Same Thing, But Different

Thursday, April 21, 2005

100 Things

1. I was born in Michigan
2. I have lived in 4 separate countries and 3 other states
3. My family drives me mental and, because I'm an equal opportunity sort, so do my inlaws.
4. I believe it is important to eat together as a family every day
5. I have two boy children
6. I am not a pet person.
7. In fact, I am not even a houseplant person.
8. I can fake any accent, except any variant of Australian. This both bothers and fascinates me.
9. Scented candles, incense, etc. give me a raging headache.
10. I am pretty good at sewing
11. I am not good in crowds or large groups or small groups.
12. I fake being good at the above really well. But I hate it with a passion.
13. One-on-one I am a chatterbox.
14. My father has unqualifiedly praised me to my face exactly once. I was 13.
15. I am a rugged indoorsman, I hate the great outdoors.
16. I got chickenpox when I was 29.
17. I'm extremely judgmental. I try to shut up about it, which builds character.
18. I wish I had had more kids.
19. I'm a male, straight and I love pink.
20. I'm a snob.
21. I was painfully shy as a child
22. I am very good at languages. Particularly all those Romance ones. Maybe others like German or Japanese, but since I only drive Italian cars, I've never bothered.
23. I find most people fairly dull, fairly stupid or fairly prosaic.
24. I NEVER forget a kindness.
25. Ann Coulter make me laugh.
26. I have no fear whatsoever of public speaking.
27. I have "a past" that I'd like to keep to myself, as I'm not terribly proud of it now that I'm settled down with a wife and kids.
28. I actually R.s.v.p. when I get an invitation and send thank-you notes. Thos who don't puzzle and sadden me.
29. I'd never want to live anywhere else
30. I used to be a Libertarian, but now I'm merely a lower-case-L libertarian.
31. I couldn't possibly care less about what is or isn't politically correct.
32. I have a collecting gene, from my mother.
33. I have a "marooned in a deserted island survivor" metabolism. This has yet to prove handy.
34. I tried my hand at stand-up comedy once. ONCE.
35. Seriousness makes my naughty bits itch.
36. I don't hate my government. I hate ALL government; since we're stuck with one, I prefer we opt for the most minimally intrusive one...starting with my wallet and whatever forms I have to fill out.
37. I get almost all of Dennis Miller's references. Not sure how I feel about that.
38. I worry about my friends
39. I cannot sleep on an airplane
40. I can tune out anything I want to
41. Cooking is a language to me, I can even think in it.
42. My dream job would be to be dictator. Really.
43. I always marvel at how many opportunities I missed to turn my life into a train wreck.
44. My guardian angel deserves overtime.
45. I drink coffee AND tea. In fact, my habit used to be so bad I'd have a shot of espresso and then fall asleep.
46. I dislike work. Not just my job, but ALL jobs.
47. I love ironing shirts. Trousers, not so much.
48. I read voraciously
49. I worry about hubris
50. I default to being arrogant and smug
51. I love studying ancient history and classics.
52. I am Olympically good at procrastination and insomnia
53. I try to go to Mass daily (but fail) and Confession monthly
54. I am short-sighted.
55. I am not, nor can I understand why anyone would ever be, a vegetarian.
56. People whose worldviews are permated by bitterness worry me. Hate, less so.
57. I only consent to drive manual cars. Power steering is somewhat suspect.
58. I am impatient to a pathological degree.
59. I don't care for modernism, progressivism or any other euphemism for "new things that don't work."
60. I get in trouble because of my deadpan delivery.
61. I very, very rarely talk about sex.
62. I often hurl impressive bursts of profanity, but never around women or children.
63. I'm Catholic. Like THAT kind of Catholic.
64. When eating out, I find it amazingly easy to decide what to order. Knowing what to order is 90% of the trick of having a great lunch/dinner.
65. I have no sense of direction. NONE.
66. I'm a bit curt when my defenses are down.
67. PG Wodehouse is the greatest writer in the history of the English language
68. I hate, loathe, despise Daylight Savings Time.
69. I am a skeptic.
70. I am a cynic.
71. I am very particular about what my children wear. I don't mind a small, discreet logo, but I prefer classic stuff that won't require them to explain things when looking at photos many years hence. This is a result of having grown up in the 1970s; that ghetto of a decade.
72. I am somewhat vain.
73. I have an opinion about EVERYTHING.
74. I love roses.
75. I am, outwardly, a very unemotional person. But you'd be surprised at the stuff that makes my eyes well up.
76. I am hilarious
77. My friends tend to be also (it's a requirement, really)
78. I wonder what my life would have been like had I been born 10 years later.
79. I like writing letters and notes by hand, with fountain pen, on nice stationery
80. I pray for my friends, regardless of how they'd feel about that
81. I hope that Judgment Day arrives just as I walk out of Confession
82. I love silent comedies.
83. Nothing worries me more than what sort of men my sons will become.
84. I'm aware of my shortcomings and how they got there.
85. I love natural sponges
86. My oldest is about to go to an old-fashioned, classical-education Jesuit school, with a pedagogy that was fixed ca. 1850.
87. Just like I went to one. (As did my dad, in case you're counting)
88. I try and tread lightly on Creation. Not TOO lightly.
89. Baking remains outside my skill set.
90. I ADORE cooking dinner every night, night after night. Trips aside, I've done so for 15 years. 91. I shop for groceries and food every day, and at 5 different places
92. I'm actually Joke the III.
93. I have been drinking wine with dinner since I was 8
94. I am emphatically NOT a Francophile (my dad, alas is)
95. I am an Italophile
96. I am an Anglophile
97. I like all adult beverages equally, except white Zinfandel which is the wine used to worship the Prince of Darkness.
98. I have a finely tuned sense of irony and sarcasm
99. My friends are hugely important in my life. They generally are chosen for their kindness, charm, loyalty and conversational ability. Politics, religion, gender, race, etc. plays no part in the selection process. This leads to lively exchanges.
100. I am an optimist, and pessimists puzzle me.

Posted by Joke at 11:27 PM

1 Comments

olivespearls posted at 5:32 PM, July 28, 2008
How have I been reading your blog lo these many months and missed this yummy list? I think this is the first time I've read a 100 Things post where I didn't despise the person by #43. Nicely done.