About Me

1. I learned to knit when I was little with some red acrylic yarn.

2. My first project was a garter stitch scarf.

3. After about 6 inches, I finished it off as a perfect blanket for my teddy, stuffed it in the closet and it was never seen again.

4. I stopped knitting for a LONG time and finally picked it up again at Thanksgiving, 2003.

5. Ever since my brother gave me a green ipod, I can’t get enough of the color green.

6. Unfortunately I look awful in green, so I don’t have any green clothes.

7. I usually wear different shades of black or grey, or sometimes red or pink.

8. I live in what I think is a pretty gross apartment, even when it’s clean.

9. Sometimes I hate sitting on the floor, but I don’t have much of a choice.

10. I’m starting to get used to kneeling all the time just like my Japanese friends said I would.

11. I can kneel for 20 or 30 minutes before my feet fall asleep, but the main problem is that my knees hurt.

12. I want a couch that is more than 12 inches off the floor.

13. I think I’ll have to wait until I move back to the US.

14. I was on the golf team in high school.

15. People are always surprised to hear this, because they assume it means I’m a good golfer.

16. I’m not.

17. I don’t even understand what a handicap is.

18. I don’t like animals. I don’t hate them, I just don’t like them.

19. There are a few animals that have won my heart, like my Aunt and Uncle’s dog, Guy.

20. I miss Guy!

21. I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions because I would immediately cheat and bend my own rules.

22. Still, I’ve been trying to pick up my apartment and make sure the day’s dishes are washed every night before I go to bed.

23. It sounds a lot easier than it actually is.

24. My mom used to sew a lot, and I always rolled my eyes at it…

25. …except when she made me great stuff like quilts.

26. Now I want to make a quilt but I don’t have the time or a sewing machine.

27. I can’t tell when water is boiling so I have to have a whistling kettle.

28. I LOVE music.

29. I hate it when people ask me what kind of music I like, because I can never think of anything off the top of my head.

30. I like lots of different music, so sometimes I forget my favorites.

31. I honestly enjoy the musical stylings of the Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff.

32. I have been accused of always speaking in superlatives.

33. It’s not true, I NEVER speak in superlatives.

34. I can never decide on my favorite things: movies, foods, colors, etc.

35. I like so many things that it is too difficult to permanently decide.

36. I really like the movie The Jerk.

37. I can’t decide what I want to be when I grow up.

38. I think web designer would be a great career but that is based on absolutely no concrete knowledge of the profession.

39. I will probably be a teacher, even though I always said it was the one thing I never wanted to be.

40. I’m an “assistant” teacher now and I really like it.

41. I studied French and Business in college.

42. I hated my business classes.

43. I used to get really irritated when people assumed that I wanted to be a French teacher just because I was a French major in college.

44. “There are a lot of different things you can do with a French major!” I said.

40. Now I don’t think being a French teacher would be so bad…

41. …except that I kind of forget how to speak French.

42. There is another English teacher at my high school here who is from Montreal and we
sometimes speak French.

43. Usually he just speaks French and I respond in English.

44. It’s hard to speak French when I’m trying to learn Japanese.

45. I studied Spanish in college too.

46. Sometimes when I am trying to speak to people in Japanese, I accidentally say things in Spanish.

47. I want to learn Arabic someday, but I don’t know if I will ever actually be able to do it.

48. I love cold weather and turtlenecks.

49. I wish it could be winter all year round!

50. I like to draw.

51. I wish I had more free time so I could have a million hobbies.

52. Instead, I am using my precious free time writing up one of these stupid lists.

53. I love mail.

54. When I was little, I used to write letters to my cousins and enclose questionnaires to make
sure that they would write back.

55. When I lived in France I was really good about sending mail.

56. Now that I have a “job” and high-speed internet, I’m really bad about sending mail.

57. Grocery shopping, going to the post office, going to the bank and running daily errands is really tiring on my bike.

58. I live in a really nice neighborhood, but unfortunately it is the only hilly part of my “city.”

59. I like cooking but I really hate doing dishes so I avoid making anything complicated.

60. I really like living in Japan.

61. I never thought it would come to this, but I really enjoy spending time alone.

62. I love pickles.

63. Unfortunately I haven’t found any giant gallon jars of pickles in Japan.

64. I’m not holding my breath.

65. I’m starting to get really into Japanese TV even though I can’t understand what they’re saying.

66. I’m REALLY good at pretending to understand what is going on in Japanese even when I don’t understand at all.

67. Sometimes this backfires, but usually people just think I am really good at Japanese.

68. My hair is getting curly on just the right side.

69. When I was little, I really wanted curly hair.

70. Now, I’m afraid that my hair is going to become really curly all around.

71. If it did, I would look like a clone of my mom. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

72. I really love movies but I don’t watch them very often.

73. I love books and I could browse in a bookstore all day.

74. It is really frustrating to go into a big Japanese bookstore and know that I can’t read 99% of the books.

75. NPR is the best because I can listen to it online (like I’m doing right now!).

76. All Things Considered and Fresh Air are two of my favorite shows.

77. I’m allergic to the food dye Yellow #5.

78. I love candy but most of the time there is Yellow #5 in there.

79. I am usually willing to eat candy with Yellow #5 in it and just deal with the consequences later.

80. I wish I had a car, but if I actually had the chance to get a car, I know I would decline.

81. I studied abroad in Lyon, France for a year. It was the best!

82. When I came home from France, my French teacher taught me how to pronounce the French “R.”

83. It really bugged me that no one bothered to tell me about it BEFORE I went to France.

84. If I ever teach French, the French “R” is going to be part of the first class.

85. I hate it when people use apostrophes wrong. ESPECIALLY in my kids’ English textbooks.

86. I love peanut butter and anything peanut butter flavored.

87. I think the main reason I like Thai food is peanut sauce.

88. I’m a really big procrastinator.

89. I’ve actually meant to write one of these lists for a long time.

90. I love Japanese stationery and calendars. There are just so many cute things in this country!

91. I love coffee.

92. I wish I had more time for knitting because there are so many different yarns I want to try
and things I want to make.

93. I am trying to work up the nerve to call the Noro factory (which is about an hour from where I live) and ask if they give tours.

94. I’m hoping that they at least have a factory store.

95. I have lived in Japan for about 6 months now and I still haven’t called (see no. 84).

96. I’m proud of my neat handwriting.

97. I really like reading knitting blogs and I am happy that now I have one too!

98. I made a separate blog about my life in Japan mostly for family and friends who don’t want to read about my knitting.

99. Now it seems like a lot of people read them both.

100. Hurrah! I made it to the end. It’s a good thing, because I have nothing left to say!