100 Things About Other People

In August 2002, one Yankee Blogger wrote 100 things about himself and then suggested that 100 bloggers write 100 things about themselves in 100 days. Since then the Yankee Blog has gone dark, but the meme rides forever like Charlie on the MTA.

I decided to visit 100 sites and find 100 things other people said about themselves. It took much longer than writing my own - but it was so much more fun. (If one of these is yours and you want attribution, please leave word in the comment section.)

1. The first thing I did after buying a label-maker was to make a label that said “Label-maker” and put it on the label-maker.
   
2. I also once scratched an itch using a bottle of anti-itch cream.
   
3. When I was 9 years old, I designed and built a perpetual motion machine out of Legos, certain that I was solving the world’s energy problems. It didn’t work.
   
4. It’s quite possible that I read 1984 and Brave New World at much too young an age.
   
5. The sound of two paper napkins rubbing together makes me gag.
   
6. I’m not afraid of dying… I’d just like a little bit of advance notice.
   
7. When I was a kid, I said I wanted to be a marine biologist - until I learned that wasn't the same as being a dolphin trainer.
   
8. In my early teens, I thought I wanted to be deaf. I told myself that as soon as I turned 18, I would do something to my ears so I would go deaf. If that didn't happen, I'd at least marry a deaf person.
   
9. The theme song to The Andy Griffith Show makes my skin crawl.
   
10. I was born at 5.5 pounds. I can gain that much weight in a weekend.
    
    
11. All my leftovers eventually become a soup.
    
12. The loves of my life are loving the loves of their lives somewhere else.
    
13. The county where I grew up had no bookstore.
    
14. I love the smell of watermelon but can't stand the taste.
    
15. Sometimes I think my head might explode.
    
16. I didn't used to be nice at all.
    
17. Being nice when I don't feel like it causes my head to hurt.
    
18. My favorite movie is Amadeus. I totally identify with Salieri. Well, except for the part about assassinating Mozart.
    
19. I think Admiral Lord Nelson behaved abominably in his personal life, and because of that, I don't like him.
    
20. My earliest memory is of my older brother tormenting me by repeatedly squeezing a squeaking Winnie the Pooh doll next to my ear.
    
    
21. People who pay by check and wait for the total before even beginning to fill out their check irritate me a lot. I mean, they know which store they're in, right? And the date? And how to write their signature? Geez. People who wait for the total to fish around for their wallet and exact change are almost as bad.
    
22. Robots delight me.
    
23. Bone is one of my favorite materials, and I am very fond of skeletons and skulls (cf osteology). I keep asking Santa for a real, fully articulated human skeleton on a proper stand, but he has yet to come through.
    
24. I once accidentally killed a cactus by forgetting it existed. I had gotten it recently, and moved it from the top of my stereo to a space directly behind said stereo so I could dust. I just forgot I ever owned it, and left it back there for literally a couple of years.
    
25. I cannot drive. I have had over 50 lessons.
    
26. I cut tomatoes in wedges, not slices.
    
27. My dog weighs more than I do.
    
28. I have read "How to Win Friends and Influence People" at least five times.
    
29. I'd like to sing in a barber shop quartet.
    
30. I am the shyest extrovert I know. Or perhaps the most gregarious introvert.
    
    
31. My college degree (Bachelors in English Lit with a minor in Theatre Arts and a certificate in Medieval and Renaissance Studies) makes me darn near unemployable....except perhaps by a roving group of Panto performers.
    
32. I still believe a man's word should be his bond.
    
33. I love doing the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle, but can never complete it.
    
34. I feel that giving children deliberately misspelled names is both annoying and cruel.
    
35. I can count in binary on my hands.
    
36. I was told when I was very young that I was tone deaf. I’m sorry I believed the person who told me I was tone deaf.
    
37. I once worked in a fish processing plant in Alaska and put dead, frozen salmon into plastic bags for 12 hours a day. During one 8-hour shift, I bagged 14,000 salmon. This is not on my resume.
    
38. I believe that people are born with only a certain amount of will power. I have used all mine up.
    
39. I moved to London to be with a man. I moved back home to be with my dog.
    
40. I name inanimate objects.
    
    
41. I once told my wife when she was eight months pregnant that she needed to drop a few pounds.
    
42. I sleep *a lot*. It is a vastly underrated hobby.
    
43. When I start a project, I become obsessed with finishing it.
    
44. I cut my head open with a sharp knife while trying to kill a housefly with that same knife.
    
45. I name my fish. Soggy Pete is my favorite.
    
46. I asked my mom how long she was in labour with me, and she said, "Very long. I can't remember how long." *rolls eyes*
    
47. You see, I can't even make a simple list. I have to elaborate and explain (wait, don't those two mean almost the same thing? Whatever...) and make a production out of each and every point. At this rate, I'll probably take a week to reach a hundred! Long-winded, that's me. Or, as the Cantonese say, "cheong hei"!!
    
48. I can’t eat any meat that looks like what it was before it died.
    
49. I resent people who think that because I’m a woman, I’m supposed to think their baby is cute and that I’m supposed to coo over it.
    
50. I'm growing weary of irony -- although I am aware that being genuine runs the risk of humourlessness.
    
    
51. It took me a disturbingly long time to learn to tie my shoelaces
    
52. I am particularly annoyed by "faux retro" which bears no resemblance to anything that existed in the actual past.
    
53. I really think I am an excellent poet. Just no one knows it yet.
    
54. I think everyone is a hypocrite in one way or another.
    
55. This is one of my favorite quotes: "You can spit shine me all you want, but I'm still going to be the same old piece of tin." --Rob Thomas.
    
56. My husband married me because I knew the starting lineup for the 86 Mets.
    
57. I don't trust clowns or salesmen.
    
58. Baby drool grosses me out, but I'll let a dog kiss me on the lips.
    
59. I have never eaten tapioca pudding because when I was 4, my dad told me it was fish-eye pudding.
    
60. I once met Wayne Newton's dog, Thor.
    
    
61. I'm sure that I'm going to die falling down a flight of stairs.
    
62. I have an Easy-Bake oven on my desk and cake and brownie mixes in my drawer.
    
63. I collect unusual socks.
    
64. I hate Mozart, Bach, and the jackass who wrote Raphsody in Blue.
    
65. My legs won't float.
    
66. I once signed a waiver of liability in order to play lacrosse in an electrical storm.
    
67. I was very disappointed when I arrived too late to the 2003 National Cornbread Festival to compete in the cornbread eating contest, as I believe eating cornbread is one of my few really world-class skills.
    
68. The most valuable thing I learned in high school was how to type.
    
69. I LOVE to sing, but I'm afraid people will think I suck at it.
    
70. Some people say I'm conceited, or an asshole. The truth is, I'm just self-confident.
    
    
71. I have read Tolkien’s trilogy 12 times since I was 14.
    
72. People who password protect their blogs aggravate me.
    
73. I have been called the exception to all stereotypes.
    
74. I couldn't care less about nature.
    
75. My cat has dropped a glass of water on my head three times.
    
76. I once drank gasoline thinking it was 7Up.
    
77. Isis is the queen of my universe.
    
78. I can solve a Rubik's cube without removing the stickers.
    
79. I'm the best quiz bowl player at Canadian female singer-songwriter of the 90s and beyond. Ever.
    
80. My least favorite job was working as a detasseler in a popcorn field (you remove the tassels so the corn can cross pollinate).
    
    
81. In the third grade I was caught stealing the teachers strawberry scratch n' sniff stickers.
    
82. I am terrified of touching live fish.
    
83. Many if not most librarians are like you think they are, I am in the other group.
    
84. My parents sometimes claim to have named me after a Simon & Garfunkel song, or a Three Dog Night song. I'm pretty sure they're lying.
    
85. I once made 100 phone calls in a day to a guy's house when I was in junior high school. Just to hear him answer the phone. The police came. The family didn't press charges.
    
86. I've been told I have a lethal glare.
    
87. Being born was probably the most important event in my life.
    
88. I would absolutely refuse eating lima beans - disgusting.
    
89. I love talking about myself, but I tend to get interrupted a lot.
    
90. You probably can't learn anything you didn't already know about me from this list.
    
    
91. I've never been kissed.
    
92. I believe that there is a class of people to which I don’t belong - the “big” people - who seem very adult, authoritative, and worldly. They are all taller than me.
    
93. I have played washboard professionally in my past.
    
94. I think the women's sexuality goddesses Baubo and Sheelanagig have some power.
    
95. I have my email set to check for new mail every five minutes.
    
96. Some people are really afraid of throwing up, but I don't mind it at all.
    
97. I once drove the Goodyear Blimp.
    
98. I am Very Loyal in everything I endeavor.
    
99. I Feel I have a Great American Novel in me, but I can't find it.
    
100. I thought I might slip some "about me" items of my own into this list, but actually this is the only one.

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