Seven Things

Let me preface this by saying I hate chain letters. And while I love the IDEA of 'get to know your friends better' fill-in-the-blanks-with-the-answers kind of emails, I never seem to have time to get around to them.

But, Sean is my blog-daddy. He (a brilliant writer, though edgy as hell - as he would say 'forewarned is fairwarned'!) inspired me to be here in my corner of the web in the first place, so when he "tags" me for one of these, I feel somewhat obligated. Plus, it's the introspective equivalent of spending an hour at the shrink's office (but closer and cheaper and you get to do it in your pajamas at 2 in the morning when you can't sleep.) So. Seven things. This one's for you, Sensitive Rebel:

7 things I plan to do before I die:
1) Speak Italian. Verbs and all. Confidently and passionately, if not fluently.
2) (Let myself) fall in love again.
3) Learn to say ‘no', even when it's just for – (or perhaps ESPECIALLY when it's just for) – self preservation.
4) Travel to every continent.
5) Somehow make a measurable difference for people whose lives are less privileged than mine has been so far.
6) Get through my lifetime must-read list.
7) Learn to love ‘what is’ (all credit to B. for this one…! But it’s true.)

7 things I can do:
1) Drink scotch neat and accept a compliment graciously (these have NOT always been the case.)
2) Go to the end of the earth for family: the one I was born into, and the ones I have chosen for myself.
3) Burst into tears on a crowded airplane when reading a book or watching a movie. (Yup, as the people behind me murmur, “hmmmm, she’s got issues”)
4) Be a fantastic manager in a crisis. Really.
5) Make an ass-kicking sausage risotto.
6) Lead a bus full of otherwise perfectly normal adults just about anywhere, and get them to do (and ENJOY!) crazy stuff.
7) Put a condom over my head and inflate it til it pops. (life of the party, that one.)

7 things I cannot do:
1) That cool cab-whistle with my fingers (try as I may.)
2) Possibly put into words how much my “family” – see #2 above – really means to me.
3) Ski worth a damn. Or ballroom dance really well. Or platform dive.
4) Open myself easily again when someone steps on my spirit.
5) Be patient with ignorant people.
6) Stop taking risks. Calculated and well-thought ones, but risks nonetheless. A safe and predictable life makes me yawn a little.
7) Sort out organized religion in my own mind. Is someone right? Is everyone equally wrong? Why do so many of them seem to thrive on exclusion? Why can’t we all just get along?!?!?!

7 things that attract me to my preferred gender:
1) A brilliant wit. *(even better if he’s just a little dorky.)
2) Someone who can keep up with – and indeed, make me work a little, in a debate
3) A person who has something to teach me, and who never stops learning.
4) Someone I won’t snap in half like a toothpick.
5) A fantabulous smile and infectious laugh.
6) Confidence and streetsmarts.
7) Noticing, and remembering, and doing, the little things.

7 things that I say most often:
1) Poke me in the eye with a sharp stick. (or its adaptation, “Sharp stick, sharp stick!” … or better, sign language … just jabbing rapidly at my eye with my finger).
2) ‘I was right, I was right, I was right’ (only to UBlend. But I say it a lot.)
3) Jiminy crickets (which I adopted trying to eliminate the less-attractive expletives from my vocabulary)
4) Damnit, Jim!
5) Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight…
6) Currently, ‘mi dispiace, non parlo bene l’Italiano, ma ho bisogno…’ (I’m sorry, I don’t speak Italian well, but I need … )
7) Yeah, well, let’s not fall on our swords over that

7 celebrity crushes (in no particular order):
1) Colin Firth
2) Jon Stewart (I’m a sucker for BRILLIANTLY WITTY.)
3) Bradley Whitford (okay, maybe not him, but Josh on the West Wing.)
4) Bruce Willis – back when he was Dave Addison in Moonlighting. Not now.
5) All the best geeky news guys: Stone Phillips, Bill Hemmer, Matt Lauer, David Gregory, Anderson Cooper, the late David Bloom, Stephen Colbert (how excited is he that I just called him a ‘news guy’?) … not Brian Williams, though. Too pretty.
6) Robert Redford (Rugged, and not, all at once. Always, perennially, eminently doable.)
7) Andrew Lincoln – who plays the guy in Love, Actually who stands at the door on Christmas Eve with flashcards… which is one of those moments I burst into tears on airplanes.
(As you can see, I apparently don’t even have functional celebrity crushes – it’s more the CHARACTERS than the actors that I’m talking about here. Yeesh!!!)

7 people I want to do this. (and as we know, wanting does not getting make … but it IS harder than it looks, and a good albeit random exercise in introspection.)
1) The Mom and DS: because it’s Lucky 7, how can you resist?
2) The Old Soul, because I know he never would.
3) UBlend, because just when you really think you know someone, they can surprise you.
4) Beatrice, because her wisdom and sense of self always make me think.
5) The Unassuming Princess & Virgin Blogger – because it’s like a Cosmo Quiz, but better!
6) Timmo – because I learn something every time he opens his mouth, though I can’t quite figure him out.
7) Fratello Guido, because he would have to be serious for more than 37 seconds at a stretch.