One Hundred! 100! ...or "The other Big C"

(ha. Get it? "C" like as in Roman Numerals? 100? I'm such a dork.)
Some people would have us believe that on your 100th blog post you are supposed to list 100 things about yourself. What is that supposed to do? A. That's a very long list. B. Yes, I suppose I could list 100 things...but it would be incredibly dull. What 100 things?

What 100 things would I want to list for readers who don't know me? I'm not sure if there's a rule that the list of 100 should be things not divulged elsewhere in my blog. However, I know some people just recently started popping in here, and not everyone feels drawn to read every archived post by every blogger they follow. 

To make this Herculean labor easier for myself, and to make better sense for you, I'm breaking the 100 into 10 sets of 10.

Let's give it a whirl...
(upon re-reading, I think the boring stuff is first. Keep reading.)

I'm the little one with the crazy grin.

A. GENERAL, GROWING UP

1. I'm the 4th of 5 kids.
2. I was born in Iowa.
3. I started piano lessons at age 5. (For the story about my 5th birthday, see this post.)
4. I know all the words to a lot of old songs because of giant piano books we'd play from as kids: Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, Blue Moon, Beer Barrel Polka, Heart and Soul, Downtown...the list goes on.
5. I grew up in Asia.
6. I don't know where I'd live if I had my choice, but I'd like to get back to the Indian subcontinent someday.
7. I'm obsessed with Stonehenge.
8. Yes, I've been there.
9. I'm obsessed with the Taj Mahal.
10. No, I've never been there. (Ironic, huh?)

B. THOUGHTS ABOUT SCI-FI

1. I don't really read sci-fi.
2. I do not speak Klingon.

3. I do enjoy Star Trek.
4. In college, we played the Star Trek drinking game while watching The Next Generation. I no longer have the rules.
5. I do not speak Wookiee.
6. I know more about Star Wars than anyone I know (unless you count the videogames).
7. Yoda does NOT always speak with reverse sentence structure: the script-writers of the prequel trilogy were lazy.
8. My secret weight loss goal is to be able to successfully wear the Princess Leia slave-girl costume from Return of the Jedi.
9. I've watched Dr. Who, but not enough to be caught up with current plot-lines and casting.
10. I prefer Red Dwarf, when it comes to Brit-Sci-Fi.

C. A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT BOOKS

1. I was reading and writing in sentences at age 3.
2. My favorite book is Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker Guide trilogy. (yes, the 5 book trilogy)
3. I own everything he's written.
4. My most consistent author to read on a whim is Agatha Christie.
5. I do not own everything she's written... I only have 40-some of hers.
6. I started reading her mysteries at age 11.
7. My favorite living author is Christopher Moore.
8. His book "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal" is HILARIOUS ... if you can separate fiction from your faith.
9. Another whacky-fiction author? Jasper Fforde. Grandly twisted. Check him out.
10. In the past, I have organized my books alphabetically, by color, or by Dewey.

D. ABOUT WORK

1. I don't really know what I want to be when I grow up.
2. My ideal job would ultimately be overseas.
3. My former boss used to say I only ate popcorn, peanuts and pizza. He was pretty close. Add peanut butter.
4. My last job was at a marina. I could smell the ocean from my office when the windows were open.
5. I've worked in housekeeping.
6. I was on a paint crew for a summer job once.
7. I worked in a TV studio during college.
8. From there I worked captioning videos.
9. Captioning was probably the most fascinating job I've had... too bad my boss was insane!
10. I am about to go insane if I don't get a job soon!

E. RESPONSIBILITY AND IRRESPONSIBILITY

1. No kids: don't have any, don't want any.

2. Eight nieces and nephews.
3. Once when I was babysitting my niece and nephew for a weekend, there was a thunderstorm. My niece was 5, and terrified. I had no idea how to calm her: fear of thunder & lightning was absolutely foreign to me. She survived.
4. Four godchildren. (In the church sense, not in the sense that I am responsible for them if their parents die.)
5. I taught middle-school Sunday School at my church in Delaware. (grades 5-7)
6. They were unbelievably fun.
7. One of the 10yo's admonished me before I moved here to Indiana "Don't tell your new friends out there that you live with your parents!" She was embarrassed for me. Cute.
8. No pets, mostly because I hate being a burden on someone else if I go out of town and they need to be cared for.
9. I had a Dragon Amigus named Spartacus.
10. Plants die in my care. I am fortunate to still have two that have lived for more than 2 years: a spider plant and a jade.

F. DEATH

1. My grandmother died 2 1/2 years ago, at age 101.

2. Her funeral was all planned out...by her.
3. At her 100th birthday, I asked her what the secret was to long life. She said, "love everybody."
4. DUDE! That's really hard! 
5. I don't want a funeral when I die. I want a "celebration of life".
6. My family knows I prefer to be cremated.
7. I want my sister to read Psalm 19 at my Celebration of Life, if she's still alive.
8. She hasn't said definitively yes.
9. There should be an open bar at the Celebration of Life.
10. You're all invited.

G. ABOUT THE PANTHEON OF MY LIFE

1. I do not use real names of anyone I write about from my personal life: I've swapped their names for a pantheon which can be found in this post.
2. I use (usually) the names of Greek gods and goddesses for pseudonyms in this blog.
3. That is because in our family, we are steeped in that knowledge, due to Dad's college education. Yeah. Weird.
4. ...Seriously. It was dinner table conversation. At age 4, I was hooked!
5. When we lived overseas, my sister Diana and I, and the two daughters of the other missionary, would take Poseidon into the ladies' cloakroom, put his hair in pigtails, and exit into the public calling him Persephone.
6. His hair wasn't really that long.
7. I took "Greek and Roman Mythology" as an elective in college. It was awesome.
8. Because of the whole boarding school situation, I really only got to know my oldest siblings when I was in college.
9. I think I broke my mom's heart when I told her that. (and I don't know why)
10. Not yet in the pantheon officially, my eldest niece will be Calliope for her artistic talent, and my youngest nephew will be Icarus for consistently going too far.

H. COLLEGE DAYS

1. I went to the same college with my older brother.
2. Unfortunately, this meant that I dated very little. His temper was well-known. I was gold.
3. I had tried to start going by my full name instead of the age-old shortened version, but having a sibling there ruined that.
4. I got my first apartment during my Junior year of college.
5. I kept a double minor all through college because I couldn't decied what my "practical" minor should be. I graduated with one minor and a TON of elective credits!
6. Like Old Testament Theology, from when my 2nd minor was theology.
7. Or Adolescent Psychology, from when my 2nd minor was psychology.
8. Or Music Theory, from when my 2nd minor was music.
9. The minor I graduated with was Geography/Earth Science.
10. This should have been my major.

I. A MOVIE WHORE IS BORN
...a.k.a. 10 movies I watch regularly if there's nothing on TV.
(Please note, these are not my Top 10 faves, just easy to have on and ignore because I know them well.)

1. The Star Wars trilogies (obviously)
2. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (obviously)
3. Star Trek - 2010 version (obviously ...and because I don't own any others. If anyone feels like supplying me with Wrath of Kahn, I will be eternally grateful.)
4. Casablanca (obviously)
5. Clue
6. Ghostbusters
7. Young Frankenstein
8. Kelly's Heroes (possibly the stupidest WWII movie, ever. But so funny.)
9. Bridget Jones' Diary
10. Muppets From Space (Best. Soundtrack. EVER.)

 J. The one you've all been waiting for:
The Red & Brett Story in 10 Key Posts.
(you're welcome)
p.s. There are others, but these are key.

Remember these? If not, read 5 & 6, below.

1. Your Bloody Valentines Day We'd been reading each other's blogs and commenting, but this is The Key Post. (If you don't read any others, read this and the comments.)
2. Evidence That I Am Harmless (posted at The Transformed Non-Conformist)
3. Of Axe Murderers and Other Creepy Folks This is my response to no. 2.
4. The Secret's Out and the Plot Thickens Because I'm an anonymous blogger, all of this was only in the blogosphere of my world until now.
5. Chaos Butterfly Powers (posted at The Transformed Non-Conformist)Red & Brett's Secret Squirrel Squad 
7. Red Arrived in the "Brett Zone" and Was Never Heard From Again Documenting our first meeting. There's a corresonding post at The Transformed Non-Conformist.
8. Allow Me to Explain (or What Really Happened at The Avengers) This one is kind of left-field, unless you'd been following some of the Twitter convos out there.
9. The Kids of Indianapolis Have a New Hero
10. Brett's Plans Fall Apart Again (posted at The Transformed Non-Conformist)

That wasn't too painful, was it? 100 things you never cared to know about me, in 10 quick sessions. ...and all the pictures came from elsewhere in this blog.

Whew.
Time for a beer.