The Sixes Meme

My loveliest and most talented near-neighbor I’ve never met, Eskimo Bliss, tagged me with another random things meme. I love lists and I’m rather random, so let’s play.

The Rules
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

I’ve posted many (many, many) self-absorbed lists, so it was tough to come up with six things you haven’t read about me (and I told myself I can no longer include “R.E.M. is my favorite band” for six weeks). Let’s hope you find these somewhat entertaining.

1. I cannot step on a crack and break my mother’s back. I always step (sometimes hop) over the line.

2. I was once kicked off the bridesmaid team because Bridezilla said I wasn’t taking the wedding as seriously as she. Um, that counts as a duh, doesn’t it?

3. Broadway musicals bore me. I prefer my musical theater to be along the lines of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

4. I once had a sex dream about Corky, the mentally challenged boy on the TV show “Life Goes On.” What makes this particularly disturbing is I never saw the show. (And, yes, he was goooooood.)

5. I am a Target addict. Today’s ensemble includes the following Red Dot Boutique items: slacks, turtleneck, cardigan, panties and bra, tights, makeup. There’s a Target across the street from my office, so I probably average three pop-ins every week.

6. Whenever I’m blue, I play three songs to perk me up: R.E.M.’s “Turn You Inside-out,” The Replacements’ “I Will Dare,” and Wilco’s “Heavy Metal Drummer.” If those don’t do the trick, I move to Sonic Youth’s “Incinerate” and Spoon’s “Did You Evah.” So far, I haven’t had to dig deeper into the playlist.


I’m tagging six sexy gals:

1. Flannery Alden at Prone to Whimsy got all sexy and sixy!

2. Christine at Real Men Don't Watch American Idol

3. Lisa at That’s Why got all sexy and sixy!

4. D. Guzman at Beginning to Bird got all sexy and sixy!

5. WendyB at Wendy Brandes Jewelry

6. Sue at Dating Rules for Sitcoms

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16 Things You Don’t Know About Me

My favorite never-seen gal pal Katie tagged me with this on Facebook. I’m double-dipping, publishing this here and on Facebook. Maybe this will start a trend: blog posts at Cup of Coffey! I’ve listed a lot of things you once didn’t know about me throughout the blog years, so you may recognize a couple of these; just act surprised.

1. R.E.M. is my favorite band in the whole wide world.

2. I have a scar along the edge of my chin. Having the scar isn’t weird, although I have no idea how I got it. What’s weird is, until I was in junior high, I thought it was the seam for my skin … as if The Good Lord knitted my flesh Himself.

3. I cannot sit through a scary movie, except for vampire flicks. Dying to see Let the Right One In at the Plaza Theatre this week.

4. Shows like “The Bachelor” make me angry. Competing for a man? Puh-lease. If the Mormons are so concerned about the sanctity of marriage, why aren’t they going after that crap?

5. I have arthritis in my right big toe. The aches come and go, but it’s cool to crack the toe knuckle.

6. I could not say “goddammit” — not even sing it in a song (always replaced with “hot damn”) — until I started working at an ad agency in 1984. Those two years ruined my wholesome vernacular. Now, when this graceless creature drops something or bumps into something (a regular feature in my day-to-day life), it’s always “Oh, goddammit!”

7. I bite my nails. I occasionally quit, but I’ve been in mega-gnaw mode since August.

8. I haven’t been to a concert in six months. No wonder I can’t stop gnawing my nails.

9. One of my favorite songs ever is Wham’s “Everything She Wants.” Still treasure the 45. I throw my arms wide and belt it out every time I hear it, whether I’m in the car or in a store. Used to embarrass the hell out of the Beloved Ex.

10. I can go for a year without a date, but I get very depressed if I go more than two weeks without a flirt object.

11. I’ve never been married, and I don’t ever see myself getting married. I have, however, fallen madly in love more times than I have fingers. Who needs a ring when you’ve enjoyed so many fingers?

12. Jimmy Carter and his family went to our church when he was governor. One morning between Sunday school and church, I was drinking at the water fountain outside the sanctuary, and kept hearing my mom apologize to someone. When my thirst was quenched, I found that my little black patents had been stomping the hell out of the tips of Jimmy’s wingtips. Much to my great disappointment, the future president’s bodyguards didn’t wrestle me to the ground; I guess my twelve-year-old self wasn’t very threatening.

13. I kissed Warren Zevon.

14. I also kissed Rufus Wainwright. But only on the cheek.

15. I’ve been in the hospital just once, for a staph infection in my sinuses at the end of my freshman year in college. Never been through an operation, and I still have my appendix and tonsils.

16. 16 was my favorite number when I was a tweenie. Why? Because it represented being a full-fledged teenager. And 16 Magazine was my fave.


I'm not going to tag anyone on the blog. If you want to play along, type up sixteen things we should know about you.

And if you're on Facebook, friend me.

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The Inquisition: Meme Style

My new favorite blogger, The Pagan Sphinx, recently tagged me with one of my favorite types of memes: listmania! I love making lists. I love writing about me. So lists about me … well, that’s just blogging gold, dear readers.


Ten Years Ago
I was working for The Coca-Cola Company and living with the Beloved Ex. Next to our first six months — that phase where everything is golden and giggly and glittery — that was probably our best time together. We were living in a condo with a yardette — an 8’ x 18’ yard with a privacy fence, which we turned into a riot of English garden color. Gardening wasn’t the extent of my Martha Stewartism: For Easter I baked a batch of sugar cookies shaped like eggs; Beloved Ex and I then decorated them like Easter eggs with buttercream frosting and those baking thingies, putting them on a bed of plastic basket grass (note that I even use Martha’s lingo).


Five Things on Today’s To-do List
Notice my priorities.
1. Call mechanic about the latest Check Engine light
2. Find pirate costumes [DONE]
3. Start on Friday’s mix tape [DONE]
4. Balance my checkbook and rework my budget
5. Write this meme post [DONE]


If I Were a Billionaire
So many things I’d do. P.Sphinx didn’t enumerate her If I Weres, but I’m going to give you five What I’d Dos:
1. Set up. I wouldn’t want my family or friends working. Sure, it’s a grand gesture, but it’s also a selfish one: If I decided to up and fly to Madrid, someone has to be able to go with me.
2. Donate. Time and money. I’d give money to organizations that put the majority of their donations in the field, such as Salvation Army and Samaritan’s Purse. I’d also start organizations to get less-privileged children and teens interesting in books and art.
3. Settle. I’d buy a house in the mountains, somewhere in western North Carolina or eastern Tennessee. New York is where I’d rather be; I just adore a penthouse view. And I’d keep a home in Decatur to be near family and friends.
4. Travel. I’d rather stay in fabulous hotels that have homes dotted across the world.
5. Reestablish. By buying my great-grandfather’s old grocery store. I’d start an art gallery collective, where the artists being shown would help man the gallery. It would be named Hamilton’s Market, as it was named in the 1940s and 1950s. We’d have live bands, author readings, all sorts of creative and cultural events.


Three Bad Habits
Boy, it’s hard to come up with three. Okay, to be honest, it’s hard to pick just three.
1. I bite my nails. Sometimes, like now, I can stop and let them grow … but I’m sure I’ll be gnawing again soon.
2. I interrupt. It’s the Coffey conversation style — perfectly acceptable around our dinner tables, but rather rude when chatting with people. I try not to, but then I get a thought in my head and …
3. I procrastinate. So many things can be put off until the last minute, y'know.


Five Places I’ve Lived
Although I always wanted to, I’ve never lived outside Georgia; in fact, other than my two years at the University of Georgia, I haven’t lived outside the metropolitan Atlanta area. Because most of you aren’t familiar with the various Atlanta neighborhoods, I’m going to pretend I’ve lived in these cities:
1. New York City
2. Paris
3. San Francisco
4. Sydney
5. Portland (preferably Oregon, but I’d fake Maine, too)


Five Jobs I’ve Had
I’m going with the non-career gigs:
1. Babysitter Extraordinaire, my neighborhood
2. Denim Shopgirl and Okefenoke Swamp Ridegirl, Six Flags Over Georgia
3. Route Accounting, Coca-Cola Bottling (high school and college summers/Christmas breaks)
4. Public Relations/Public Affairs Director, WRAS (Georgia State University)
5. Bookseller, Bookstar


I’m Tagging
1. The Beloved Ex met the challenge!
2. Write Procrastinator met the challenge!
3. Skyler’s Dad met the challenge!
4. Mathdude met the challenge!
5. Eebie met the challenge!

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49 for 49

Today’s my 49th birthday, so I guess it’s time to face the fact: I’m nearly middle-aged.

That's right, I’m going to live and go to concerts until at least my 100th birthday, so I’m not officially middle-aged until next March. Please humor me.

It’s a strange thing, facing the fact that you’ve officially completed the growing-up process and are now headed on the downslope. Will I ever feel grown up? Does that mean I have to start listening to adult contemporary radio?

Let’s not get reflective and doomsdayable. Instead, let’s celebrate with a self-indulgent list.

1. I don’t work on my birthday. I believe it should be a national law — hell, a commandment.

2. I did work once on my birthday, in 1993, as I was flying to San Francisco the following morning. Miserable. No parades, no applause, no balloons, nothing.

3. I will never work on my birthday again.

4. I may forget your phone number, or the type of car you drive, or to get your package to the post office — but I will never forget your birthday.

5. When we reconnected after twenty years, Filegod1 was surprised to learn I still knew his birthday.

6. I quietly celebrate the birthdays of my beloved rock stars by wearing outfits that reflect their personalities and listening to their music throughout their special days.

7. (Why, oh why, hasn’t my neighbor Paste hired me yet? Josh Jackson, please call.)

8. One regular commenter — Renae, the cutie in the blue plaid dress — was at my eighth birthday party.

9. Except for this lovely shot (thanks to the hat and the glasses), I take horrible photos.

10. That’s why you only see the top or back of my curly head.

11. Gawd, I hope I’m really not that washed-out and pie-faced.

12. Nick Lowe and I share a birthday.

13. Favorite Boy and Elvis Costello were born on the same day.

14. If you’re a fellow music geek, you’ll think that’s totally cute, too.

15. I don’t feel old.

16. I feel younger and happier than I did at 39.

17. I guess fifty really is the new thirty. I’m actually looking forward to that decade of my life.

18. Four regular commenters — HollyC, RCofCHS, Filegod1, and Renae — and one (very) occasional commenter (Janice) were at my “surprise” 18th birthday party.

19. Those quotation marks are necessary. My mother let the surprise cat out of the bag because I was moping around over getting dumped.

20. My eyebrows are more gray than black. They’re grayer than the hair on my head.

21. We won’t discuss the gray-to-black ratio on other body parts.

22. Most of the women in my family tend to go blonde instead of gray.

23. I don’t think I can pull off blonde, though, unless I decide to embrace the wallflower side of my personality.

24. I’m currently hoping for the Susan Sontag/Bride of Frankenstein look: a shock of white on the black mane.

25. I have to admit, I like the gray shooting through my hair.

26. So far.

27. I have no desire to be younger, or to go back to a younger phase of my life.

28. I love my age and what I’ve lived through.

29. I just wish my a** had the firm strength of my adult personality.

30. I threw myself one kick-ass thirtieth birthday party. I remember parts of it, too.

31. I ended the party in a completely different outfit — which is interesting when you consider that my duplex apartment had an open floor plan.

32. (Lucky partygoers.)

33. I think I love R.E.M. more than I did most of my lovers.

34. Yeah, I know I’ve written that once or twice (or eighty-three times) — but you should never miss an opportunity to shout about the great love of your life.

35. Their new album — Accelerate — comes out a week from today, so be sure to check in for album updates and tidbits.

36. My 36th birthday was spent with Nick Drake, several bottles of wine, some goat cheese, and meandering drives through the North Georgia mountains.

37. It was my one quiet, reflective birthday — a birthday that marked a new direction in my life.

38. I’ve been at peace and I haven’t been lonely since that March of 1995.

39. I may be 49, but I've lived during six decades.

40. My fortieth birthday was spent in New Orleans — the best place for your fortieth.

41. We dined at K-Paul’s and Emeril’s … drank hurricanes, a lot of wine, a little champagne … hit the voodoo museum and the Blue Dog Gallery.

42. And, appropriately, spent hours snapping photos at the Lafayette Cemetery.

43. (If I were organized, I would have scanned some of those photos for this post … the key word being “If.”)

44. My lips are now enclosed inside parenthetical grooves on my face, as if my mouth is a facial aside.

45. Why do I continue using a magnifying makeup mirror at this wrinkled age?

46. As forty-eight counts out its final minutes, I realize how lucky I am to have my group of loved ones …

47. … the experiences I’ve lived …

48. … true joy for life.

49. Forty-nine is here. Favorite Boy will be here soon. Happy birthday to me!

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Me in Six

Mathman6293 at When Will I Use This? gave me the best challenge so far: write my memoir in six words. Hell, I’m a Southerner; it takes me eleven words just to say hello. But I need a challenge this week.

The Six-word Memoir Rules

1. Write your own six-word memoir.
2. Post it on your blog. Include a visual illustration if you’d like.
3. Link to the person who tagged you.
4. Tag five more blogs — and link ‘em.

I spend my workday working and playing with words, so you’d think this would be easy. When I knew what I wanted to say, the six words came easily:

Music brought my soul to life.

Worshipping the Automatic for the People-like thingie
(Brighton, 1992)

Hmmmm … which loquacious bloggers are up for the challenge? I tap:

• Bliss and Bile’s Chelene has sixed!
• The Road Goes on Forever’s Keith has sixed!
• Land-o-Lulu’s Lulu has sixed!
• Social Zimurgy’s Doc
• Scrivenings’ Scrivener

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Let’s Play Crazy 8s!

Miss Alex at Fonzie Sox has been patiently awaiting my response to her meme tag — and this is a fun one: Crazy 8s.


8 Things I’m Passionate About
I’m a deep one, aren’t I?
1. R.E.M.
2. My friends
3. Music
4. Baubles
5. Travel
6. Kissing
7. Beautifully written books, beautifully directed movies
8. Laughter


8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die
I posted a similar list a couple of years ago; some things have changed.
1. Drive across the country without a planned itinerary
2. Write a novel and have it published
3. Live in another city
4. Learn how to play guitar
5. Skydive
6. Travel to Australia and Asia
7. BFF Rob Sheffield
8. Party with the NYC bloggers … the Chicago bloggers … the Toronto bloggers … and everyone in between


8 Things I Often Say
I’m a deep one, aren’t I?
1. “It’s baublicious!”
2. “I love R.E.M.”
3. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to crash into you.”
4. “He curls my toes.”
5. “I adore Michael Stipe.”
6. “One more swirl, please.”
7. “Ohg*ddammit!” [cursed whenever I drop something or bump into something.]
8. “That’s Peter Buck playing guitar on this song.”


8 Books I’ve Read Recently
I don’t read much during annual report season, so I’m listing some of my 2007 faves.
1. Love Is a Mix Tape, Rob Sheffield
2. I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon, Crystal Zevon
3. By George, Wesley Stace
4. An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England, Brock Clarke
5. The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon
6. Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul, Karen Abbott
7. Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas , Chuck Klosterman
8. Becoming Abigail, Chris Abani


8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over
These are the songs I play when I need to dance myself into a good mood.
1. R.E.M.: “Radio Free Europe”
2. The Replacements: “I Will Dare”
3. Wilco: “Heavy Metal Drummer”
4. Prince: “My Name Is Prince”
5. The Clash: “The Magnificent Seven”
6. Al Green: “Take Me to the River”
7. The Rolling Stones: “Little T&A”
8. Marcy Playground: “Sex and Candy”


8 Things That Attract Me to My Best Friends
I have the grooviest group of friends you could imagine.
1. Their passions
2. Their senses of humor
3. Their intelligence
4. Their creativity (yes, HollyC, even you)
5. Their fearlessness
6. Their silliness
7. Their feigned interest when I yammer on about who’s playing on this record and who else he’s played with
8. Their undying love for and loyalty to me


8 Things That Drive Me Crazy
I added this one; it drove me crazy that there were only seven categories in Crazy 8s.
1. Closed-minded people
2. People who are too politically correct
3. The use of “that” when referring to a person [use “who,” people!]
4. Dates who are late [Favorite Boy is always early. Favorite Boy is a dating doll.]
5. A verb that doesn’t agree with its noun
6. Wearing sandals without polish on the toenails (it’s a Southern thing)
7. Drivers who must come to a complete stop to make a right turn
8. Unnecessary quotation marks


8 People I Think Should Go All Crazy 8s on Us
1. Coffeypot’s Beloved Uncle
2. Eating Chicken Vindaloo’s Mathdude eight it up … a wee bit
3. Haahnster’s Hallucinations’ MIA Boy
4. Intravenus de Milo’s Tony Alva
5. Rants Raves Life etc.’s Artful Dodger, maybe mixing it up with Mix Tape Girl
6. Some Days It's Not Worth Chewing Through the Leather Straps’ Dad of Skyler eight it up!
7. What I Like About the Universe’s Evil Evil Genius eight it up!
8. Write Procrastinator’s Brown Lightning

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7 and 7 Is

The coolest couple of the blogworld — Flannery and Doc — both tagged me for the latest in blog memes: seven things you don’t know about me. I’ve posted a few of these memes, so coming up with fourteen new things you don’t know about me is a challenge — a challenge worthy of blowing off some office hours.

Flannery’s request was for a song-laden seven — and I’m more than happy to oblige. So, Flannery’s seven will be music-related, and Doc’s will be filled with deep, dark secrets.

And so, as Love sings, here is 7 and 7 Is.

Flannery’s Seven

1. The first album I ever owned was Blood, Sweat & Tears. Santa brought it to me the year our family got a hi-fi stereo. My favorite track on the album is “Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie” — but today I’m sharing one of the hits off the album, Spinning Wheel.

2. The first album I bought with my own money was the Help! soundtrack. Since it was the soundtrack, it included the various orchestral pieces played throughout the movie. Sadly, that version is not available on CD and I have yet to get my LP converted. Probably my favorite song on the album is You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away; John’s vocals are dreamy, and you can never go wrong with a well-banged tambourine.

3. The first 8-track tape I bought proves my extreme coolness: Jefferson Starship’s Red Octopus. Oh, yeah, I was groovin’ between the ch-chungs. It took many turntable Miracles to earn my record collection cred once I hit the college campus.

4. The first concert I was a Willie Nelson show, with Waylon Jennings and Leon Russell on piano, in the early 1970s. The whole family went. It was also the first night I smelled pot. I don’t think they performed this, but I love Willie and Waylon’s cover of (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay.

5. I embarrassed myself in front of Eddie Money. He was in town for a show, and came to our campus radio station for an interview. Musicians are notoriously late for interviews, so I was in the cafeteria, no doubt flirting with my latest victim. Well, Eddie got to the station early — and, as PR Director, I missed out on my job of welcoming him. I dashed downstairs to the studio, where Eddie and a couple of the jocks were hanging out. I greeted him, then told him I brought in some albums (I’d just bought) that I’d like him to sign. He asked if I was going to his show, and I explained I was very hung over; he suggested some hangover cures. I yammered like a yokel and giggled out some inane, college-age crap — until I noticed the jock was glaring at me and the On Air light was lit. I handled it professionally, shrieking and dashing into the news studio. I was, as Mr. Money sings here, Shakin’ with embarrassment. He was a charmer, coming into the news studio post-interview, bowing and asking me to make it to the show. I didn’t.

6. You’d think my favorite band during my freshman year at UGA was R.E.M., but no; Michael and Peter had yet to find each other at Wuxtry. I was a typical freshman girl in 1977, swooning over Dan Fogelberg and songs like Aspen/These Days. Still sad that we recently lost him, although I haven’t listened to a Fogelberg album in eons.

7. I’ve become a digital queen in the last few years, buying fewer and fewer CDs. The last CD I bought was Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall, which includes tasty aural morsels like A Foggy Day and Medley: Almost Like Being in Love/This Can't Be Love.

Doc’s Seven

1. I coordinate my reading glasses with my outfits. I have reading glasses in all the must colors: black, brown, red, lime green, turquoise, blue, rimless. Choosing that day’s reading glasses is as important a morning ritual as baubling up with the earrings, necklace, bracelet, and watch.

2. I’m very anal about my PC’s taskbar. Applications must always be opened in a particular order. For my office PC, it’s Winamp — Outlook — Yahoo e-mail — Current Projects folder — and then the application I’m using. If one crashes, I must close, then reopen all that follow so that order is restored.

3. I’m obsessed with Bridget Jones’s Diary (alternate title: The Cup’s Life on Celluloid). More than once I’ve watched back-to-back viewings on Bravo. Nothing better than a Friday night of take-out Thai and four hours of Bridget. I have the DVD, but I must always watch the broadcasts.

4. I got in trouble in kindergarten for kissing all the boys. (RCofCHS, it was your fault, I’m sure.) I also had problems learning how to tie a bow … probably because I was always trying to tie one on with all those beaux.

My graduating class at Kiddie Dude Ranch, 1965. I’m third from the right. Look at the wide berth those bitches gave me. Why wouldn’t anyone stand close to me?

5. I may have a problem with commitment. When given the choice of a five-year or ten-year driver’s license, I opted for the shorter-term license. If you knew my problem with getting licenses renewed, you’d be concerned, too. But who knows where (or who) I’ll be in ten years?

6. My left pinky is twisted from breaking the bone. I have no idea how or when I broke it; it has been that way as long as I remember. When I’m nervous, I click the broken joint back and forth. To further mar my short, stubby hands, I sport a writing bump on the inside knuckle of my right ring finger. I’ve never held a pencil properly — and thus cannot use chopsticks, either. My Japanese bosses tried teaching me in the early 1980s, but quickly gave up.

7. I’ve been a member of the R.E.M. fan club for at least twenty years. I get opps for presale tickets and a Christmas package every year, as well as a quarterly newsletter. It’s the best ten bucks I spend every year. (Did you really think you were going to get out of here without an R.E.M. triviality?)


And thus we close out another edition of Seven Things You Didn’t Know about me with Billy Bragg’s cover of 7 and 7 Is.

But not before I tag others — that’s seven and seven others:

All the Way from Oy to Vey’s Katie has 7’ed!

Bad Tempered Zombie’s Barbara has 7’ed!

Gifted Typist has 7’ed!

Give Me My Blue Blanket

I, Splotchy’s Splotchy has 7’ed!

Politits’s DCup has 7’ed!

Reject the Koolaid’s Jacy

Ribbed for Your Pleasure’s Mountjoy has 7’ed!

Save Your Generation’s Pistols at Dawn has 7’ed!

Scrivener

Tanya Espanya has 7’ed!

Wapentake has 7’ed!

What I Like About the Universe's Evil Evil Genius has 7’ed!

Yawp's Third Worst Poet in the Galaxy has 7’ed!

Get your seven spillin’, kids.

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100 Things About 2007

This is my 400th post. I listed 100 things about me in my 200th post, and considered adding to that. But since it’s a new year, I thought I’d relive some of my 2007 highlights … 100, to be exact.


1. I moved at the beginning of 2007. I left the ‘burbs, returning to my favorite area of town. I hope to never leave Decatur again.

2. Among other cool things, Decatur has long been one of our major lesbian neighborhoods. Possibly because in the Southern tongue it’s pronounced “dick-hater.”

3. While I love my life in Decatur, I have not become a dick-hater. It’s flattering, though, to go to the grocery store sans makeup and still get hit on.

4. My cup runneth over in the romance department the first few months of 2007 … “runneth over” being the key phrase.

5. A bit dramatic, a bit over the top by spring — so I took a boy break by the time the azaleas were blooming.

6. That break is ready to be broken.

7. Other than the rom-drama, my scariest 2007 moment was my brush with Karl Maldenism.

8. Luckily, the gin blossom faded away and left my nose intact, thanks to a pharm cocktail of antibiotics and steroids …

9. … although the steroids wreaked havoc on my body. Hate the ‘roids. My body is still raging from the ‘roids.

10. Runner-up for scariest moment: My eyelash bonfire during the Horrific Move of 2007. They’re back, too.

11. I thus stopped scaring small and mid-sized children by May, and was back to batting eyelashes by June.

12. (I’ve been sorting through my 2007 blog archives to fill this list. I didn’t blog much last year, did I?)

13. (Did I live a boring, noneventful 2007 — or was it just too busy and exciting for me to sit down and write about it? I’m still not sure.)

14. My mother and my sister had surgery last year, and both mended ahead of schedule.

15. We Coffey chicks are super-women.

16. Thank you for your comments and e-mails; your thoughts meant a lot to me.

17. The professional side of my life went very well in 2007.

18. The creativity level was cranked to 13, and I knocked off a lot of office socks.

19. But, really, do you want to read about the corporate Cup? Yeah, let’s move on to important things.

20. My beloveds were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

21. I’m still brimming with R.E.M. pride.

22. Rumor has it that the new album will be awesome — their best in years.

23. I was hoping for a March 25 release date, since that’s a Tuesday and my 49th birthday.

24. I think my undying love for R.E.M. deserves that honor. Don’t you?

25. But it’s coming out the following Tuesday — April Fools Day. The only fools will be those who don’t buy the album.

26. On an R.E.M. side note, I kept to my promise of a Peter Buck post ban after finding my blog was monopolizing the Technorati searches.

27. But I still love him.

28. In a non-sexual, non-stalking way, of course. I just want to be his best friend.

29. Is that creepy?

30. I saw nearly 30 concerts in 2007 — my busiest live-music year in a decade.

31. The best were Glenn Tilbrook (he’s funky — he told us so) …

32. … Wilco, in the pouring rain …

33. … Rufus Wainwright, Judy Garlanded to the nines …

34. … and Stevie Wonder, under the stars on a balmy night.

35. I hope to hit even more live shows in ’08.

36. After all, R.E.M. will be touring ...

37. … and I’m hitting the road for some Wilco shows.

38. Didn’t hit the road as much as I would have liked in 2007.

39. I enjoyed a holiday weekend in Chattanooga.

40. And I left my heart again in San Francisco.

41. I scored cocktails, appetizers, and dishing with liter-hottie Write Procrastinator while in The City — and that may have been the best part of the trip.

42. I went all self-indulgent on you with a new blog series, Mix Tape Fridays. You know I can’t resist a chance to blog about my favorite tunes.

43. I published twenty mix tapes and four holiday tapes — 864 songs.

44. Guess who appeared on every mix tape? Yep: R.E.M., or a Michael Stipe or Peter Buck appearance.

45. Second most appearances (excluding Warren Zevon on his tribute tape): The B-52’s and Elvis Costello tied with nine, followed by David Bowie.

46. I spend way too much time on these mix tapes: coming up with themes … pulling songs … working out the flows … rearranging the order for better segues … logging tracks on the Excel spreadsheet.

47. (I am nerd. Hear me roar.)

48. I listen to the mix tape tracks all week at work, which is interfering with me listening to actual albums.

49. But one must sacrifice in the name of art, right?

50. I hope I’ve turned a few of you onto new acts via these mix tapes. They definitely get conversations going in the comment box.

51. My favorite album of 2007 was Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky. It’s the album I played most often this year.

52. Because of the mix tape phenomenon (well, it’s a phenom in my mind), I didn’t get to fully listen to many of the new albums I like.

53. If I had listened more to 2007’s crop of new albums, I’m sure Spoon’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, The Black Lips’ Good Bad Not Evil, Of Montreal’s Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer, Nick Lowe’s At My Age, The National’s Boxer, and Modest Mouse’s We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank.

54. But I don’t want to fake a list since I didn’t listen as I should.

55. Favorite book — by a landslide — was Robb Sheffield’s Love Is a Mix Tape — and Robb’s going to be at my corner bookstore in a couple of weeks!

56. I can’t thank Artful Dodger enough for telling me about it.

57. It made me laugh — it made me cry — it was better than Cats.

58. And it inspired the ever-popular Mix Tape Friday posts. (See #42.)

59. Speaking of authors, I enjoyed a few brushes with liter-hotties in 2007.

61. Michael Chabon was the prettiest — and I finally learned how to pronounce his name.

61. Wesley Stace was the most entertaining, with Chuck Klosterman coming in at a very close second and Brock Clarke placing third.

62. But my greatest ’07 liter-hottie moment was when the much-adored Sherman Alexie sang Kiss’ “Beth” to me as he signed my book.

63. I’ve hated that song since it came out in 1976. That is, I hated it until Sept. 1 at 6:12 p.m.

64. I hate to admit it, but the most disappointing book in 2007 was Armistead Maupin’s Michael Tolliver Lives. It wasn’t bad; it was just okay.

65. I didn’t see as many ’07 movies as I would have liked … but I have some favorites.

67. My top movie was Once. How could it not be, with a perfect combination of great music and romance?

67. Plus, we saw Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová in concert in November, which increased my movie love.

68. Other fave flicks included King of California and Waitress.

69. Boy, I didn’t see much, did I? I have a lot of DVDs to see in the coming months to get me ready for awards season.

70. The most important movie news in my 2007, though was my first weekend solo show.

71. I’ve repeated the solo movie outings, and have yet to be mistaken for a homeless person.

72. TV didn’t offer many stellar moments for me in 2007.

73. The Sopranos finale, of course, was fantastic.

74. My favorite show of the year was Mad Men ...

75. ... and second favorite was Pushing Daisies.

76. And, of course, the Bravo staples: Project Runway and Top Chef.

77. My 30th class reunion was held in November, but I didn’t attend.

78. I did, however, reconnect with the person I most wanted to find. Thank the Google gods for blogs!

79. Since Favorite High-school Boy found me, we’ve had a great time catching up and one-upping each other on music and books and bawdy jokes.

80. He’s firmly back on my favorite list, thirty years later. Cool, huh?

81. We had a great time getting together when he was home for Thanksgiving …

82. … and even more fun during his Christmas visit.

83. I can’t wait for his Arbor Day visit. Lucky for me, Georgia observes Arbor Day in February.

84. On the friendship side of my life, many of my beloveds went through some tough times this year.

85. Breakups seemed to be the theme for the last half of the year.

86. In hindsight, I think most of them are much better off getting away from their not-at-all-better halves,

87. but there will be challenges for them this year as they venture back into the dating world.

88. Lucky for them, they have a professional dater on hand to give them advice.

89. All in all, 2007 was a great year,

90. filled with music and baubles and books and merriment,

91. fun times, fabulous friends, the joy of being a Decaturite once again.

92. A bit of adventure, a (wee) bit of maturing, and some gloriously giddy moments.

93. What do I want in 2008?

93. A lot of adventures …

94. … a new friend or five ...

95. … more blogger meet-ups (already met one in 2008; story to come this week) …

96. … more interesting blog posts …

97. … a smaller ass …

98. … a Democrat in the White House …

99. … more time to read your blogs …

100. … and a year filled with R.E.M., margaritas, and fish tacos.

* * * * * *

The Random, Not the Mundane

I was tagged by Moxie to answer five random questions. I love random questions. My conversational style revolves around random questions. Hope you enjoy my random answers.


1. If you could be a type of chocolate, what kind would you be, and why?

A Hershey’s with almonds bar. Simple, perfect chocolate with those lovely toasted almonds.


2. What was your favorite song the year you graduated from high school?

I graduated from high school in June 1977 — just when music was getting interesting. I wish I could claim “Blitzkrieg Bop” or “Janie Jones,” but it was another three months before I began evolving musically. My musically naïve high-school senior self loved two wonderful songs:

For good ol’ seventies rock ‘n’ roll, there’s nothing better than Boston’s "Foreplay/Long Time." It’s still one of my favorite songs to listen to in the car, driving as fast as I can get away with. There was an all-night party our last quarter in high school — the soccer team, the sister and me, and our best friends — and the first Boston album and a KISS album were the soundtrack until dawn. Ah, good times.

Jackson Browne’s "Here Comes Those Tears Again" was my favorite girlie song. What lovely, heartbroken angst! I was working at Six Flags, on the Okefenokee Swamp ride, when my beau dumped me and broke my heart. Part of each work shift had me sitting in the dark, making sure kids didn’t hop off the boat … and I’d sit in that dark singing “Here Comes Those Tears” and crying over that wild boy, as only a high school girl can. Throw in Jackson Browne’s back story with his wife’s suicide, and you had the perfect song for a romantic, drama-queen teen.

That’s me, thirty years ago, in our class officer photo (yeah, I was one of those involved dorks in high school). Too bad you can’t see the detail of that fabulous outfit — that’s quality, pure 1970s patchwork denim vest and jeans, kids. The heartbreaker’s Mustang is in the background.


3. If you were running for president in 2008, what would be your platform?

— Get our troops out of Iraq.
— Legalize gay marriage throughout the nation.
— Make sure every child has healthcare coverage.
— Support research into alternate fuel sources.
— Declare your birthday a mandatory day off with pay.


4. What is your least favorite root vegetable?

The rutabaga and the turnip. I do, however, love the radish and the carrot.


5. What three historical figures would you like to have over for dinner and drinks?

If I’m going for an intellectual night around my dining table, I’d have these three over for a discourse on how this country began and where it is today: Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr., and Bill Clinton. For a memorable night of drinking and carousing and witty banter, I’d invite Oscar Wilde, Truman Capote, and Cole Porter.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Now it’s my turn: five random questions for five bloggers. I’m going all-chick this time:

Bad-tempered Zombie’s Barbara
Bliss & Bile’s Chelene
The Gifted Typist
The Pop Eye’s BeckEye
Reject the Kool-Aid’s Jacy

Here are their questions:

1. Who was your Tiger Beat crush? Do you still find him cute?

2. You’re the new hot voice out there, and everyone wants to play with you. Who do you pick to play in your backup band?

3. What’s your favorite curse word? When do you use it?

4. What’s your guilty pleasure TV show, the one you’re almost embarrassed to admit you watch?

5. Which is your very favorite bauble?

Confess away, ladies.

* * * * * *

You Want to Know More About Me?

So it seems, even after this, and this, and this, and this, I’ve been tagged to tell you eight more random facts about me. By Write Procrastinator. Gizmorox. And (sort of) Beckeye.

Does that mean I have to spill twenty-four beans? I must honor the blogger code, so twenty-four it is. To make it easier on you (and easier for me), I’m splitting them up by tagger: eight bookish things for Write Procrastinator, eight musical notes for Gizmorox, and eight dishy tidbits for Beckeye.

Eight Bookish Things About Me

1. One room in my place is literally filled with books — boxes and boxes of books, chin-high, packed alphabetically by author, of course. Rough count of thirty-two boxes, in addition to the three filled bookcases. But that’s not all; there are books in every room, even the bathrooms (quick reads).

2. Ninety-five percent of what I read is fiction. I enjoy nonfiction — especially histories and biographies — but I guess I prefer slipping away to another world. My favorite book so far this year, though, is a memoir: Love Is a Mix Tape.

3. When I was in fourth grade, I won the Best Haiku award for this:

Fuji is alone
Fuji is alone today
Poor, poor old Fuji

Left by all the trees
Left by all the little birds
Fuji is alone.

For you non-literary types, that's about Japan's Mount Fuji. Damn, I was hawt and talented.

4. Like every other blogger out there, I dream of becoming a celebrated author, someone to be praised by Baby Got Books. However, my fear that I’ll be less Donna Tartt/more Danielle Steel keeps the stories in my head and away from the pen.

5. Right after this photo was taken at (sadly, now defunct) Oxford Books:


Jack Hanna asked if I wanted to be his Atlanta girlfriend.

6. Although I must have music playing when I’m working, when I’m driving, when I’m breathing … I like to read in a very quiet room.

7. I have never belonged to a book club. I’d like to, I guess, but I’d hate to get in one of those groups that always picks a sucky book, or has a member who tries to be too Diane Chambers when talking about the book. I’d rather talk about a book with my friends.

8. Two of my favorite authors read my posts about them during the last couple of months … and I have the PDF’ed Sitemeter stats to prove it.

Eight Musical Notes About Me

1. R.E.M. is my favorite band. (You were guessing Supertramp, weren’t you?) Wilco is quickly moving into the second slot.

2. My dreams have soundtracks. My brain operates like my iPod on shuffle, picking random songs to play in my head as I sleep. And, like my iPod, it doesn’t always pick the best songs. Nothing worse than waking up after a night of Bon Jovi and Skynyrd.

3. I have a not-so-secret (and innocent) crush on a blogger, in part because he sends me at least five MP3 albums every week. I’m considering marrying him, then quickly divorcing him in a dastardly attempt to gain custody of his 350+ gigs of music.

4. Good music and a car ride can change my mood. When the Beloved Ex and I broke up, I cried on the sofa for 30 minutes … then grabbed a CD of MP3s, hopped in my car, and drove around until 2 a.m., listening to and singing along with some of my favorite songs, the sunroof open, the hair blown wild. By the time I got home, I was okay and could sleep.

5. I once pissed off Richard Hell. We went to a showing of Smithereens at the High Museum of Art back in 1982. As my friends and I were walking out, I was talking about how I liked him in the movie, but he left me with the same urge I had for Keith Richards: I wanted to get a white washcloth and scrub his face to see how much dirt came off. Mr. Hell, who (unbeknownst to moi) was there for the showing, was walking next to us, heard me, and glared at me all the way to our car. I still feel bad about that.

6. Of all the rockstar beaux in my dreams, Keith Richards is always the sweetest boyfriend.

7. I’ve hugged the wee, adorable Rufus Wainwright. He opened for Roxy Music several years ago (sadly, he wasn’t wearing lederhosen), and worked his own merch table after his set. I was so excited to meet him, I couldn’t help myself. I’m sure that squealy hug was the highlight of his East Coast swing.

8. I once kissed Warren Zevon. I’ll tell that story one day.

Eight Dishy Morsels About Me

1. Julia Roberts and I went to the same high school. No, I didn’t know her, but I babysat some of the girls who became friends with her at good ol’ CHS.

2. I was on ABC Nightly News in October 1991. I got to ride in the convertible with David Justice during the city’s World Series parade, and my best friend saw the clip of me sitting next to David.

3. I’ve made two very good friends through the blog — two friends I chat with regularly and see often (well, one lives three thousand miles away, so I see her when I can). There are, at last count, twelve bloggers I hope to meet in person one day soon.

4. I’ve lost one good friend over a post on this blog. The post was about someone I work with (which was obvious, and she knew about that drama), but she thought I was writing about her and thus wrote me a Dear John (Jane?) letter.

5. Jimmy Carter and his family went to our church when he was guv’nuh of this great state. One morning between Sunday school and church, I was drinking at the water fountain outside the santuary, and kept hearing my mom apologize to someone. When my thirst was quenched, I found that my little black patents had been stomping the hell out of the tips of Jimmy’s wingtips. Much to my great disappointment, the future president’s bodyguards didn’t wrestle me to the ground; I guess my twelve-year-old self wasn’t very threatening.

6. I loved the puka-wearing David Cassidy with all my heart when I was in the sixth grade, and my mom took my sister and me to meet him. He was sitting at a table, and the weeping, screaming throng lined up to shake his hand. My sister slipped him her class photo, with our phone number on the back, but the b*stard never called.

7. I made Mick Jagger laugh. They were filming Freejack in downtown Atlanta, on the street where I was temping that day. I grabbed my sack lunch and (with about a thousand others) went out to watch The Other Glimmer Twin. While they were setting up a shot, Mick was standing on a trailer, filming the crowd. As he panned to me, without even thinking about it, I pulled out a carrot and fellated it. Mick laughed and gave me a thumbs-up. My mother is always proud to tell that story.

8. I can’t watch scary movies. They make me cry and I can’t sit in my theater seat. I hate waiting for something to jump out; I can’t handle that tension. That being said, I love the Evil Dead trilogy … because Bruce Campbell is a god.



Now I’m supposed to tag others. Twenty-four of you, I guess. That’s too much work, and many of you have already completed this meme. So, if you have yet to tackle this one, get inspired by all this trivial info and post your eight interesting things.

And if you’ve never visited the blogs of Write Procrastinator, Gizmorox, or Beckeye, do yourself a favor and stop by today.

* * * * * *

Weird Things About Moi?

The just-too-cute-and-cool Big Shoulders over at Tongue-tied Lightning recently (okay, about a month ago) tagged me to list six weird things about me. Just six? I included some of my weirdnesses on my 100 Things About Me post and Five Things You Don’t Know About Me meme … but my weirdness cup overflows.

Six Weird Things About Me

1. I eat the whole damn apple. The apple core and seeds may be my favorite part of the apple. I have yet to have a tree grow in my stomach, so hush. I also like to crack open a peach seed and eat the kernel inside.

2. I have a scar along the edge of my chin. Having the scar isn’t weird, although I have no idea how I got it. What’s weird is, until I was in junior high, I thought it was the seam for my skin … as if The Good Lord had knitted my flesh Himself. Kind of Silence of the Lambs, isn’t it?

3. I organize the cat food cans. Each label must be facing forward, and cans are stacked by flavor. I then go down the row so that my cats have different dinner every night; I cannot feed them salmon two nights in a row, dammit.

4. My irises are freckled. I’m a freckled Irish freak, spotted all over my body — even down to my irises, which are green with brown flecks.

5. My Christmas card mailing list is on an Excel spreadsheet. There’s a worksheet for each year, going back to 1999. I have thumbnails of the cards in the header (I have three or four different cards every year); under that color I list the dates those cards are mailed to that set of recipients. I also list the date I receive a card from someone. (Dan suggested this one … and many, many more I’ll keep to myself.)

6. I love frozen sweets for breakfast. Frozen cake is the best, followed by cookies with icing, then ice cream. Must come from my Cap’n Crunch mornings growing up.


Whose weirdities am I most interested in today? Let’s tag:

• The Haahnster, so that he knows I love him again … a little …
• Scrivener, because I know his list will be very cool (damn him and his cool hair) …
• Write Procrastinator, because writers are weird and love telling you about it …
• http://www.str8jacket.com/wordpress/, because I know he’s wonderfully weird …
• KulturFluff, because I’m ready for a new post from her …
• And last (but certainly not least) Coffeypot, because he’s a Coffey and therefore very, very weird.

* * * * * *

Five Things You Don't Know About Me

Okay, Dale, I’ll play. Here are five things about me y’all don’t know.

1. I collect floating pens. You know, those cheap pens you see in airport gift shops? Love them; they entertain me. I started the collection in 1990 while touring Italy; picked up one in Venice with a gondola floating down a canal, and I was hooked. I now have hundreds of them … and I always have a pen when I need one.

2. I have freckles on my lips. One on the right corner of my bottom lip and one on the top lip. People occasionally scritch my lip with a fingernail, trying to rid me of what they think is a crumb or spot of chocolate. A nail ain’t gonna scratch away pigmentation.

3. I have a closet full of band and concert T-shirts. The R.E.M. shirts take up three-quarters of the rung. I’ve had to stop buying them because there’s no room … and now I’m kicking myself for not picking up a Decemberists T-shirt.

4. I worked for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. I was the forty-fourth employee and the first in-house creative. I was there from 1991 through 1993, and got to work on projects such as the logo redesign (although I think we should have stuck with the five-As logo). I had nothing to do with Izzy. I met Janet Evans, Carl Lewis, Wilma Rudolph, Prince Albert of Monaco (it’s a good story; worth the click), and — most thrilling — Muhammad Ali. Dan Quayle came by once, but I didn’t get in line to shake his hand. Second greatest thrill: Andrew Young was the chair, so he was in the office regularly. I was walking down the hall one day and Andy was at the far end; he gave the big wave and yelled, “Hey, Beth!” Andy Young, at least for a short moment in time, knew who I was!!!

5. I’ve never stayed at a job longer than five years. I’m clocking in at four years, five months right now. Will she break her employment record? Or will she follow her pattern and flit away to another life? Ah, the excitement builds as we draw closer to that five-year mark.

* * * * * *

100 for 200

The tease went out earlier this week: My 200th post was coming up, which I planned to celebrate with a blogging tradition. The wait is over: Here’s my 100 Things About Me post. My cousin Marni recently published hers, and she’s been bugging me to write mine, so this is as much to please her as it is to entertain y’all with my nerdy trivialities.

So, without further ado:

1. My favorite band is R.E.M.

2. I love R.E.M. more than I have most of my beaux.

3. I get teary-eyed every time R.E.M. walks on stage. I’ll probably cry at tomorrow’s induction ceremony.

4. I’m the oldest of three kids.

5. But in most ways, I’m the youngest.

6. I’ve never been married.

7. But Dan and I lived together for nearly eight years.

8. I’ve never had children, and I’m too old to start.

9. But I have the best niece and nephew in the world.

10. I have three cats. Maggie (thirteen years old) and Otto (six years old) live with me; Dan got custody of Max (three years old) when we split up.

11. I say the first things I notice about a man are his eyes and smile.

12. But it’s really his ass and legs.

13. And his ring finger.

14. Number five on my top-five list fell off because I know someone who knows him, so he’s no longer a mystery and therefore cannot be a fantasy.

15. I don’t have anyone to fill his slot.

16. Bruce Campbell and David Duchovny are on my top five (now the top four, I guess).

17. I have Mulder and Ash action figures, and they stand on either side of my home monitor.

18. The other two on the list are George Clooney and David Letterman.

19. If Jon Stewart was taller, he could be my number five. Possibly Colin Firth (yeah, Colin Firth). Or Clive Owen. Maybe Hugh Grant. Ben Affleck before he jumped the shark with J.Lo.

20. My eyebrows are graying faster than the hair on my head.

21. Our family was once featured in a Japanese commercial. I have no idea what we were hawking.

22. I have a Southern accent. But I talk very fast, so it can be hard to catch the drawls … except when I’m tired and the tongue slows down.

23. I’m the only Southerner I know who can’t stand ham. Or potato salad. Or sweet tea. Or football.

24. I wish I were an NPR person, but their calming voices put me to sleep while I’m driving. I have to crank music so that I can dance and sing myself awake. I’m ashamed.

25. I’m ridiculously afraid of rats.

26. I hate the rest of the rodent clan, too.

27. I have a crush on Oliver Platt’s hair. And Emmylou Harris’ gray hair.

28. In college I was the public relations/public affairs director for our campus radio station. I had a free pass to every music club in the city (these were the early days of R.E.M. and The B-52's and Talking Heads) and opening night tickets to every play and ballet that year. It was a great year.

29. I’m a sociable hermit.

30. I really like people, but I’d rather live way out in the woods and just e-mail those I know.

31. I distrust anyone who claims to be a people person.

32. Or says they like animals more than people.

33. I spend an average of two hours a day in my fantasy world. I’m 5’10” with legs up to here in Cupland. And Peter Buck is my best friend.

34. I fantasize more about playing guitar on stage with Peter Buck and Keith Richards than I fantasize about … okay, that’s a lie. But it is a regularly screened fantasy in my head.

35. I can’t play guitar, but I want to.

36. I couldn’t even play that plastic flute in the sixth grade.

37. I’m a bit tone-deaf, actually … but that doesn’t stop me from singing at the top of my lungs.

38. My singing sometimes scares my coworkers.

39. The first album I ever bought was The Beatles Help!. Sister bought Revolver at the same time.

40. I have a walk-in closet filled with CDs. I don’t buy many CDs these days; I'm more of an MP3 girl.

41. One wall is filled with R.E.M.-related CDs, including bootlegs and every side project or sit-in the boys have participated on. Yes, every damn one. I conduct quarterly Googles to make sure I'm current.

42. I aspire to have a collection that rivals Ben’s Treasure Trove.

43. I have nearly 30,000 MP3s. And I still haven’t finished ripping my CDs.

44. I’ve been to Strawberry Fields and the Cavern Club, Graceland, Al Green’s church, the R.E.M. church, the Texas Chili Parlor Bar — all spiritual, meaningful pilgrimages.

45. I dress in all black every December 18 to celebrate Keith Richard’s birthday.

46. I once kissed Warren Zevon.

47. I cry every September 7, the anniversary of Warren Zevon’s death.

48. I’ve been madly in love five times since college.

49. I’d like to fall madly in love one more time.

50. My favorite job, other than the college radio station, was working at a bookstore.

51. I love grammar — talking about it, reading about it, teaching others about it, pulling out my red pen and editing what others have written.

52. I plan to launch my Grammar Grrrl blog in October.

53. I never graduated from college, but I’d like to go back to major in literature and minor in art history.

54. I once got kicked out of a strip club. For dancing with a patron. And, yes, I’m still proud of that.

55. I failed my driver’s test three times before I (finally!) got my license.

56. I had four car accidents the year I turned thirty. Three were my fault.

57. My car insurance was rather high for a couple of years after that.

58. My favorite baseball players are Hank Aaron and Tom Glavine.

59. I got to ride in the 1991 World Series parade with David Justice and Mark Lemke.

60. I don’t like to admit it, but I was in a sorority for a year.

61. I have 11 e-mail addresses: seven Yahoos, one Gmail, one Hotmail, one with my home ISP, one office address. And I use them all.

62. I bite my nails.

63. I have insomnia. Or maybe it’s just that I love being up between midnight and 4 a.m.

64. I think I suffer from ADHD. Or, rather, others suffer because I probably have it.

65. My mother and sister agree. With the diagnosis and their suffering.

66. I love making lists.

67. I was twenty the first time I flew on a plane.

68. I’ve been to Europe nine times.

69. I’ve never read The DaVinci Code. I doubt I ever will.

70. My favorite cocktails are extra-dirty martinis and cosmopolitans.

71. My favorite beers are Guinness Stout, Fuller’s, and a good British cider. I like Thai and Japanese beers, too.

72. And I adore the frozen margarita swirl at Casa Grande (the swirl is sangria, folks). Who wants to join me for one (or four)?

73. I got paddled in front of my third-grade class for talking.

74. I couldn’t admit that to anyone until I was a junior in high school. Now I consider it a badge of honor.

75. I was a painfully shy nerd until junior high.

76. Then I was a semi-shy, boy-crazy nerd.

77. I’m no longer shy, but I’m still a boy-crazy nerd.

78. I have the best group of best friends ever.

79. I could get arrested in seven states (covering the four U.S. corners and the Midwest, I might add) and the U.K., and someone would be there to bail me out.

80. That’s my goal for 2008: to be arrested in the towns of and bailed out by my farflung friends.

81. I was the first sophomore to make the high school newspaper staff — the best newspaper in the state.

82. Nearly everything I know about writing was learned during those three years. And I support myself today with those skills.

83. I was in flag corps my sophomore year and pep club my senior year.

84. I was a WSB Great Young American in high school. That means nothing to you readers outside Atlanta. And yet I still feel the need to brag about it. Sad, isn’t it?

85. Fall is my favorite season. Especially October in Atlanta.

86. But spring in Atlanta is glorious. You should see our azaleas and dogwoods.

87. I love Christmas.

88. I have five coffin-like storage bins filled with decorations and wrapping paper.

89. And a box filled with the greatest Christmas CDs ever.

90. My mother and my best friend’s mother went to high school together.

91. And my mother’s father went to school with her mother’s mother.

92. I still have my tonsils and my appendix.

93. I’ve never had surgery.

94. I broke my wrist slipping on the brick floor of a Mexican restaurant.

95. Yes, I had been happy houring for three hours. But the restaurant gave me $1,000 so that I wouldn’t sue them.

96. I asked Dan what to put on the list, and he said to tell y’all I’m gregarious, fun, freckled, laughing, and girlie.

97. Until a few years ago, I thought Isaac Hayes was singing “He’s a carpet-laying man” in “Theme from Shaft.”

98. The correct line is “He’s a complicated man.” I prefer my lyrics.

99. I loved playing with Barbie when I was a kid. Through the sixth grade, actually.

100. If I still had a Barbie, I’d probably be playing with her instead of trying to come up with 100 things to tell you about me. But I love making lists.

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