Morpho's Xanga

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:25:29 GMT

Aserejé

Me trying to remember the lyrics to the Las Ketchup song "Aserejé" while at El Patio Español for the San Francisco Spanish Consulate's 'Día de la Hispanidad' celebration:

Friday, November 07, 2008

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 23:29:59 GMT

Proposition 8 -- I Need Not Say Anything Else

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:31:32 GMT

Not mine originally, but I've edited this and added a couple of things.

The Rules for November 5th

To keep the peace and keep a lot of folks from getting nervous, I think we should develop a list of (a)acceptable celebrations and (b) behaviors we should probably avoid – at least for the first few days:

1. No crying, hugging or shouting 'Thank you L-rd!' – at least not in public.

2. No high-fives unless the area is clear and there are no witnesses.

3. No laughing at the McCain/Palin supporters.

4. No calling in sick on November 5th. They'll get nervous if too many of us don't show up.

5. We're allowed to give each other knowing winks or nods in passing. Just try to keep from grinning too hard.

6. No singing "We've Come This Far By Faith" loudly (it will be acceptable to hum softly).

7. No bringing of barbeque ribs or fried chicken for lunch in the company lunchroom for at least a week (no chittlings at all) This may make us seem too ethnic.

8. No leaving Kool-Aid packages at the water fountain. This might be a sign that poor folks might be getting a break through.

9. No 'Cupid Shuffle' during breaks. This could indicate a little too much excitement.

10. Please no "Moving on Up" music. We are going to try to remain humble.

11. No doing the George Jefferson dance unless you're in your office with the door closed.

12. Please try not to yell "BOO-YAH!" Same applies to Dave Chappelle's "BYAAAAH!!"

13. Try to refrain from saying, “I know there’s a G-d, I know there’s a G-d!” when McCain supporters walk by your office or cube.

14. Attempt to be understanding when McCain supporters are overheard using Florida Evans' famous words: “Damn, damn, DAMN!!!”

15. Doing the Running Man, Cabbage Patch, or a backhand spring on the highway is 100% okay.

16. No step shows in corporate vestibules at lunch time (applies to Greeks only).

17. No excessive distribution of emails with slideshows of Martin, Malcolm, (optional Kennedy Bros. and Jesus) and Obama.

18. (On Nov. 5,6,7,8 and until you receive further notice) No jumping ahead of white folks in grocery store lines because "WE in charge NOW!"

19. No honking of horns with chants of "Obama, Obama, Obama" in the following places: hospital parking lots, workplace parking lots, fast food parking lots... Big Lots.

20. No running through the streets shouting, "I can see Russia from the 'hood!

21. For expectant moms: please consider names other than Barack for your infant sons. However, if you do choose to honor your child with that name, please observe the following guidelines:

DO NOT pair "Barack" with ANY ghetto fabulous middle or first names
(e.g. Barack D'Andre Jackson, Jametrius Barack Washington)
No apostrophes (e.g. B'Arack)
NO female derivatives of Barack
(e.g. Barackina, Baracquinequa, Husseinetta, B'rakeeshia)
In fact, Barack derivatives altogether not allowed.

22. Aw heck! Do what you gotta do...this has been a long time coming:)

If I've missed anything, feel free to add to the list. I just want to make sure we're all on the same page when Obama brings this thing home on November 5th.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:43:40 GMT

It's Not Just Because the Poem Below Is in German

...Because I've translated it into English. But even so, I think that too few people grasp the gravity of what Pastor Martin Niemöller wrote:

Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Kommunist.

Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat.

Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,
habe ich nicht protestiert;
ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter.

Als sie die Juden holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Jude.

Als sie mich holten,
gab es keinen mehr, der protestieren konnte.

When the Nazis came for the Communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a Communist.

When they locked up the Social Democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a Social Democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:49:35 GMT

Let Me Get This Straight...

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."
* If you grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, well now, THAT's a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising two daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
* If while governor you staunchly advocate abstinence only (with no other option in sex education in your state's school system) while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

Monday, June 09, 2008

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:46:36 GMT

Here's a reprint of my first published blog article that I wrote for Racialicious.

Interracial Dating - Yet I Do Marvel

by Guest Contributor Morpho

“Yet do I marvel at this curious thing; / To make a poet black, and bid him sing!”
—Countee Cullen, “Yet Do I Marvel”

We all marvel at life circumstances, and I certainly am no different. And because of my upbringing, experiences, and education, I am constantly curious and marveling about the intersections of language and culture, as well as ancillary topics (travel, history, literature, art, philosophy) in my life.

My mother realized before I did that I would have a penchant for dating outside my race. I began studying foreign languages seriously at age 11, and I couldn’t put them down. “It was then I knew,” she said later, “that you would be with someone who wasn’t black.” -That- prospect was okay with her, but as she is from small-town South Carolina, she drew her line in the sand effortlessly and in all seriousness: “Just don’t bring a white girl into this house.” She needn’t have worried about the terrifying prospect of Cindy (one of my mom’s default white girl names) invading her home, because I came out to her as gay a couple of years after her pronouncement.

And in my entire dating history, every single potential partner has been of another race.

I’m currently in a serious relationship with a wonderful man who fits my mother’s prediction, gender aside. We’re a considerable mix of ethnicities and cultures; he’s a Spaniard with dark Mediterranean features, and I’m a 4-to-1 mix of being Afr-Am and Native American (from two North Carolina tribes). We both have Christian upbringings, though I am now a practicing Jew (that’s right, I’m a gay black Jew). We were both bilingual Spanish-English before meeting each other. Spanish is our communicative medium of choice, though the dialects are slightly different (his - Castilian, mine - Costa Rican/Argentine/Castilian, the last part of which being his influence).

Perhaps interestingly, I have told my boyfriend a number of times that it’s difficult for me to see him as white. Considering the Mediterranean countries and regions, I view Portuguese, French, Italian, all southern Slavs, and Greeks as being white. But though I have seen plenty of other Spaniard guys who look white to me, his dark features (along with language) make me see him as Spaniard above all else, then Mediterranean, then European, and then white. He self-identifies as European above all else; as whiteness in the US typically (but certainly not exclusively) carries an Anglo-Saxon connotation, he doesn’t feel comfortable labelling himself as such, though he does so in his native country.

There are certain stereotypes that I think people could easily employ when examining our relationship.

(a) He fetishizes me according to the notion of the hypersexual and hypersexually endowed black male;
(b) I fetishize him as a tall, dark, Latin lover whose sex appeal and mystique increases with the swivel in his hips.
(c) My being with him establishes upward mobility - I’ve ‘moved up’ to orbit in the ’superior’ world of co-mingling with someone who is lighter-skinned and straighter-haired;
(d) I’m ultimately self-hating because I’m not with someone of my own phenotypical characteristics. I should point out, however, that I have never been confronted with any of these by anyone.

In discussing how others might perceive us, I would imagine that, when outside of gay or gay-tolerant circles, the fact that we’re a gay couple of any ilk far trumps our respective intra-couple diversity as being the issue of note. Within gay-tolerant environments, however, the previously mentioned stereotypes are of greater potential gravity, and I’d like to address them here. Regarding (a) and (b), he and I are both internationally minded and love travel, language, literature, art, and exploring other cultures. We’ve had these inclinations since before meeting each other. Each of us is the first person that we’ve dated outside of our own nationality and language. I think that because of the sum total of our life experiences, we both realize that we appreciate diversity and we have been open to potential partners who are not exactly like us in every way. Similarly, we weren’t romanticizing whom we might have encountered. He doesn’t place me on a racialized pedestal, à la Hughes’ Slave on the Block’; in the same vein I don’t romanticize him along the lines of being exotic, mysterious, and dangerous, all of which form part of the portrayal of Latin and Hispanic males in American popular culture (see Dr. Diane Klein’s presentation on “Latino Masculinities under the Microscope”). I’m not solely a mobile penis; neither is he a disembodied swiveling torso.

Regarding (c) - Interestingly, my boyfriend is not exactly who I envisioned being with, in a way. When I previously thought of being with a Spanish speaker, I envisioned being with a darker-skinned, curly-haired Latino from a region roughly extending from Cuba and Puerto Rico in the north, through Honduras and Panama southward to Colombia and Venezuela (I should note, however, that I have always been open to the possibility of people from other locations as well). I love my boyfriend for a myriad of reasons, among which being that we have similar life goals and aspirations. We’re both in the same profession. We’re close in age. We have similar pursuits and pastimes. We have similar ideas about travel, living abroad, and raising children. What I’m trying to illustrate here is that just being with him doesn’t accord either one of us any status in each other’s mind (nor anyone else’s, as far as we’ve been told), nor has it given us any perceived ‘culture cred.’ In the circles that we inhabit, it’s a complete non-issue that we are of different races, cultures, and colors. And as the ’skin/hair’ reference is employed most frequently in the context of perceived offspring, this is at current a non-issue for us as well — we haven’t even begun to consider what the mother of our children will look like.

And with stereotype (d), I already mentioned that I’m with my partner because of personality, attractiveness and life goals, not specifically because of his race or ethnicity. I do gravitate toward those with some similar characteristics as I have - light tan to medium brown skin, dark features, a strong eye-hair color contrast, full lips. The places on earth where I’ve embraced my phenotypical characteristics the most have been Cuba and Panama, and the poetry of black Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén has been formative in my self-determination and self-esteem building (see his poems “Negro Bembón” and “Mulata”). But I don’t exclusively seek someone of those characteristics, nor do I exclude anyone automatically because of their lack of those physical attributes.

To revisit Cullen’s poem, “Yet Do I Marvel,” there exists an apparent paradox. The poet bemuses the fate of being a black poet and expected to sing. Though it seems like on the surface it may be cruel to expect a black poet to sing merrily in his verse when his reality is fraught with despair, Cullen’s point is that the seeming paradox, along with the others mentioned in the poem, has a built-in appropriate resolution. Though the circumstance of a black poet ’singing’ and expressing himself artistically is peculiar, it is not impossible. I feel similarly about dating beyond my race — it isn’t because of some deficiency in my own state of being, nor is it cruel because I am consigned to adhering to prevalent stereotypes on the subject.

It’s simply because I love.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:30:38 GMT

To the French and Belgian Students Who Just Departed

There are lots and lots of things that I have been lazy about getting into this blog. I've traveled a bit (Buenos Aires and Uruguay in March, St. Louis in April, London and Chicago in May), I've managed to finally graduate with my Masters in TESOL, I've been promoted to the Executive Board at my synagogue, and I may have even figured out how to use my bowling ball -- in April I bowled my highest league game ever (a tie for my personal best, a 256) and my highest ever scratch series (220/221/202 for a 643 series; incidentally, that's also the only time I've ever bowled three consecutives games over 200).

But the impetus for today's writing, however, concerns some (former) students. And whether or not my forthcoming opinions are vituperative vitriol remains to be seen, for I know not how it will come out even as I am writing these very words.

The teaching term ended on 30 May, and about 43 students who had been here since September graduated. There was a celebration party at the Mars Bar in SOMA, and though I initially thought I would only stay for one hour, I stayed for three and actually enjoyed myself (I'm sure it had nothing to do with the four Cuba Libres I had). Then another teacher and I had an epiphany: we all enjoyed ourselves so much because not one French student showed up. NOT ONE (French students are, FYI, about 30% of the school). No wonder it so pleasant. The next day at graduation the French tried to stonewall us again, with the majority not showing up, and those that did having attitude. NO ONE CARED AND WE WERE GLAD THAT YOU WEREN'T THERE. In fact, we wish that you had encouraged the remainder to stay home.

Now don't get me wrong... I'm not writing off Frenchies and French-speaking Belgians collectively, because I've had some sincerely wonderful students from these countries. The problem is that they all left early, leaving the worst behind. And just to be clear where each student stands, I'm calling you out by your actual names -- every last one of you -- so there's no confusion of sentiment.

Caroline, Tiphaine, Ophélie, Marion, Jessica -- you left waaaaay too soon. We all wish every student could have been like you.
Redouan, Lionel -- representing the positive face of Belgium. See above.
Kim -- also a positive face of Belgium, though it took me a while to see it (when most never saw it at all). Learn the balance between sober, social, and obnoxious, especially around the opposite sex, and you'll be fine... and then everyone else will see that you're worth hanging around. Sometimes.

Michael F -- you were never my student, which made it all the more poignant that you broke ranks with the French delegation and actually said good-bye to me and other staff. That speaks volumes about you. I know you'll be back in the US in a few years, maybe even in San Francisco again.

Andrea -- still waiting on our pool rematch. Young as you are, you were one of the most mature French-speaking males we had. You also said good-bye. The staff all liked you.

For the rest of you: You know what? You are all, collectively, SPOILED MOODY BRATS. If I could, I would mandate that we never have another French student EVER because of you all. You validate every stereotype that has ever existed for French-cultured peoples, and I have no sympathy for any of you. I'm glad you're no longer here.

Margaux -- You're smart but immature, and that combination in you led to you being a complete bitch. I was jumping for joy every single day that you were not in my class. You came to our school with a bitch reputation, and it was certainly true. Good luck at the Dutch school you go to -- good luck to the school, that is, for having to put up with you. Sadly, though, you weren't the worst of the lot by far.

Adrien D de la R -- Boy did I misjudge you. I thought you were cool when you arrived, but you're a poseur. How do you not write a cover letter in three weeks? Abominable. You wasted a lot of money by forfeiting an internship opportunity because of your incompetence. And then you couldn't speak or make eye contact for the remainder of your time here? I guess if I couldn't complete basic instructions, I'd be embarassed to make eye contact as well.

Adrien F -- How dare you. How dare you try to make me feel bad for chastizing you for your blatant plagiarism. Are you fucking kidding me? You're the biggest fucking baby on the face of this earth. Instead of admitting that you were caught and being a man about it, you whined like a baby and then pouted like one for the next several weeks. That makes you a BITCH. You're damn right that I put you in the other class when Level 5 split -- I was done with you. I don't teach kids, and I for damn sure don't teach "adults" who act like them. Grow a set and learn to follow instructions, fucktard.

Julie -- You were alright most of the time, but you were immature and you knew that you were wrong for ripping up your essay and throwing it away. Why would you do that and THEN write two pages in your journal about how you were upset by my comments, thus preventing me from defending my comments (which you severely misinterpreted). Perhaps if spent less time moving from boy to boy and instead reading my comments more closely, you would have understood them. But I guess you and these other Frenchies knew better than to yell at me like you do at some other staff here... because all -hell- would have broken loose.

Magali -- G-d in heaven, where do I start with you? You should have never studied abroad. I have never, ever met a student who was absolutely unwilling to share anything about her life. You should have taken the money you spent on our program and gotten extensive therapy and a good anti-depressant prescription. I tried and tried and tried (and tried!) to communicate to you that it was okay to contribute in class, but you never would. I sincerely hope that I never, ever have another student even half as emotionally troubled as you. I never thought you plagiarized your essay, but I still think you wrote it in French and used an online translator -- I mean come on, do you think I'm stupid?! I know your writing style and that's not what was in that essay. As of this moment, I hereby institute a ban on all female Belgians at our school.

Good luck and good riddance to the lot of you.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:39:48 GMT

The Privileges I Have

In the previous entry, I indicated which of the 34 ‘privilege’ indicators were true for me according to the “What Privileges Do You Have?” blog activity. 15 were true for me. Here are my reactions:

4. Mother finished college

I gave myself an extra point for this one. Whereas on my father’s side my generation is the first to go to college (eight of us have gone to college; I was the sixth to go, and the third or fourth to finish; two are in college now), my mother’s family has obtained college degrees for generations. On her side I am the fourth generation to graduate from college; the first to complete a bachelor’s degree was my great-grandmother (consider that she was a black woman in rural South Carolina who was born in 1896, and you’ll begin to understand just how amazing that is). Additionally, I am the third-generation to get an advanced degree, as my mother, her sister, and both grandparents all have master’s degrees (my grandfather had two).

7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home

In part, I think, because of the heavy value that my family placed on education, and partly because I was such a voracious reader of my own volition, it seems as though I always had new books. And I’m thoroughly convinced that having easy access to books at a young age is a big privilege – I must say I’m appalled whenever I see a dearth (or a complete absence) of reading material for children.

10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18

Initially I balked at this one. I began to think of hobbies that I had as a kid – playing soccer, Boy Scouts, singing, bowling, academic competitions. I would say that I had lessons in each, but it was always within some group context. In elementary school I also had trumpet lessons twice a week for a couple of years, but it was only because DC Public Schools had a free program and all my parents had to do was sign a permission slip.

12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively in the media

I definitely said NO to this one, because people who dress and talk like me (read: professionally dressed, educated-sounding black males) are not portrayed in the media at all, which is ten times worse IMO. The only portrayals of people like me in the media are of newscasters (e.g., CBS’ Russ Mitchell, CNN’s Bernard Shaw) who have ‘broken though’ the national newscasting color barrier, though at great expense to their perceived blackness (if they ever even cared about such a thing).

16. Went to a private high school

Yup. As preppie as it gets. Catholic (Jesuit), ultra-preppie, ultra-rich, ultra-conservative. Families with insane amounts of money sent their kids there, with the majority of them coming from two of the wealthiest counties in the entire nation (Montgomery County, MD and Fairfax County, VA). And even though I came from the wealthiest black county in the nation (Prince George’s County, MD), I was still from the wrong side of the suburbs by a long shot, and had to prove my worth almost every day. Academically, though, I am grateful for the most part for the experience – imagine having a 4.3 GPA over three years and only finishing 19th out of 176?

17. Went to summer camp

Well, Boy Scout summer camp… I didn’t have to pay for it though! And it wasn’t really optional.

30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16

I did – twice – but paid for neither. At 12 I was one of two students selected by my junior high school principal to go to Space Camp (didn’t pay for that either); the other when I was 15 and I was flown out for a scholarship competition at the University of Chicago. Fortunate indeed, I know. At 16 I was flown out to what would become my alma mater twice.

34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

This one was not true for me. Not only was I aware of how much the heating bill was, I was also aware of the mortgage payment, what the 30-day overdue payment envelope looked like, what the 60-day overdue payment envelope looked like (it was bright red and not placed in the mailbox with the rest of the mail), how to get to the phone company after school to pay the bill in person the day before disconnection, where our regular neighbourhood hiding spot was when the car was about to be repossessed, leaving the stove on with the door open for warmth, and having to do homework by candlelight when there was no electricity.

I've done this activity with my current students, and not surprisingly I had two students who took 30 steps. I also explained to them that as a black male in the US, having 15 of those 'privileges' is WAY above norm. They seemed quite surprised.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:15:20 GMT

What Privileges Do You Have?

I saw a blog game on a Quaker blog, so I thought I'd see how privileged I am. It's based on an exercise developed and copyrighted by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University.

Note: I'll comment in my next entry on what I think the results say about me, and how much I (don't) agree with some of them. If there's a somewhat interesting story behind any of these, I'll add that too. If you post this in your blog, please leave a comment on this post.

1. Father went to college
2. Father finished college
3. Mother went to college
4. Mother finished college (in my mother's family, both my grandparents and even one of my great-grandmothers finished college. I believe I'll take an extra step for that.)
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor (lots of teachers though...)
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
9. Were read children's books by a parent
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
16. Went to a private high school
17. Went to summer camp
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child
23. Had a phone in your room before you turned 18
24. You and your family lived in a single family house
25. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
26. You had your own room as a child
27. Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
28. Had your own TV in your room in High School
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
31. Went on a cruise with your family
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

In the group exercise which was originally designed for college students, staff and faculty, everyone stands in a line and steps forward if any of these things are true for them.

If we were all in a big room, I would have taken 16 steps forward. How about you? How many would you have taken? How many steps will your kids have taken by the time they're 18 (or how many did they take before they turned 18)?

Notice that each of these are things that were given to you or provided for you rather than things you necessarily earned yourself. The exercise instructions note that just because you've taken a lot of steps doesn't mean that you haven't worked hard to get where you are. But perhaps consider the things you've had handed to you that others didn't have.

To participate in this blog game, copy and paste the above list into your blog, and bold the items that are true for you. If you don't have a blog, feel free to post your responses in the comments.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 07:39:34 GMT

What Have You Done?

Because I'm procrastinating at the moment, I decided to fill this out. The things highlighted in bold are those which I have done.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins [Aside: I've swum with blue dolphins... does that count?]
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (and survived the crush afterwards)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach (in tight leather pants, no less!)
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo (well, not yet... but soon!)
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert” (well, I was interviewed in a newspaper as one)
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country (Cuba, 2002)
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over (that's why I'm in Yayo now)
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair (I know what you're thinking... what hair? Spare me.)
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life