Monthly Archives: January 2010

The other day I posted “47 things to know about me” – it was just a collection of 47 or so things someone might or might not know about me.

And I’m pretty sure there were plenty of things on the list that some people might not want to know about me or wouldn’t care to know about anyone.

But that sort of thing doesn’t deter me!

I had some time on my hands – read: the job search is not going quite as well as I might have hoped – and figured I could come up with another 47 things.

Why 47? That’s how old I am – so one item for each year.

Well, now two items for each year.

And as a matter of full disclosure, I recognize this is not an original idea. I had seen lists such as this on various blogs, but wasn’t 100 percent motivated to do one until I read a blog entry by a former co-worker. So, if there are any complaints, please direct them to the domestic rockstar. She started this and I’m sure she’ll be happy to deal with them. (And she lives far enough away that I’m not likely to be physically harmed in the making of this blog.)

So, here it goes, “47 (more) things to know about me.” And please forgive me if I inadvertently repeat something on this list from the first list; after all, I am my own editor.

I …

1. Was once booed by about 3,000 people. (I was the editor of The Mendocino Beacon and it was during the presidential campaign in which the Rev. Jessie Jackson was a candidate. Local Democratic Party leaders were able to schedule a whistle stop, as it were, on the Mendocino Headlands. I put the story on the front page on the third and second weeks before the event, but on Page 3 – also known in the newspaper business as the “second front” – the week before the event. The local Democratic Party leader led the crowd in booing the newspaper and, therefore, me for having put the story on Page 3. Funny Thing No. 1: The party leader didn’t mention to the mostly out-of-town crowd the front-page placement the previous two weeks. That’s a little unfair. Funny Thing No. 2: Jackson’s jet couldn’t land at the airport because of fog and he didn’t make the event at all. They had to reschedule for about a month later.)
2. Stood less than 50 feet from Jackson. (Heavily armed men wearing dark suits, dark sunglasses and earpieces stood between me and Jessie.)
3. Was paid $75 in my one and only freelance gig covering the rally when Jessie finally made it to the Headlands.
4. Once dictated a story over the phone from Mombasa, Kenya, to Vacaville, Calif. (Thank you, Stacey Wells, for taking the call.)
5. Once submitted a mileage reimbursement request for a Vacaville-Fairfield-Goma-Mombasa-Frankfurt-Paris-San Francisco trip. It was denied. (I really didn’t expect them to reimburse me for mileage, but it would have been nice. After all, I was traveling most of the distance in the belly of a C5.)
6. Am not particularly superstitious. (Unless there’s a black cat in my path or I walk under a ladder or I break a mirror. And don’t even get me started about Friday the 13^th.)
7. Worked selling magazines door-to-door … for less than 24 hours. (It was the very worst experience.)
8. Can roll my tongue. (Lengthwise, forward and back. I can flip it to the left and to the right, too.)
9. Used to impress people by using that tongue to tie two knots – yes, two knots – in a cherry stem.
10. Can double-snap my fingers on both hands. (I doubt it will come up in a job interview, but I thought I’d mention it here.)
11. Usually put on my left sock before my right, my left pant leg before my right, my left shoe before my right. (I’m not sure why, I just do.)
12. Met Queen Latifah once in the mid-1990s, but didn’t realize just how big of a star she was then and would be now. (No, there is no photographic evidence, as far as I know. Just my word.)
13. Always double tie my shoes.
14. Still have movies on VHS. (In fact, I watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” on VHS over the holidays.)
15. Have written in a personal journal since I was in high school. (I suppose I should burn them to protect the innocent … except there’s nothing in them that would cause a scandal or throw Earth off its axis. I really ought to get on that.)
16. Am sometimes too patient. (Things tend to slip from my grasp, while I’m waiting for just the right moment to claim those things. It’s a bad habit, I know. …)
17. Am losing patience with impatient people. (Especially parents who should be showing their children the meaning of patience or people who wield rudeness simply for no other reason that arrogance and a lack of patience.)
18. Wish I was kinder. (We all should wish to be kinder.)
19. Wish I was wiser. (We all should wish to be wiser.)
20. Wish I was bolder, someone who lives with gusto. (I suppose this is much like No. 16. Ah, well. …)
21. Still remember that my parents woke me to watch the aurora borealis from my bedroom window when I was a child. (The Northern Lights are incredible! I have a photo of the aurora borealis as a screensaver on the laptop computer I’m using to write this blog.)
22. Have been golfing since I was 8. Not continuously, of course, but I first started playing when I was 8. (I wish I was better at it, but equipment, green fees, etc., are fairly expensive and I can’t afford to play, take lessons or even hit the driving range just now. I intend to fix that in 2010.)
23. Wish my level of hope didn’t fluctuate so much during the course of a week. (Being unemployed plays a part in that. I’ll get over it once I’m employed again, I’m sure.)
24. Haven’t danced in perhaps five years. (And I like dancing.)
25. Drink too much coffee. (Have had three 16-oz. coffees today, so there! It hasn’t made me jittery a bit.)
26. Have too many regrets. (There are things I have said or done I would love to take back. And there are things that I have left unsaid and undone that I hope I can fix in time. I suppose that just makes me human.)
27. I smoke the occasional cigar. (Expensive and a bad habit, but there is nothing quite like a good cigar while golfing or fishing or camping or on a long drive or barbecuing or lounging or … you get the point.)
28. Wanted to be a jet pilot when I was a kid. (My eyesight is too horrible to let that happen.)
29. Watch too much television. (That probably makes my eyesight even worse.)
30. Miss the smell, sound and taste of the ocean. (Working at The Mendocino Beacon was wonderful in that I could stand at my desk and see the ocean. I took walks every lunchtime on the headlands or on the beach.)
31. Will take Star Trek over Star Wars anytime. (Who wouldn’t?!)
32. Will take Letterman over Leno anytime.
33. Will take “NCIS” over “NCIS Los Angeles” most anytime.
34. Think there isn’t anything quite as cool as lying on a ground cloth with friends in a field in the Sierra Nevada looking up at a meteor shower.
35. Love garlic.
36. Doesn’t get facial tattoos. (I have no problem with tattoos, but on the face?! Really?!)
37. Am worried that I’m running out of steam on this list thing.
38. Usually turn my cellular phone to vibrate when I’m in public so not to bother anyone.
39. Have never tried a mojito, because I do not like mint that much.
40. Once forgot that I had a canister of pepper spray in a bag I brought with me on the trip to Africa and had to dispose of it before getting onto a commercial airline. (Don’t ask me how I did it. Just accept that I did it the wrong way. Pepper spray stings.)
41. Am incredibly pissed off at the country’s banking industry and I may start my own bank. (OK, so I can’t start a bank. But am I the only one who thinks Wall Street bankers are arrogant SOBs for taking taxpayer money for a bailout and then screwing the consumer by messing with credit card rates and continuing to hand out lavish bonuses at a time when the problem they at least partially caused continues to result in businesses closing and people being out of work? … It was a rhetorical question and I do not expect an answer that will make sense.)
42. Sometimes wish I could play the banjo. (You simply cannot be sad when there’s banjo music playing. It’s impossible! It’s a universal law or something.)
43. Like lime in Mexican beer.
44. Do not hear as well as I likely would. (Misspent youth. As a youngsters, friends and I made tennis ball cannons by taping together cans that has been opened at either end, except for the last can taped to the tube. We punched a hole in the last can, poured lighter fluid in the can, swung it around, put ball in the other end, and lighted the fluid. Boom! And then once in my early 20s I went target shooting without ear protection. Big, big mistake!)
45. Once had a shotgun pointed at me by a drunken bully. (Always, always, always take care when walking away from drunken bullies.)
46. Hope people do not think I’m arrogant simply because I wrote “47 things to know about me” and “47 (more) things to know about me.” (I’m just trying to have a little fun here. Sheesh!)
47. Make too many lists.