Sunday, November 30, 2008

Making a list and wrecking it twice

I got directed to Primordial Slack, today, & found this nice entry, so I decided to follow up with my own answers. Not my Christmas list, but probably as significant... the ones I've done have been put in bold.



1. Started your own blog
. D'oh! I'll have to get right on that, won't I?

2. Slept under the stars
. Not for long, mind you.

3. Played in a band
. Well, sang back-up. Does that count?

4. Visited Hawaii. Maybe someday. After I get to Alaska.

5. Watched a meteor shower. (see question #2) From the back of a friend's pickup truck, with three of us looking like the God-Emperors of Dune in our sleeping bags.

6. Given more than you can afford to charity
. Usually.

7. Been to Disney World Once was enough. I'd have preferred Epcot.

8. Climbed a mountain. It was a sissy climb, though, a bunny trail up a small mountain. No epic adventure for this body.

9. Held a praying mantis
 every summer since I moved back home to IL.

10. Sang a solo
. Nah. Well, yeah, actually. But I can't make a habit of it.

11. Bungee jumped - I've never felt that shared terror is a strong enough relationship-builder. Having kids is much more terrifying, anyway.

12. Visited Paris.

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea. Of course, I was ashore. OTOH, I was caught in a gale in a little cabin cruiser, on Lake Michigan, in my very early life.

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch. 
Working on piano. Already done some miniature furniture crafting.

15. Adopted a child
. Gave one up, though. I like to think it benefitted more than just the baby.

16. Had food poisoning
. e. coli. Still suffering long-term effects to digestion.

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
. Not my idea of practical entertainment, but the crew I was with seemed pleased I didn't chicken out.

18. Grown your own vegetables
. And fruits. And they had flavor!

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
.

20. Slept on an overnight train

. On the floor. Buried in soft pieces of luggage.

21. Had a pillow fight
. No feathers. Jammed thumb. Never again.

22. Hitchhiked.

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill. 
 Ah, for those halcyon days!

24. Built a snow fort
. dug one out of a snow drift, too.

25. Held a lamb. I like my kittehs better.

26. Gone skinny dipping
. More than once.

27. Run a marathon
. As. If.

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
. Built a gondola from scratch for a retail store, though.

29. Seen a total eclipse. Safely.

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
. Frequently. Sometimes both in the same day. Prairie is good for that.

31. Hit a home run. Un hunh. I was a pitcher, until my wrecked shoulder became apparent.

32. Been on a cruise
. does a Chicago River tour cruise count?

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person. Also seen Grand Falls. And had a Bad Fall in Chicago.

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors. Been to Wisconsin & Iowa. Working on the European branch.

35. Seen an Amish community
. Seen a Mormon one, too. oooh aaahh.

36. Taught yourself a new language: if learning to use new software counts. Took classes, though, in Latin, German, Italian, not self-taught.

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
. When I was four.

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
. Lived less than a mile from the Leaning Tower of Niles. Does that count?

39. Gone rock climbing
. The things we do for love!

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

. Got a wee reproduction or two of it, though. Nothing like using examples in teaching kids about art.

41. Sung karaoke

. eh. Show biz doesn't call me.

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
. On a drizzly, overcast day. poot.

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
.

44. Visited Africa. Not for a few more generations, I think.

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
.

46. Been transported in an ambulance
. My knees thank me for it, even to this date.

47. Had your portrait painted: I did it myself.
 Also modeled for three separate painting studio classes, in my youth.

48. Gone deep sea fishing
. Deep lake fishing doesn't count.

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
. When I win the lottery.

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

. Not planning to, either.

51. Gone SCUBA diving. Maybe in my next life. When I'm not phobic about everything.

52. Kissed in the rain
. no comment.

53. Played in the mud
. Looking forward to it again, next spring.

54. Gone to a drive-in theater
. My twoooo wuvv and I used to walk over to the one up the highway from our trailer.

56. Visited the Great Wall of China
. Someday, maybe. When I win the lottery.

57. Started a business
. Working on that one.

58. Taken a martial arts class. No, just an urban defense course.

59. Visited Russia. 
Not in a hurry, there, either.

60. Served at a soup kitchen
. Ate at one, too.

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies. 
 I was in 4-H. I baked cookies.

62. Gone whale watching
. Only via IMAX.

63. Got flowers for no reason
. Pretty much my entire life is without reason.

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
. 'Nuff said.

65. Gone sky diving

 . Yah, sure, ya betcha. I may be crazy, but not that crazy.

66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp
. No. Have known a few survivors, though, so perhaps we might, someday...

67. Bounced a check
. Nuh. Mom raised me better.

68. Flown in a helicopter. someday, though.

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy. The top two, though, didn't survive the constant outpourings of love I gave them.

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial. I think it's mandatory, if you're from IL and visiting D.C. Still... probably the closest thing I've had to a religious experience.

71. Eaten caviar
. Fish-egg jelly. If Auntie Mame can eat it, so can I (as long as I'm antihistamined out the wazoo). Just not regularly.

72. Pieced a quilt
. My seester does that. I designed and hand-stitched a few articles of clothing for myself, instead.

73. Stood in Times Square
.
 Bought a journal there. Ate sushi and drank sake near there. Propped up my drunken roommate there, while we waited for a cab.

74. Toured the Everglades
. Missed it by that much.

75. Been fired from a job
. Replaced by the teenaged daughter of the boss. The business folded six months later. I like to think of it as karma.

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
. Someday, maybe.

77. Broken a bone
: crushed my thumb in a car door. Cracked a kneecap on broken sidewalk. Cracked two metatarsals under a Dr. Scholl's exercise sandal. Cracked a rib (twice!) from coughing too hard.

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
: A fine romance punctuated by bugs in the teeth.

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
. Damme, acrophobics should think twice on this one!

80. Published a book

. Gimme another couple of years. I've got the kids' stories waiting for me to finish the illustrations.

81. Visited the Vatican. When I win the lottery.

82. Bought a brand new car
. Truck. With cap. It was murdered, five years later by a guy who fancied himself a mechanic.

83. Walked in Jerusalem
. When I win the lottery.

84. Had your picture in the newspaper: Blowing soap bubbles on a lovely spring morning. Also in a few group shots. It's a small town, and the paper reflects that.

85. Read the entire Bible… KJV and NRSV

86. Visited the White House. Perq o' one job.

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating. Fish count, right?

88. Had chickenpox
.

89. Saved someone’s life. Part of a group effort. Mostly, I got the right help at the right time. But, hey, we can't all be Christian Barnard.

90. Sat on a jury
.

91. Met someone famous. Gobs o' times. Perqs of the jobs.

92. Joined a book club
. Science Fiction Book Club. Or, did the question refer to reading groups, which I avoid like vampires avoid sunlight?

93. Lost a loved one
. Too damned often.

94. Had a baby: Gave her up for adoption. Lost one, too, before time.

95. Seen the Alamo in person
. Not yet, anyway. Maybe I'll find PeeWee's bike when I get there.

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake. Ah, where everyone can walk on water! No, but I've swum or waded in four of the five Great Lakes, both oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Mead, the Chesapeake Bay (and a few of its tributaries), Puget Sound, and the Mississippi River, among other bodies of water, though.

97. Been involved in a law suit
. Was deposed for one, but it didn't go anywhere.

98. Owned a cell phone. Aaaaaaaarrrrggh! Make it stop!!

99. Been stung by a bee. Swolle up like a dirigible, too. Praise be to Diphenhydramine HCl.

100. Read an entire book in one day. Used to read one each way on my commute to & from work at the book store. That and a handful of people are the only things I miss about that job.


Now, it's your turn. Have at them!

2 comments:

Joan of Argghh! said...

Heh. Can't imagine who pointed you my way, but I sure like your place here. The throw pillows are comfy and the couch is big enough for a nap.

Think I'll hang around.

:o)

leucanthemum b said...

Welcome. The cats seem ready to curl up near you. Can I get you a nice cup of tea? :-)