I Saw a Bridge and So I Jumped

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In which I respond to the ubiquitous 25 Things About Me meme that has been plaguing my existence for the past two weeks. Fine. FINE. Don’t say I didn’t ever do anything for you…

1. Today is my one year anniversary living in San Francisco. On one hand, it feels far longer than that; on the other, it seems like I just got here. Best decision I ever made.

2. I never forget a birthday or phone number. But historical dates and events of significance? Go in one ear and out the other.

3. I don’t “get” art (particularly that famed blank canvas “masterpiece”ย  SVV and I saw a couple years ago in the MoMA that probably made the “artist” millions of dollars). At all. And I don’t really like art museums at all, unless they have some cool offering like a photography exhibit. On the contrary, I love science museums, aquariums, planetariums and the like.

4. I had hundreds of stuffed animals as a kid, but my favorite was a squirrel (a rodent?! What’s that all about, Child Self??). When I was 3 and got mad at my mom for some reason unbeknown to us both, I chucked it out the car window. She wouldn’t go back and get it. I cried for weeks. She finally did return to the park, and it was gone. She still feels The Guilt to this day, just ask her.

5. I’ve been studying Bikram for a solid year, and I’m still as inflexible as when I started (see #24). Coincidentally, camel pose is my least favorite.

6. If I could eat PBJs (with strawberry jelly, of course) every meal for the rest of my life, I would.

7. I act like I don’t, but I would like to get married someday. That said, I’ve never been one of those girls who thought about what her Big Day would be like, what kind of dress she wanted, or the cut and carat ofย  herring. (I don’t even know the differences! Isn’t that horrible?)

8. However, I’m not so sure I want kids…ever. Love ’em, especially my nieces and nephews, just too selfish to have my own.

9. I miss the South (especially in the fall), but I like California too much to leave. I think I’m here for good. But should SVV ever want to move to Sac, where his family lives, we will have separate living situations. I don’t much see the point of living in Northern California if you’re not in the Bay Area.

10. I come from a family of CPAs (and was a math major myself) and don’t understand the first thing about taxes or the stock market (luckily, I have my pick of people to do it all for me!).

11. I love Gossip Girl, but really don’t think Chuck Bass is sexy. At all. Give Chace Crawford some credit where credit is due! And Penn Badgley? Is just gross. (Though oddly enough I have a total girl crush on his female counterpart, Blake.)

12. I run a minimum of 25 miles a week (40 when I’m really feeling inspired), and I actually don’t like running one bit. But I’m too worried about getting fat to stop. After finishing the San Francisco Marathon last year, I’m thinking about running the Portland one this fall. I’d be interested to hear if any of you out there have run it.

13. I was on MySpace for a brief period of time, simply because SVV was (he’s old school like that), and I wanted to maintain some sort of online connection with him while we were living 3,000 miles apart. But I soon learned the errors in my ways and deleted my account.

14. My friend won a photography contest for a picture of me on a camel that she actually didn’t take.ย  My mom was upset that I was unshowered and had no makeup on (umm, that’s what happens when you camp in the Sahara). Somehow, it circulated all over Tennessee and eventually landed on the cover of the UT alumni magazine (which goes out to hundred of thousands of recipients) and the study abroad brochure, too. Then, last year my mom called and declared: “You’re Miss May!” Apparently, it made the calendar, as well. Around the same time, a picture I took of camel shadows in the Sahara with a shitty point-and-shoot won a photography contest at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. And thus I became known as Camel Girl (in case you’ve ever wondered about the title of the blog).

15. I loooove going to the movie theater—I would even go solo all the time in NYC—but I never watch movies at home. We even have a four-foot-by-six-foot screen and HD projector so it’s like an in-home theater, but I’ll have the same Netflix movies for five months until I end up watching them out of stress.

16. I used to be a pretty good singer and performed in various groups and venues all over the country.

17. I think it’s hilarious when people ask me if I’m tired of traveling. How else do I have to tell you? I’ve been like this my whole life! It is NOT. A. PHASE. Also, what would I do for a career if I suddenly decided to stay stationary.

18. Speaking of, I love what I do, but people always tell me I have the dream job. A dream job, to me, would be one in which you actually make enough money to save for a house, and one that doesn’t require countless hours of tedious fact-checking every week. You guys see the good part of what I do, the traveling, which maybe accounts for 20 percent of the actual job. I don’t talk about the shitty parts because frankly? It’s so boring I’d fall asleep while writing about it. The responses I hate most when people find out I’m a travel writer are: “What’s that?” (um, isn’t it quite self-explanatory?) and “what countries have you visited/which are your favorites?” (at somewhere over 50, it’s a) a bit difficult to name them all and b) hard to pick a single favorite, as they all have their pluses and minuses). Magazine I’d most like to write for? Budget Travel. It’s the only travel magazine I actually read cover to cover.

19. I have this bloody (no really, not being British here) gum condition in which my gums bleed at random all. the. time. It’s been a problem since I was a child, but just recently it’s begun happening in my sleep, when I run, when I’m just sitting stationary. I’ve been to multiple specialists who can’t figure it out, and it burns my biscuits when those not in the dental industry have the nerve to say: “Oh, well clearly you need to floss more.” UM REALLY? You think I didn’t think of that, like, 20 years ago? It’s a mystery, and every morning when I wake up with dried blood on my front two teeth, I tell SVV it’s because I’m a vampire and was out hunting all night.

20. I’m terrified of sharks, but fascinated by alligators. Growing up, there were always alligators in the pond outside my parents’ condo in Orlando. I would rollerblade to the edge of the water, toss them M&Ms then skate off as fast as my little legs would take me.

21. Of the thousands of celebrities I’ve met, Bill Nighy is my favorite (no, not the Science Guy! The hilarious British actor of Love Actually/Constant Gardener/Notes on a Scandal/Pirates of the Caribbean fame!). Tying for second is Tom Hanks, Steve Carrell, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Least favorite? Richard Gere. And while the movie I love most in the world is The Princess Bride, I’ve been highly disappointed every time I’ve interacted with Buttercup (Robin Wright Penn). I’ll also never understand why she married him.

22. I hate my eyebrows. They naturally turn down like a villain’s. If not smiling, they make me look angry when really I’m just being non-expressive. I notice this daily at my yoga studio when my face is supposedly “relaxed” (and um, when I’m totally NOT supposed to be noticing such trivial matters!). To the contrary, I look like I’m gonna beat you up and steal your kitten. (Just so you know, I would never do that. I like dogs, not cats.)(Excuse the horrid eye bags; I had a two-week-long flu when this picture was taken.)

23. Drops of Jupiter makes me happy every time it comes on the radio, and I still make a wish on Twinkle Time.

24. I’ve never been admitted to the hospital. However, after over a decade of playing competitive soccer and basketball, as well as college tennis, I managed to break seven different fingers and injure quite a few other parts of my body (some of which, to this day, haven’t healed).

25. I’ve never cheated on anyone. But been cheated on? Has been the reason for termination of every relationship before this one.

 

COMMENTS
  • February 4, 2009

    i think you look HOT in that picture on the camel. just saying.
    also? i love Bill Nighy (and your science guy reference too. hahahah)

  • February 4, 2009

    I actually did wonder where the camels name came from. I could have researched it on your blog, but I am lazy.

  • February 4, 2009

    I am all about the PB&J (strawberry!) too. It was the first thing I ate when we got back from our cruise and I took my own jar of peanut butter to Europe with us back in May. Can’t live without them!
    And now I’m curious abour Richard Gere…was he an ass in person? I swoon every time I watch An Officer and A Gentleman!

  • February 4, 2009

    that picture of you as a child is adorable! and I love the one of you on the camel – even if you are unshowered ๐Ÿ™‚

  • February 4, 2009

    Bill Nighy. Swoon.

    (And dude! I got the Teddy Ruxpin for Christmas! I bet I was opening mine at the very same moment your photo was snapped.)

  • February 4, 2009

    I love your list! And I think you look so awesome in the camel picture! so um…I am totally nosey but why does Richard Gere suck?

  • February 4, 2009

    I too had a crazy stuffed animal as a kid and threw it out the car window! Mine was a beaver, named so cleverly ‘Beaver’, and it was also a ‘purse’ which held an extra pair of undies (I was two). We were on a road trip and stopped at a gas station and I warned my mom that I was going to throw him out the window. She didn’t believe me, but she panicked down the road when she realized I was serious. She still talks about that with a little sadness in her voice and I’m 30 now!!

  • February 4, 2009
    Katie

    don’t eat peanut butter!!!

  • February 4, 2009

    I like you.

  • February 4, 2009

    Ah, this was good! Since I’ve only been reading for a week or so, it was nice to find out a few things… ๐Ÿ™‚ And I LOVE Drops of Jupiter, it makes me happy every single time I hear it as well. I actually haven’t heard it in forever so thanks for bringing it up, I’ll go listen to it right now!

  • February 4, 2009

    YOU GOT A TEDDY RUXPIN?! Okay now I really hate you. My parents would not budge on that one.

    But I think moving to California was the best thing you ever did too.

  • February 4, 2009

    Amen to #18! And the men of Gossip Girl are fug!

  • February 4, 2009

    I was wondering what the blog title was about too. ๐Ÿ™‚ And I totally agree- Chace Crawford is the only Gossip guy worth looking at.

  • February 4, 2009

    I don’t get art either and the aquarium is my favorite. That really is a great picture of you on the camel.

    This meme has been plaguing me for so long too, I am still putting it off!

  • February 4, 2009

    That is the BEST picture of fall color EVER. And it makes me miss living in the midwest for that reason alone.

  • February 4, 2009

    I used to eat two PB&J sandwiches EVERY DAY after school when I was in high school. And, now I’m really upset that I don’t have any bread. Because a PB&J sounds REALLY GOOD right now.

  • February 4, 2009

    I never knew about #16 – “I used to be a pretty good singer and performed in various groups and venues all over the country.” That’s cool! I only sing in the shower because that’s the only place where my voice is decent.

  • February 5, 2009

    You look EXACTLY like my sister when she was a baby in that kid pic of you. So much it’s almost eerie!

    I don’t get art either! Realized that while travelling in Europe last year. However, I LOOOOOOVE photography and performance arts like dance and theatre, so I guess that’s my art.

    That’s so cool that you sing! Any chance of an audio clip?

    And what’s the story behind the “& Chocolate” part of your blog name?

  • February 5, 2009

    LOVE learning more about you. Needless to say, I love the camel pictures. They are my favorite camel. I can stare at their funny faces all day long. That’s a great shadow pic.

  • February 5, 2009

    Your list is far cooler than mine. LOVED IT.

  • February 5, 2009
    kate

    You should come to Portland, marathon or not! ๐Ÿ™‚

  • February 5, 2009

    A creative math major? You just blew my mind…

  • February 5, 2009

    I am so behind you on the Robin Wright Penn thing. Well, not that I’ve met her, or anything…but really? Sean Penn? Drives me NUTS. Gah!

  • February 5, 2009

    One of my least favorite things about being pregnant so far is that I can’t run. The doctor told me it was strictly off limits and today I saw two people run past my house and I was almost in tears.

  • February 5, 2009
    Tamara

    Hi! I have never commented before but I felt some kind of kinship today. I ate PB&J every single day throughout my school years and it is still my favorite sandwich. Also, I REALLY wanted Teddy Ruxpin one year for Christmas but my Mom misunderstood and got me a bear named Zeddy. I was afraid that I would hurt her feelings if I told her she had gotten it all wrong so I never mentioned it. I really wanted the Teddy Ruxpin, though. I think you could insert a tape and he would read you stories or something….right??

  • February 6, 2009

    loooooove drops of jupiter!

  • February 6, 2009
    Miles

    …. to see the lights are faded
    ….. and Van Halen is overrated

    ๐Ÿ˜‰

  • February 7, 2009

    It took me a good ten seconds to figure out that you were not literally talking about a cut and carat of herring. But you can imagine that in that time there were some pretty great pictures in my head.

  • February 11, 2009

    Your blog is captivating. Let me just tell you you definitely hit home when you said that Sac was never an option. UUUGGGHHH, i LIVE in sac…it is a hell hole. First of all, I used to live in Jordan and Germany…though, Sac is a huge step up from Amman…I need to get the F out of here. The bay area is calling…but then again, I wouldnt be the only one swarming to there right now.

  • January 24, 2010

    Of course, you jumped from that bridge. You’re from Tullahoma!

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