1. I once spent the night on a working bison ranch in Wyoming. Did you know modern-day wranglers use all-terrain vehicles instead of horses?
2. I was so disturbed by the movie “Clockwork Orange” that I threw up afterwards.
3. During my first two years of college I frequented frat parties… but I only pretended to like the taste of beer. Now I actually enjoy drinking beer, but I rarely attend big parties or go to bars.
4. I’m a Scorpio and I was born in the Year of the Snake.
5. One of my favorite childhood memories is eating ripe, juicy cherry tomatoes straight from the bushes in our backyard with my best friend, Anna.
6. I always thought I was a cat person. I’ve owned (at least) twelve of them in my lifetime…
7. … but now I’ve got a German Shepherd-Blue Heeler mix named Abby and she’s the light of my life. She’s the best hiking companion a girl could ask for.
8. I was a girl scout off-and-on until eighth grade. I loved selling the cookies, but I was always jealous of Boy Scouts who learned to do cool things like building campfires and whittling.
9. Landmark Education has changed my life… for the better.
10. I declared myself a vegetarian at age twelve and I’ve stuck to it. The only things I miss are Gorton’s fish sticks and my mom’s chicken nuggets.
11. I could listen to Bob Marley or Bob Dylan for the rest of my life.
12. The greatest concert I ever attended was The Violent Femmes at The Boathouse in Norfolk, Virginia in 1996. But these days, any show by Tyrone Wells is a close runner-up.
13. The blast at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 was loud enough to awaken me in my apartment in Alexandria, VA, several miles away. It took me until 4:00 that afternoon to find out that my mother was alright, and I’ll never take her for granted again.
14. I’m the only person in my immediate family with blue eyes. Of course, it’s a pretty small family…
15. In separate incidents, I have accidentally cut off the tips of BOTH of my thumbs. No worries, though… they’ve both grown back in due time.
16. I have almost nine thousand songs saved on my computer. I make a pretty mean mix-CD.
17. My favorite comfort food is lasagna… extra gooey… lots of cheese, lots of sauce. But homemade macaroni and cheese comes in at a close second.
18. I use a tiny little television set for watching DVDs, but I haven’t watched actual TV in over ten years. I’ve heard about reality TV, but I don’t really get it… it sounds like a bunch of people making fools of themselves while the rest of America laughs at their expense, and that’s not my style.
19. I own at least five journals that I’ve started and abandoned over the years. Most of them only have two or three entries.
20. My partner and I won first place in the JV Division of the American Debate Association’s National Championship in 1996… that’s right – I’m a national champion, so don’t ever pick a verbal fight with me.
21. Some words that I love: Patagonia, proposition, fan-tabulous, and Catalina (that one’s for my old friend, Jen).
22. My parents tape-recorded me at age three and called the tape “Amy the Wunnerful.” At the end of the tape, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I loudly declared my dream of becoming “a mommy.”
23. The bottoms of my feet are very calloused.
24. Intentionally misspelled words – like Kwik Mart – really annoy me.
25. My favorite book is Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus. In fact, I like to give away copies of the book to friends and leave copies in random places for strangers to stumble upon. So keep your eyes open…
26. I once went over a month without speaking to anyone… intentionally. It was one of the most powerful experiences I’ve had in my lifetime.
27. I’ve seen every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer… multiple times. Joss Whedon is a genius.
28. I dance in the car, especially when strangers are watching.
29. I tried my own mini-Super Size Me experiment last month. I hadn’t eaten fast food in eight years, but I tried eating it once a day for two weeks. Let’s just say it didn’t turn out well… and I won’t be eating fast food again anytime soon.
30. As you may have noticed, I really like ellipses…
31. As a child, I spent three years on an island that was 18 miles long and 11 miles wide. Cows outnumbered people two to one, and I remember sticking my hands through wooden fences with fistfuls of sugar cubes for the cows and horses.
32. I say a silent prayer every time I see road kill.
33. I’ve developed a recent obsession with getting back in touch with people from waaaaay back in the day, like middle school. It’s amazing how much we still have in common. I guess the things that make a good friend at age 12 aren’t that different from the things that make a good friend at age 30.
34. I’m a teacher… right down to my bones. I was put on this planet to make a difference in the lives of children, and I’m really good at it.
35. I often find myself drawn to artists, musicians, and other creative people.
36. I spent almost two years living at a yoga center as part of their Spiritual Lifestyle Program. Every now and then, I wish I’d never left…
37. I love action movies and science fiction books.
38. My father was in the Air Force, so we moved quite a bit while I was growing up. I still find myself getting the itch to move on every few years, so I try to pacify it by traveling as often as I can.
39. I went to high school with Allen Iverson. I’m afraid it ruined basketball for me, since nothing else can ever compare to watching him run circles around the other high school players.
40. I’m a bit of a perfectionist and I like to be in control… but both of these tendencies seem to be mellowing with age.
41. I feel safest when I’m surrounded by mountains.
42. I am definitely not a morning person, though I no longer stay up until all hours of the night… at least, not on a regular basis.
43. I’m an only child. I’m sometimes jealous of my friends who had big families and who lived in the same hometown for most of their lives.
44. I read a lot, and I read quickly. I love anything written by Neil Gaiman, Guy Gavriel Kay, David Sedaris, Jacqueline Carey, Daniel Quinn, Orson Scott Card, Philip Pullman, Ian McEwan, Annie Lamott… the list goes on and on.
45. I’m a member of a local CSA farm, and I love it! Veggies taste so much better when you know the farmer who picked them.
46. My politics would best be described as very liberal. I’m an idealist to my core, I believe a society that doesn’t work for everyone isn’t worth much, and I’ve taught children who were born with the deck stacked against them. It’s not something I can turn away from… and neither should you.
47. I want to learn to ski or snowboard.
48. I love making art, especially collage and photo art.
49. It’s a constant struggle to keep my house and my car neat. I’m an organized person, but the sense of order is often hidden beneath a surface layer of “stuff.”
50. Last summer I took myself on a last-minute, ten-day trip to Sydney, Australia. I booked the trip less than a week before the flight left, and I didn’t even have a passport. Now I know that I can make anything happen when I put my mind to it…
