Social networking sites like Facebook have a life of their own. I am fascinated by the friendships that are born & developed on these online gathering places.
Right now there’s a viral thing going around fb called “25 Random Things.” I think it’s interesting because just a couple of dozen stream-of-consciousness facts about one’s life can really tell a new acquaintance quite a bit about one.
I was asked by a fb friend (whom I know through my local Democratic Committee, of which we are both members) to tell him 25 random things about myself. Here they are. At the end of my “things,” I’m including the “rules” one is supposed to follow when posting these on Facebook.
I would love to hear your comments.
Kathie’s 25 Random Things
1. I’ve never seen an episode of the television shows “Frasier,” “Friends” or “House” (& have no plans to ever watch one).
2. There have been precious few times in the past three decades that I haven’t turned my head when a kid called out, “Hey Mom!”
3. Used to fantasize that Mister Rogers was my real dad.
4. I’ve met many “celebrities” (Cal Ripken Jr., Jack Nicholson, Brian Wilson, Fred Couples & Joe Theismann, for example).
5. Spent the coldest night of my life (29 degrees F) sleeping in a tent on the ground at the foot of Devil’s Tower, Wyoming (from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” fame).
6. I’ve ridden the New York City subway by myself (& gotten on the wrong train only once).
7. Quit smoking cold turkey & have been an obnoxious nonsmoker for 23 years (which proves you don’t need all the nicotine gum, patches, etc. that our capitalist society insists are necessary to quit).
8. I’ve been to so many concerts I’m not sure I could list them all: Paul McCartney & Wings, Elton John (3 times [front row twice]), Lou Reed, Robert Palmer, Bruce Springsteen (3 times), David Bowie (twice), Madonna (twice), the Beastie Boys (before anyone knew who they were & when everyone thought I was crazy), the Eagles (in the olden days [3 times, once when Linda Ronstadt opened for them & once when a "new act" opened for them named Jimmy Buffett & The Coral Reefer Band]), Rosemary Clooney, Alison Krauss & Union Station, so many more.
9. I’ve stood crying in front of Vincent van Gogh’s “Self Portrait with a Straw Hat” @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art & didn’t care what anyone thought.
10. I’ve represented myself in a court of law.
11. I’ve done past-life regression through hypnosis three times & once through guided imagery.
12. I’ve fallen in love at first sight (as an adult, when it really counts & really hurts).
13. I’ve helped deliver a baby (twice).
14. Have seen Kevin Costner, Tom Selleck, Michael Jordan & Garth Brooks play baseball in an MLB park.
15. Been a Friend of Bill W. since 1986.
16. Told Clinton Portis not to worry because we love him, no matter what. To his face.
17. Went to Catholic school all my life, including college.
18. Learned how to knit when I was 7 years old.
19. I have a recurring dream about the flowers in my garden: I dream I miss their flowering & go outside to look at them & they’re all dead. How does a woman get so sad? See #12.
20. Was chosen to be in a class debate in the 5th grade. I could be Richard Nixon or George McGovern. I chose Shirley Chisholm. That didn’t go over too big.
21. I have no idea what anyone sees in Brad Pitt, & think Angelina Jolie looks like a ghoul who feasts on dead bodies.
22. Luciano Pavarotti’s voice causes me to get head-to-toe goosebumps; Andrea Bocelli has the voice of an angel (his duet with Celine Dion, The Prayer, makes me cry); & Mario Lanza’s singing was technically near-perfect but just doesn’t touch my soul.
23. The doctor who delivered me also delivered my daughter.
24. Had a pen pal from Hilo, Hawaii, when I was 11 until I graduated from high school.
25. Saw Lew Alcindor play basketball professionally many times before he changed his name.
Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you.
If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.
(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people [in the right hand corner of the app] then click post.)
I just got done watching the movie The Holiday with Jack Black, Kate Winslet, Jude Law & Cameron Diaz. This is the second time I saw it.
This time around, it made me really depressed. Are there people in real life that have experienced happy romantic lives like these characters? If so, note to Source: You missed me when You were bestowing lasting happiness through romantic relationships. I just go through day in & day out (okay, year in & year out) of quiet desperation in this department.
I must admit though, watching this movie again also made me hopeful that someday I might be able to experience some of the things that happened in the movie. Yeah, I know. One’s born every minute.
I like this movie. I know it’s supposed to be a Christmas movie, but you should rent it & tell me what you think. It got 2 stars on my cable network (which I just don’t understand). I give it 4 stars.
There’s a great scene in this movie with Jack Black & Kate Winslet in the video store.
How come it’s okay for male actors to be overweight but not female actors? I think Jack Black is attractive. & actors like Patrick Dempsey does nothing for me. Go figure. On the other hand, I think Jude Law is exceedingly cute, & he looks like he needs to eat something with gravy on it now or risk falling over in a dead faint.
It makes me laugh to think there are women who think Kate Winslet is fat. God forbid a woman should have a derriere. I must say I think Kate’s costar in The Holiday, Cameron Diaz, is annoying. I’m not talking about her weight – although she is bony – although the term skinny bitch does come to mind.
Speaking of Christmas movies: I read that the actor who played the young George Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life, Robert J. Anderson, died this week. “Don’t hit my bad ear, Mister Gower!” He was born the same year as my father, but outlived him by 25 years. My father reminded me more of Mister Gower (pre-come-to-Jesus) than he ever did of George Bailey, that’s for sure.
That movie. Hmm. I know everyone loves it (I do, too). But I can’t always watch it. This past Christmas I didn’t. I just couldn’t bring myself to listen to its feel-good, upbeat message of “Just think of how many people you made happy with your miserable little life.” As if that should really keep people rattling around this dark wilderness called existence even though we’re personally unhappy. How should I react to being neglected, ignored, exploited, passed over, dismissed, not taken seriously, taken advantage of, etc.? By just being thankful at least I made everyone else’s lives I touched happy? Jeez, if that’s not a reason to become a hermit, I don’t know what is.
I always laugh when I hear someone who’s recently separated say, “I just want him [or her] to be happy.” Yeah, right. How selfless. Just think how often your ex thought about your happiness when he was running around behind your back with a 26-year-old or working in the office 16 hours at a clip instead of home taking care of his family, or whatever it was that he did to cause your marriage to break up.
It seems mighty bleak to me to think that we should just trudge on through our sad, lonely lives because – you never know! - you might be able to make someone’s day by pulling them out of the way of a speeding cab or handing them back their wallet they dropped without realizing it. & then the poor helpful sap wanders home to her empty house & watches romantic comedy reruns on basic cable while eating Skinny Cow pretend-ice-cream cones to try to temporarily salve her heart (you know, the one that’s been broken so many times it has a stone of scar tissue inside it).
So dear George Bailey, thanks for all your help. But when someone saves the Building & Loan from Mister Potter, there will always be 20 Republicans like the Bush family, Dick Cheney, & John McCain to swoop down & turn it into something far more sinister & scandalous than a burlesque house.
But at least we’ll always have Jack Black in The Holiday, sitting at his piano with Kate Winslet singing, “Scroodeley doodle, dee scroodeley doo…” That should distract us from the hundreds of impeachable offenses George W. Bush & Dick Cheney have perpetrated on the selfless & helpful citizens of the United States.
Come to think of it, the phrase “I just want him to be happy” usually precedes some kind of rampage, so I guess I should take that with a grain of salt. Pass the Skinny Cow.
