2003-03-12 7:34 a.m.
101 Shiny Facts (Mostly) About Me
Looking for the old Magpie 101 (cast list/favorite entries) page? It's here.
- I'm 33, at least for the next little while.
- People tend to assume that I'm in my mid-twenties, which I'm not so
sure is a good thing.
- I've had Internet access for almost half my life.
- I have horrible eyesight. Were it not for the blessing of contacts
and polycarbonate lenses, I'd have to wear huge coke-bottle glasses and
would probably have a permanent dent in my nose.
- #3 and #4 are not connected. Crappy eyesight runs in my family.
- I don't care if my socks match, as long as they're the same thickness.
- This drives TheBoy nuts.
- 8. I forget what 8 was for.
- My Myers-Briggs type is INFJ.
- INFJs are the rarest type, less than 2% of the population.
- One of my oldest friends is also an INFJ.
- I have no tattoos. I'm too pale.
- I'm also freaked out by needles.
- Worst job: a one-day temp job handing out Christian fundamentalist
motivational tapes at a Zig Ziglar conference.
- This was during my brief pagan phase.
- No, I had no idea what I was getting into.
- Neither did the temp agency. The woman who sent me out on the job
apologized profusely afterwards.
- Despite TheCat's witless adoration of TheBoy, I'm the only one she allows
to pick her up.
- Cynicism is the flip side of idealism.
- Sweetcheeks and I were raised with no religion whatsoever.
- My grandmother would periodically have fits that my father wasn't sending
us to Sunday school.
- I'm a vegetarian but have no opinion on what you should be eating.
- I will never be a vegan, because soy lattes are just wrong.
- I've missed only two elections since becoming old enough to vote.
- I've never not had a cat.
- My clothes are always covered in cat hair.
- Despite the fact that a lot of things NOW
has said recently make me twitch, I still refer to myself as a feminist.
- Favorite TV shows at the moment: Scrubs, Ed and Trading Spaces.
- I'm the only woman in my group of sysadmins.
- There are only a handful of women in technical roles at bigwannabe.com,
which proportionately speaking is neither more nor less than at your average high-tech company.
- ZDnet ran an article on its news page in early 2000 called
"Net
shatters not-so-sacred gender myths". It started out, "The roaring new
economy is a genderless frontier with equal opportunity for men and women."
- . . .
- I have a serious Calistoga habit.
- Buttercup is my favorite Powerpuff Girl.
- First concert: Duran Duran, at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. (Yep, I'm old.)
- I hate camping. Our ancestors built civilization for a reason.
- I've never had major surgery.
- I have the worst wisdom tooth removal story ever, which was plenty major enough. The story involves a
saw, dumping my then-boyfriend for neglect, projectile vomiting and Jehovah's Witnesses.
- I went to high school with some of the same people who were in my
kindergarten class.
- Our first teacher was a gentle hippie idealist who quit halfway through
the year to go back to construction. Apparently we broke him.
- I'm a sucker for a great bass line.
- Which explains why I've been playing the White Stripes' Seven Nation
Army over and over and over...
- I've been in 27 states but only lived in two.
- I can't wait for the new Harry Potter book to come out. See #1.
- I have a phone line for my own convenience, not everyone else's.
- Caller ID is the best invention ever.
- Well, ok, after TiVO.
- Favorite British slang term: "soppy."
- Thank you, Terry Pratchett.
- Put down the coffee and back away slowly.
- I've never had a strong interest in having kids.
- My attitude on that has softened a bit in the past few years, though.
- If I were a mom I'd be a total hardass.
- Love wine, hate beer.
- Three continents down, four to go.
- Jon Stewart is my TV boyfriend.
- I started reading at three and a half and haven't stopped since.
- I've never kept a paper diary.
- Small earthquakes don't bother me but tornados scare the crap out
of me. It's all about what you're used to.
- I have exactly two piercings -- one hole in each ear. (See the bit
about needles above.)
- I auditioned for Win Ben Stein's Money but didn't make it past
the play test. (I didn't project my voice well enough. D'oh!)
- It takes a year to paint the Golden Gate Bridge from one end to the other,
and then they have to start all over again. Bridge painters are modern
Sisyphuses. Sisyphi. Sisyphes?
- Don't ask me how to do Greek plurals -- I took French and Latin.
- One of my geekier posessions is a copy of Winnie Ille Pu.
- My memory is really spotty. I still have trouble remembering my cell
phone number after two years but I could sing you my nursery school's alma
mater.
- "Ladybug Preschool in the sun, Ladybug Preschool in the sun." *curtsy*
- I'm a slob.
- And a packrat.
- The word "dude" is not the bastion of illiterates, but an important
and beloved part of northern California culture. One of my friends and I
once had an entire conversation saying nothing but "dude." It is one of
the most versatile words in the English language, right up there with "fuck."
- I'm a huge A's fan.
(Only a surprising and unknown fact to anyone who started reading my diary
after October, but just you wait.)
- Favorite color: burgundy.
- I rarely buy makeup but have a shower full of bath and hair products.
- My parents are still married.
- Yes, to each other.
- My mother stayed at home once she got married (young), while I've been
working ever since I've been old enough to do so. Mom and I have a pretty good
relationship but this is one of several points of mutual incomprehension.
- Famous people I like no matter what they do: Steve Zahn, Janeane Garofalo,
John Cusack, William H. Macy, Busta Rhymes, Cate Blanchett.
- Queen Latifah almost made that list, but then Burning Down the House
came out.
- Famous people I don't like no matter what they do: Britney Spears,
Jack Nicholson, Eugene Levy, Kelly Osborne, Gwyneth Paltrow, most of the cast of
Friends.
- I used to think I might like Britney better if she stopped being such a
hypocrite and dropped the "pure as the driven snow" act. I was wrong.
- The car I'm driving now is the first one I purchased new.
- It's also the first car I've owned that's been less than 8 years old
and that I paid more than $1200 for.
- I love the water. Doesn't matter if I'm in it, on it or near it.
- I'm constantly battling my inner cheapskate. I blame Grandpa Dad for
handing down that particular gene.
- Power tools are a girl's best friend.
- Favorite non-pet animal: the platypus.
- I hate hate hate it when ads use songs I like.
- I have freakishly small pinky toes.
- I used to subscribe to the Weekly
World News. (Gotta keep up on the latest dead Elvis happenings.)
- I look good in hats.
- Drink of choice: anything with cranberry or citrus. Lemon drops,
cosmos, greyhounds, mojitos... mmm, yummy.
- I rarely polish my nails. I hate the way it feels on my fingers, and
it starts flaking off in less than a day anyway.
- I want a dog but TheCat won't let me get one.
- Civilization III is akin to crack.
- "Flavored" coffees are an abomination. I like my coffee
coffee-flavored. A dusting of cocoa or ground cinnamon is good
on a latte, but none of that Hazelnut Tutti-Frutti crap.
- Most frequent argument with TheBoy: who could kick whose ass at Trivial Pursuit.
- Maybe if I ever find my set we'll settle that argument.
- Number of times I moved in my childhood: 1.
- Number of times I moved in college: 18.
- I collect floaty pens.
- This list owes a great deal to Pop-Up Video.
- I still haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up.