would be to be an official hand holder.
31. My historical hero is Ernest Shackleton. Learn his story...it's amazing.
32. I often make lists of people in history that I would have liked to meet such as:
Joan of Arc, Albert Einstein, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Martin Luther, and John
Lennon.
33. I often make lists of times in history that I would have liked to live in, for
perhaps a week or so. It basically comes down to about every period except for
towns infested with the Black Death during the Middle Ages. That would have been
a downer. As would any period where they were burning witches cuz, you know, I
would have been used as kindling.
34. I have a habit of doing the exact opposite of what people want me to do because
I am the Queen of Contrary. You may call me Mary, Mary.
35. I often find myself stepping back and observing the people around me as if doing
research for a sociology paper.
36. When going through basic training, I didn't speak a word for weeks. I was too
busy observing. And doing push ups.
37. When I am among friends, I rarely shut up. When I am among strangers, I rarely
speak. I have often been told by former strangers who later became friends "I
used to think you were such a snob because you never said anything!"
38. Fooled them! I really am a snob!
39. Autumn is my favorite season and I hate spring. Summer is too hot and winter is
too cold.
40. I never want my kids to think that I don't support their interests or education.
I felt that way at times when I was growing up and it kind of sucked.
41. I have been listening to public radio since I was about 10 years old.
42. When people my age talk about the pop culture of the eighties, I rub my eyes
sleepily and ask "What pop culture?".
43. I used to love baseball. I even wrote and published a book about the Detroit
Tigers back in the late 1980's. Now, I can't stand even a minute of it.
44. I used to love the olympics as well. Now I just visualize a bunch of syringes
running around the track.
45. I love Neil Gaiman's writing.
46. I really don't like Christmas. The only time I did like it was when I believed
in Santa and when my kids believed in Santa. Now, I don't even want to put up a
tree. It is either materialistic or people are running around saying that you
should remember to give to those less fortunate. I can't help but ask, is this
the only time that thought comes to you?
47. I can't stand stupid movies.
48. I actually research a movie before I consider seeing it. I might read the book
first or go to my favorite movie review site.
49. When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I rarely watched a movie to the
end. I would walk out if there was anything I didn't like.
50. When I do find a movie I like, I might watch it again...and again...and again...
51. My favorite food is homemade scalloped potatoes and homemade banana bread.
52. I have not slept well for over twelve years.
53. I rarely remember my dreams.
54. I listen to Harry Potter on CD's every night. Want to hear some memorized
passages?
55. I like to read and memorize poetry.
56. A college professor told us that it was a great way to pick up guys.
57. He was sadly mistaken.
58. I would like to have sat down and had a beer with Carl Sagan.
59. I like to sew.
60. I do it badly.
61. I like to imagine this part of the Great Lakes region back before white people
came.
62. I have learned more about history after I got out of school.
63. I always got good grades in school but hated how it tried to make a square peg
fit into a round hole.
64. I have tried my best to keep my kids out of schools that do the same. Needless
to say, they do not go to Duluth Public Schools.
65. I always feel comforted in the presence of books.
66. I chew WAY to much gum.
67. I HATE talking on the phone. Most people don't know that about me.
68. I am always taken aback when I find myself in a group of people and everyone is
either talking on their cell phones or texting. No one looks at each other and
no one seems to think it's a big deal. It creeps me out.
70. I need to learn how to be more patient with people who have a lot of emotional
baggage and do unwise things because of it. Dope slapping doesn't work well in
the real world.
71. I don't watch a lot of television, but I am a tad rabid about what I watch: Dr.
Who, Dirty Jobs, Mythbusters, and Man Vs. Wild. I also watch the Daily Show and
the Colbert Report but sometimes get a little weary of them.
72. Favorite cancelled show? Dead Like Me.
For a person that likes the big questions confronted AND like to laugh at
intelligent writing, this show might be my all time favorite.
73. I also like old time cemetaries. Big headstones, nothing gaudy, very quiet.
74. Believe it or not, I also LOVE Halloween!
75. I have voted in every election that came along since I was 18.
76. I abhor religious intolerance. From any religion.
77. I don't like to have people try to sell me anything. If I sense that someone is
trying to manipulate me, I will walk away. No matter how much I want what they
are seling.
78. The only commercial that ever convinced me to buy anything was the Pepsi Clear
commercial a hundred years ago.
79. Pepsi Clear sucked.
80. Lesson learned.
81. One of the most amazing moments in my life was being in a very small boat next
to a very large whale.
82. Having kids never seemed as amazing as the whale experience because it just
seemed like it was supposed to happen. Now, the whale thing? That was totally
wild!
83. I have often been afraid to do things. It has never stopped me from doing them.
I think that has made me a strong person.
84. I am somewhat claustrophobic but I still get into elevators with other people.
There are times when I've wanted to claw my eyes out before the doors open, but
I haven't died in an elevator yet.
85. An elevator would be a stupid place to die.
86. When I was 18, I was hit by a drunk driver and I put my head through the car
window. Unfortunately, the window was closed at the time.
87. The other driver was the sheriff's son. I got to learn then and there how much
nepotism sucks.
88. I love Patricia Barber
89. I love This American Life
90. I used to want to go into politics. Now, I'm very glad I didn't.
91. I believe that human nature is essentially "Get what you can get for yourself
and screw everyone else."
92. I believe we all have to actively try to be good people.
93. I believe that some people don't try at all.
94. Two of my favorite moves? A Fish
Called Wanda and Hot
Fuzz. Yeah, I'm the real intellectual.
95. I got to meet Michael Moore before he was known outside Flint, Michigan. He was
a little thinner then...
96. My favorite job was at a bookstore when I was about 19.
97. I am almost at the end of the list!
98. That is very exciting!
99. You can never use enough exclamation points!!!
100.I wish I could still knit.