84 Things

My friend Sue tagged me on a note with 84 things about her. She was tagged by someone else and she decided to try it for herself. So I'm doing the same thing. I've tried to include things that many people may not know about me. If I've tagged you, give it a try and tag some of your friends. I guarantee that you'll learn something new about your friend... or better yet, about yourself.

Here goes:

1. On May 16, 2009, I received my Bachelor’s degree from UMUC, 18 years after graduating from high school. It one of the happiest days of my life.
2. Even though I’m a techie, I am shockingly low-tech when it comes to cellphones and photocopy machines.
3. I still love Disney movies…My favorite is Beauty and the Beast.
4. I loved high school, but I have very few memories from that time. Call it selective amnesia.
5. I have very few friends. I am particularly careful about who is assigned that term.
6. I have met many of my favorite celebrities: Boyz II Men, Patty Duke, Reba McEntire, and Carol Burnett.
7. My five favorite TV shows are The Carol Burnett Show, Reba, Gilmore Girls, Lost, and Star Trek: Voyager.
8. I used to love watching the Orioles, but I haven’t watched them in years.
9. Music has always been a huge part of my life.
10. When I was in high school, I wanted to be a music producer, a screenwriter, a studio musician, and a cinematographer.
11. I hated 7th Heaven, but I couldn’t stop watching it.
12. I have had two great loves in my life.
13. Because I am an extremely private person and endured entirely too much trauma in middle school, I don’t think most people knew what to make of me in high school.
14. I was inspired quit two jobs because of songs…one by Reba McEntire, the other by Beyonce.
15. I went to summer camp as a child; The Center for Mathematics and Technology at Western Maryland College (a.k.a. Nerd Camp).
16. During the seventh grade, I was tormented by a group of kids at school. To this day, I don’t know why they chose me.
17. My only real friend in middle school was my second crush. We remained friends through high school, but I never told him how I felt. We are no longer friends.
18. I had never seen field hockey before I joined the team in ninth grade. My gym made me do it to keep me out of trouble. She made me play sports year round to keep me “off the streets”. I wish we had kept in touch after high school.
19. I hated my 8th/11th grade gym teach Mrs. Wright. Then she became my mentor when she became my coach. I’ll always remember her good advice.
20. I can never watch “Back to the Future” too many times.
21. I have not used profanity since my early teens.
22. I was suspended once in middle school for threatening a girl.
23. I would love to play the role of Willie Loman’s wife on stage.
24. I want a bike again.
25. I almost got married once.
26. I love LOST, but I gave up trying to figure it out definitively.
27. Madonna’s song “This Used To Be My Playground” always makes me cry.
28. I am a huge fan of Carol Burnett. I wrote to her when I was 15 and she wrote back. 20 years later, I met her.
29. There are very things that I wish I had done better. But I do wish I had been a better friend to at least two people.
30. In the universal debate, Kirk vs. Picard, I always pick Picard.
31. I love Italy and would go there again, if I can get enough money together.
32. I want to retire in Mexico.
33. I don’t drink often but only because I’m cautious about losing control
34. I love Hallmark Channel movies.
35. I love pajamas a.k.a night-night clothes.
36. I have recurring nightmares about being in the Twin Towers on September 11th. I have that dream at least once or twice a year.
37. I love scented candles.
38. I’ve had the same cell phone number of about 10 years.
39. I just took a Jazz history class and have a better appreciation for Miles Davis.
40. I hate folding laundry.
41. I’m one of those people who wants to be marry, but appreciates being single.
42. I am allergic to nuts and cow’s milk.
43. My mother took me off sugar as a child as an alternative to ADD medication.
44. I don’t drink soda because my face will break out.
45. I loved Mad About You. The writing was smart and Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt are geniuses.
46. I learned ColdFusion web programming out of necessity.
47. Even now, I would go see New Edition in concert.
48. I would love to spend a day in the studio with Deborah Gibson.
49. My dog bites me every now and again.
50. I never learned how to put on makeup.
51. I hate folding laundry.
52. I lose my glasses often.
53. I have over 5500 songs on my iPod.
54. I have lots of opinions about a variety of topics. However, I don’t always share them in order to maintain the peace.
55. I hate when people burn bridges.
56. I don’t really know many people outside of my immediate family and I’m ok with that.
57. I almost didn’t go to commencement at UMUC.
58. When I was in high school, I taught myself to play a few songs on the keyboard (Van Halen and Sade in particular).
59. I’m learning to let things go, especially things that are of little consequence.
60. I do not like to ride in a car for longer than about 45 minutes.
61. I am intensely private, which make writing 84 things hard.
62. I want to take up music lessons again.
63. I miss Bernie Mac.
64. I want to visit the Pasadena Playhouse in LA. It is also known as the Carrie Hamilton Theatre.
65. I started writing a screen play in high school, but I never finished.
66. I feel sad for people who can’t see outside themselves.
67. It makes me sad that so much information is coming out about Michael Jackson that we never knew before. Maybe he wasn’t so weird after all.
68. I can’t wait for Season 6 of LOST to begin.
69. I don’t understand people who need drama in their lives in order to be happy.
70. I sometimes wonder if social activism is becoming a new religion unto itself.
71. There is so much that I want to do – some much that I want to accomplish.
72. I have no intentions of getting my Master’s Degree.
73. I wish I could play softball every now and again.
74. I have lived in Columbia for 16 years. But in some ways, I still feel like an outsider.
75. I want my dog to be able to play in a back yard.
76. There are specific sign post events in my life that were punctuated by specific songs. These songs make up the soundtrack of my life.
77. The first two albums I bought were Lionel Richie’s All Night Long and Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
78. I enjoy the arts.
79. I need to drink more water.
80. I would love to meet Carol Burnett again and have an actual conversation with her.
81. I accidentally call my dog Scottie sometimes because he acts just like my brother sometimes.
82. If I ever get a house with a backyard, I want to have a vegetable garden.
83. Even though I get those “Ghetto Prom”, “Ghetto Wedding” emails, I do feel sorry for the people in the pictures.
84. I never imagined that writing 84 things would take me almost two weeks to finish.