One Hundred Things About Me—Revised!

A little over 15 years ago, I wrote what every blogger at the time eventually did: a list of 100 things about myself. Over time, naturally, the list became out-of-date. Some entries were no longer true!

So it’s time, past time, for an update. I’ve used strikethrough and red to indicate what’s old and, well, new. Forgive me for the self-indulgence?

1. I like blackberry cobbler.
2. I’m proud to be from Oklahoma.
3. When I was a kid, my favorite color was purple. Now yellow is.
4. I’ve never been to Europe. I’ve been to Europe twice, visiting Paris, London, and Reykjavík. (I loved Iceland.)
5. I collect pottery.
6. New Orleans is still my favorite city.
7. My all-time favorite album is Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s Braver Newer World.
8. Jody and George were my imaginary childhood friends.
9. I saw Tina Turner at my first “grown-up” concert.
10. I know more about the Eleventh Amendment than you think I do.
11. My grandfathers outlived my grandmothers. My father outlived my mother.
12. My father wrecked my first car, a Dodge Aspen, before I ever even got to drive it. (When he told me, I thought he was joking.)
13. I vividly recall a childhood nightmare about a giant spider in the living room. I rarely remember dreams now.
14. A Merchant-Ivory film, A Room with a View, changed my life.
15. At 21, I was diagnosed with an ulcer.
16. As a kid, I approved of the designated hitter rule; now that I’ve lived in a National League city for awhile, I’m not so sure. This is probably still true. I mean, I’m not as sure about the designated hitter as I once was. But, gosh, it hardly matters anymore. I’m old!
17. I stretch every day. If I don’t, my body punishes me.
18. I think Babbitt is the most underrated American novel of the 20th century. (Kids should be reading it in high school.)
19. I wish that I’d met Allen Ginsberg.
20. I wish I understood e.e. cummings’s poetry better.
21. I’d much rather be hot than cold. (In other words, I’ll take Florida over Michigan any day.)
22. I’m in love with being in love.
23. My lucky number is 23.
24. I’ve never been to an opera. I’ve actually become an opera-goer! I attend Opera Philadelphia’s season-opening festival every year. Let’s go see Einstein on the Beach together sometime, ok?
25. If I were an artist, my work would be influenced by Donald Judd and Morris Louis.
26. Nothing turns me off like too much ego.
27. I financed most of my undergraduate education by winning a scholarship exam about Oklahoma history. (Thanks, Oklahoma Hall of Fame [then known as the Oklahoma Heritage Association].)
28. I like magnolia trees.
29. If I weren’t in my current profession, I think I’d like to be either an actor or a social studies teacher. (Is that an odd either/or combo or what?)
30. Tulips are my favorite flowers.
31. For my money, The Mary Tyler Moore Show is the best television show ever.
32. I like game shows more than just about any other television genre. (Match Game is my all-time fave.)
33. Asparagus is my favorite vegetable.
34. I’m passionate about lemons.
35. I’d be a captain more like Picard than Kirk. I like Janeway, too.
36. I’m awful about returning email and telephone calls in a timely fashion. Sorry!
37. My dream vacation is to visit Paris for the French Open and then London for Wimbledon. (Maybe I could spend the two weeks between the tournaments in Madrid or Belgium?) Huh. I made it to the French Open in 2013, and it was wonderful. I still haven’t made it to Wimbledon. But my dream vacation right now might involve fjords.
38. At the right university, I might’ve majored in Canadian Studies.
39. The worst thing that ever happened to me is having my heart broken. Since writing that, my parents have died. Each of these events was awful, uniquely so.
40. I’d make a great judge, but I’ll probably never have the chance to prove it.
41. I’m obsessed with the Olympic Games.
42. I was the editor of my high school’s newspaper. While in high school, I was a stringer for the local daily, too.
43. After high school, I decided I wasn’t outgoing enough to be a good journalist.
44. I get bored easily. (That probably means I’m boring.)
45. If it’s not A Room with a View (see #14), Short Cuts is my favorite movie of all time.
46. Even after years of living here, I don’t feel like I “belong” in Pennsylvania. And I doubt I ever will. << Yup, still true!
47. When I was a kid, I was sure I’d find a way to live in Washington, D.C.
48. I like Japanese restaurants.
49. Nothing makes me feel cleaner than having a new, short haircut and freshly trimmed fingernails.
50. I’m afraid of dentists and car salesmen.
51. I’ve only been in love three four times, and I’m not entirely sure one of those should “count.” The fourth time was the charm. And if I were writing an entirely new list, I sure wouldn’t wait until No. 51 to say so.
52. I sort of wish I’d been the punter on my high school’s football team.
53. I’ve never been sexually attracted—even in the least bit—to a woman. (Women are great, of course. I just don’t want to sleep with them.)
54. I still have a picture of my ex on my desk at work. (After I wrote this, I put the photo in a drawer.) << This is probably in a box somewhere now.
55. I don’t own a car.
56. One of the first men I had a crush on was tennis superstar Björn Borg. (Later tennis crushes: Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, Albert Costa.)
57. If you’re a man with a build like a linebacker, I’ve probably got a crush on you right now.
58. I’m a Unitarian Universalist (with Humanist, Buddhist, and non-theistic tendencies).
59. I don’t have a favorite TV show right now. (Do you?)
60. My 80GB iPod is currently over three-quarters full. I still (occasionally) purchase CDs, but most of my listening now occurs via streaming. Naturally.
61. Loneliness is something I’ve struggled with, off and on, since childhood.
62. When I was a kid, I got Sparky Lyle‘s autograph. (And Crazy Ray‘s, too.)
63. Two of my best vacations were road trips to Yellowstone National Park. << I’d sure like to do that again!
64. I wonder if you really got the Dorothy Parker reference.
65. When I finally got the Tennis Channel, I did a little dance right there in my apartment.
66. I think I’d like presiding at weddings.
67. If it were track or field instead of track and field, I’d choose field every time. (Hammer throwers are sexy!)
68. I really like diner food. Who wants to split the corned beef hash?
69. I’m attracted to hairy men.
70. In my opinion, Talking Heads was the best rock band ever.
71. The last three plays to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama were Doubt, Rabbit Hole, and August: Osage County, and I saw each one of them on Broadway. << I didn’t maintain this streak, I’m afraid, but I did just see Fat Ham, though in Philly, not on Broadway.
72. As a kid, I read everything I could find about the Faroe Islands.
73. I’m shy around strangers. Sometimes, I even wonder whether I have social anxiety disorder.
74. On the SAT, I scored much better on the math than the verbal section. (So, naturally, I write and edit for a living now.)
75. I wrote a master’s thesis on sports sociology. (And I later went back to school for more Sports Studies. Why, oh, why don’t I work for the Phillies?)
76. I’d give just about anything for a good massage.
77. I procrastinate.
78. I got the worst sunburn of my life when I was parasailing in Acapulco Harbor.
79. I’m not at all interested in having children.
80. I’m an enormous fan of my mom’s pies, especially her coconut cream and lemon meringue pies. << I miss those pies, dang it.
81. I’m concerned you’ll think this list is pretty darn self-indulgent.
82. Are you surprised I’ve made it to No. 82 without mentioning beer? I am.
83. Belgian and Belgian-style beers, particularly Lambic beers, are my favorites. << I really like saisons now.
84. I’ve never been to New England. I’ve been to New England a few times now. I attended the Hall of Fame Open in Newport one year. I was even a finalist for a cool job in Boston once. (I didn’t snag the offer.) I still haven’t been to Maine, New Hampshire, or Vermont.
85. I subscribe to more magazines than a person with a full-time job could possibly read.
86. My favorite Iron Chef is Michael Symon.
87. Ice cream usually upsets my stomach. (Sexy, huh?)
88. I enjoy rodeo, particularly steer wrestling.
89. I see Independence Hall nearly every day. << This is still true, but I no longer have an office window pointed in that direction. Boooooo!
90. I’m interested in vexillology.
91. As a child, I was very, very good at checkers.
92. After 10-plus years of commuting, I still smile when a train—wow, a passenger train!—pulls up to my station each morning. << I stopped the daily rail commute in 2009. Trains still rock, though!
93. The worst neighbors I ever had (a) exposed me to bedbugs, (b) refused to cooperate with the exterminator, and (c) never said they were sorry. Hmph.
94. According to the Myers-Briggs instrument, I’m an INTP.
95. I’m not wild about peaches.
96. Hot, not merely warm, water is essential for my morning shower.
97. I haven’t been camping since I was a child.
98. Jason Bateman could play me in the movie.
99. I once was offered a job in Palau. I said no.
100. It has literally taken me months and months to think of these 100 things.