101 things about me

I have been neglecting one of my bloggy duties. It’s been almost six months since blog was born, and I haven’t yet posted my “101 things about me.” Before I am in violation of the blogosphere TOS, here we go:

1. I believe in positive thinking, and have been called a PollyAnna on more than one occasion.

2. I am the oldest of two siblings.

3. I have only one first cousin, and have never met any of my second (or third, etc.) cousins.

4. I am fascinated by large families.

5. I am the only girl grandchild. (You can see where I get my diva complex).

6. I played the flute in my high school band.

7. I wasn’t very good.

8. I rarely practiced.

9. My father was a professional drummer when I was growing up.

10. I have absolutely no sense of rhythm.

11. Nor could I carry a tune even if I had a wheelbarrow to put it in.

12. I have dimples and love to be complimented on them.

13. I have two boys whom I adore beyond words.

14. I have been to five European countries and six American states, but only three Canadian provinces.

15. I think this is shameful.

16. I had my first ever club sandwich in February of this year. I don’t know why I waited so long. It was tasty!

17. I believe in karma inasmuch as what comes around goes around.

18. I am a recovering Catholic.

19. I envy people who have absolute (and quiet) faith in God.

20. My own lack of faith makes me a little sad.

21. I have no tolerance for zealots.

22. I believe in a higher power, but not to the exclusion of science.

23. I do not believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God.

24. My current “religion” is a crunchy mix of two significant childhood influences: Jesus Christ Superstar and Star Wars.

25. I am mildly concerned that two references to Jesus Christ in the same post will bring some interesting Google traffic. Whoops, make that three references.

26. I have more than my share of hang-ups about sex.

27. My husband is an extremely patient man.

28. I love guacamole, and it’s one of the few things I cook that people actually request.

29. I am afraid of the dark.

30. I went to four different elementary schools because my parents moved a lot. Since I was always the new kid, I learned to be extroverted enough to cover my shyness. Which may or may not have had anything to do with the fact that…

31. …. I was the kid everybody picked on in grade school. I was picked last for every team, had only one or two friends, and was beat up regularly in the sixth grade. I have nothing nice to say about the people I went to elementary school with, with the exception of two brothers whom I love to this day.

32. I am an attention whore.

33. I read the newspaper religiously and love to read items of interest out loud to whomever is within range.

34. I quit university to work full-time as a cashier at Zellers.

35. I went back four years later to a different university, studied part time while working full time and graduated magna cum laude.

36. I am ridiculously proud of this.

37. I have never coloured my hair.

38. I have been married twice. The first guy was a true loser, but it took me years to get enough self-esteem to figure it out. The summer before we divorced, he gave his best friend this marital advice: “Keep putting her down until she stops fighting back.” Nice, eh?

39. For the most part, I get along with guys much better than girls. Only since I have become a mother has this balance started to swing the other way.

40. I am a reality TV junkie, but I am particular. I turn my nose up at The Bachelor and The Swan, but have never missed an episode of Survivor or the Amazing Race.

41. I have a crush on Evan Farmer, the host of While You Were Out.

42. The only thing I ever wanted out of life was to be a mom. The rest is just a means to an end.

43. I am very, very happy with my life and try to remember every day how lucky I am.

44. I collect autographed Canadian literature. It’s a small collection, but I’m proud of it. I have Margaret Atwood, Mordechai Richler, Douglas Coupland and a few others. I would most like an autographed Alice Munro, and would also like to have Roch Carrier sign Tristan’s copy of The Hockey Sweater.

45. I also have a near-complete collection of 1971 Topps baseball cards. I need only 6 cards of 525 to complete the series.

46. I have a strong fear of wide open spaces, especially at night.

47. This is probably why it’s a good thing I’ve never been to the prairies.

48. The same fear makes my stomach tighten when I look at large satellite dishes. (The little ones for TV are okay, though.)

49. Combined with my fear of the dark, my fear of wide open spaces makes astronomy an odd lifelong passion of mine.

50. Most of my time devoted to astronomy has been spent theoretically with books, rather than practically looking at the stars.

51. I loved the sunroof of my 1998 Sunfire because I could look at the night sky while wearing a seatbelt, the only time I could truly relax while star gazing.

52. I get peeved when people confuse astronomy with astrology.

53. I am a Leo.

54. I have miscarried two babies, one at 13 weeks and the twin of my eldest son at nine weeks.

55. It took two years of trying, two unsuccessful intrauterine inseminations and one in vitro fertilization before Tristan was finally conceived.

56. Simon was a surprise.

57. I have a fear of deep water. When I see the very dark indigo areas on globes that indicate places like the Mariana Trench, my knees get wobbly.

58. I am fairly successful as a professional, but have a hard time seeing myself that way.

59. I have worked with the same government department for 15 years, and can retire with a full pension in 19 years on my 55th birthday.

60. A lot of the best things in my life seemed to happen serendipitously. After I do a lot of hard work.

61. My husband is the best man I have ever known.

62. I am addicted to sunshine, although I have learned over the years to wear sunscreen if not a hat.

63. I have inherited clear skin, great legs and bad teeth from my mother.

64. I have also inherited a lioness’s protectiveness of my loved ones from my mother.

65. I am a strong woman because of my mother.

66. I have inherited my father’s sense of humour.

67. I have also inherited my father’s need to be loved by everyone.

68. My childhood memories, outside of school, ooze bliss.

69. I hope I can give my kids as wonderful a childhood as my parents gave me.

70. I cannot conceptualize my boys as grown ups or even teenagers.

71. I have funny food issues and have been caught and teased mercilessly for picking shepherd’s pie into separate piles of potato, meat and corn before eating the components separately.

72. My brother is worse.

73. My favourite comfort food is canned Heinz spaghetti over French fries.

74. My husband is disgusted by this and refuses to eat it.

75. I met my husband in a bar and followed him home to his apartment when he invited me to see his drawings.

76. We didn’t sleep together on our first date.

77. I can clap with one hand.

78. I am vain about my hair and spend ridiculous amounts of money on haircuts.

79. I have been growing my bangs out for more than a year and they are still only to my chin.

80. This is the first time I’ve been without bangs since I was 12. (Told you I was obsessed with my hair.)

81. I get migraine headaches that tend to last for four days, but they are not nearly as severe as they were before I had kids.

82. I tend not to drink because a four-day hangover is rarely worth it.

83. Coming up with 101 things about me is a stretch even for a narcissistic attention-whore.

84. I am addicted to Coca Cola Classic and hate Diet Coke with a passion.

85. I hate Pepsi even more. Diet Pepsi does not even merit mention.

86. I love baseball, even though I am terrible at it.

87. I spent a lot of time teaching myself the history of baseball many years ago and used to have a fairly encyclopedic if not useless stash of anecdotal baseball trivia taking up space in my brain.

88. I believe we will find life in outer space, and think it is simply impossible that we are the only intelligent species.

89. I need food at regular intervals and eight hours of sleep in order to be a functioning human being. I am certifiably bitchy if I am lacking either food or sleep. My husband will confirm this.

90. I would really, really like a daughter some day.

91. We have one frozen embryo left over from our IVF.

92. I have no idea whether we’ll ever do anything with it.

93. Infertility led me to a wonderful group of women and lifelong friends.

94. I am a klutz of the highest order.

95. When I was little, I wanted to be a journalist.

96. Blog is as close as I’ve ever come to being a “real” writer.

97. In my secret heart, I’ve recently begun to believe that maybe it will happen some day.

98. I don’t think I’d ever write fiction.

99. I don’t feel I have much of an imagination, although I do acknowledge I’m a pretty good writer when I’m on a roll.

100. I am strangely fascinated by memes and 100 things-about-me lists. Mind you, I think I’d also be fascinated by other people’s grocery lists. I’m a bit of a voyeur that way.

101. I genuinely hope we get all the answers when we die, because I have a lot of questions.

Categories: memes