Thursday, January 19, 2006

100 Things

I started this post over an hour ago. I can't believe it took me that long to think of it! But I did it all in one setting, and I'm sure I'll want to go back and use other things, but this is it, all there is to know about me. And then some.


100 Things About Me

1. I have tried to keep every note anyone has ever given to me since 5th grade. They are in a Rubbermaid tub in my basement.

2. I also have kept all my journals since high school, same tub.

3. The first concert I ever went to was INXS with Public Image Limited. It was wonderful, I will never forget it. I wore red Converse high-tops trying to be cool, but paired it with Coca-Cola sweatpants (How establishment!)

4. I really wish I could do more volunteer work. I mostly just volunteer at my kids’ school.

5. My grandpa was killed by a drunk driver when my dad was 10. I have no respect for people who drive drunk. I have driven drunk.

6. When I was little I wanted to be a mermaid or a make-up artist like the ones in Fangoria.

7. My mother wanted a foo-foo girl, and would buy me Bonnie Bell sets. I would mix the perfume and lotions together playing “Mad Scientist” in my laboratory. Mwahahahaha.

8. I am not, and have never been, a foo-foo girl.

9. My youngest daughter, yeah, she is totally foo-foo. I wouldn’t allow anyone to buy pink for either of my daughters when they were little. Now that’s all they want to wear. Serves me right.

10. I met a boy at a park one time when I was 10 who was from Michigan. He told me we’d definitely meet again and get married. Obviously that didn’t happen.

11. I smoked cigarettes for about one week in high school, menthols at that. My boyfriend at the time took my pack of cigarettes from me and said, “Come on, you know that isn’t you.” He was right. I never smoked again.

12. I have a strange habit of counting letters, in groups of three. Everywhere I go. It’s my little secret. For example, the word “insane” would be good, ins-ane…but I would have to break up something like ridiculous…it would be rid-i-cul-ous. Seriously, it drives me nuts sometimes.

13. I have to sleep a certain way at night or else I can’t sleep. LP is the only one who knows about it, I can’t tell anyone else!!! It is a total neuroses of mine.

14. You’re starting to think I am crazy. I know. I think so too.

15. My husband has more shoes than I do. There, I said it. I need three pairs of shoes per season…one black, one brown, one tennis shoe. That’s it.

16. I cannot stand the way I look. It took me a very long time before I could look into a mirror completely; if I had to do my hair I’d look up, I even put mascara on with out a mirror.

17. This stems from having really bad skin as a child. It still makes me cringe thinking about it. My skin is still really bad. Okay, let’s move on!

18. I love broccoli and asparagus. I also love brussel sprouts if they are cooked right, and I love peas!! Mmmmm peas.

19. The first guy I had sex with was also my first love.

20. He was one of my Dad’s former grade school students.

21. When my dad found out I was dating him, he yelled and screamed and freaked out and said I was not allowed to date him.

22. We dated for almost a year. My dad actually started to like him.

23. My mom drove off the road and called me a whore when I told her I wasn’t a virgin.

24. She also cried and said I ruined my life when I told her I was pregnant.

25. I am not a whore, and I certainly did not ruin my life.

26. My mom and I had a very, very bad relationship for a long time.

27. It only got better when I moved out of the house to live with LP.

28. She still drives me nuts, but I can’t imagine a day going by without talking to her. She would do anything for me and I love her very much.

29. I lived in the dorms throughout my 4 years of college.

30. I couldn’t afford not to.

31. I didn’t realize how poor I was growing up until only a few years ago.

32. My dad was a grade school teacher. He also tutored at night, so we didn’t see him much during the school year.

33. Over the summer though we would go camping and go places around St. Louis.

34. I have lived in the St. Louis area all of my life.

35. This was not my plan.

36. I am pretty happy here though.

37. One of the kids who relentlessly teased me in grade school killed himself last year. It really freaked me out, and put things into perspective.

38. Did you ever see “Big Fish”?? the analogy that most wolves are very lonely really struck a nerve with me, and it always makes me see angry/mean people in a different light. Mostly they are lonely. I try to remind myself of that.

39. I can’t cook. Seriously.

40. I can bake though. Only by a recipe. And not all that fancy stuff.

41. I have a huge, irrational fear of flying. I flew to DisneyWorld with my grandparents when I was 7, and when I got home I swore I would NEVER set foot on an airplane again.

42. I didn’t until I graduated college, and I went to New Mexico for the weekend by MYSELF. It did not cure me of my fear.

43. I wore a size 8.5 shoe until I had kids, now they’re almost a 9.

44. I have an abnormal amount of music knowledge, mostly of 80s music.

45. My dad has over 1,000 45s, so that has a lot to do with it.

46. I think my iPod is one of the best things I have ever owned.

47. I also think I fell in love with LP’s CD collection before I fell in love with him. It was also one of the reasons I FELL in love with him! :)

48. I quit the newspaper when I was a sophomore. My mom thinks it was because I wrote a story on a Colombian girl and she got mad that I stated cocaine was a Colombian export. I really quit because I wanted to spend more time with my boyfriend. (see #19)

49. I was in dance from Kindergarten until 8th grade. I had a love/hate relationship with it. But now I’m glad to be able to say I was a dancer.

50. I quit because my teacher bumped me up to a more advanced class, and they ostracized me for being younger.

51. Obviously I cannot handle pressure very well.

52. My first car was a Plymouth Champ, which was actually my mom's. You had to keep your foot on the accelerator otherwise it would die. Took me a long time to un-learn two foot driving.

53. My mother found my rolling papers when I was in high school and I said they were someone else’s. She believed me.

54. My older brother scored a 30 on his ACT. He still lives at home.

55. I cannot seem to get this around my head, and it drives me craaaaazy.

56. I almost cut my little toe off when I was 5 in the Kaskaskia River on a glass bottle. I remember the experience vividly. I remember the feeling when I cut it, and all the blood, and my dad holding down my shoulders while I watched the doctor sew up my foot.

57. My epidural did not work with my second child, and it hurt like hell.

58. But I remember more about her birth than I do the first one.

59. When LP and I got married, we lived in a 2 bedroom house that I still miss, even though it didn't have an attached garage. Once someone tried to steal LP's cell phone from his car, but Al woke up and started crying which startled him and he ran off. Our neighbor found the phone in a ditch by her house and called us to pick it up.

60. I love being barefoot. I really hate shoes.

61. I have self diagnosed myself with Social Anxiety disorder. If I do not feel comfortable, I will totally clam up and be quiet. I don’t initiate conversations, and I have terrible ‘small talk’ ability. I think everyone hates me, but I don’t have low self-esteem. I struggle with this on a regular basis.

62. I would wear sweatpants 99% of the time if I could.

63. I usually do.

64. I have a degree in Psychology. I really, really wish I had my Master’s.

65. My dad was the head counselor of a scout camp when I was little, and we would live there over the summers in a cabin that had no bathroom.

66. I worked at a summer camp my senior year in college in Minnesota. It was fun. I had to stay away from the water though, because I can't swim.

67. I used to work at a daycare, and one of the kids in my class was suffocated by his mother with a pillow.

68. I also worked at a center for abused kids, and it was one of the best and worst jobs I have ever had. During that time I got peed on and spit at and punched and kicked, but that was much better than the abuse we received from the administration!!

69. I love nature. I could go on hikes and walks in the woods forever. My dad instilled this in me. He always takes time to watch the sunset.

70. I have never been to Mexico.

71. The only bone I have broken is my second toe when I was in 6th grade tripping over a manhole cover. Heh, I said manhole.

72. In college, I never missed an episode of “Beverly Hills 90210.” However, I could not tell you what one episode was about if you asked me. (Okay, I do remember Donna was a big ol virgin, that’s it though!)

73. I used to love, love, love making tapes for people. I still make CDs, but it’s not the same.

74. I don’t like roses. I don’t like their smell. LP sent me roses on our 1-year anniversary and I got upset that he didn’t know me well enough. Wish I could go back and tell that little weenie girl to shut up, your husband just sent you flowers.

75. I love lilies. He sends me lilies now.

76. I went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. I was 5 months pregnant so I don’t feel like I enjoyed it as much as I could have. I would love to go back but that airplane ride…..

77. I dated a guy for 3.5 years that I had no intentions of marrying.

78. One of my most favorite things to do is go on float trips. We used to go every year. Missouri has great rivers to canoe, and I make a cooler full of Jell-O shots. I found a website with all these great recipes, and the cooler is always GONE by the end of the day. I hope this year we can go on another float trip, it’s been awhile.

79. LP hates to go camping. This is a huge problem for me. I love it and would go every weekend in the summer. I’m hoping one day we can buy a camper so he can have his air conditioning and bathroom. The first time I took him camping it rained and he got poison ivy from peeing in the woods!

80. I swore when I was in high school I would never let my hair turn dark. After I had Al, it did, so I immediately got it highlighted. I’ve been highlighting it ever since.

81. My eyebrows are naturally blonde though. Yeah, and the carpet matches. Perv.

82. I get along better with boys. Whenever I’m at a party I usually end up talking with the men than the women. Especially if it’s about music or movies. I hate girlie talk, especially gossip. Well, most of it.

83. I can’t believe I typed this straight through without stopping!

84. I never thought I would be married with kids. I always thought I’d be the single ‘auntie’ to all my friends’ kids who had her own place and did what she wanted. Boy was I wrong.

85. I have never broken up with anyone. They’ve always broken up with me.

86. I think Steve Carell and Steven Colbert are two of the funniest people. Oh and Lewis Black, and Jon Stewart and Dave Attell. Guess they're three, four and five.

87. I love the movie Clerks, but I don’t like Chasing Amy. I love Reservoir Dogs but I don’t really care for Pulp Fiction.

88. I hung out with the stoners in high school, but I didn’t really smoke that much pot.

89. The worst thing I ever did was not attend my dad’s graduation to get his Master’s degree. What a little brat I was.

90. I also killed my neighbor’s hamster when I was in 6th grade. Not on purpose, I accidentally left the lid open after I fed it. 6th grade was a bad year for me.

91. It was also the same year I got picked up by the cops after curfew. I was at a slumber party and another girl and I didn’t want to go T-P-ing so we lagged behind and of course we got busted. My mom had to pick me up at the police station and yeah, she was PISSED. The other girls of course insisted we were the only ones that were out and so the girl’s mom always hated me after that. I was grounded the entire summer, and seriously, my mom still brings it up.

92. I will watch Saturday Night Live, no matter how sucky it is.

93. My most embarrassing moment was in 8th grade when I ran an entire 200 meter race on a false start. I thought I was kicking ASS!! And everyone was cheering for me, when in the sad reality, I was the only one running and they were all yelling at me to get back.

94. I was seriously, honestly, sick the day we learned about parallel parking in Driver’s Ed. I got an ‘A’ in the class portion though so I didn’t have to take my behind the wheel test to get my license, so it didn’t matter! Well, until now when I need to parallel park…

95. My mom calls me every year at 9:39 a.m. on my birthday.

96. This is much easier than I thought, but there’s so much more to share!

97. I think my toes are the cutest thing on me, and I love to wear toe rings, and paint my toenails. My fingernails are never painted though. I hate that.

98. As if you didn’t know, I am allergic to milk. Lactose intolerant. Sometimes it’s better than other times, but I absolutely cannot eat ice cream without bad consequences.

99. I seriously try to make everyone I meet happy. I hate people being sad.

100. I think everyone has a little good in them, sometimes it takes the right person to bring it out. Okay, and that is it!!!!

7 comments:

Bente said...

Excellent 100 things Jana! I read every single one. :)

Vajana said...

Thanks! Now you know more better than a lot of people in my 'real' life! LOL

Nessa said...

that was so fun!!!! Now I know more :)

Vajana said...

Mrtl: Yes! That is the only song I can remember! He was so crazy.

Nessa: And you still want to come back? Yay!!!

OldHorsetailSnake said...

Well, gee, Jana, with a degree in psychology why don't you cure your own fear of flying? Did you miss that class?

Nice list, kiddo. Very good work.

BirdMadGirl said...

I'm so glad to see you did this :D And I'm thrilled to meet someone else that also inspired to be a mermaid - - here I thought I was the only one! And you're right, we do have a lot in common. Pretty freaky! But in a good way ;)

zerodoll said...

I love your list. I couldn't stop reading it. Thanks.