Tag Archives: NaBloPoMo 2009

This is officially my 100th104th post! I had every intention of posting this on my 100th post, but then I lost my mind and signed up for NaBloPoMo and, in my haste to post a blog every single day (along with, oh, I don’t know, living my life), it took me a few days longer to finish this monster than I anticipated. In celebration of my 100 104 posts, I’ve done what I’ve managed to spare both you and me from thus far –a long, rambling list about the mundane minutiae of my life. But fret not – the list has officially arrived. You’re welcome.

I’ve lived in Canada for 895 days now (!) and have done way more than 100 104 things but, apparently, someone injected me with a little bit of lazy along the way, so 100 104 posts are all I’ve written¹.  It’s taken me eons longer than I expected to get to 100 104 posts for reasons that are unimportant. Let’s just say that, like Talullah Bankhead once said, “‘It’s the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls don’t have time.”

Like many of you, I am a list nerd. Lists, for me, are like manna from heaven. I make lists about lists and I write already-completed tasks on my lists just to get pleasure of crossing them off. So, in honour of my 100th 104th post, I thought I’d do what I do best and list 200 208 things about me that you may or may not already know, but about which I’m sure you are dying to know. And, all for the mighty, mighty price of free. So grab yourself a snack, put on your Snuggie, make yourself comfortable, and read some Carmen goodness…

Growing Up

1. I am an only child.
2. I was born in Houston, Texas. It’s like living-on-the-face-of-the-sun-hot there.
3. I started walking when I was ten months old. I have no idea if this is an accomplishment or not.
4. Apparently, I liked to climb as a child. My mom once walked into the kitchen after putting me to sleep and I was sitting on top of the refrigerator. I still like to climb on things.
5. My surname is French and is properly pronounced “meeyAy”. My peeps came from France, through Canada and down to Louisiana. Hence you could say that, with me living in Canada, the Millet family has come full circle. Or, that we hate the heat. Discuss.
6. I grew up with a Cocker Spaniel named Buffy, who I used to carry everywhere. Literally. If we went from the living room into the kitchen, I carried him. Poor dog. After Buffy died, we got a Miniature Schnauzer named Heidi. The first time she walked into our backyard, she fell into our swimming pool and had to dog paddle her way out. She never went near it again.
7. My dad used to tell me that when you ate oysters, they would come alive in your mouth and swim down your throat. To this day, I have never eaten an oyster. Thanks Dad!
8. I have direct relatives in Alaska, four cities in California, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Ohio.

School Stuff

1. I went to a private, Episcopalian² school until 4th grade. We went to chapel every Friday.
2. I learned to speak Spanish in 1st grade and still speak it today, although not as fluently as when I lived in Texas since there are approximately 6.5 Spanish speakers in Canada.
3. I went to school with the same people from 4th through 12th grades.
4. I was accepted at all the universities to which I applied: University of Texas, Baylor University, Texas A&M University, and Louisiana State University.
5. I have a BBA in Speech Communications and Marketing from Texas A&M University.
6. I was accepted into law school, but decided I didn’t want to waste my life away with my nose buried in law books. Instead, I now bury it in motherlodes of email and bureaucratic red tape.
7. I have finished half of my MBA.
8. I will probably never finish my MBA, considering I reside in a country where I am not permitted to pursue any kind of formal education. (see #7)

My Deets

1. I’m 5’3″
2. Most people think I’m taller since I wear 4-inch heels 98% of the time. My knees hate me for it.
3. I have blue eyes, though they tend to change colour depending on what I’m wearing.
4. I have naturally blonde hair, but it’s getting darker as I get older. Hello,  highlights!
5. I’ve always wanted a tiny pink streak in my hair.
6. I wear a size 8 shoe.
7. I grew up with 20/70 vision in my left eye, but after wearing glasses until University, it is now corrected to nearly 20/20.
8. I’m a registered Republican. I’ve voted Republican in every federal election with the exception of the most recent one. Ahem.
9. Since moving to Canada, I’ve become way, way more liberal than I was before I got here.
10. I’m a cradle Catholic³  but have started going to an Episcopalian church in Toronto of late
11. I’m a Sagittarius, which I’m pointing out only because it means you should be thinking about what to get me for my birthday.
12. I bought my first house when I turned 29. I bawled my eyes out the night before I closed out of sheer terror that, say, Dog the Bounty Hunter was going to come take my house away when I couldn’t pay my mortgage.

 My Metaphorical Suitcase

1. I spend the majority of my discretionary income on traveling. It is my absolute biggest passion.
2. I’ve traveled to 26 US states and 43 major US cities.
3. I’ve traveled to 3 Canadian provinces and 8 Canadian cities.
4. I’ve traveled to 13 countries on 3 continents.
5. One of my travel goals is to go to every National Park in the US
6. I just started writing a travel blog called A Metaphorical Suitcase. It’s all professional sounding and isn’t nearly as much fun as ATGAIC!
7. My favourite cities are New York City and Paris. It’s cliché, but I don’t care. They live up to the hype.
8. I love, love, love to fly. I am a plane geek and can identify the type of plane just by hearing the engine⁴. I still get butterflies when I see planes take-off, land, and in the air. Conclusion: I should marry a pilot.
9. I want to fly privately just once. Travel gods, you can’t see me, but I’m down on my knees begging…
10. I recently went on my first helicopter ride. I got nauseous and nearly had to use the bag. Conclusion: I should stick to planes.

 Books I’ve Finished In the Last Six Months

1. When You Are Engulfed in Flames — David Sedaris (re-read)
2. Barrel Fever — David Sedaris
3. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone⁵ – JK Rowling
4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets — JK Rowling
5. My Life in France — Julia Child
6. The Death of Conservatism  — Sam Teanenhaus
7. Infinite Jest — David Foster Wallace (I’m only halfway through this one, but it’s 1,079 pp, so cut me some slack, people! Also where I got my idea for blog footnotes)
8. Liberty — Garrison Keillor
9. The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry – Kathleen Flinn
10. The Picture of Dorian Gray — Oscar Wilde (my all-time favourite book)

Magazines To Which I Subscribe

1. Vanity Fair⁶
2. Wired
3. Newsweek
4. Travel & Leisure
5. Fast Company
6. Garden and Gun
7. The Globe and Mail (newspaper)

My Favourite Games

1. Taboo
2. 80′s Trivial Pursuit
3. Gin Rummy
4. Scrabble
5. Blokus
6. Cranium

My Monstrous Wanna-be Techno-nerd Tendencies

1. I have 22 email addresses
2. I own 11 URLs
3. I have 15 different blog URLs set-up over three blogging platforms, and actively blog on three of them.
4. I use an HP Pavilion 17″ laptop that is an absolute pig on weight and space, and is coming unhinged — literally.
5. I secretly want a Mac, but I’d never admit it.
6. I have profiles on more websites than I care to admit; they easily number into the 30′s.
7. I currently have 161 Facebook friends. I am very selective in who I add and know all of them personally IRL.
8. I currently have 5,029 images on Flickr
9. I currently have 755 unread emails in my Gmail inbox, some of which date to 2006. If you’re still waiting for a reply, this is probably why.

Edible Material

1. I started drinking coffee about three months ago after I bought a Bialetti coffee pot. I am now addicted to cappuccino’s on Sunday.
2. I still drink tea, especially sweet tea (also known as the “wine of the south”).
3. My favourite cuisine is Tex-Mex⁷.
4. My second favourite “cuisine” is french fries. I recently went on a french fry crawl with some Yelp friends and I was at peace.
5. Nothing on the face of the planet beats “Southern Surf & Turf”. For my Canadian readers, this means venison and crawfish.
6. My favourite vegetable is broccoli, although the only one I really don’t like is eggplant.
7. My favourite fruits are watermelon (especially good to cure a hangover), pineapple and strawberries, but I love them all (except kiwi – ew).
8. My favourite Houston restaurants are Cafe Annie and Pappasito’s Cantina. My favourite Toronto restaurants are Grace and Nota Bene.
9. My favourite cocktails are Pimm’s Cup, gin & tonic and big red wines.
10. My favorite beers are Guinness, Sol, Dos XX (Dear Ontario, please start selling this in Canada!), and Hoegaarden.
11. My favourite dessert is my dad’s world-famous chocolate sheet cake. It is fierce!

Things That Take Me To My Happy Place

1. My iPhone
2. My hard, candy pink iPhone case
3. My red, cast iron Mario Batali risotto pan
4. David Sedaris
5. Sparklers
6. Being anywhere outdoors or near water
7. Playing games, especially Rummy, dominos and Taboo (which I will beat you at every. single. time.)
8. Eating brunch
9. Bubble baths in giant soaker tubs
10. Blogging
11. Hummingbirds
12. Bubbling hot tubs at 105 degrees Fahrenheit, especially ones overlooking oceans (see #9)
13. The CBC
14. Cats and dogs
15. Hiking
16. Musicals, especially Chicago and Spring Awakening, and singing them at the top of my lungs in the privacy of my car
17. Year-round Christmas lights on my patio
18. Listening to “This American Life” podcasts and swooning over Ira Glass
19. 30 Rock, Entourage, Top Chef, Project Runway
20. Snow falling at night
21. Swimming at night, especially in warm lakes
22. In-town hotel stays
23. Jumping on hotel beds
24. Haiku
25. Dancing
26. My passport
27. Trying new foods (I just had Korean for the first time!)
28. Witty repartee
29. The Sunday Times
30. Queen Video
31. Swirled cherry and orange Slurpees
32. Photography/photo safaris/my cameras
33. Stepping outside my comfort zone
34. Giggling/Laughing/Chest-shaking guffaws
35. Swinging on swingsets
36. Hip Hop karaoke and hip hop dance class
37. Public Radio International
38. RadioLab
39. Jalapeño hummus
40. Classic 80′s music
41. Classic country music (i.e., Willie Nelson, Hank Williams, etc.)
42. Jarritos Mandarin flavoured-drinks
43. Arm’s length photos, thusly
44. College football.  GEAUX TIGERS!
45. Madonna, the Dixie Chicks, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Michelle Obama, my momma

Things That Take Me To My Unhappy Place

1. People who use the word “reoccurring” instead of “recurring”. People of the universe: “reoccurring” is not a word! Check the dictionary!
2. People who drive slowly in the left lane. I want them to die very slow deaths please move to the right.
3. Smoke/smoking/smokers/people smoking and walking in front of me on the sidewalk whose smoke I am then forced to inhale
4. Being hot, unless I’m on a beach, in a hot tub, or hiking up a mountain
5. Liars
6. Cheaters
7. Balancing my checkbook(s). Unluckily for me, now that I live in Canada but am still paid in USD, I have to manage not one, but *two* chequebooks — my CAD one and USD one. They are the bane of my existence.
8. Clutter
9. Migraines
10. Oprah
11. Americans who travel abroad and act ignorant. When in Rome, people. If you don’t like it, go back to your bubble.
12. Paying a $60 annual tax to the City of Toronto just for having a car in the 416
13. Paying 5 cents for a plastic bag. I still giggle when I buy clothes and cart them out of the store draped over my arm.
14. Did I mention balancing my chequebook?

Things On My Desk At Work 

1. Two flags: a Canadian flag and an American flag
2. The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy; Hirsch, Kett, Trefil
3. Coloured file folders with labeled tabs; mostly pink, with a smattering of blue, green, yellow and red
4. The Belvedere calendar, which I’ve had on my desk every month for ten years
5. An Ikea lamp
6. Green apple-flavoured Viraguard antiseptic hand spray, so as to protect myself against the pig flu
7. Two buttons: Toronto Maple Leafs/Raptors & Vancouver Canucks
8. A Remembrance Day peony, which is on my desk because it keeps falling off of my coat.
9. Various pens, including a pink feathered ostrich that rattles and an Incredibles pen that lights up when I write
10. My perpetually refilled cup of Diet Coke (Conclusion: I require copious amounts of chemicals).
11. The original Wooly Willy

Things In My Refrigerator

1. Half a bottle of Cave Spring 2007 Riesling
2. Unopened bottle of White Zinfandel⁸
3. Fig & Walnut jam (the brand which I don’t know since I threw away the wrapper)
4. Goat cheese (beneath which said unnamed Fig & Walnut spread is spread)
5. Freshly grated gruyere cheese and a block of Parmesano Reggiano
6. Jalapeño hummus
7. A case of Caffeine-free Diet Coke
8. Whipped cream
9. Three cans⁹ of Amsterdam beer
10. Box of Jiffy cornbread¹⁰
11. Fresh spinach
12. Red onion
13. Cilantro
14. A motherlode of condiments but, most importantly, salsa

The Last Ten Things I Listened To On XM Radio

1. The Bob Edwards Show, to which I listen every single day
2. We Both Reached For the Gun — Chicago soundtrack
3. Not Ready to Make Nice — Dixie Chicks
4. Ocean Front Property — George Strait
5. Kids — MGMT
6. West End Girls — Pet Shop Boys
7. Rose Colored Glasses — Conway Twitty
8. Pancho and Lefty — Willie Nelson
9. Bigmouth Strikes Again — The Smiths
10. Black Celebration — Depeche Mode

Random and Seriously Fun Facts About Moi

1. I will try absolutely anything at least once (except oysters.)
2. iPhone apps to which I’m addicted: Fling!, Tetris, Scramble and Groceries
3. I always wanted a 5-speed car, so after graduating University, I bought one without knowing how to drive it. My friend Jill drove me home and taught me how to drive it the next day. I stalled my way to work for about a week, but loved every second of it! My current car has a Tiptronic transmission, but it’s really faux-manual and isn’t nearly the same.
4. My favourite artists are René Magritte, Julian Schnabel, Mark Rothko, and Cy Twombly.
5. My favourite museums are the Menil Collection in Houston; the Tate Modern in London; and the Musee d’Orsay in Paris.
6. I have an interest in both Surrealist art and art stolen by the Nazis during WWII.
7. I like sleeping on white, high thread count sheets.
8. My favourite flowers are pink tulips, pink peonies and white orchids.
9. How I lived prior to having a PVR is beyond me.
10. I went tobogganing for the first time in March 2009. I was the only person over the age of five going down the hill and had an absolute ball!
11. I have a serious crush on Andy Williams.¹¹
12. My porn star name is Buffy Fairacres.¹²
13. My favourite number is 13¹³
14. I have a keen interest in the workings of the Intelligence community, specifically the CIA
15. I haven’t played a videogame since I kicked ass at Tron and Donkey Kong on Intellivision, circa 1985
16. I only run in Asics Gel Nimbus running shoes. They are like running on pillows.
17. I’ve neither broken any bones nor been stung by a bee — ever
18. I don’t have any tattoos
19. Three of my closest friends don’t have Facebook pages. I find this bizarre.
20. I love timepieces of any kind and currently own eight watches
21. My favourite piece of jewelry is my Tiffany “hook and eye” bracelet I bought with the first paycheque I earned out of University
22. My necessary extravagance is a regular 90-minute massage
23. My favourite all-time movie is “Moonstruck”
24. Other than shampoo and conditioner, I don’t use any hair products.
25. My toothpaste is Colgate Max Fresh Liquid Gel in Clean Mint. It’s a complete mystery to me why toothpaste only comes in mint flavours. Who decided we all wanted mint toothpaste? I, for one, would like something a little more exciting like Gin & Tonic or Margarita-flavoured toothpaste. Let’s put a little fun in the teeth brushing chore please, toothpaste makers.
26. My summer perfume is Annick Goutal Eau d’Hadrien and my winter perfume is either Coco Chanel Mademoiselle or Annick Goutal Mandragore
27. I collect nail polish (What?)
28. I’m an absolute candle *freak*. I have a candle closet in my house and currently have about 20 unburned candles. My very favourite scent is Votivo Red Currant . Someone just told me that candles are the new “cat” for lonely single girls. I don’t care one tiny bit because they make me happy, especially when it’s -30C and has been for five months.
29. I wanted to learn to knit since all the cool kids are doin’ it. I took a class and am halfway through a scarf that looks like a ten year-old made it. Actually, that’s probably not fair to the ten year-olds out there! What — I’m trying my hardest!
30. I was once driving in the rain and saw a man walking in it. I stopped and gave him my umbrella, and I’ve never met anyone more thankful.
31. I entered a cake baking contest in middle school. The cake was called “Better Than Sex” and I won first place. My parents were so proud.
32. I’ve met and had my photo taken with Julian Schnabel. He. Was. Awesome.
33. I’ve met David Sedaris and was so starstruck that I could barely speak. He signed my book with a hand-drawn photo of Abe Lincoln with a mouth bubble that said “Diabetes is for lovers”. Yeah, I didn’t get it either.

¹I’ve actually written more than 104 posts, but haven’t published 49 posts I’ve drafted. For shame.
²Anglican, for my Canadian readers
³ If you don’t know what it means, look it up!
⁴ This applies to Boeings only. I’ve only flown an Airbus once and that was in Europe, so I was probaby either inebriated or exhausted.
⁵ Also known as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the U.S. I have no idea why it’s called something else in Canada and the UK.
⁶ Although I despise its Canadian editor, Graydon Carter. His editor’s column was about George W. Bush every single month literally for eight years. I would think that someone as educated and revered as he is could surely come up with something to talk about other than GWB for 96 issues.
⁷ By “Tex-Mex”, I do not mean “mexican”. Everyone in Toronto thinks that I mean “interior mexican” when I say I miss mexican food. Clearly, they have never had the goodness that is Tex-Mex.
⁸ It’s from when my mom was here. It was, dammit!
⁹ Because I’m a classy dame.
¹⁰ Imported from Texas because the single, solitary store that sells it in Toronto charges 4x the price I pay in Houston.
¹¹ I am secretly a 75 year-old woman.
¹²  The name of my first pet and the street on which I grew up, yo.
¹³ Does anyone else find the irony in the fact that my lucky number is also the 13th footnote?! I swear I did not plan that!