100 Things About Me

1. I'm not a natural redhead.
2. But my brother is, and my grandfather was, so it looks natural. Most people can't tell that I get a little help from Miss Revlon.
3. I used to lie about my weight (bumping it up by about 10 lbs.) so I could give blood at blood drives. I don't have to do that anymore, but I haven't given blood in a few years because you're supposed to wait a year after being tattooed or pierced.
4. I used to have 10 piercings.
5. Now I have 3. I don't miss them.
6. If you ask me nicely, I might tell you where they were.
7. I have been compared to Monica Geller on Friends on more than one occasion.
8. I was also once compared to Shirley Feeney, so you can see that perhaps there is some merit to the general idea.
9. I was raised in part by my grandmother, who lived with us. She sort of took over the reins after my mother went back to work.
10. She was a great lady, but she ruled my mom with an iron fist, even going so far as to open her mail. She mellowed out by the time I knew her.
11. She had a lot of miscarriages before she had my mom, and one stillbirth. I worry that my fertility issues stem from her genes.
12. I have a very quick temper.
13. Most people find that out sooner rather than later.
14. I love to argue, and that has freaked out a lot of my boyfriends, who equated arguing with trouble in paradise.
15. I had a boyfriend who was bipolar, but he didn't believe he was. He killed himself by lying down on the train tracks.
16. I felt responsible. It's a long story that I might tell someday in a public forum. I still miss him, but as a friend, not a boyfriend. He was kind of an ass as a boyfriend.
17. I was engaged for a year about 4 years ago. The groom got cold feet and I kicked him out of the apartment he and I shared.
18. That messed me up for a long time until I met my husband, who is everything the other guy wasn't.
19. I wear contacts and probably always will because I am frightened of lasik surgery.
20. I'm a spelling nazi.
21. I don't like most seafood.
22. I have math anxiety.
23. I enjoy crossword puzzles, but I've never finished a New York Times crossword without help.
24. I'm a big proponent of cruelty-free products.
25. But I still eat meat. And wear leather.
26. And I don't care if you think that's hypocritical.
27. I'm proud to say I'm a feminist.
28. I hate cold weather and won't go out in it if I don't have to.
29. Hot weather doesn't bother me, even if it's in the 90s.
30. I dislike air conditioning.
31. I've had two poems published.
32. I refuse to eat fast food.
33. I don't like musicals, but I often like the music from them.
34. I smoked off and on for over 10 years, but I quit maybe 3 years ago.
35. I'm not a very addictive personality. I smoked because I liked it, not because I felt compelled.
36. I have to fight my urge to hoard things.
37. I like having a lot of food on hand. My fridge is always full.
38. People's dads love me. Their moms, not so much.
39. My hands and feet are usually cold. I guess I have bad circulation.
40. I've had people ask me if my eyes are real (rather than colored contacts) more times than you've had hot dinners.
41. I wear a size 8 1/2 shoe and feel cheated that I am not taller in accordance with having such big feet.
42. I'm 5'6", but somehow I give the illusion of height.
43. I'm the shortest person in my family. They all mock me for being short.
44. I wear SPF 45 during the summer.
45. I really like dictionaries and I have several of them.
46. I was raised Catholic and attended parochial school for 12 years.
47. I don't go to mass anymore. But I'll never not be Catholic.
48. I used to pretend to go to mass and go to Dunkin Donuts instead when I still lived at home.
49. I got busted when my mother asked me about the sermon that day.
50. I used to have a boss who sexually harrassed me. Quitting was the most liberating feeling ever.
51. This old boss and I have mutual acquaintances still, and I know he hates me to this day. Which sort of amuses me.
52. I really hate misplaced quotation marks.
53. And when people can't work out the difference between "its" and "it's".
54. My favorite flowers are ranunculus.
55. I like to cook.
56. I'm pretty good at it.
57. But I am no gourmet.
58. I love red wine, but the sulfites give me killer headaches.
59. My husband and I had two wedding ceremonies: a small, religious one and a large, civil ceremony.
60. The judge got my name horribly wrong during the civil ceremony.
61. And announced us as Mr. & Mrs. My Maiden Name.
62. But it was OK because we were happy and it was funny.
63. I tend to start things and then not finish them.
64. I never graduated from college and sometimes I allow this fact to make me feel stupid.
65. Then I get over it. I'll probably never finish school, though.
66. I'm a Leo. Textbook case.
67. I have Scorpio rising. I'm also on the cusp of Virgo, which makes me a little anal.
68. I cry easily.
69. I find that frustrating.
70. I blush easily, too.
71. I'm a very light sleeper.
72. I can't drive stick.
73. I used to be a nude model for art classes.
74. I also modeled privately for a couple of artists.
75. It wasn't as creepy as it sounds.
76. I wish I had a big enough yard to raise chickens.
77. I won't wear thongs.
78. I can quote The Simpsons at will.
79. Cocoa Puffs are my favorite cereal.
80. When I was single, I would sometimes eat cereal for dinner.
81. Now I see that was a bad idea.
82. I watch too much TV.
83. I've been mistaken for a boy on more than one occasion.
84. I curse a lot.
85. The school nurse once complimented my thick hair while doing a lice check.
86. I'm very independent.
87. I almost always carry mace.
88. Because I've been hassled by men on dark streets in the past when I didn't have it.
89. Now whoever hassles me will get a shot of pepper spray in the eyes.
90. I understand revenge.
91. I'm fairly impervious to advertising.
92. I'm a control freak.
93. I was an "oops" baby.
94. I know this because there are 8 years between me and my youngest sister.
95. But I never felt unwanted.
96. I read a lot.
97. I had a huge Barbie collection as a child.
98. I was under the influence of soap operas, so the Barbies got around, if you know what I mean.
99. I like making lists.
100. I think the odds are good that I'll die of cancer.