30 things about me

I like lists. I am not super goal oriented, but lists give me something to strive for and a sense of completion. I published this list on Facebook on February 2, 2009 - 30 random things about me as I was about to turn 30.

1. I have been a vegetarian for over 13 years. In that time I have intentionally eaten meat on 3 occasions: French onion soup in Paris in 1999 with Lara, and then last year I had octopus and a mussel at Las Ramblas with Lucia, Cathy and Aisha; and ate random meats in China, including duck heart, feet and tongue; shark fin soup; sea cucumber, etc.
2. I have had the same cell phone number and provider since I got my first phone in 2000. My number spells 61-PALM-TREES (leave off the last S for Savings)
3. I have never broken a bone, but have had surgery on my lazy eye twice (at ages 2 & 12). That eye is a little far-sighted, and the other is severely near-sighted.
4. I have truly been in love three times.
5. I have been to 41 of the 50 states (plus DC and PR), and hope to get to the rest soon! I have also been to 13 countries.
6. I have funky thumbs that look like toes (Caroline dubbed them my thoes)
7. I am very sensitive to high pitched noises. I can if the TV is on (but the cable box is off) from the next room.
8. I get great joy knowing that my ex-husband’s friends still want to be friends with me, but my friends and family would only ever want to see him again to cause him bodily harm.
9. Easter is my favorite holiday because it symbolizes ducks, bunnies, chocolate, Spring, and the approach of my birthday (twice in my life they were on the same day; one of those times I had the chicken pox).
10. I have traveled by car, sailboat, bus, ferry, U-Haul, motorcycle, ferry, airplane, helicopter, bicycle, taxi, parachute, toboggan, motorboat, innertube, chair-lift, kayak, subway, paddle boat, monorail, elevator, ice skates, skis (cross-country and downhill), foot, commuter rail, canoe, cable car, trolley, cog railway, wave runner, moving walkway, el, catamaran, big wheel, light rail, zipline, coach, limo, whitewater raft, tram, escalator, regional rail, party bike, vaporetto, mine train, red wagon, rollerblades/skates, pontoon boat, skateboard, people mover, wheelchair, hovercraft, high-speed train, gondola lift, rubber-tyred metro, Town Car. I have never traveled by Gondola, horse & buggy, jet-ski, rickshaw, pedi-cab, jet pack, magic carpet, balloon, dirigible, hang glider, hydrofoil, or rocket.
11. I am a terrible housekeeper. I hate doing dishes and laundry especially.
12. I drink my coffee (and tea) black.
13. I recently lost 30 lbs, and weigh about what I did in Junior High. I also have bangs now for the first time since then.
14. I am fully confident that the Cubs will win the World Series in my lifetime.
15. I am sometimes ashamed of my career given my education. I know certain family members are disappointed in me, but I am happy in my new career.
16. I am a Jane of all trades, but a master of none.
17. I don’t think I am as good a person as I was when I was half my age. I would like to write a memoir about my quest to get back to that person. It would be called “From Nerdy to Thirty”
18. Life is too short for single-ply toilet paper.
19. I have been to 202 restaurants in the2009 NYC Zagat’s Guide, and am going to #203 tonight.
20. My first memories, around the age of 2, are of being told I couldn’t do something that I felt I was capable of; being nervous I couldn’t do something expected of me, or being afraid of getting in trouble for something I did.
21. I moved to NYC on September 1, 2001. I didn’t know the buildings I saw burning 10 days later were the WTC until I got up to my office on 26th Street and was told by coworkers. I thought they were apartment buildings.
22. I get grey hairs *and* pimples. WTF?
23. I have had several people tell me I am like Deb from Napoleon Dynamite. And truth be told, about 16 years ago, I was!
24. My favorite color is turquoise.
25. I have a tattoo of a rubber ducky, and am thinking about getting a second tattoo. Pretty much everyone in my mom’s family has a tattoo, including my Gram, who got hers (a whisky logo) just shy of her 80th birthday.
26. My feet have very high arches, and I am both flattered and uncomfortable when people notice.
27. I have two cats, Boo (my fat black pussycat) who is 8 or 9 years old and kinda mean and Duke (el tigre) who is about 6 and very needy but empathetic.
28. I am not really the kind of person to get nicknamed, but people in my life have called me kJ (Dad), KK (Doug), Mush (Carol), Kitty (Tudor) and Katie-Kates (Anna)
29. I am very loyal to, and willing to pay extra for, Dove deodorant, Aveeno moisturizer, DVR, and my unlimited MetroCard.
30. Two items on my bucket list are learning to ride a motorcycle and taking trapeze lessons.