100 Things About Me

0. I'm a writer.
1. I knit (duh). I learned at five or six, and I think I should be much better at it than I am for this reason. There’s nothing I can’t do in knitting (but there's a lot I don't do WELL), and I rely a little too much on patterns.
2. I’m the same way with cooking. I can’t usually do it without a recipe. Thus, it doesn’t feel creative.
3. I’ve been to Venice four times in the last few years, six times total. I feel as at home there as I do in Oakland. Maybe more so.
4. I have a lot of crap tucked into my home.  Less now, but there are still pockets.
5. I can ride a bike, but I always crash. Last time I hit my head so hard on the concrete that I broke the helmet. That was five years ago. Haven’t ridden since. I have a bike now. I still don't ride much, but it's CUTE, so that's fun.
6. I was not only raised on bluegrass, but I love it, too.
7. I want to play the fiddle.
8. I play the guitar, badly.
9. I also dabble in the ukulele.
10. I love dogs. This is new in the last five years. I've always loved cats.
11. I love my wireless internet connection. I can email from the garden swing. Or the bathroom, should I ever want to.
12. I hate to knit gauge swatches. Rarely do. It'll fit someone, eh? Still hate them, now do them. It saves time in the end.
16. I hate regular grocery stores.
17. I love the food at Trader Joe’s, but the lines scare me.
18. Most lines scare me.
19. Once I was in a long line at Ikea and I freaked out. I left my full shopping cart in line, drove to a car dealership and bought a convertible in 30 minutes because there was no line. This is true.
20. My girl cat is Adah. If I died, she wouldn’t miss me. She’s not as dumb as she purports to be.
21. My boy cat (?) is Digit, a transsexual due to technical difficulties. I like to call him Gidget. He’s the love of my life.
22. My mother is from New Zealand.
23. My mom is the cutest person I’ve ever met. But not cute in a diminishing way.
23.5. My mom died June 12, 2008. We took her home from the hospital on hospice, and she died surrounded by her daughters and husband. It was the best and worst thing I've ever been part of. I miss her all the time. All. The. Time.
24. I rarely floss. Always forget.
25. I like to photograph industrial areas.
26. I adore Oakland.
27. I got my Masters of Fine Arts at Mills College in 1999.
28. I work as a 911 police dispatcher—this has NOTHING to do with my degree.
29. I'm almost 100 pages into a novel that's Just For Fun.
30. I’m over 500 pages into a Bigger Novel.
31. I have an agent! And a book! We're going to try to sell that book. Yay.
32. I write four days a week, and I work at the J.O.B. four days a week. I take three days a week off. I write all days of the week. This is new, but it's working.
33. I’m tidy, but I incur clutter.
34. I think nothing of hiding said clutter behind scarves and closet doors.
35. I have too many books.
36. I clean out my books regularly by taking them to Gray Wolf, the best used bookstore in the world. Then I come home with more.
37. I got married to my love, Lala, on April 1, 2006.
38. Before we moved in together in March, 2006, I'd never lived with anyone who wasn't a blood relative.
39. I’m selfish with my time.
40. I don’t want kids. Or do I, someday?
41. Okay, maybe I do. Yep. Or maybe not. Sheesh.
42. Really, it’s because I’m selfish and I love my life as it is.
43. I’d make a fucking terrific aunt.
44. I used to be a great speller. I can feel that strength diminishing, though, as I get older. I forget now how to spell things. I never used to do that.
45. I’m a terrible sportsperson. I can’t play anything that’s competitive.
46. I once broke my jawbone playing volleyball in high school.
47. I ran the Honolulu Marathon in December, 2004. It was one of the craziest things I've ever done.
48. I bought a condo in Oakland in October, 2004.
49. I fell in love in July, 2004.  It was a very busy six months.
50. I came out in 1998.
51. I wasn’t convinced I was a lesbian then, though. Maybe just bisexual.
52. Still occasionally unsure.
53. But I’m mostly, most-of-the-time, 94% queer. Okay, 90%.
54. I hate homophobes.
55. I say hate, but there’s no one I really hate.
56. I am prone to hyperbole.
57. Really prone.
58. Really really really prone.
59. I think this is because I have a TERRIBLE memory. When I say something is the “best,” I mean it. I just can’t remember the last “best.”
60. I really, really love my TiVo. I hate commercials. They depress me. I love skipping through them.
61. It takes an awful damn lot to depress me. I think I was born chemically happy. It really pisses people off.
62. I’m codependent, though, when it comes to making people be happy with me. I can’t get it through my head that it’s not my job. Of COURSE it’s my job.
63. I sleep with three pillows, one under head, one on either side (Lala takes the place of the 3rd pillow, when she can). I feel childish for having this need.
64. I love vegemite.
65. My biggest fears are fire and electrical shock.
66. Both happened one night when my apartment shorted out from damp walls—I was shocked while lying under my electric blanket, and there were flames shooting out of an outlet.
66. After the fire went out (by itself, I couldn’t think what to do), I couldn’t decide who to call. And when I finally figured out that 911 might be a good idea, I couldn’t remember my address.
67. My other big fear is of tidal waves.
68. I do understand how ridiculous that is.
69. I can contradance well.
70. My sisters rock.
71. I spend too much time on-line.
72. I feel guilty when I’m not doing something productive. Thus, the knitting.
73. I have trouble falling asleep.
74. I love my clawfoot bathtub. Deep, passionate love. Loved it. Now miss it.
75. My dad can play lots and lots of instruments, but I think he loves the mandolin best.
76. I have an old Martin guitar that we call Barney. It always has a banana sticker on the top of it.
77. I lived on Saipan, a tiny island north of Guam, while I was in high school.
78. I loved Saipan.
79. While there, a super-typhoon named Kim devastated the island.
80. I’ve never been more frightened than that day.
81. I can be talked into almost anything.
82. I don’t listen to Christian talk radio stations for that reason.
83. I’m a good typist.
84. I like to wear handknit socks.
85. I was better at chess when I was nine than I am now.
86. I actually remember the moment that I learned how to read—when I realized that the sounds I had learned comprised words. I couldn’t wait for Dad to get home from work so I could read The Three Little Pigs to him.
87. I have wide feet.
88. I drink {gasp} Starbucks sometimes at work. But when I'm with friends I pretend I wouldn't darken its doors.
89. But I do only shop at independent bookstores.
90. Except for the occasional swing through Amazon.
91. I look best in black.
92. But my favorite color is yellow.
93. I have a bunch of sweaters that I made that I would never wear anywhere. And lots that I do wear everywhere.
94. I love artichokes.
95. I’ve never had anything waxed but my eyebrows. But I keep thinking about it.....
96. I have two Mont-Blancs, one fountain, one roller-ball.
97. I don’t mind spiders.
98. I’m very very very bad with money.
99. I quit smoking in February 2001.
100. I miss it every day. That's why I knit so much, I think. Obsessive me.

Take a virtual ride through my 'hood!

Comments

[wendy]

Re - # 99 & 100 - congratulations - keep counting those aniversaries - and don't worry - you won't always miss it. I quite almost 7 years ago and am thankful everyday that I did. That alone has shaped my adult life. I no longer miss it!

[iona]

I really like 39 to 42.

Great list. Good luck with the novel. :-)

[Dana]

Isn't it amazing how we can let something like smoking dominate our lives? I quit September 2002! I used to dream about it every night. I no longer do! Ahh, progress is wonderful. I also started knitting obsessively about the time I quit smoking... something to do with my hands, I guess. Cool list, btw.

[Amy]

Hi, I'm a newcomer to your blog. LOVED your list. Okay, I think we were (almost) separated at birth. Who else in the world has an irrational fear of tidal waves, likes bluegrass (going to the Hollywood Bowl to see bluegrass night with Nickel Creek tonight), is happy in a co-dependent way (even my blood is B positive!), and loves Six Feet Under! And those were just a few things. If you're ever down in LA, I hope you'll come to my Stitch & Bitch group.

[Melly]

I use two pillows, one to sleep under and the other to prop it to the right height. I feel absolutly no guilt about it, though I do think it is odd (I grew up in a bedroom with no heat or insulation and this is a hold-over behavior).

[claudia]

hi there, total newcomer here, found through archives in knitty. (was reading about kira and rachel's wedding and knitting being sexy ^_^) congrats on quitting smoking! and a boy cat is called a tom.

-claudia

[Dana]

In my world you cannot have too many books. If one could, I would. Too. PS: I'm not the same Dana as the one above!

[Larry]

Wow, I knew there was hope for the world!!
I knew it!! Thanks for sharing...you have made my day...

[Christian]

Don't really know how I found your site but I really enjoyed reading the 100 things about you... Perfect to practise my Englisch. This was a line droped from Germany...

Big smile
Christian

[Elspeth]

If you ever want to get serious about the fiddle, you should check out The Fifth String in Berkeley (near Ashby BART). I used to take banjo lessons there and they were awesome!

[lala]

You are so damn cute.

[Kira]

So I was reading your blog and thought I should re-read your 100 things in case I forgot something in the last 4 years (the cat's on my lap so I can't get up -- I'm reaching pretty far for things to do). I didn't imagine that you kept it updated. Oh, and Lala's right, you are so damn cute.

[Lala]

You're hot. Also, you need to update your hundred things. For instance, you no longer hate bike riding now.