Saturday, January 29, 2011

One Hundred Things....

 A collection of lists.  Take the challenge. 100 things about yourself. Streaming flow of consciousness, as personal or as general as you care to make it...but make it count. You might learn something about yourself and I promise it's better than 20 questions!


Will


1. I'm 6'1" and 235lbs.

2. I have brown hair and hazel eyes.

3. I'm bald on top of m'head.

4. I've a goatee. Prior to that, I had a beard. Facial hair makes up for a lack in other places.

5. I finished college through a master's program in four years. (College social-life is for morons)

6. My favorite food is anything ethnic/regional. What passes for 'American cuisine' ought to be banned.

7. I live in Portland, Oregon -- according to the Food Channel, it's the Foodie Capital of America. I agree.

8. Women with tattoos tend to scare me.

9. I'm 56 years old. (Hill? What hill? I don't remember one. I don't *feel* old. When did *this* happen?)

10. I used to do an Ambient/Space/New Age radio-show here. Every now and then someone remembers me....

11. My favorite music is Ambient/Space/New Age, followed by classical, then classic-rock.

12. It was my privilege to jam with Pat DiNizio of The Smithereens. He's a kind, gracious man, as well as a solid musician.

13. I saw the last Buffalo Springfield concert in 1968.

14. Neil Young is the closest thing to a 'god' I recognize.

15. I'm an atheist. Not an agnostic; not an insipid "I don't know" moron - I'm an atheist. Period.

16. I'm also a Progressive/Liberal with Libertarian tendencies.

17. I believe Fundamentalism of all stripes is a bane.

18. I believe religion is humanity's greatest scourge.

19. I was one of Yahoo/360's 'featured bloggers'. I still don't know how that happened....

20. I've never puked in public.

21. My favorite colors are Roman Red and French Blue.

22. My favorite booze is Appleton 21-year limited-reserve rum.

23. I've not only smoked pot; I've drunk bong-water.

24. I detest reality TV. American Idol is for morons. The rest of it is akin to watching the security cam in a day-care.

25. My IQ is 186 - or so I was told, the last time I took a real test (the online stuff doesn't count, by the way).

26. I've restored five automobiles in my life - a '62 Thunderbird; a '55 Thunderbird; a '63 Lincoln convertible; a '60 Land Rover, and a '56 Packard Caribbean. I'm done now. If I never own another car again, I'm happy. Right now, I drive a pickup.

27. I'm inordinately fond of silk Hawai'ian shirts, shorts and flip-flops.

28. I collect antique military firearms. I will not, however, join the NRA. They're cocksuckers.

29. Ernest Hemingway is my all-time favorite author, followed by Hunter Thompson.

30. I say "fuck"; "fuckery"; "cocksucker"; and "moron" a lot.

31. I think Wal-Mart constitutes a crime-against-humanity.

32. I think the Pope ought to be tried for crimes against humanity, and the Vatican shut down.

33. Right now, I'm wearing a hoodie and shorts and listening to Gyorgi Ligeti.

34. I'm allergic to walnuts.

35. I think the only use for Stockhausen's music is to torture people.

36. I'm a member of the IPMS (International Plastic Modelers' Association); I build hyperrealistic ships; most are radio-controlled.

37. I have a private-pilot's license.

38. I almost went in with a friend to purchase a MiG-15.

39. I was an extra in the Turner film, "Gettysburg".

40. I used to be a Civil War reenactor.

41. I hold a master gardener's certificate.

42. I spent two weeks in Pompeii, taking photographs. I wound up with most of a tour-group following me, because I knew more than their guide. (Note: Never take one of those insipid fartknocker-tours. The guides know squat.)

43. I helped build a working guillotine for a high-school project. Alarmingly; I don't know where it is now.

44. I collect vintage shortwave radios.

45. I'm single.

46. Apart from photos I've taken while traveling, every piece of art I own is abstract.

47. I built most of my own furniture.

48. I've never set foot in a McDonalds.

49. My master's is in history.

50. I'm a fairly accomplished cook (I'm good at Italian; French; Moroccan; east Indian; Thai; Greek and Mexican)

51. My all-time favorite film is "Casablanca". #2: Silence of the Lambs. #3: Seven Days In May #4: Fail-Safe.

52. I owned a home-remodeling business before the economy and construction industry collapsed and I had to sell it. It was a good experience.

53. I'm currently a business consultant, specializing in sales training, demand-generation planning and general business development of information-technology VAR's. (Value Added Remarketers)

54. I have hypertension; controlled with medication.

55. I still have all my teeth, thankyouverymuch.

56. I love camping - the real thing; getting away from absolutely everyone.

57. I don't fish or hunt. I don't figure there's much challenge in killing something that sees in monochrome, would drink out of a toilet, and which I can buy at the grocery store for far less.

58. I make the best damn steak in the country. Ask anyone.

59. I think Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, and a dozen others I haven't named are cocksucking sons-of-bitches. Now, ask me, and I'll tell you how I *really* feel.

60. Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies VanDerRohe, John Yeon and the rest of the modernist architects were geniuses. Modernism is the highest expression of American architecture.

61. I can cross both my little toes over the next ones.

62. I hate pot-pies.

63. My sister is a Fundie. She's married to a Fundie. He beats their kids to 'keep them out of hell'. This bothers me like I can't tell you.

64. I have a humidor full of Cuban cigars. They're my one real vice.

65. I collect red wine. SuperTuscans and specialty wines from here in the Northwest.

66. I don't purchase meat which originated in factory farms. That's how I roll.

67. I dream in color.

68. I got to pilot a minisub once. That was pretty cool.

69. I make a killer mushroom and cheddar omelette.

70. I also make a damn good Eggs Benedict (the secret is knowing how to make Hollandaise)

71. My barbecue-sauce recipe is *the best*

72. My online name means "Celestial Navigator". Yes; I can navigate. Learned how from my Dad.

73. I have a 12" Meade telescope. Yes; it's computer controlled, and it was expensive as hell. I still love to watch the stars, though - have since I was a kid. Some guys buy Harleys; I buy 'scope parts and related gear.

74. Well, that, and guitars. I have twelve of 'em. My favorite is my Rickenbacker 340 12-string.

75. Yes, I have a Marshall Stack. Have to, with a Rickenbacker.

76. I grew up in a small town in rural Oregon, west of Portland. To this day, I'm not terribly fond of cities.

77. My favorite exercise is swimming and snorkeling.

78. I'm an early riser. 6:00AM is late for me; if I'm up past 9:00PM, there'd better be a damn good reason.

79. I like to pick blackberries. I even make my own preserves.

80. I've a *killer* recipe for Russian Black Bread.

81. Most of my friends tell me I'm 'too serious' (whatever the hell *that* means).

82. I don't have any children. I did, however, sell my 'stuff' one summer to a local fertility-clinic which was starting out. Kept me from having to get a job between my undergrad and master's program.

83. My father was a USAF Colonel; my mom was a nurse. (Mom used to say that the first she ever saw of my dad was his butt....)

84. I've a season-ticket to the Oregon Symphony; something I've done since 1990.

85. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, I volunteer at one of two homeless shelters. I don't do 'dinner' during that time; I think the practice is obscene.

86. I've been banned from Portland's only speed-dating venue. (Hey. I was more or less dragged there by a good friend. He knows better now. "Will - you're not supposed to see how many heads you can fuck with - it's about meeting someone....")

87. I'm a sucker for homemade pizza.

88. I make my own Caesar-salad dressing.

89. I'm a homebody - I seriously like doing laundry.

90. I used to raise peacocks. They're far more loyal than dogs, and far less messy -plus, they eat bugs.

91. I've won three blogging awards and been nominated for two more. (Guess *someone* likes what I write; huh?)

92. I slept in a fallout shelter during the Cuban Missile Crisis. (Dad built it the year before.)

93. It was my Dad who taught me to fly.

94. I played bagpipes at my Dad's funeral. Mom willed her body to science.

95. I have 20-05 vision.

96. I'd really like to own an Amphicar. The idea of driving off a dock and into the water is appealing for some reason.

97. My first car was '59 Dodge convertible. I thought more of that car than I did most people.

98. I grow most of my own produce. I can tomatoes in August. Heirlooms; a specialty....

99. No, you're not going to learn when I first kissed on a gal; when I first had sex; or any of that other stuff. That's for me know - and me to know.

100. I'm done now. Yayyyyyy!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

One Hundred Things ..... Anonymous

 A collection of lists.  Take the challenge. 100 things about yourself. Streaming flow of consciousness, as personal or as general as you care to make it...but make it count. You might learn something about yourself and I promise it's better than 20 questions!





1)    I’m pretty freaked out by the fact that you guessed my middle name on the first try.
2)    My birthday is in May.
3)    My daddy is, has always been and will always be the center of my universe
4)    I have a canopy bed and always feel like a princess in it
5)    This night will forever stick out in my mind [was a blog link no longer exists ]
6)    My most favorite memory from when I was little was when I was 9, my family was fortunate enough to buy a beach house. I was away from home before but never in a new home. That first weekend I couldn't sleep at all. The voice in my head was too loud. The next weekend, my Daddy had recorded the sounds from my room in NYC and played that for me before I slept.
7)    When I hear the word chimmychonga I laugh.  I have no idea other than it’s really funny to me.
8)    My most favorite musician is Madonna.  I love everything there is about her.
9)    My favorite song by her is Frozen.  That song is INTENSE.
10)    You already know my strongest sense is my smell.  I love the smell of oak trees when it’s humid out and I hardly ever get to smell that in the city.
11)    I’m completely and totally scared of the dark…especially walking through a dark area of a house even if someone is home
12)    I have 2 sisters and I’m in the middle. 
13)    M and I fight a lot and she made me cry on Thursday.
14)    My most favorite fruit is pineapple.  My body is a temple and I eat very well.
15)    I still sleep with a stuffed doggy named Ralph.  He has a hard nose and was my first lover *blushing*
16)    I’ve always thought the sound of eating a banana was the same as kissing
17)    I HATE loud chewers to the point where it will ruin my meal
18)    My mom is a loud chewer and I’ve said something thousands of times
19)    I think panties are super sexy…the way they look, the way they feel, the way they …
20)    I punched someone in the face once in HS because she fucked my boyfriend
21)    I’m like 284% Italian
22)    I have very thick hair and get the lower parts ripped out every few weeks
23)    I don’t have a car (haha I just went back to this after reading your blog..now you can see why)
24)    I absolutely love fall fashion
25)    Justin Timberlake has no idea how hard, deep and rough he could fuck me
26)    I still live at home with my family
27)    We have 2 cats and they are brother and sister
28)    I lost my virginity when I was 15
29)    I hate how much time I spend on the internet, but I can't break the habit.
30)    I give great  massages.
31)    I absolutely love sunsets.
32)    I don’t like watching the local news on TV because it’s all about tragedy
33)    I hate all bugs … especially spiders
34)    I hate going to the doctor and hate hospitals
35)    I like right after I go to the dentist and your tongue on the back of your teeth feels as if it’s like a new mouth
36)    I’m  active in helping with gymnastics for the Special Olympics
37)    I've slowly become far more confident in myself. I think it's part of growing up.
38)    I’m not domestic at all
39)    I have a ridiculously hard time picking favorites, favorites of anything. It's all dependent on mood and context.  It’s virtually impossible for me
40)    Aged things really amaze me.  I love to look at an old building and think of how much went on inside there before me.
41)    I have an intense attraction for married people and love to flirt just enough so I know that I’m wanted.
42)    I had a thing with an older man I shouldn’t have and I still think of it because it was just that yum.
43)    That makes me wonder if either my Mom or Daddy ever cheated
44)    I watched both Twin Towers fall with my very own eyes.
45)    In a way it angers me how people say all these things and tributes about 9/11 because I was part of it and they weren’t. 
46)    I love spicy food
47)    I love huskies
48)    I hate runny eggs.  They need to be well done.
49)    I really don’t like eggs *L*
50)    I hate horror/gory movies
51)    I only have my ears pierced
52)    I hate reality TV.  Actually I’m not a big TV person
53)    I twirl my hair a lot.  I’ve been told it’s because I’m always horny.  It’s true
54)    I mainly focus teaching dance to contemporary jazz and urban hip-hop
55)    My older sister has an eating disorder
56)    My Mom and Daddy were HS sweethearts
57)    Online, I’m very submissive to women but dominant towards men
58)    Offline, I show neither side
59)    I’ve always wanted to know how to play the piano
60)    Even though he is physically ugly, I’d probably have sex with Billy Joel because of the sounds he produces with his hands
61)    Wicked is my most favorite play
62)    My most favorite class to teach is beginner classes with 4-6 year old girls.  There are few things so precious.
63)    This summer I had 3 part time jobs – I taught at a camp, taught kickboxing at a gym and had a private student
64)    I don’t like the rain
65)    I drool like crazy when I sleep
66)    I love to make people laugh
67)    I get seasick
68)    I like the smell of my bellybutton
69)    When I was little, I wanted to become I mermaid.
70)    I’m such a people watcher.  I always wonder about their secrets.  Secrets totally fascinate me.
71)    I think I’d be a bad psychologist because of the last one. 
72)    I’m horrible at remembering people’s names
73)    Of course the girl sleeping on the subway that you posted … I notice that you can see her panties.
74)    I had asparagus for dinner and I haven’t peed yet.  I so can’t wait.
75)    I’ve never had sex in a car and really don’t understand why that’s so popular *L*
76)    I absolutely love Forest Gump and think it’s such a beautifully written movie and cry every time I watch it
77)    Vampires are sexy but I’d never let anyone know that
78)    I was once addicted to cocaine
79)    I used to play doctor with one of my cousins
80)    I curse a lot but never around my Mom or Daddy
81)    I’m very paranoid of kissing with morning breath
82)    I LOVE the idea of Post Secret and wonder what my first post would be
83)    I love scallions
84)    I think I look best in jeans
85)    At a wedding or event like that, I’ll get everyone to dance
86)    Jealousy sometimes gets the better of me
87)    When I get sick I’m a miserable bitch to be around
88)    I’m scared of thunderstorms but love them
89)    Most of the time I smell like Cool Citrus Basil from Bath & Bodyworks
90)    I’m really not good and handling bad news and often am the person that makes jokes to cope
91)    Mountain Lions are sexy
92)    I’m very impulsive
93)    When I drink out of a glass a lot of times I bite it
94)    Whenever I see a message from you I whisper in my head – Kitty Kat
95)    I wear super cute PJ’s
96)    I rarely remember my dreams at night
97)    My most favorite holiday is Halloween
98)    When I don’t like someone, I just avoid them.
99)    I donate blood regularly
100)    One of my most intense fantasies that I think about is having a man finish inside my body.  It’s something I’ve never felt and think it’s one of the most personal things that I could feel.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

One Hundred Things .... Cheryl

A collection of lists. Take the challenge. 100 things about yourself. Streaming flow of consciousness, as personal or as general as you care to make it...but make it count. You might learn something about yourself and I promise it's better than 20 questions!
 
 
 
 
1.  I am a Scorpio.
2.  I am old but I like to think of it as middle age.
3.  I am a widow.
4.  I once saw a grassy field at night with millions of ligtning bugs.  
It was magical.
5.  I have stood in the center of a crop circle.
6.  I see dead people (sometimes).
7.  I was 4 years old when I had my first spirit visitor.
8.  I still love my husband.
9.  Most people like me.
10. I'm a good cook.
11. I can't carry a tune.
12. My son once told me "Don't sing Mom".  He was 2.
13. 13 is my lucky number.
14. My daughter told a friend of her's who was visiting us that "my Mom 
is the meanest woman in the world.  If monsters came to our
     house my Mom would scare them away."  She was 6, her friend also 6 
was scared of monsters.
15. I don't lie.
16. I think I'm a medium.
17. I'm currently studying the Tarot.
18. I am spiritual, but not religious.
19. I don't want someone to come to my door to preach to me.
20. I don't know if I'll send this to Kate or not.
21. My home is my sanctuary.
22. If you ever leave my table hungry, its your own fault.
23. When I met my husband for the first time, it was love at first 
sight.  It literally felt like a bolt of energy hit me in the
     chest (the heart chakra).
24. Helping him die was the hardest thing I've ever had to do (and no I 
did not kill him).
25. I'm an open book.
26. What you see is what you get, but most people don't see.
27. There were 13 years difference in my husband's and my ages.
28. I have FSH Muscular Dystrophy (fascioscapulohumeral) which I 
inherited from my Dad.
29. It is autosomal dominant that means both sexes can inherit the 
disease from an affected parent.
30. My brothers have chosen not to be tested; the same with my children.
31. Hopefully they will not have inherited the gene.
32. I am not as affected by the MD as my Dad was.
33. My Mother is still living (86), my Father is not.
34. I worked for NASA for 27 years.
35. I can't believe that I'm retired.
36. I retired a little early to care for my husband and to spend more 
time with him.
37. I've had cancer and radiation and they both suck.
38. Don't do either of those if you can help it.
39. Although I must say it was easier being the one who was sick, than 
watching someone I loved go through it.
40. I wouldn't go through all the things he did just to stay alive.
41. I appreciate how hard he tried to stay for me.
42. He was very present when I was ill, even though he had died the year 
before.
43. Doing this list is harder than it looks.
44. I am not afraid of dying.
45. I'd like to write a book, but everything comes out as poetry.
46. I was born in 1946.
47. My Dad was a Marine Staff Sargeant in World War II.
48. His Dad served in France in World War I.
49. My Great Grandfather was a photographer and a financier.
50. I think there should be balloons and fireworks.  I'm half way there!!!
51. I hate wearing shoes.
52. I can't wear high heels anymore.
53. Red is my favorite color.
54. I had my kitchen painted orange last year.
55. It horrified my Mother.
56. That made me smile.
57. I don't like hot and humid weather.
58. Fall is my favorite time of year.
59. My decorating style is a pared down country.
60. I like antiques, things that have a history.
61. My great, great Uncle was a doctor on the Illinois frontier.
62. My husband's Grandmother was born during the Civil War.
63. Doesn't that bring history into focus more?
64. Hey that's my age!
65. Social Security's Medicare is looming large.
66. I'm still on the pretty side of 65.
67. Many might disagree with #66.
68. I don't care.
69. I don't dye my hair.  Its still mostly brown.
7o. I don't know where my upper lip went; it seems to have deflated with 
age.
71. I don't want collagen treatments or botox.
72. Aging with grace and dignity seem just fine to me.
73. Nothing is scarier than a 90 year old woman with black hair and big 
red lips.
74. Remember that ladies.
75. I never get lonely.
76. I enjoy my own company.
77. We are all surrounded all the time by our guides and spirits.
78. I am happy for no apparent reason most of the time.  Perhaps content 
would be a better choice of words.
78. I have a cat named Max who will be 16 this Spring.
79. I've only had Max for 2 years.
80. It was an in-family adoption.  Max was my son's cat but his wife was 
allergic to long-haired cats.
81. Max came to me at the right time and has been my companion through 
grief.
82. I have a wicked sense of humor.
83. I used to joke that our family motto was "Anything worth doing, is 
worth doing the hard way."
84. Only it wasn't really a joke.
85. I got 3 new Grandchildren on the day my son got married.
86. Thank goodness they are too old to babysit.
87. I've had a very good life.
88. I wish I could go back and visit my Grandparents on their farm and 
ask them about their lives when they were children.
89. I always wanted to explore their attic but was afraid to go up there.
90. I'm in the home stretch now!
91. When I was younger I wanted to live by the ocean.
92. I have a place by the ocean now, but I don't want to live there.
93. I found that the Pacific Northwest resonates with my soul.
94. I may move there someday.
95. I absolutely love the Twilight Saga books and all the movies.
96. I am an incurable romantic.
97. I also love all the Harry Potter books.
98. I'm a sucker for magical stories.
99. I used to be an avid reader, but now there has to be a good story to 
draw me in.
100. I remember what it felt like to be 16.