Letters From Away

A friend and former co-worker, Charlie, has a blog she calls domestic rockstar – she’s a mommy, wife, talented graphic artist, and the lead singer for the Las Vegas band bipolar – and she recently wrote “30 things I want to do the year I turn 30.”

I’m well past 30 – 17 years past 30, to be exact – but I thought I could do something similar.

But different.

Here are 47 things you may or may not know about me. If you have any questions or problems, bring them up with Charlie.

I …

1. Am an editor, writer, journalist, columnist and blogger. (Growing up I thought I would write someday, but I never thought I would be paid for doing it. I was paid for 22 years to write and edit.)

2. Am not sure that I will be paid ever again to write and edit.

3. Am guessing anyone who reads this list will skip down to No. 47 to see if I made it that far. (I know I would.)

4. Am more intelligent than some people seem to believe. (At least, I think I am.)

5. Really wish I had a dog. (Apartments are not the place for medium-sized, floppy-eared dogs.)

6. Am balding. (No plugs or rugs for me.)

7. Have hazel eyes. (They become more greenish when I wear green clothing. I’m wearing a green shirt as I write this.)

8. Believe that I often appear more confused than I am actually. (I furrow my brow when I concentrate and people often wrongly take that for confusion.)

9. Want to write a book someday. (The only thing holding me back is that I haven’t a clue what I’d write about.)

10. Am having a difficult time not writing this list in the third person as he would on his Facebook wall.

11. Intentionally used “he” and “his” in the previous line.

12. Am right handed, but most of my girlfriends have been left handed.

13. Throw out far too much food because I unintentionally let it expire/spoil.

14. Have a scar on my chin that I received as a toddler. (My father and I were passengers in a car that hit head-on with a car driven by my mother. We were not wearing seatbelts and my chin hit the ashtray. No stitches. Oh, and it was an accident.)

15. Have a scar on my knee I received one winter while in a footrace with a childhood friend. (I tripped and fell on an icy parking lot and my knee hit one of the pebbles that had been strewn on the ice so vehicles could get traction. No stitches.)

16. Wanted to be a forest ranger, cowboy, superhero or truck driver when I was a kid. Later, I wanted to be a Maine State Trooper. (I am not 100 percent convinced that I know even now what I want to be when I grow up.)

17. Worked as a chamber maid for a summer. I swear, that was the job title – chamber maid. (It was a summer job at the University of Southern Maine, which hosted summer conferences. A hugely fun handful of “chamber maids” learned hospital corners that summer and occasionally were tipped with leftover booze.)

18. Worked as a wildland firefighter while attending college. (I had to do something to counterbalance the whole chamber maid thing. It was a great experience and I very nearly changed career destination because of it.)

19. Have had a mustache since I was 17. (That makes my mustache 30 years old … the same age as Charlie.)

20. Haven’t done nearly as much as I wanted to do.

21. Envy free spirits and “just jump” people.

22. Needed the break from working, but now I am really hungry to get back to work.

23. Like old Western movies. And scifi. And cop shows.

24. Call my mother very nearly every week, even if there isn’t anything new to say.

25. Have never been to a strip club or a Hooters’. (I had dinner one evening with a group of friends and the three women at the table had been to a strip club, but the two men there – including me – had not. Ironic, I think.)

26. Have never ridden in a limousine. (And I’d be OK if I never did.)

27. Have been to Mexico, Africa, Germany, France, Haiti and Canada, but each of the trips were far too brief and most have been for work.

28. Have flown on a B24 and a C5, beside the assorted commercial aircraft of various sizes. (I was on a B24 covering World War II-era aircraft and on the C5 to get to Africa, Germany and Haiti.)

29. Have trouble acclimating to altitude. (I have a difficult time breathing at altitudes over 5,000 feet. There goes my dream of climbing Everest.)

30. Like beer. (I can’t believe I got to No. 30 before I mentioned this. By the way, the green shirt I am wearing is from the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.)

31. Would wear jeans and a T-shirt over slacks with shirt and tie anytime. (But I really, really like the way I look in a suit and I cut a dashing figure of a man in a tux, if I do say so.)

32. Have big feet. (I am most comfortable in shoes that are 12 ½, but shoe manufacturers rarely include half sizes after 11 ½ so I often have to settle for size 13.)

33. Have been a Boston Red Sox fan since Carl Yastrzemski roamed below the Green Monster and was a New England Patriots fan since Steve Grogan, Russ Francis and Sam “Bam” Cunningham played in Foxboro. (So don’t ever think me a fair-weather fan!)

34. Finds it fitting that the previous line is the same number that Larry Bird wore playing for the Boston Celtics. (By the way, I was a fan of the Celtics when John J. Havlicek and Bill Russell played on the parquet floor, but sort of bailed on them for about a decade. But I’m back!)

35. Seem to recall that I earned 16 varsity letters in high school – four for soccer, four for baseball, two for basketball and six for concert band. (Several of us came up from middle school to supplement the high school concert band and I’m pretty sure music director Larry Hall rewarded us with varsity letters. If I am wrong about the number, is that something that will turn into a scandal that will keep me out of the White House?)

36. Also earned solid grades in high school and was a member of the National Honor Society. (Solid grades, but I had terrible study habits.)

37. Have worn glasses since about the second grade. (I wore contact lenses for a while. It was during a period when the FDA allowed 7-day contact lenses. It’s a big, big mistake to keep any foreign object on your eye for that long.)

38. Once lost a spelling competition in first- or second-grade because I could not recall that the word “happy” has two Ps. (Don’t judge. I was in first- or second-grade, for crying out loud. And, trust me, the class bully hassled me for a while about that. Oh, and spell check hasn’t made me much better of a speller.)

39. Don’t like cats or rats. (I’m allergic to one and am just plain creeped out by the other.)

40. Miss going hiking, camping and fishing.

41. Haven’t been to a movie in a theater in years. (I haven’t been in a relationship for a while and going to a movie by myself is not nearly as fun as it was when I was younger. And money has been pretty tight lately.)

42. Enjoy a good foreign film from time to time.

43. Joined Facebook and started a blog so I won’t go absolutely nuts while looking for a job. (The ironic thing is, both Facebook and the blog have kept me pretty sane and satisfied in what is a troublesome, worrisome time of unemployment for me. Both help fill the void left from the social contact I normally would have with co-workers.)

44. Wish I was taller. (6 feet tall, that’s all I ask.)

45. Wish I was in much, much better shape.

46. Occasionally sneak a peek at so-called reality TV. (But don’t tell my friends. And don’t tell my family. And don’t tell my enemies. And don’t tell the IRS or Homeland Security.)

47. Can’t believe I actually was able to come up with 47 things about myself. (At least one of you peeked down to the bottom of this list to see if I could come up with 47 items to write about myself, didn’t you?)

47.5. Am 47 ½, really, so I thought I’d add one more entry. (I’m pretty conscientious and I didn’t want to short-change anyone. After all, you paid good hard-earned money for this list. … Didn’t you?!)

Bonus: Can’t rap. Well, at least, not well.

There! That’s everything that you ever wanted – or didn’t want – to know about me. Have a lovely day!