75 Crazy Things

Calling Debut Authors! Now Accepting Applications for the 2018 Debutante Ball! Read this post to learn more. Hurry! The deadline is July 28!

This week the Debs are sharing things about themselves that might be weird, strange or that most people might not know.

I’ve been blogging for a long time, nearly since blogging was a thing. In 2005 I was especially prolific and my “About Me” page was a crazy list of 100 things. I thought I’d reprise it here, with a few things updated, and shrunk down to 75 things to spare you some of the tedium.

Canasta AND Chartreuse

1. I love sweet pickles.
2. Canasta is my favorite card game.
3. I was bit by my cat the day before my tenth birthday. I still have four white scars on the back of my left leg.
4. I loathe doing the dishes.
5. I was a runner-up to go to the Washington state Spelling Bee finals when I was in the 3rd grade.
6. Orange and chocolate are my favorite taste combinations.
7. I went to college on a journalism scholarship.
8. Every company that I worked for in the first ten years of my career was purchased, merged, significantly moved locations (Seattle to Virginia for example) or dissolved and is no longer in business.
9. I began to read before I was two years old.
10. I read fast—about 800 words a minute.
11. I’m the one taking the pictures.
12. I’m a Gemini, born in the Year of the Pig.
13. I worked at Disneyland and Virgin Records at the same time during the summer I turned 21.
14. Rome is where my heart is.
15. I wrote my first poem at the age of five, titled June.
16. I was an extremely picky eater as a child.
17. I found out about Santa Claus when I was in the third grade.
18. I am afraid of driving in the snow.
19. I had my first kiss when I was in the 8th grade—at a dance under the mistletoe.
20. I hate eating plain, raw tomatoes (i.e. they must be “in” something—ketchup, salsa, pasta sauce are fine).
21. I’ve been online since 1992.
22. I love to throw parties.
23. Two of my ancestors came over on the Mayflower. One of them was the first execution for murder in the United States.
24. I’m the baker, my husband is the cook.
25. I’ve been a redditor for 9 years.
26. I love video games, especially MMORPGs such as GuildWars or Elder Scrolls Online but also love any type of RPG or questing game—Mass Effect, Skyrim, Dragon Age, Witcher 1,2,3, etc.
27. I look very good in hot pink.
28. Here are 100 of my favorite books.
29. My favorite junky candy bar is Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Mmmm.
30. I wear mostly red and black.
31. I love the smell of Russian Olive trees.
32. I’ve saved people’s lives (worked on a crisis hotline for 2 years).
33. My great uncle discovered Vitamin C.
34. Chartreuse and gin are the poisons of choice.
35. If I could eat ice cream every day, I would.
36. My first cat was black and her name was Mandy—and yes, after the song.
37. Every time I have tried to make my grandfather’s recipe for caramel corn, I’ve messed it up—which saddens me because it is so amazing.
38. I used to twirl baton.
39. And play the trumpet (I can still sort of remember “Eye of the Tiger”).
40. I hate it when paper towels have goofy sayings and stupid graphics on them. Give me some freaking white paper towels already.
41. I have a horror movie scream.
42. I have moles all over my shoulders and arms from the third degree sunburn I got when I was living in Newport Beach the summer I turned 21. I spent 20 minutes in the sun without lotion.
43. I was in a car accident in 1994 that left my neck messed up. And was in an accident in 2005 that split my lip up to my nose and they had to sew it all back together. My husband broke his nose in 8 places and had to have reconstructive surgery. Moral of the story…wear your seatbelt in taxi cabs if you don’t want a plexiglass face!
44. I love rhubarb.
45. On my first date with my husband we ate garlic soup and frog legs. Both were delish!
46. I’ve stepped on a rattlesnake (and then ran like hell when I heard the rattle!)
47. When I write, I love to listen to soundtracks, classical or medieval/Renaissance music.
48. I was a Duranie (I adored John Taylor!). I still love most 80s alternative music.
49. I hate the feel of water dripping off the end of my nose.
50. I never lose when I play Othello.
51. I have more books than bookshelves. Way more books than bookshelves.
52. I love going to art museums by myself.
53. I slept with, watched TV with, and carried around the house a certain thin green blanket from when I was a youngster (probably 8 or so) till I was in college. It was in holey tatters when I finally parted with it—I still have a corner that I kept.
54. I also have a ratty stuffed dog, who reminded me of my grandparents’ St. Bernard, Penelope, that I slept with till I was a teen.
55. I began the first words of FEAST OF SORROW in 2005.
56. I have been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Marie Claire magazine, Reader’s Digest, and Business Week and this spring was featured in NPR.
57. The sickest I’ve ever been was from food poisoning at Jimmy’s Harborside in Boston. It’s defunct now, go figure.
58. My childhood dog was a little cocker spaniel/welsh corgi mix named Cocoa.
59. I have a little notch in my left ear where I had an earring that become infected and tore through.
60. I collect antique postcards of Seattle, Boston and Cambridge from the early 20th century.
61. I love going to concerts! As of this writing, I went to see the Violent Femmes and Echo & the Bunnymen just two days ago. And The Alarm, one of my fave bands, is coming up later this week!
62. I’m a freak about stars. I love them. My Christmas tree has hundreds every year, and you’ll find me regularly wearing stars. I’ve even got a poetry collection I wrote with stars as a theme.
63. I had to get a “hack” in the 6th grade for throwing snowballs—even though it wasn’t me that was throwing them.
64. I hate being late…it makes me really stressed out if I know I’m going to be late for something, and I feel horrible if I show up late.
65. My favorite thing about having a book out in the world is all the people that I’ve met, especially authors I’ve greatly admired.
66. I had my gallbladder removed when I was 23. Apparently genes play a part; most of the women on my mom’s side of the family have had it taken out.
67. I love the art of Andy Warhol, Rothko, Shepherd Fairey, Raffaello, Canaletto, but my favorite is this guy.
68. I cried a lot when David Bowie died.
69. My kitty, Nero, sleeps curled in my arm, with his head on my shoulder for much of every night.
70. I’ve been learning Italian for the last 8 years. I can speak it well enough now that the Italians don’t automatically switch to English.
71. The meal I will remember till the day I die is one I ate at e in Las Vegas, the first year it opened. 20 courses of amazing.
73. I’ve lately become a little addicted to Polar Springs grapefruit seltzer.
74. I love full moons.
75. Huckleberries are my favorite fruit!

 

Author: Crystal King

Crystal King is a writer, culinary enthusiast and social media expert. Her writing is fueled by a love of history and an obsession with the food, language and culture of Italy. She has taught writing, creativity and social media at Grub Street and several universities including Harvard Extension School and Boston University. Crystal received her masters in critical and creative thinking from University of Massachusetts Boston. She lives with her husband and their two cats in the Boston area.

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