100 Things About Me

1. I live on Orcas Island, which is off the coast of Washington state.
2. I don’t really belong here because I’m not really a back-to-nature outdoorsy person.
3. I was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago.
4. I’m learning about different lifestyles than the ones I’ve always known.
5. I’m also learning about community and how it is developed and maintained.
6. I recently urinated outside successfully for the first time ever.
7. I work out as often as I can with a girl named Mindy.
8. When my lease is up on the trailer that I live in, I will go live at Mindy's house.
9. I will learn about living with pigs and chickens there.
10. My younger brother Daniel is one of my favorite people in the whole world.
11. I have two other brothers: Paul and David.
12. I have a pug named Retha who lives with my parents in Glen Ellyn.
13. I have been a high school teacher in the past and probably will be again.
14. I currently work whatever jobs come my way in order to pay the rent.
15. When I’m feeling good, I compare myself to Thoreau.
16. When I’m not, I think maybe I’m just a slacker who doesn’t write very well.
17. I discovered I was funny when I was in college but people generally need to get to know me to know when I am kidding.
18. My brothers and my father are uproariously funny, which is why I didn’t discover my own good humor until college.
19. I went to Illinois Wesleyan University and loved it.
20. I’m dating a man named Jeff.
21. We both realize that we won’t date each other forever and can now thoroughly enjoy each other in the time we do have together.
22. I live by myself in the aforementioned trailer.
23. There are rats here but no stigma is attached to that on the island.
24. I have been married.
25. I work very actively at not being bitter about the fact that I am not anymore.
26. It’s still hurts, though.
27. That’s another reason why I’m hanging out on this island, though: to heal.
28. I felt like I was in a soap opera the other night when I had a burst of emotion attached to washing a bowl that was part of the dishes we got as wedding presents. It was the classic scene of me holding myself up at the sink while unexpected tears dripped into the dishwater. I laughed at myself even though I had no control over the drama.
29. It’s been almost two years since my husband left.
30. We were married for 3 and a half years.
31. He turned out to be a pathological liar who fooled everyone. There were lies that he told me on the first date.
32. Yesterday, I brought cupcakes to a party that had marshmallow filling and chocolate icing with little chocolate flecks in it.
33. I’m a regular Martha Stewart if Martha Stewart allowed her house to get filthy dirty while she was making adorable things like decoupage picture frames and heirloom squash.
34. I consider myself a dilettante.
35. That means that I don’t go too deeply into any particular hobby or passion that I enjoy.
36. For instance, I really like the Star Wars movies, but I don’t go so far as to write my own fan fiction.
37. I also really like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly, but I didn’t plan my week around watching them, then jump on the internet to comment about what I just saw.
38. Sometimes I wish that I could be that passionate about something.
39. I struggle that I don’t know what to do with my life.
40. I had a plan once but it got shot to hell.
41. Instead of focusing on that, though, I took it as a sign that I needed a new plan. I just haven’t found it yet.
42. That’s another reason I’m on this island.
43. I’m 27 years old.
44. I wish there was a label for my generation. I’m not an X-er and I’m not like the kids coming up behind me either.
45. I’m a big nerd but I have fashion sense.
46. I love nerds.
47. Once, I wore my “I love nerds” T-shirt to the Renaissance Faire on accident. I was looking pretty cute that day with hot jeans on and I had been working out so I was pretty tightly curvy. The shirt was cut pretty small.
48. I made a lot of nerds smile that day.
49. I have impressed men on dates when I talked about Dungeon and Dragons characters that I’ve had.
50. Those men did not impress me, however.
51. Someday, I will meet a man that will be impressed with my sci-fi/fantasy knowledge and will also have a full range of social skills.
52. I hope.
53. If I had to choose two foods that I didn’t want to live without, I would choose Coca-cola and cheese.
54. Baking is one of my top five skills.
55. The other four are shopping, interacting with teenagers, analyzing oral and written communication for effectiveness, and reading.
56. I like playing board games.
57. I’m happier with my life right now than I have been in a long time.
58. I’m trying to figure out what parts of this laid-back island life I can take with me when I leave.
59. I like having enough time to help others fulfill their dreams.
60. Recently, I’ve been helping a woman named Rhonda start an organic farm.
61. My knee is bruised from planting yesterday.
62. I helped serve communion today. I’ve done that because I was a deacon in my last church but today, there were only 10 of us there, so I was asked during the passing of the peace if I would do it.
63. I like being part of a small church.
64. I wish the hymns that we sang were hymns that I know.
65. I like traditional hymns like “Softly and Tenderly” and “The Old Rugged Cross.”
66. I like to be lazy and just lay naked in bed, wiggling so I can feel the soft flannel and just letting my mind wander contentedly.
67. Luckily, church isn’t until 12:30 so I get to do that most Sundays.
68. I’ve been having some trouble socializing lately. I just keep saying the wrong things at the wrong time.
69. I accidentally offended a girl I didn’t know because I said that wearing patchouli would make someone smell like a dirty f---ing hippy. I forgot that not everyone in earshot knew me and my sense of humor and the girl with dreadlocks looked pretty pissed.
70. My perfume has patchouli.
71. I thought the joke was funny because I was making fun of myself and the phrase DFH sounds funny and because it’s a ridiculous stereotype.
72. I don’t know how I’ll take that one back.
73. I write in a journal in addition to these blogs.
74. Sometimes I think I’ll start an anonymous blog so that I don’t have to self-edit.
75. However, I’m not sure I’m that much of an exhibitionist.
76. It all comes back to being a dilettante.
77. I feel like I have become good friends with both of my parents now that I’m an adult.
78. I still think of myself as "not old enough" sometimes.
79. I’m growing my hair out now, but prefer it when it’s short.
80. I was fired from my last teaching job totally unfairly.
81. That’s another reason why I’m on the island: to recover my self-esteem.
82. I have the tendency to collect interesting little things.
83. I gave away half of a house full of stuff when I moved here.
84. I only miss my couch.
85. I worry that I’m collecting it all again.
86. I work at a re-use facility and so have full access to all sorts of neat things that come out of people’s basements and attics.
87. I’m a pretty good singer.
88. I’ve had two formal recitals.
89. The old ladies at church like it when I sing out.
90. I’ve never had a group of friends that was successful. I’ve always done better with individual friendships.
91. My favorite book is Cryptonomicron by Neal Stephenson.
92. My favorite colors are light blue (of all shades) and spring green.
93. I would use the word “whimsical” to describe my personal aesthetic.
94. I believe that we can change the world by loving each other and making decisions based on that love for one another.
95. My favorite number is 22 because that was my dad’s baseball number in college.
96. Although my dad is a great big jock, none of his kids turned out to be.
97. My mom is the most fascinating person I know.
98. I want to live deliberately.
99. I think I was put on this earth to accomplish big things.
100. I still wish more people liked me, as much as I know that’s an unhealthy thing.