100 Things About Me

1. I was born on 7/7/76.
2. My mom wanted to name me Andrea. My dad wanted to name me Tanya.
3. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a teacher, then a scientist, an architect, then a doctor, then a psychologist, then a writer.
4. In college, I wanted to be an events planner.
5. Now I am a high school teacher.
6. When I was a kid, I used to design my future house in my free time, and I used to study house design magazines so I could design the perfect house.
7. My dad was an elementary school teacher. He used to let me correct his papers when I was young.
8. My mom got her college degree when she was 35 years old. She worked as a nurse for several years and is now the director of the county public health department. I am so proud of her!
9. My best friend and I have known each other since we were in the womb.
10. She moved away when we were in junior high, but we kept in touch through letters and frequent visits.
11. We went to the same university and were roommates for two years, then lived on the same street for two more years.
12. I am the youngest of three kids. I think I am the only normal one.
13. When I was a kid, I used to pick out my future children’s names and update the list often. For a while, I wanted to name them Keegan and Theresa.
14. My favorite class in elementary school was grammar.
15. My favorite class in high school was English.
16. My favorite class in college was definitely NOT Japanese.
17. I majored in Japanese for the first three years of college.
18. I added a second major in my sophomore year, and that was Communication Arts.
19. I dropped my Japanese major later so that I could concentrate more on my media and communications classes.
20. Also, because I was tired of studying Japanese for six hours every night and not getting anywhere.
21. In high school, I studied abroad in Japan for one year.
22. I had always wanted to study abroad during college, but I decided to go in high school so that I could escape my life.
23. I wanted to go to Japan because I thought they ate fish every day.
24. My favorite singer when I was a kid was Boy George. I had a laminated photo of him taped to the head board of my bed.
25. In high school, I discovered John Mellencamp and have liked him ever since.
26. I began liking country music soon after graduating from college because I experienced my first line-dance lesson during a vacation in Nashville.
27. I took line-dance lessons for 3 years during my “single-life” days.
28. One thing I miss the most about the USA is listening to the radio. I miss the Deejays. Thank God for iTunes!
29. Another thing I miss are the sitcoms. I need to get a good dose of sitcoms every once in a while or I will go insane!
30. My favorite actor used to be Tom Cruise after I saw him in Interview with a Vampire.
31. I don’t really like him anymore.
32. I do like Ben Stiller though. Being funny is definitely more important than being good looking.
33. I love hearing about celeb gossip. My husband always knows about stuff before I do!
34. My favorite comfort food is Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.
35. I also like Swiss Miss hot chocolate.
36. I check my email at home about 50 times a day.
37. In college, I dated a guy who dumped me when football season started so that he could have more time to watch the games.
38. Another guy dumped me as soon as he turned 21 so that he could have more time to go to the bars.
39. One of my goals this year, in 2006, is to get a puppy.
40. I figured out what the “bare minimum” is, and now my husband rarely complains about my cleaning skills. If I keep up with the laundry, wash the dishes every night and take his shirts to the dry cleaning as needed, I am in the free and clear to do whatever I want with my free time.
41. I love to cook.
42. I love to bake.
43. I hate crowds and crowded places.
44. I make a To-Do list every week and cross things off as they get done.
45. I make a goal list every year (my husband makes one too) and I check it once a month and then cross off things as they get done.
46. I love doing creative things, such as scrapbooking.
47. I would like to go to graduate school someday.
48. I love to read novels, both fiction and non-fiction.
49. I don’t like mysteries, science-fiction and romance novels, but I do like anything that seems like it could happen in real life.
50. As for movies, I love comedies, I love romance and I love romantic comedies. I also like anything that centers on family relationships.
51. I don’t like dishes that have potatoes, carrots and meat mixed together.
52. When I was a kid, I played in the percussion section of the school band for 5 years.
53. I wanted to play saxophone in the worst way, but my mom came home with a pair of drumsticks and said, “I bought these because they were cheaper than a saxophone.”
54. When I was 12, I spent my life savings to buy a used piano and I took lessons for 4 years. In my senior year, I had to quit because I could no longer afford the lessons.
55. My real name is Amanda Jill. When I was a kid, I hated the name Amanda because it sounded too formal. I wanted to be called Mandy.
56. In fourth grade, I changed the spelling to Mande with an “e” because I thought it was unique.
57. The very first time I saw my husband, I knew I just had to meet him.
58. I have never pursued someone so much in my life!
59. I think ironing is the worst household chore in the world.
60. In high school, I joined the cheerleading squad for one basketball season.
61. I only did it so I could spend more time with a friend who was on the squad.
62. My classmates were very shocked the first time I showed up to school in a cheerleading uniform, but actually, I really enjoyed cheerleading because I love to dance.
63. I love pies. In fact, I prefer birthday pie to birthday cake.
64. I have the coolest grandma ever. She wears brightly colored, sparkly outfits, paints her nails red and wears bright red lipstick. She always has a can of beer in her hand, and she loves to gamble. Last time I met her, she was wearing black-rimmed glasses with rhinestones.
65. She has a knitting machine and loves to knit sweaters for people. She also crochets doilies by hand.
66. My husband and I try to go on a date every Saturday.
67. Usually, we go to our favorite coffee shop to hang out, then we go out for dinner and finally to a movie.
68. We see about 3 or 4 movies a month at the theater.
69. My parents are building a new house and they were shocked to hear that their new address would be 6969.
70. I have a huge weakness for chocolate chip cookies, and even on the South Beach diet, I allowed myself to eat chocolate cookies.
71. When traveling, one of my favorite things to do is tour historical houses.
72. I prefer educational trips to relaxing trips. Historical houses, presidential libraries and historical museums – that’s my gig.
73. I have never visited a tropical island, and the only beach I have been to is Daytona during spring break one time.
74. I really feel that one of these days I should try visiting a tropical island for a nice, relaxing vacation.
75. I have to read before going to sleep, but I always fall asleep after about ten minutes.
76. I am the shortest person in my family.
77. I am the only person in my family who doesn’t wear glasses.
78. My friends are extremely important to me.
79. My favorite Christmas custom is sending and receiving Christmas cards. I love getting updates from everyone.
80. Someday, I want to road trip around the West and visit every restaurant of the Old Spaghetti Factory chain.
81. Someday, I want to take a road trip from San Diego all the way up to Vancouver.
82. My parents want to take a road trip out west with my husband and me.
83. I would like to get my driver’s license in Japan within this year, but only if we buy a car!
84. I live close enough to work that I can ride my bicycle there. It takes about 10 minutes.
85. For my only source of exercise, I sometimes walk to work, and it takes 30 minutes.
86. In only I could wake up earlier more often…
87. My mom and dad met and got married only 3 months after meeting. They are still very happily married.
88. My best friend and I dressed up as drag queens every year for Halloween when we were in college.
89. I want to get paid for doing scrapbooking someday.
90. I am a terrible singer, but I love to do karaoke.
91. There are only a few songs that I can do – Journey’s Faithfully, Mellencamp’s Wild Night and sometimes Suzanne Vega’s Luka.
92. I say sometimes because there are days when my singing is worse than other days.
93. The reason why I am a terrible singer is because I lip synced my way through music classes and church all through elementary school.
94. I am a really good lip syncer.
95. The one thing I hate about being married to a workaholic is that I have to eat dinner every night alone.
96. I always thought that one reason people get married is so that they can have a dinner partner.
97. When I go to the USA and have many chances to eat meals with my family and friends, I realize how sad I feel about #93.
98. I love to plan everything.
99. In college, I loved doing weight training and playing racquetball.
100. I think I am a pretty healthy person, but I constantly worry about my husband’s terrible health. I am afraid he will die long before me.