30 By 30

1. Be more optimistic. Find joy and happiness.
2. Garden my herb garden so it includes more than two herbs.
3. Make two new friends.
4. Give only homemade gifts or things that will be really appreciated, not just become “stuff.”
5. Visit each continent (or at least add a few more to the list).
6. Purchase a home. Learn things to fix up that home.
7. Find direction.
8. Accept me. Totally - body shape, skin, hair, everything.
9. Play my bass clarinet again.
10. Buy a drill for myself; maybe put together a real good tool box.
11. Learn more pastry chef-ness.
12. Learn to speak another language (for real this time).
13. Be excitable.
14. Concentrate on others’ needs.
15. Become a runner.
16. Return to swimming and climbing.
17. Learn to small talk with people I have nothing in common with.
18. Become more appreciative of what I do have and what I have done.
19. Buy artwork on every trip I take, so that my home is filled with memories, rather than a dusty scrapbook.
20. Learn to dress sexy.
21. Volunteer. (Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, mentor, BSA…) Be active in a troop/crew/lodge of the Boy Scouts, even though I don’t have a kid.
22. Learn that responsibility and blame are different.
23. Simplify. Purge things I don’t need.
24. Try to respect "the ordinary" (inspired by this quote by lin-chi: "if you live the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion.")inspired by mipmup
25. Find a center that became lost along the way.
26. Find a pace between fired drill and slug.
27. Write a letter each week to someone I love, letting them know that.
28. Paint a large canvas painting.
29. Learn to sew.
30. Get a really great haircut and finally learn what to do with it.

Top 100

1. My eyes are the color of the sea after a storm, according to an ex.
2. I can't resist meowing or “psst-pssting” to a cat.
3. I have a natural tendency to blame others for my mistakes.
4. I love Subway sandwiches, and think that being a sandwich artist might be a good skill.
5. I play bass clarinet. Okay, played.
6. I trust people easily and without reason.
7. This often backfires on me.
8. I thought college was easy.
9. I am still figuring out how to be friends with girls.
10. I don’t photograph well.
11. I have been in love more than once.
12. I don’t know if there’s an afterlife but I really hope pets are allowed.
13. I get seasick.
14. I am a marine scientist.
15. The two don’t mix well.
16. My biological clock might be starting.
17. I think that I have a lifetime of dark poetry within me.
18. I fear being misunderstood.
19. I believe to be a being in balance.
20. I believe that we over-medicate our nation’s children to make them less bothersome and annoying. These parents shouldn’t have mussed their life with children.
21. I have a desire to skulk around Europe.
22. I am a registered Republican.
23. But it is to ensure that the most left Republican is voted for in the primaries. It is tricky warfare.
24. I like to dance in the kitchen.
25. Infectious candy pop always surprises me by making me sing along to music I don’t like.
26. I think that capable people are often underrated.
27. I think that a woman can be strong, powerful and independent, and still own too many shoes.
28. I enjoy watching people.
29. Give me a great brunch over any meal.
30. I really like to swim or workout once I get there.
31. Motivating myself is harder than motivating others.
32. I have had my heart broken.
33. I am still in love with the cad that did it so casually.
34. I paint my toenails the color I would never paint my fingernails – hooker red.
35. I have a cat that has outlasted 2 fiancés, 7 boyfriends, and one out of country move.
36. I attract children, hispanics and dirty old men.
37. I prefer eating al fresco.
38. Give me a genuine gentleman over a looker any day.
39. Atlas Shrugged is my favorite book in the world.
40. Music and nature move me more than religion.
41. There is no feeling like hanging upside down suspended with 100 feet of water overhead.I
42. am a sucker for a man in Buddy Holly glasses.
43. I am not bitter about the religion I was raised in. Dismissive and bewildered.
44. I hate the word “sturdy” when my mother applies it to my legs – all the time.
45. Respect is earned, not given freely.
46. I would like to foster a military pet or train a service dog puppy.
47. I love coffee table nature books.
48. When listening to other people telling stories, I have to fight the urge to add in a similar experience.
49. When telling my own story, I have to fight to stay on track and not exaggerate.
50. Creativity, wit, intelligence are three of my top things I look for in a male.
51. Geek chic is in.
52. I believe school should be more about what we get out of it rather than the grades assigned to our experience.
53. I can’t justify paying more than $25 for a pair of jeans.
54. I pine for movie star straight/non gapped teeth.
55. I haven’t thrown my box of memories away from either fiancé.
56. I was a Latin double degree for the majority of my undergrad.
57. I have given out my friend’s number or the AOL phone number to men rather than my own.
58. Male body hair turns me off.
59. Happy trails do not.
60. The smell of pipe tobacco brings me back to my childhood.
61. I have never conquered saran-wrap.
62. Watermelon was put on this earth for my pleasure.
63. Fanny Faulkner is my bar name.
64. I have never had the chicken pox.
65. I have recently made my peace with pink, domesticity, child bearing/raising and green olives.
66. I am easily irked but hard to anger (that long lasting anger.)
67. I want to restore an old house.
68. I have an official breakup plant.
69. Wood floors, water towers and railroad tracks are romantic.
70. I want a Great Dane one day named Hammy.
71. Mongoose and rats are diurnal and nocturnal. How many islands was that tested on?
72. I wish I was artistic.
73. Don’t date your friends. Don’t date frat boys. If you don't know in one year, move one. Engagments shoudl be short.
74. I believe that one should shop for fish intelligently.
75. I believe the Army Corps of Engineers has made some catastrophic mistakes.
76. I strive for the perfection of human character rather than ascribe to a religious tenet.
77. I fear losing my blonde hair to a darkening ash.
78. I have 4 brothers - two older, two younger. That should explain a lot.
79. Math is a drag.
80. My mother is my hero.
81. I have routinely killed that un-killable office plant, pothos, in fact - I am killing one currently.
82. I want to through hike the Appalachian Trail.
83. Taking a man to Hawaii is the instant relationship killer.
84. I don’t know that science and spirituality mix.
85. After a lifetime of bucking the LDS trend of homemaking, I guiltily enjoy baking.
86. Nothing makes a house a home, like baking bread.
87. I wish I had greater powers of persuasion.
88. I have a golden parachute syndrome.
89. I speak really great Spanish to those that don’t, and terrible Spanish to those that do.
90. I believe that computers aren’t really just a tool like the IT guy says, I think they conspire against us.
91. I am turning into my mother.
92. I think that mental instability might run in my family.
93. I have only left a restaurant after sitting down, once.
94. I am a list writer. And list loser.
95. I don't believe you have to go to church to worship God.I hate to lose.
96. If we play a game together, it is best to let me win.
97. I claim to be a lot more assertive than I really am. I am more sensitive than I will admit to.
98. I print double sided to save paper and trees, but don’t recycle (no facilities.)
99. I have a short attention span.
100. I have an idealized family in my head that bears no resemblance to my actual crazed conglomerate of blood related individuals.

Random Things That No One Really Wants to Know About

--UNIQUE--
1. Nervous Habits: Twirling my rings around my fingers
2. Are you double jointed: Shoulders
3. Can you roll your tongue: Yes
4. Can you raise one eyebrow at a time: No, but what a great trick!
5. Can you blow spit bubbles: After drinking juice
6. Can you cross your eyes: Yes
7. Tattoos: No
8. Piercing: Yes
9. Do you make your bed daily: Mostly

-- CLOTHES --
10. Which shoe goes on first: Whichever I find first
11. Speaking of shoes, have you ever thrown one at anyone? : No, not yet
12. On the average, how much money do you carry: I hate carrying cash
13. What jewelry do you wear 24/7: Rings
14. Favorite piece of clothing: jeans

-- FOOD --
15. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it: Twirl
16. Have you ever eaten Spam: No
17. How many cereals in your cabinet: 1 – Honey Nut Shredded Wheat
18. What's your favorite beverage: Dilute Gatorade, Hard Cider
19. What's your favorite fast food restaurant: Subway
20. Do you cook: Yes

-- GROOMING --
22. How often do you brush your teeth: Morning and night
23. Hair drying method: naturally unless I am getting gussied up, then I blow dry it
24. Have you ever colored/highlighted your hair: Unfortunately. Ash blonde on me is the color of a grey squirrel.

-- MANNERS --
25. Do you swear: To the dismay of my mother, yes.
26. Do you ever spit: When I run, uncontrollably

-- FAVOURITE --
27. Animal: I like fish. And my cat. And I want to share some of my life with a Great Dane.
28. Food: potatoes, any version
29. Month: December
30. Day: Friday
31. Cartoon: Political Cartoons
32. Shoe Brand: Kenneth Cole Reaction, right now.
33. Subject in school: Science
34. Color: grass green
35. Sport: football, swimming, climbing, Jai Alai
36. TV show: 7th Heaven, West Wing 3
7. Thing to do in the spring: plant plants
38. Thing to do in the summer: watch fireworks
39. Thing to do in the autumn: crunch leaves
40. Thing to do in the winter: wrap up in a blanket and read or watch a movie

-- IN AND AROUND --
41. In the CD player: Dean Martin
42. Person you talk most on the phone with: no one now.
43. Reading: Vonnegut
44. Do you regularly check yourself out in store windows/mirrors: a bit
45. What color is your bedroom: white walls and Caribbean Blue ceiling
46. Do you use an alarm clock: yes
47. Window seat or aisle: aisle please

-- dumb --
48. What's your sleeping position: side/stomach
49. Even in hot weather do you use a blanket: always
50. Do you snore: I don’t think so, breath loudly, but not snore
51. Do you sleepwalk: no
52. Do you talk in your sleep: apparently
53. Do you sleep with stuffed animals: no
54. How about with the light on: no 55. Do you fall asleep with the TV or radio on: no
56. Last interesting person you met: Andrew Gude, my Sunia Scholarship mentor/boss/host. He is salty and excited and full of tales to tell.