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25 THINGS




1. I will probably never read Moby Dick (Or The Shipping News or anything by Patrick O'Brien) because anything related to the lore of the sea or seafaring puts me right to sleep. All that lowering the mizzenmasts and raising the rigging and swabbing the cabin boy, who cares? I mean, I like to be on a boat, but being on a train or a streetcar is nice too, I don't need to read in exhaustive detail how they are maintained.

2. I'm a third generation non-believer on both sides, so we don't actually eat our young, in case you were wondering.

3. Green peppers are evil! And they smell bad! So stop telling me they have no taste or smell (as if that's a recommendation anyway).

4. The only person I ever wrote a fan letter to was Pauline Kael. She sent me a really nice reply which I still have somewhere.

5. I've never owned a car, but I've helped change a flat tire and been to the impound lot twice. Good times!

6. First concert at First Avenue: Robyn Hitchcock, the Element of Light tour.

7. Although I'm very, very clumsy, I've never broken any bone. I've torn a ligament, sprained a toe, put my back out several times, and there have been innumerable cuts and scrapes and bruises.

8. I don't understand people who like bands for the lyrics. I like music for the music, that's why it's called music. If you are in a band and lyrics are your main thing, write a book of poetry instead! I still won't buy it, but I'll be saved the analysis of your profundity by music critics who are relieved not to have to write about how something sounds because it's sooo hard. Good lyrics can elevate a band from good to great, but good is not the same as pretentious.

9. In college, I had a TRS-80 Model 100 laptop computer. It could hold one 10-page paper in its memory, but you could save files on an attached tape deck.

10. Movies I've seen at least 3 times (not the same list as best movies, but there is some overlap): Shoot The Piano Player, Bedazzled (1967), Metropolitan, Valley Girl, Better Off Dead, The Warriors, 36 Chambers of Shaolin, Branded To Kill, Full Contact (1993), The Shop Around The Corner, Sunset Boulevard, Sweet Smell of Success, The World Of Henry Orient, Jackie Brown, Chinese Super Ninjas, Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill!, The Man In The White Suit, Meet Me in St. Louis.

11. Worst movie I've seen more than once: The King Of Hearts. It was playing at two parties I've attended.

12. One pet peeve: those who lump homeopathy with the folk remedies of women, peasants, non-Europeans, and others disregarded by the medical establishment. It was conceived by a white, middle-class European doctor who believed that water has a memory. You know what? It doesn't.

13. I would much rather have a new computer than valuable jewelry. I wear costume jewelry--adornment should be fun, and worrying that something might steal your jewelry because it would pay their rent for the month is no fun. In the olden days, when women couldn't own property or have a bank account and were barred from most professions, jewelry was the only thing they could own and their only backup plan for hard times. Being all obsessed about it now seems like a creepy throwback. Also, see #7 above.

14. Same goes for flowers. Paying for flowers that are just going to die in a couple of days? What a waste! Books and chocolate are what say love to me, as my sweetie knows.

15. When I was in junior high, I memorized Jabberwocky, but I only remember parts of it now.

16. Although Battlestar Galactica depicts genius scientists in the future accepting the theory of the subconscious that mainstream psychology has currently abandoned (also smoking: still cool!), I doubt that there is a little box in my brain with all my memories in perfect order if I could just access it. Plus, there are plenty of memories that I would repress if that were possible, so I conclude that Dr. Freud is full of hooey.

17. I don't care about the Oscars, except that it's nice if a more obscure indie or foreign film gets some notice. I might watch parts of it if they have a good host, and I tear up when they show all the people who died that year.

18. Watching too many old movies at a young age gave me a bias against beards and mustaches on my men. Stubble is OK though.

19. If I get an earworm, I sing The Colonel Bogey March in my head until it goes away.

20. I made a 5-minute claymation movie for my sixth-grade science fair. It featured a dinosaur and a magic hat that made the wearer disappear.

21. I used to have a portable record player which played records on their sides. I had it hooked up to a boom box in college. Finally, the needle died and the Sony customer service representative laughed at me when I asked if I could purchase a replacement.

22. I still sometimes miss my old college DJ gig, although I wasn't any good at it. I satisfy this urge by making mix cds. It used to be mix tapes, and it could be online playlists in the future (although as an art major, I enjoy the packaging, which streaming doesn't really satisfy, plus it makes a lousy present.)

23. I like to mend clothes whenever possible with my limited sewing skills. The only place I'm a little extravagant with clothes is shoes, but for practical reasons. Shoes help you get where you want to go, so they have to be well-made, or your feet will suffer for it. If they are pricey because they are well-made (not because they are designer), they'll last longer and save you money in the long run. Cheap, badly made shoes can't be mended because they are held together with cheap glue. I just got rid of some winter boots that finally started falling apart after 10 years of constant winter wear, and my Doc Martin oxfords are about 15 years old and still going strong. Support your local shoe repairer!

24. I'm ultra-opinionated about things, but I can't convince anyone of anything. I'm not sure it's really possible to convince someone of something, but if you can, isn't that kind of creepy and manipulative?

25. My hometown lies just below the Northern Midwestern/Southern Midwestern border, so I have a slight drawl, flat 'a' and hard 'r'. I'm rather fond of it, actually. If I moved somewhere like England where it really stood out, I'd probably emphasize it rather than modify it.


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Comments

Del said…
24!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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