Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 - 5:50 a.m.

100 Things.

I'm "answering" Cruel-Irony's List of 100 Things About Me. I tried to stay on the same topic of each number, but some were a little hard to do that. Besides, its like 6 in the morning, and I haven't slept yet. (If you haven't read last nights entry, click back...)

1. The second toe on each of my feet is longer than all my other toes. It runs in the family on my mother�s side.

2. I've worked in food service 16 years and only worked 4 different jobs, being out of work for only 3 months of that entire time, when I moved from California to Colorado.

3. I used to get hand-me-down clothes from my older sister and donations from church. The kids at school would tease me horribly because of it.

4. I went to private schools until I was a Junior in High School.

5. My favorite color is green.

6. I played soccer during High School and my father coached my AYSO soccer team.

7. My great grandmother came as an immigrant from Poland to escape Nazi persecution.

8. I used to stutter. I had to take voice therapy classes when I was in 5th grade. I hated it and it was embarrassing. I still stutter when I am overly tired and I'm not concentrating on what I'm saying.

9. I was home schooled during 2nd grade. I had been attending a Christian School at the church we attended, and when the Pastor was arrested for bombing an abortion clinic, we left the church and my mother taught us at home.

10. My favorite flowers are sunflowers.

11. I started Kindergarten at the age of 5, but my little sister started Kindergarten when she was 2 1/2. She was already in College by the time she was 15, and is graduated and teaching music at the age of 21.

12. I�ve been to all 50 states except the lower South. I've collected shot glasses for every state I've visited.

13. I hate cake. For birthdays I would request pie. My mother made wedding cakes out of the house, while I was growing up. There was ALWAYS cake. I hate cake frosting even more.

14. My grandmother was born in 1920 and had to quit school at the age of nine to support my epileptic great grandmother.

15. I have a cat that will give "kisses" if you ask him to, every time you ask. He lowers his head and bumps upward toward your mouth, giving you the opportunity to kiss him between the ears.

16. I hate to drive and usually do not, but I do know how to drive a stick shift.

17. I�m a wonderful cook and an even better baker. (I've had jobs as both)

18. I don't own a wine bottle opener. I am allergic to the sulfites in wine.

19. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. I get to go see my dad and its one of the only times the place I work is closed.

20. I hate clothes shopping.

21. Even though I hate cake, I still love pastries.

22. I own 2 VCR's, 3 DVD players, (one is built into the new VCR we bought and one is built into the PS2) 1 surround sound systems, 2 stereos, 1 game Cube, and 1 Playstation 2, plus Digital Cable, and 2 Computers.

23. I own pairs of shoes I've never worn.

24. I�m allergic to (insert everything and anything). I have really bad skin allergies to most detergents and soaps. I have a few food allergies and a few allergies to medicines. I am horrifically allergic to dairy! Milk makes me projectile vomit. I am allergic to a wide range of plants. And most perfumes and hairspray products make me sneeze and have watery eyes.

25. I was in Oklahoma a week after the Oklahoma City bombing and took pictures, in which one was of a street (light) signal that had half of it blown off. I was in California in a hotel near the area that OJ Simpson drove through in his White Bronco. I lived in San Diego during the Rodney King riots in LA, and my old roommate, when I lived in Colorado, graduated from Columbine High School.

26. My favorite movie is Willow.

27. I�ve had poetry published in a literary magazine called Allusions.

28. In high school, I graduated in the top five percentile of my class and wore an "Honor Cord" signifying I was a class Salutatorian.

29. I have a cell phone, a home phone, voice mail, call waiting. I have to be available anywhere, anytime. In case something does wrong at work. (per the Owner's demands) But I am not reimbursed for any of my cell phone bill by my job.

30. I didn't get my driver's license until I was 23. My first car was a 1986 Nissan Stanza, which I owned two years before getting my license.

31. I received my first and only D in Geometry. And even though it was a "passing" grade, my mother made me retake it for a better grade the next year.

32. I moved to Colorado after I graduated High School because I wanted to go to one of the best veterinary schools in the nation: Colorado State University. I couldn't afford the out of state tuition and ended up working there instead.

33. I broke my right ankle on the growth plate, when I was in 5th grade. I now wear a small lift inside my shoe, because the break stunted growth in my right leg. Its about an inch and a half different in length.

34. I've never wanted children.

35. I took piano lessons while growing up, but cannot remember a single thing on the piano anymore. I haven't played in over 6 years.

36. I've wanted to be a veterinarian since I was in 4th grade. I've always had a deep love of animals.

37. I've been singing on stage since the age of five, in church and school. I was approached when I was 16 years old, to submit a demo tape, but I was told I didn't have a marketable image.

38. I�ve never been in a car accident.

39. I've been engaged twice. Once, to a man that cheated on me (when I was 22) and now (at age 30)

40. I have a sock monkey key chain.

41. I have experienced blizzards (Colorado and Rhode Island), hailstorms (California, Colorado, and Rhode Island), thunderstorms (California, Colorado, and Rhode Island), tornados (Colorado), earthquakes (California), droughts (California), floods (Colorado and Arizona) and windstorms (Rhode Island).

42. I took German in High School as an elective language.

43. I was in the operating room, when my older sister had a Caesarian for my nephew.

44. I tried drugs when I was younger but never got past the experimental stage and never tried any �hard� drugs. Now, my brother on the other hand did, and is paying the price in prison.

45. I am Polish/Irish on my mother's side and German/Russian from my father's side.

46. I don't own anything of significant value, but I own a lot of very sentimental things I've amassed over the years.

47. I know Exact Sign Language. A deaf friend taught me, while I worked with her, as no one else was willing to, and I was sick of everyone writing everything down for her. I was even her translator during her interview to be hired as a State Classified Employee.

48. I was the youngest State Employee hired at Colorado State University, being only 18 years old.

49. The only famous people I've been told I look like is Bette Midler and that girl from the show "Blossom" I think its my Polish nose.

50. I have been called Pippi Longstocking many times. My hair is red and used to be long enough to sit on.

51. When I rub my eyelids with my fingertips, my eyes make a very loud auditory squishing sound.

52. The worst job I've had was working McDonald's when I was 14 years old. All I was allowed to do was clean the lobby, bathrooms, and parking lot. When little kids threw up or had "accidents" in the playland, I had to clean it up.

53. I have horrible short term memory. I usually have to write everything down on lists.

54. I've always had at least one pet. Right now, I have four cats. I've had 4 hamsters, 3 finch, 2 guinea pig, an iguana, a gerbil, lots of fish, 2 ferrets, 3 dogs (when I was younger than five) and over 15 cats in my life.

55. I met my fiance in a chat room on AOL. We have been together for over five years.

56. I am trying to teach myself how to paint. I purchased a new set of paints and brushes a few months ago, but they are sitting in the box still. My brother and mother are amazing artists, and my brother has designed most of the tattoos I have.

57. I�ve been pulled over by the police twice. First time for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign, at 4 in the morning, on CSU campus. And the second, when I was driving a friends car home as the "designated driver" and his license plate wasn't visible from the front. I only received warnings both times.

58. One of my ex-boyfriends is 6 foot 10 inches tall. He was only 6'7 when I met him. He would never go to the doctor to get checked to see if he had gigantism.

59. I rode in an ambulance once but I was unconscious so I don�t remember any of it. I ended up in a coma for five days from severe head trauma from a horse riding accident.

60. I�ve had surgery three times.

61. I only wear silver jewelry. I also prefer sapphire and diamonds to any other gemstone. I hardly ever wear a watch (I can't at my job).

62. I usually do not do the grocery shopping, Joe does.

63. I rarely drink coffee, but I drink Diet Coke like its water.

64. I hate chocolate chip cookies, and would prefer sugar cookies over any other kind. I've been told I make the best Peanut Butter cookies, though.

65. I have vertigo after riding in elevators.

66. I had all four of my wisdom teeth pulled at once. They were impacted and growing into my back molars. When I came out of the anesthetic, I was crying, but had no idea why.

67. I used to have a photographic memory. I never had to study in school and I still got straight A's.

68. I was the Stage Manager in Our Town by Thornton Wilder (in High School) and one of the witches in Macbeth.

69. I�ve never been married but intend to when I meet the right person. And, I think I have. Actually, I know I have.

70. I have an older sister I've never met. My mother placed her up for adoption when she was born, in 1968, because she was a devout Catholic and didn't want to bring shame on her family for being an unwed mother. She never even told the father of this baby, she was pregnant. She moved away to California before anyone knew.

71. When I was young, I thought I was adopted. Knowing what I know now (see #70) it probably broke my mother's heart every time I accused her of it.

72. I am SafeServ Certified by the Health Department as a certified Food Manager. I scored higher on my test than my training manager did, and providing I wanted to, I could now teach the same class because of my score.

73. I am not a nice person to have to wake up. If I do not get enough sleep, I am downright evil.

74. I like to do cross stitch. Right now I am working on hand towels that have little penguins on them.

75. I have never had much luck with plants and I hate receiving flowers for holidays, only to watch them die. I have fake arrangements so my cats won't eat anything poisonous and die.

76. My hands are larger than my father's.

77. I wear a size 6 1/2 in shoes. People are constantly commenting on how small my feet are, since I am 5'7.

78. I smoke way too much.

79. I used to have an herb garden in my kitchen, until my cats started eating it.

80. I've never been able to touch my toes. Because my legs are an uneven length and I have an extremely swayed back, I've had chronic back pain since I hit puberty. My back once gave out from bending over to pick up a styrofoam cup I'd dropped on the floor. When my back does give out, I usually walked hunched over like an 80 year old.

81. I've never liked big social gatherings, unless I know everyone that's in attendance.

82. The entire series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is in my apartment. (I won't say who bought it, but its there.)

83. When I was a Senior in High School I was accepted to the California Summer School for the arts. I never got to go, though, I moved to Colorado right after I graduated. I will always regret not going. But I still have all the awards and certificates for being accepted. It was a pretty big deal.

84. I've met famous people where I work, like Danny DeVito, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Andre 3000 from Outkast, a bunch of wrestler's from one of the Pay Per View matches that was being filmed in town, Brian Dennehy (I gave him a Gingerbread Man cookie for Christmas), and a few other's, but I didn't actually meet them, so I won't write their names.

85. I once got third degree burns on my breast from an accident at work. The skin instantly shriveled up to one side and the meat was exposed and bleeding. I ended up at the hospital to have the damaged skin removed and bandaged. The scar has finally faded to nothing in the 7 years since it happened.

86. I love bread and eat it with almost every meal. And I know its why my ass is so big!

87. I love cheese on everything, but I am so allergic to dairy, I usually get sick if I eat it.

88. I very rarely go to the movies, but I enjoy renting them. My favorite type of movie is one I can't figure out within the first 20 minutes. If I figure it out too quickly, I get annoyed at watching it.

89. I've always loved to read and I've read since I was a young child. When I would be punished and sent to my room, I didn't care, because I knew I'd be able to read in peace. I've also been known to read more than one book at a time.

90. I have my nieces' and nephew's art work on my fridge, even the stuff that my older sister sent me four years ago. I've never taken it down.

91. I have three sets of china dishes, one from my older sister as an engagement gift, one from my Mom (from years ago) and one set from Joe's Mom. All three sets are still packed away in the boxes they were given to me in.

92. I do not put salt on anything, not even when I cook. I use salt substitutes, and other spices, but never salt. Even if I'm following a recipe exactly (which rarely happens) I usually add half the salt.

93. I collect frogs.

94. My favorite artist is Michael Parkes. A close second is M.C. Esher.

95. I'm the one responsible for paying all the bills. I write out all the checks and submit all payments for everything, even bills that are solely Joe's.

96. My hair is red, but I've dyed it many different colors over the past 10 years. I don't even know what the true color is anymore.

97. My 85 year old grandmother and my 58 year old mother still have full heads of brown/blonde hair. My mother had red hair as a child, but a case of ring worm, back in 1951, caused doctors to shave her head, and it grew back in blond.

98. I very rarely have to do laundry. Joe usually does it while I'm at work. I am very thankful. I hate doing laundry.

99. My best feature was probably my hair, but my little sister convinced me to cut it last Thanksgiving and now it is only shoulder length. I hate it for being so short. Even though people tell me "What do you mean its short? Its longer than mine." But its still too short for my taste.

100. Dogs and Horses scare me.