Me, me, meme!
A friend on Facebook tagged me for a meme. I've never done one of these before -- but here it is.
25. As a youngster (aged 9 to about 13), I had a summer business selling night crawlers. I made hundreds of dollars. I loved worms.
24. I once had a mini natural history museum in my parents' garage, consisting of birds nests, eggs, snake skins, insects, etc. that I mounted in shoe boxes with Saran Wrap for "glass."
23. I wanted to grow up to be a veterinarian -- on a boat. (Ship, I guess.) My father discouraged the veterinarian part as he thought I was too soft-hearted. I loved animals and insects of all kinds, except
22. I'm afraid of spiders (minus daddy longlegs, cellar spiders, etc. -- those creatures that are more like filament than living things).
21. Until I was a young adult, I thought an engineer was a guy who drives a train. Our high school's guidance counselors were pathetic.
20. I once stabbed my sister with a ballpoint pen.
19. And broke her little finger.
18. I was the "bad kid" in our family. Probably some self-fulfilling prophesy going on there.
17. I once got very drunk (and sick) as a teenager because I drank a glass of vodka straight, hearing that you shouldn't "mix drinks."
16. I haven't been drunk since I was 19. I feel terrible the next morning even after two glasses of wine.
15. I have a history of dating or having crushes on guys with odd names, such as Cy Leatherberry (kindergarten "boyfriend", who later broke my wrist by pushing me off the monkeybars) and Londell Pease (briefly dated in high school).
14. I am afraid of heights (e.g. step ladder height) but not of flying. When I'm up in an airplane, looking down, it looks impossibly far to fall. Maybe when I reached a height of 10 feet off the ground I'd be terrified -- if I was still alive.
13. I still regret not going to the homecoming dance with a guy named Jim who asked me in my sophomore year of high school. I turned him down because he was a year younger than I (which seemed to mean a lot, at that age) and because he was geeky. But so was I. What was I thinking? He was cute.
12. I lack almost any sense of conventional ambition. I have vague ideas of just being happy and doing my own thing. Whatever that is.
11. I frequently interview myself when I'm alone in my car. Sometimes I'm Terry Gross, sometimes Kerri Miller. People passing by probably assume I'm talking on my cell phone. As a kid, I was on Carson a lot. He found my tooth-brushing habits fascinating.
10. Whenever I see celebrity crushes get married, I check the age of their brides. Elvis Costello and Paul Michael Glaser (AKA Starsky) both married women my age (or even a bit younger). I know either one of these men would have loved me, had they met me. But now my heart belongs to another.
9. The first record I ever bought was a 45 of The Beatle's "Hello, Goodbye" (I believe it was the B-side to "I Am the Walrus"), which I purchased at a neighbor's garage sale. The first ever given to me was a 45 of Abba's "Dancing Queen."
8. Three formative moments in my musical tastes: hearing Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" on his "Superhits" compilation on a school field trip to Kansas City, hearing John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" in a creative writing class in high school, and hearing Elvis Costello's "Trust" through giant, cranium-encompassing headphones at the Fargo Public Library. All circa 1981-83.
7. Formative reading experiences: a Robert Louis Stevenson poetry collection I read over and over again as a child, reading Dodie Smith's "I Capture the Castle" as a teenager (and almost every year since), reading the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges maybe 10 years ago.
6. I like "good" literature and "bad" literature, but the in-between stuff really annoys me.
5. I hate chess.
4. I wish I could sing.
3. I try to like opera, and I try to like beer, but after numerous attempts at enjoyment I might as well give up. It ain't gonna happen.
2. I look good in pink.
1. I once had to give myself the Heimlich Maneuver. I choked on a Freaky while babysitting, and had to thrust myself over the back of a dining room chair.
24. I once had a mini natural history museum in my parents' garage, consisting of birds nests, eggs, snake skins, insects, etc. that I mounted in shoe boxes with Saran Wrap for "glass."
23. I wanted to grow up to be a veterinarian -- on a boat. (Ship, I guess.) My father discouraged the veterinarian part as he thought I was too soft-hearted. I loved animals and insects of all kinds, except
22. I'm afraid of spiders (minus daddy longlegs, cellar spiders, etc. -- those creatures that are more like filament than living things).
21. Until I was a young adult, I thought an engineer was a guy who drives a train. Our high school's guidance counselors were pathetic.
20. I once stabbed my sister with a ballpoint pen.
19. And broke her little finger.
18. I was the "bad kid" in our family. Probably some self-fulfilling prophesy going on there.
17. I once got very drunk (and sick) as a teenager because I drank a glass of vodka straight, hearing that you shouldn't "mix drinks."
16. I haven't been drunk since I was 19. I feel terrible the next morning even after two glasses of wine.
15. I have a history of dating or having crushes on guys with odd names, such as Cy Leatherberry (kindergarten "boyfriend", who later broke my wrist by pushing me off the monkeybars) and Londell Pease (briefly dated in high school).
14. I am afraid of heights (e.g. step ladder height) but not of flying. When I'm up in an airplane, looking down, it looks impossibly far to fall. Maybe when I reached a height of 10 feet off the ground I'd be terrified -- if I was still alive.
13. I still regret not going to the homecoming dance with a guy named Jim who asked me in my sophomore year of high school. I turned him down because he was a year younger than I (which seemed to mean a lot, at that age) and because he was geeky. But so was I. What was I thinking? He was cute.
12. I lack almost any sense of conventional ambition. I have vague ideas of just being happy and doing my own thing. Whatever that is.
11. I frequently interview myself when I'm alone in my car. Sometimes I'm Terry Gross, sometimes Kerri Miller. People passing by probably assume I'm talking on my cell phone. As a kid, I was on Carson a lot. He found my tooth-brushing habits fascinating.
10. Whenever I see celebrity crushes get married, I check the age of their brides. Elvis Costello and Paul Michael Glaser (AKA Starsky) both married women my age (or even a bit younger). I know either one of these men would have loved me, had they met me. But now my heart belongs to another.
9. The first record I ever bought was a 45 of The Beatle's "Hello, Goodbye" (I believe it was the B-side to "I Am the Walrus"), which I purchased at a neighbor's garage sale. The first ever given to me was a 45 of Abba's "Dancing Queen."
8. Three formative moments in my musical tastes: hearing Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" on his "Superhits" compilation on a school field trip to Kansas City, hearing John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" in a creative writing class in high school, and hearing Elvis Costello's "Trust" through giant, cranium-encompassing headphones at the Fargo Public Library. All circa 1981-83.
7. Formative reading experiences: a Robert Louis Stevenson poetry collection I read over and over again as a child, reading Dodie Smith's "I Capture the Castle" as a teenager (and almost every year since), reading the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges maybe 10 years ago.
6. I like "good" literature and "bad" literature, but the in-between stuff really annoys me.
5. I hate chess.
4. I wish I could sing.
3. I try to like opera, and I try to like beer, but after numerous attempts at enjoyment I might as well give up. It ain't gonna happen.
2. I look good in pink.
1. I once had to give myself the Heimlich Maneuver. I choked on a Freaky while babysitting, and had to thrust myself over the back of a dining room chair.
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