100 Things About Me

Yowza, it’s a crazy near-blizzard here! Pictures this evening or tomorrow… The Minnesota Department of Transportation is advising people not to go into work. Hmph – I’m already here.


A few weeks ago, Mama Tulip posted her list of 100 things about herself and inspired me to do so myself. Cute cat picture at the end if you make it through this list!

  1. I’m sort of afraid (ok, phobic) about the spinning blades of lawnmowers and garbage disposals.
  2. I’m also afraid of heights.
  3. In Basic Training, they had to push me over the edge when we did rappelling because I wouldn’t go on my own.
  4. Because I wasn’t ready and my spotter wasn’t ready, I dropped about 20 feet down the wall before my spotter recovered and stopped my descent.
  5. Strangely, this did nothing to reduce my fear of heights.
  6. Oh? You’re wondering “Basic Training”???! I joined the Army Reserve in 1987. (It was much safer then.)
  7. I went to Basic Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
  8. Because I was unable to do any pushups when I got there, I spent an entire month in “Fitness Committee,” doing pushups and situps all day long.
  9. I hated Basic Training with a passion. Strangely, it was not a good environment for an introverted, individualistic nonconformist.
  10. I did my Advanced Army Training at Fort Sam Houston, which is almost in downtown San Antonio, Texas.
  11. I trained to be a “91A” (91 Alpha in Army speak) – basically an EMT/litterbearer.
  12. I picked 91A because it had a good signup bonus.
  13. When I was 16 (beginning of 11th grade), I ran away from home in October, about a month before my 17th birthday.
  14. Why, yes, there was a boy involved.
  15. We went to Orlando, Florida (his idea).
  16. He couldn’t/wouldn’t get a job and after I supported him for two months, he bought a crap car on credit, stole the battery from my car, and drove back to Minnesota.
  17. At that time, I worked at a Burger King. I took home $90/week. Rent was $65/week+$5/week electric. It was a relief to have that guy gone – hard enough to have one person living on $20/week, let alone two.
  18. I am not a patient person.
  19. I used to drive a purple 1997 Escort Station wagon.
  20. I loved that car. My knitting friends loved it, too, because if we were meeting somewhere, they could just drive around until they found my car.
  21. My beloved Escort wagon repaid my love by blowing a rod at 141,000 miles.
  22. Now I drive a silver 1997 BMW 318ti, which has 38,000 54,000 miles on it.
  23. I am usually early or right on time.
  24. I would rather wait for the next show than go into a movie 5 minutes late.
  25. I am slightly dyslexic. If we go to a movie together and I tell you the time it starts, you would be well advised to independently verify that time.
  26. I also have trouble keeping clubs and spades straight.
  27. I have mnemonic for that: “Clubs is clovers. Spades is shovels.”
  28. I can’t remember the rules for card games.
  29. I read very fast.
  30. I learned to read early and had library privileges in kindergarten.
  31. I don’t watch TV. I have in the past, for brief periods, but I would rather read.
  32. I have the kanji character for happiness tattooed on my left shoulder.
  33. It used to be the character for good luck, but I got it changed in November 2005.
  34. It’s hiding a weird scar from a mole biopsy.
  35. The tattoo artist who did “good luck” said I should get lots more tattoos because I have a high pain tolerance and my skin takes ink well.
  36. I don’t think that’s sufficient reason.
  37. I live in the Uptown area of Minneapolis, which has its own entry in Wikipedia!
  38. I love to ride my crappy old bicycle (a 12-year old Specialized crossbike).
  39. I am phobic about my upper arms looking squishy in a tank top.
  40. I love to wear tank tops in the summer.
  41. I do a lot of pushups to keep my phobia at bay.
  42. Chaos, Mayhem, and I live in a 637-square foot condo, top/3rd floor, NE corner.
  43. I am allergic to cats, mold, tree pollen, apple and pear skins, perfumes and most strongly scented items, most skin care products for the face, and probably a crapload of other things that I don’t know about.
  44. I learned to knit in the fall of 2000.
  45. It was the first hobby I ever tried that “grabbed” my attention so completely.
  46. I think it’s because there aren’t many concrete outputs of my job, so knitting fulfills my need to have visible proof of effort. (Because, really, how satisfying is it to produce an Excel spreadsheet or a really sweet SQL query?!)
  47. People guess my weight 20-35 pounds less than it is.
  48. I am extremely nearsighted (20/800 and 20/1000).
  49. I am not a candidate for contacts or laser surgery.
  50. I have peanut butter toast and orange juice every morning for breakfast.
  51. I have at least one (preferably two) straight up soy mochas every day.
  52. I don’t like coffee unless it’s mixed with chocolate.
  53. I am lactose and gluten intolerant.
  54. I was diagnosed with celiac disease (gluten intolerance) in 1997.
  55. I still crave chocolate and almond croissants.
  56. I have never intentionally cheated on my gluten-free (GF) diet.
  57. I make great GF pizza (I eat cheese when I make it).
  58. I love unsalted roasted cashews and almonds.
  59. I think dark chocolate is the only chocolate worth eating.
  60. I don’t snack.
  61. I love red wine, but all of it gives me migraines – except pinot noir (which was cheaper before Sideways came out). No wine – it all gives me migraines now. Bless gluten-free New Grist beer.
  62. I also love margaritas on the rocks.
  63. I grew up on a farm near the Rochester, Minnesota, International Airport, which has two runways.
  64. I am so not a farm girl – give me the city any day.
  65. My memory is simultaneously very good and very bad. Because it’s so good on some details, when I say I can’t remember something, some people (usually at work) think I am “dissing” them.
  66. My memory is very good for many (but not all) aspects of telephone switch call detail record processing and billing (work), Star Trek TNG trivia, X-Files trivia, and knitting.
  67. My memory is very bad regarding parts my own past and the plots of books and movies.
  68. I consider not remembering the plots of books a benefit of sorts – if I really love a book, I buy it and can happily reread it every other year as if I was reading it for the first time.
  69. I tend to avoid reading books that generate a lot of hype because I develop unrealistic expectations of them, which they can rarely meet.
  70. The song “Pop! Goes the World” by Men Without Hats always makes me want to dance crazily.
  71. I played piano for 12 years.
  72. I quit when my teacher wanted me to start competing – mostly because I might have to practice.
  73. I wasn’t a very good piano player – but I was a very good sight reader.
  74. I played alto saxophone from 5th through 10th grade.
  75. That was by parental choice – I wanted to be a percussionist.
  76. I also took guitar for a few years in junior high.
  77. Eventually I gave my guitar to a friend in community college.
  78. I didn’t go back to high school after I returned to Minnesota from Florida.
  79. Instead, I went to community college, which was paid for by a local high school through Minnesota’s PSEO program.
  80. I got my Associate of Arts (Liberal Arts) in May 1987.
  81. I got my high school diploma from a high school I’d never attended in June 1987.
  82. I worked as a physical therapy orderly at St. Mary’s Hospital (part of the Mayo Clinic) for several years.
  83. I waited tables throughout my teens and into my early twenties.
  84. My great hope is that I will never work in food service again.
  85. In the summer of 1991, I worked in the Black Hills National Forest marking timber and fighting forest fires.
  86. In the summer of 1993, I lived and worked in Itasca State Park.
  87. My very favorite color is black.
  88. After black, other favorite colors are purple, royal blue, and forest green.
  89. Doing home projects is not one of my favorite things, so I can put them off near indefinitely.
  90. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Studies with a Forestry minor from the University of Minnesota (U of M).
  91. I have an MS in Forest Recreation from the U of M.
  92. Realizing that Forest Recreation was insanely unemployable, I also got an MS in Rhetoric and Technical Communication (aka technical writing) from the U of M.
  93. I got my current job because of a karate class.
  94. I used to go to a lot of concerts at First Avenue.
  95. I can’t even remember most of the concerts I’ve seen.
  96. I have a five-second spot in local band Arcwelder’s video for their song “Smile” – I’m waving and smiling.
  97. Why, yes, I was living with the guy who made the video. 🙂
  98. I got married in 1989.
  99. I knew I was doing the wrong thing because I had an anxiety attack during the wedding, but I went through with it anyway.
  100. We separated in 1990 and divorced in 1991.

List updated 12/6/2007.

“Look into my eyes. You are growing sleepy… very sleepy. When you awake, you will remember nothing… except to send tuna.”

45 thoughts on “100 Things About Me”

  1. So I shouldn’t expect a call back this morning from the business contact in Eden Prairie?

    I spent several months in Rochester, MN. It has the best water tower.

  2. Wow – we have quite a few things in common…notably item 100! What a great list. Does Chaos know your allergic to him?

  3. Hey, we have lots in common! I love the part about not remembering books. I don’t either. If I’m participating in any book club type discussion, I have to read the book within a day or two of discussing it, otherwise all I can remember is whether or not I liked it.

    But one thing I do remember: Flannery O’Connor was once quoted as saying, “I have been blessed with the gift of nonretention.” Yup. Me and Flannery.

  4. Great list, can’t say we have alot in common though 🙂 If and when I eat chocolate its gotta be milk, I hate dark!
    Once again Chaos is adorable!

  5. #99 – Me too, and I was even on anti-anxiety drugs for the ceremony. I had diarrhea the entire honeymoon, and felt nauseated for the next three years. Not a bad guy, just wrong…………
    I think I must have a memory very similar to yours………

  6. Great list, we have a few things in common. However, I got my BA in English and have, what my book club feels, is an annoying ability to remember books. Oh well, thanks for the list it was enjoyable to read this snowy morning.

  7. A blizzard~~won’t even tell you what the weather’s like here today. Suffice it to say I just got back from a 22 mile ride….wearing shorts. Sorry that you didn’t get a snow day.

    Hold on a cotton picking minute…..let me get this straight…you’re allergic to cats and yet you have a cat!!!??? I take it you get shots for your allergy? Zyrtec? See even though I learned a lot about you, I need to know more. Thanks for publishing your 100 Things list. I should do that…..someday.

    :o)

  8. 1. Me too! I wont put my fingers near my kitchen drain.
    6. WOW. I wasn’t expecting that.
    16. What?! Did you hunt him down and beat the crap out of him?
    30. Aw. Our very own Matilda. 🙂
    43. Wait… Allergic to CATS? Does Chaos know this?
    87. Is that even a COLOR?
    93. Military AND karate training? Want to by my bodyguard?

    EXCELLENT picture!!

  9. How fun to read all about you. You are quite adventurous! (Did I spell that right? It looks wrong…)

    And hey, don’t complain about 141,000 miles on a FORD! (…for another good Ford story ask Jen about MY old Escort…eeeek!)

    Thanks for doing that. It seems overwhelming to thing of 100 things about oneself, but maybe not…

  10. 1. ME TOO!

    6. Wow. Holy shit dude, you’re cool. And I’ll bet you’re all sorts of buff.

    31. I’m shuddering; I couldn’t live without television.

    41. Yeah, I’m guessing you’re buff.

    43. Allergic to cats?

    70. LOL.

    73. I can’t read sheet music at all.

    84. So is mine. 😉

    87. So is Dave’s. 😉

    93. Huh? Explain…

    VERY interesting, Chris.

  11. Very fascinating. I’ve really enjoyed learning a bit more about you. Now, I’m inspired to do my own. It seems overwhelming at first, but not really. You’ve had a very interesting life.

  12. Great list, Chris! I’m glad to know I’m not the only way to have an anxiety attack after getting married. Unfortunately it was days later and I was driving. Luckily, it was in the driveway.

    Push-ups? Squishy arms are higly underrated. On the other hand, when I took my Karate class, I was so buff I knocked out 35 knuckle push ups before they stopped me.

    Chaos pic!

  13. I bet people guess your weight as less because you are toned from all the pushups.

    Anyone who could make it through basic training is my hero.

    I don’t like books/movies/music once it starts getting to popular for the same reason. I wish I could, but I just can’t and I know I’m probably missing out on some good stuff.

    You have had some awesome jobs!

    Stay warm and cozy in the blizzard!

  14. Yours is the first 100 things list that makes me want to do one. (Strange, since I so love to talk about myself…)

    I can sympathize with #99. While I didn’t have an anxiety attack during the wedding, I spent the whole night before telling my (former) best friend that I didn’t want to do it (and she spent the whole time telling me I should), and then the next few years being miserable. Ugh.

  15. a very cool list chris. it was fun to read. i played piano for 7 years. my mother insisted. and i hated it. i managed to squeek by by being an excellent sight reader like you. but i was a lousy musician.

    when my mother finally let me quit, she said “you’ll regret it.” i never did. i have a piano now, but i never play.

  16. Really interesting, Chris, I keep meaning to do one of these, except my parents read my blog and it would feel kinda weird…
    So what ARE you on for your allergies?
    Must….send…tuna…

  17. There we go, comment problem fixed ;o) Great list! It has so much on it I didn’t know yet! I love the purple car bit.

    Chaos is so cute – those eyes, that nose!

  18. I drive a 1997 escort, red though! We also have a ’93, blue. The funny things is, it didn’t even dawn on us that we we’re going to have 2 of the same car until we brought the second one home. But hey, they’re cheap and easy to fix!

  19. Haha, boys suck and they make smart chicks do dumb things (I too have fallen victim). It’s funny, I’ve hear from a couple of divorcee’s that they shouldn’t have gotten married because they had a panic attack or other anxiety related issue on their wedding day…trust your gut!

  20. My GOD, woman!!!

    You’ve led an interesting life!!

    Oh, and thanks a LOT…now I’m feeling like I want to do one of those damn lists!

    I know I’ll regret it. Hehe.

    And MAN…that Chaos is SUCH a handsome cat.

    He had me at “meow” (the virtual meow, of course…ahem).

  21. Love Chaos’s pic – your captions are so cool.

    The list is great – gives me the urge to do one myself. Knowing me I’d start….and that would be it.

    And the similarities:
    16. Crap guy. Oh this was my type over and over and over. Now you know why I married late!
    18. Patience – whats that?
    25. But with phone numbers. Always write them down wrong way round, but read them correctly!
    29. Snap. I rarely read now, I used to when I commuted in London but tried not to read at home as I wouldn’t put it down and it got rather expensive.
    32. Tattoos – but more than you…shush

    And of course I’m lactose intolerant too.

    My best friend had the same gut feeling pre-marriage. Needless to say they’re now separated.

  22. Yours is the ONLY list I’ve actually read. I usually skim or skip, but for some reason I was really drawn into this one.

    I see some things we have in common. Specifically, I have a great memory for certain things, but I can rarely remember a person’s face. (I tell the hub I can’t remember what he looks like when he’s been gone for 3 days.) Other things I remember with photographic detail. Of course nobody ever belives me because my credibility is blown by not recognizing my friends and co-workers to whom I’m declaring I 100% remember exactly what happened.

    There are other similarities, too. Runaway, punctuality, being PISSED about Sideways ruining normal wine enjoyment (even though I never saw it and never willingly shall), and the hope to never ever work in food service again.

    We’re twins twice removed, see?

  23. Like most of your commenters, reading the 100 was a fluke – it’s usually something I don’t make time to do, but yours was entertaining/interesting/enlightening!

  24. love the sight! hopped in from j kayes award commentary=
    chaos and mayhem- have to remember that if we ever get more cats (we have 4 now-hubby names 3-ugh-at least i got Bella Blue Luna aka Bella the 28 lb maine coon….LOL

  25. Ok….um….just stumbled to your blog and I’m in love. Your heading…about internet dating etc…yeah. Tried that last year. Am considering writing a book on it. One guy told me he was afraid of getting women pregnant so he was trying to sterilize himself using heat.

    Also…your 100 things…basically describe me. You stalked my life…I do believe….

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