Seven Things

I was tagged by Tina (thanks, Tina!) soooooooooo...here it is:

7 Things I Plan To Do Before I Die:

1. I’d like to take piano lessons and learn to play a few simple tunes.

2. I’d like to write professionally (i.e., get paid for writing).

3. I’d like to take a road trip to all the towns named by Lucinda Williams in the song, "Jackson", on her CD, Carwheels on a Gravel Road...preferably with someone I’m nuts about, but alone, if need be...

4. I’d like to learn tai chi...I can imagine myself, with white hair, doing this...hehehe...

5. I’d like to find a place, near water (river, lake or ocean) where all of my kids and I and any significant others (including their dad and his significant other, if applicable) could get together for a week each summer to catch up with each other. When I think of this, I imagine sand, damp sheets, cooking together, endless board games, arguments into the night, and lots of wine and stargazing...

6. I’d like to trek at least a part of Annapurna, preferably with my son Chris...

7. I want to go to New Orleans when it’s beautiful again, and I believe it will be.

7 Things I Can Do:

1. I can make a cheese souffle

2. I can make an origami paper crane, and I can make it flap it’s wings...

3. I can make a fire without using matches; this involves constructing a bow and hearth (I took a desert survival skills course a couple of years ago)

4. I can re-wire light fixtures, electrical outlets, etc., and I do most of these repairs (though not to the pool) around my house.

5. I can drive a stick (and I do)...

6. I can walk a tightrope (welllllll...I haven’t done this in years, but I think it’s like riding a bicycle). I learned how to walk a tightrope because once, a couple of light years ago, I took a summer class called "circus skills"

7. I can schmooze - in fact, I’m good at this, if the situation calls for it...but one on one, up close and personal, I often feel shy.

7 Things I Can't Do:

1. I can’t sing (but this never stops me!)

2. I can’t ride my unicycle (and yes, I own one, and I really, really wish I could ride it, but I never mastered it...see #2 above)

3. I can’t speak a second language (again, I’m perfectly willing to try - it’s just that no matter what I order in French, I always end up with a hot fudge sundae)...

4. I can’t play a musical instrument (although I love music)

5. I can’t listen to music and have a conversation while I’m driving - I find the music too distracting.

6. I can’t read a map upside down (I have to point it in the direction in which I’m driving, and even then, I have problems)...

7. I can’t play bridge or golf or tennis (and I don’t care).

7 Things That Attract Me To The Opposite Sex:

1. Humor - Crosby, Stills & Nash (in Suite Judy Blue Eyes) had it right: fear is the lock, and laughter the key to my heart... I grew up in a Scandinavian-Lutheran family, and although I found a lot of things funny when I was a little kid, I have distinct memories of my parents and other adult family members repeatedly telling me, sternly: "That’s NOT funny!" When I moved out on my own at 17 it was a huge relief to me to find out that a lot of other people apparently also found that much of life is pretty funny. Maybe because of all that, humor is always slightly exotic and delicious to me...and a guy who makes me laugh is immediately waaaayyyy ahead of any other guys in the room...

2. Intelligence - I like smart guys. A couple of my girlfriends and I were thinking of starting a support group for zappy women (we consider ourselves zappy women) who fall in love with Aspergers-type guys (in plain English, dweebs). I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve thrown caution to the wind because I find myself attracted to someone who can draw the periodic table or do some other lame, useless calculation that I find myself in awe of...you’d think I’d learn...

3. Parenthood/grandparenthood - I have kids, and for the most part, I adore my kids - which isn’t to say there aren’t times...nevermind - but I believe that being a parent makes most of us better people than we’d otherwise be, and I’m drawn to guys who have kids and love them as much as I love mine.

4. Self-confidence and a sense of adventure - I like to try new things, and I’m drawn to guys who aren’t afraid to try new things...

5. A sense of passion - there are many things that I care a lot about, and I don’t do well with guys who don’t give a damn...

6. Empathy - this is an essential quality...I loathe those guys who (in effect) say: "Bartender! Beers for everyone,and a Corvoisier for me!"

7. Hirsuteness - OK, I admit it, I like hairy guys...especially chest hair, neatly trimmed beards, Prince Valiant locks, etc...and over the years my girlfriends have made a lot of jokes, at my expense, about my propensity for hairy guys...

7 Things I Say Most Often:

1. Never say never...

2. You have got to be kidding!

3. Oh my God!

4. ...that’s just more tuition in the school of hard knocks! (to my kids)

5. Sheesh!

6. I love you (to my kids)

7. WOO HOO!

7 Celebrity Crushes:

1. Mark Twain - I mean it, from the time I started reading Twain’s non-fiction, when I was about 14, I had a serious crush on the man, and if I could timetravel, he’s one of the people I’d meet...he was funny and bright, the best combination insofar as I’m concerned...

2. David Janssen in the tv series, The Fugitive (at 16, I thought he was incredibly sexy)

3. Rennie Davis of Conspiracy Seven fame - I stood next to him in an all-too-short elevator ride once and he had this...energy...

4. Sam Shepard (ohhhhhhhhhhh...don’t get me started...when I was in my 20's, I was IN LOVE with Sam Shepard - was he great looking in Days of Heaven, or what? and that he could write as well as act...*sigh*)

5. Anthony Zerbe - in 1975-76, he played Lt. Trench on the tv series, Harry O (which coincidentally also starred one of my earlier crushes, David Janssen, still sexy albeit 10 years older)...

6. Harrison Ford - I once talked with a woman who’d had a blind date with him in the 60's, and she said he was a real jerk, which may well be the case, but geez...I remember him in Star Wars: Princess Leia blurted out, "I love you!" and he looked at her and smiled that crooked smile and leered, "I know..." I’ve dated guys who were that bad (I once dated a guy who argued with me about the date of my birthday; he insisted I was wrong about the month!!!)...but I’ve never dated a bad guy who looked remotely like Harrison Ford...

7. Robert Redford - I’ve been smitten with Redford since I first saw him playing a stuffed shirt in Barefoot in the Park. He also plays a great sh*t, and that’s a quality I value...a pretty face able to play against his looks. I once read in an interview that Redford had been seen reading a book of short stories called Eleven Kinds of Loneliness between takes on some movie that was being shot. I went so far as to hunt down the book (this was pre-internet, pre-Google); yep, it’s a real book by an excellent writer named Richard Yates, and I read it and then read several other books by Yates - um, I’m not a stalker, but I guess I’m capable of obsessing, a little, on my crushes...

7 people I want to do this :

I'd love to hear from you, if you're up for it:

Lily (Smoke Mirrors)

Mrs. L (Mrs. Linklater's Guide to the Universe)

Tammy (Random Thoughts)

Marc (Grainsof Sand)

Cyndy (TheRealWorldofCyndyGee)

Ann (Hours Minutes Seconds)

Sierrajazz (Tiny Drop Big Ocean)