100 Things

Almost 100 Things

1. I once drove the Goodyear Blimp. (My Dad was a Goodyear exec.)

2. The FBI had a file on me when I was 15. They'd heard about the curtains I'd made from real flags and really took a dim view of it.

3. I have had many fun hitchhiking adventures.

4. I am a huge Simpson's fan and named my website after an episode.

5. I've been divorced once. I was devastated.

6. Used to have a classic cherry-red Studebaker [car].

7. Took ballet, acrobatics, and tap for years growing up with my sister.

8. I have two children.

9. I have lived in 2 different co-existing communes in rural Tennessee, in Venice Beach, CA, in Atlanta, GA, and briefly at the Chelsea in NY. Met a few characters there.

10. I bought my first twelve-string guitar when I was 17 from Dunham's in Asheville, NC.

11. I used to belong to the Mickey Mantle Fan Club when I was 11 years old. But I also really liked the great Roger Maris.

12. I still meditate and do yoga daily.

13. I probably had more fun in my old navy VW bus (that I painted the moon, sun and stars on), than anything. Many taboos were slayed, initiations held, and numerous trips were taken. This was 1969-70 when they were still quite unique.

14. I was a bartender for a dozen years. It was my evening job.

15. I met my husband while I was a bartender.

16. My husband played lead guitar in the band where I was a bartender.

17. I recently had a milestone birthday.

18. My favorite food is coconut shrimp.

19. I used to be embarrassed by the fact that I'm such a sports enthusiast, but now I celebrate it. And I love to play golf.

20. I am a big Duke University Blue Devils Basketball fan.

21. I have had some of the same best friends for over 35 years and we're in contact every week.

22. I am a recovering drug/alcohol addict; and have been drug-free since 1991; and only 4 or 5 drinks since then. No dope. Marijuana doesn't count.

23. Some of my very best friends weren't able to do the same thing and have already passed on far too soon.

24. I miss my best friend, Janet. She was a nurse who succumbed to the occupational hazard. My very best friend since 13.

25. When I was young, my mother taught our neighbor to sew and the neighbor gave me piano lessons.

26. I used to jog eight miles a day.

27. And I worked out literally every extra minute I had during the day.

28. This exercise blitz was supported when I was a full-blown cocaine addict.

29. I had two car wrecks as the driver by the time I was fifteen years old. It's probably why I worry so much about my teenage daughter in a car.

30. I like making quilts, wall-hangings, clothes, anything on my sewing machine or by hand. I've made two quilts by hand.

31. I didn't learn to sew until I was over 30 and made all my young daughter's clothes, some of mine and some of my husbands.

32. I was first paid to sing when I was just 14 at a place called the "Waggon Wheel". They passed around a cigar box and took up a collection for me.

33. I persuaded them to let me sing "Play With Fire" & "Time is on My Side" [Stones] & "Eve of Destruction", "Don't Think Twice". Where else was a 15 year old girl going to get this opportunity in Smalltown, USA? I later sang in 2 different bands after being a street musician.

34. I am the oldest of two daughters.

35. I have a rescued mixed breed (golden retriever/chow) dog named Buddy.

36. My favorite color is black.

37. My dad passed away in 1990 on my daughter's 2nd birthday. I still miss him madly. Everybody loved my Dad.

38. I once took Prozac for depression. Not long after losing my Father.

39. I don't recommend stopping it abuptly. I was weeding by moonlight in a manic frenzy soon after a self induced withdrawal.

40. I used to wear glasses but at my last DMV trip they said I didn't need to wear them to drive so I think my vision is improving with age. Pretty strange.

41. I believe marijuana should be legal. I know. You're surprised.

42. I registered to vote in 1972 to cast my first vote against Nixon when he ran for president. He had visited my college campus in 1971 and it was the first big organized protest I went to.

43. I protested against the Vietnam War in DC and at college many times and have only been maced twice and detained once. (I got to sign myself out.)

44. My family nickname for me is Sude or Sudie.

45. I like to play Mah-Jongg.

46. I was confirmed an Episcopalian, and so is my family.

47. But am currently a practicing Buddhist We attend in the back of a bookstore.

48. I still cling to many Sixties ideals--1) Love everybody. 2) Share what you have. 3) Whatever gets you through the night.

49. I am a compulsive list maker and organizer.

50. If I had been born a boy, my parents were going to name me Mike.

51. I first went to see Jimi Hendrix on May 9, 1969, with Bill Sherrod. I was 16 and was so excited I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

52. My great-grandmother died just a few years ago when she was 107.

53. My husband has never worn a wedding band. He also doesn't like to wear a watch or earring or necklace. I'm sure there's a good story there somewhere but he's not talking. But a pocketwatch works fine for him.

54. My husband always plays guitar left-handed upside down, like Hendrix, and has cut a few records back in the day. He actually had the same producer as Jimi. (Or was that the same manager?) My husband has lead a very full life.

55. Being a mother is everything it's cracked up to be. It's my greatest joy.

56. I believe everyone should try LSD once in their lifetime. It's certainly a mind-expander and helped me fast-forward my thinking in my formative, early college years. So I majored in psychedelics in college the first time around. I went back again for another degree in 1992.

57. My husband just found out he has Type II Diabetes.

58. He also has Hepatitis C

59. So does my sister.

60. Christmas 2003, she was very ill and in the Intensive Care unit for 10 days. Real touch and go not knowing if she'd make it. I don't know when I've been so scared. (UPDATE: See #66)

61. Trying to cope and adjust with everyone around me being ill.

62. Who am I? Queen Bringdown and the Buzzkills? Pass that spliff and stay awhile. You want more? I really don't enjoy talking about myself much and I certainly don't want to divulge much either.

63. In college, I recall good-looking guy came by the university in his converted old bread truck and parked in front of the Student Center where all us 'ne'er do wells' were lounging. He set up a table with SDS pamphlets and we all signed up and discussed Nixon's pending arrival on campus. He talked to us about the ROTC program and how to take over that building. It was the college student's "Fuck You" to war. Within a year I was onboard with NOW, SDS, and along with Arfus Apple & Suzy Creamcheese in an art and performance troupe of drama and art majors and assorted friends. I was seventeen and plugged in. Believe it.

64. I'm in the early stages of working on an autobiography/memoir. I'm not that vain. I just was chicken to tell my kids so they can sit down one day and read about me before they came into the world.

65. Biggest misconception about me? That I'm a wise-ass. I am the sweetest, most gentle spirit that you'll ever meet.

JANUARY 2006

66. My sister, Robin passed away on November 24, 2005, Thanksgiving morning at 6:00am. She was two years younger and was my best friend. I thought we had another year with her, but she passed on to the other side. More people are there than are here now. She died from liver cancer brought on by Hepatitis C. By the time we got the diagnosis of the cancer, it had already spread to her lymph nodes and it was just a matter of time. I told her I was going to *fix her*, but we both knew that was wishful thinking. On her hospital bed when she was no longer lucid, her look said it all. She was scared and there was nothing I could do to help her. Coldplay's "Fix You" had come on the radio a few weeks earlier when we were driving back from her most recent diagnosis. Or death sentence, as it turns out. I didn't like Coldplay. Robin hadn't heard it before so I turned it up and sung the song to her. By the time it was over I was convinced I could heal her with the help of drug trials or last resort treatments. I began researching like a motherfucker and was making plans to take her to Mexico when I got the call from Mother that Robin was in the hospital. She came back out in a hearse.

67. After Robin passed on, my Mother was all alone and scared to live by herself. She's sacrificed so much for me so I moved in with her into my old family home in Tennessee. My dear husband and sweet daughter are still living in NC for now, but we stay in touch every day.

68. Did you guess that I was the town outcast? My friend's parents wouldn't let me hang around with their kids. I was a free spirit and still am. My kids are sad they can't find ways to rebel and shock me. Unless one becomes a Republican, I'm pretty much shock proof.

TO BE CONTINUED...

July 3, 2008

69. My daughter delivered a beautiful boy September 9, 2007. Phoenix Sebastian. He's perfect in every way and I'm a brand new grandmother. Today he's 10 months old, is taking his first wobbly steps and can alone stand by himself. He has 7 teeth already and is eating solid food very well. I couldn't be more proud of my daughter and I tell her that at least once a week. He has a little mohawk but I would like to see it grow.

70. I enjoyed a satisfying career with J.Crew and they later closed down in my town. After my Mother ended up alone in another city the universe decided my next course for me. I moved in with her and I began working for myself as an independent contractor so I could care for her. Dig this-- I'm not very hard on myself and I work when I want to and need to. I still can't get over that I'm working at home on my computer. And the money is good. I found the uber grande dickola this time.

71. I've been seperated from my husband for 3 years now. I don't really mind. Honestly? I would really like to date again.
72. To be continued...