That's What I Think

Recently I read someone's blog. I don't recall whose it was. But the writer made a list of things that defined her - likes and dislikes, etc.

Because I love scrawling lists and random thoughts on receipts and the backs of index cards, etc. (linear thinking is for the birds), I decided to apply that obsession to a blog entry and slap down the beginnings of my own list. I plan to try to hit 100 items, but so far I've only made it to #29.

1 - I love a challenge, puzzles, crosswords, etc.

2 - My favorite way to drive is across open country, the windows down, hair blowing in the wind and some road trip tunes on the radio.

3 - My favorite date is not a fancy restaurant, but a picnic on a nice day on some soft grass, with nowhere to rush off to.

4 - My favorite item of clothing is a broken-in pair of blue jeans. If I could, I'd stay in worn jeans, sandals and floral blouses all of the time.

5 - When people say, "Shed-U-Ele," I want to shake them in the way you should never, never, shake a baby.

6 - Humor, to me -- that unabashed ability to laugh that shakes a person and those around him or her to the bone -- is one of the most important qualities in a friend or love interest.

7 - I love the electric feeling in the air moments before a late-afternoon or evening thunderstorm, and then the resulting heavy rain that pelts the windows.

8 - I love the smell of freshly cut grass.

9 - I love books so enjoyable that I lose myself in them.

10 - I most want to travel to Ljubljana, Slovenia; and Australia and Prague, and maybe return to Alaska and Switzerland one day.

11 - I want to return for a few days to my humble Alabama hometown of a few hundred residents, just to look around and see what I remember, to come full-circle.

12 - Nothing's as good as a slice of pound cake or warm homemade chocolate chip cookies with a tall, cold glass of milk.

13 - When I first joined the Army, I was the fastest runner out of 60-something people in my platoon and once ran a 6:15 mile.

14 - I collect shot glasses from the places I go.

15 - I'm a Virgo, born on September 15.

16 - On the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator, I'm an ENFP.

17 - I occasionally lucid-dream.

18 - My favorite books to read are nonfictional: Travelogues, sociological topics, books about small-town life, like those by Garrison Keillor - but fictional books do grab me now and then, when I need an escape.

19 - I have no qualms about going to any restaurant and sitting at a table for one.

20 - My two passions in life are photography and writing. I think it's because I have always felt that even mundane everyday things are worth recording. There lies the depth of our lives in those small, short moments.

21- I'm not a neat freak, although I play one in my current residence. I don't need to make the bed each morning to be happy.

22 - I placed in spelling bees and French contests in middle and high school.

23 - I used to be painfully shy. It was almost incapacitating until I joined the Army.

24 - I pride myself on seeking to know more and explore more in life.

25 - I wish I got out more and did some walking and sightseeing in the District on weekends or evenings.

26 - I love doing things spontaneously. I'm not very consistent, but I am spontaneous.

27 - I make a mean guacamole. That's about as close as I come to cooking, besides bacon and eggs.

28 - I'd much rather walk a little farther than be the lazy American and go to my car just to drive down a few thousand feet to park somewhere else and get out.