Back to reality: it’s a gorgeous Washington day and it’s really not very cold.  It seems that we were clever enough to avoid the evil dropping-into-the-twenties temperatures.  However, the march toward winter continues and the bare trees have this gaunt majesty that is really…. well.  It’s really very East Coast.

California has a lot of evergreens, so even if there are trees that lose their leaves they are barely noticeable because the sequoias and the pines and the cypresses conspire to hide them.

Also, it was like seventy for a couple of days.  Who’s going to shed leaves then, huh?
__________

Every traveling experience is really a journey into oneself.  You find mirrors where you least expect them, and friends in unlikely places.  You also come to terms with yourself and find yourself growing up — or at least letting things that mattered so much before not matter as much.

You also discover that you’re kind of a snob.  And by "you" I mean me.

So since I see these "100 Things About Me" lists everywhere I go, I figured I’d get one started.  Here are some things I’ve learned about myself, in no particular order:

1. I love french fries and would eat them daily.  I really would.  I wish I could, and that they weren’t so bad for you.

2. I love Vin Gris but find White Zinfandel kind of pathetic (even though both wines look pink to the untrained eye and therefore rosé).

3.  I identify a little too much for comfort with Miles from "Sideways".

4. I really do not like beets.  I have tried to like them, but the taste and texture combination make my mouth water in not the good way.

5. I tear up over cheesy things constantly, like the St. Jude’s commercial.  Even though Jennifer Aniston makes the commercial nearly unwatchable and she’s annoying.

6. I brazenly read and buy tabloids at the checkout stand.  I also like to talk gossip with the checkers.

7. However, I draw the line at the "Weekly World News"– but I have been tempted to buy.

8. I stare.  Sometimes I stare AND I freak out people.  On purpose.

9. I like to bake quite a bit, and I think I’m not too bad at it.

10. When I used to go to church, I really liked reading the lessons and I was told I was pretty good at the reading bit.

11. And yes, I love reading out loud.  My dream lady-of-leisure job is to find a library where I can read books aloud to kids.  I know.  It’s cheez.

12.  I love whistling.

13. I’m an excellent map reader, but I’m not very good at retracing my own steps while driving. 

14. One of my biggest regrets is to have gotten lost and failed to show up at a babysitting job in Pebble Beach, California, when I was sixteen.  Whenever I drive by Lopez Road, I remember and I relive the burning shame of that day all over again.

15. I am not very fond of olives, but I’ll eat them because eating olives is sophisticated.

16. Ditto for blue cheese, actually; although I will eat the cheese and enjoy it if I can have my eyes closed, it kind of freaks me out.  So I’ll usually take a couple of bites and say how yummy it is, and then avoid it altogether. 

17. I’m afraid of heights but I love driving over bridges and I love flying.

18. I have a great memory for dates, but not so much for people’s faces.

19. I also am very good at remembering buildings and landmarks, but not so good at remembering verbatim bits of conversations.  Or at remembering conversations much at all.

20. I’m suddenly very fond of green, which I take to be some sort of sign about my life.  I just don’t know what that sign means.

Alrighty.  More later.  For now, I’ll leave you with this picture:

11 Dec This entry was published on December 11, 2006 at 1:28 pm and is filed under Inner Lotus Blooms. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.