100 Confessions

(100) These 100 Confessions are for me. I'm not a confident person historically. I'm a pessimist by nature. But I believe I've gotten better at believing in myself. And last year, my New Years' Resolution was to become more confident in myself and in my abilities.

I'm ridiculous person. I do crazy stupid things (perhaps including sharing 100 embarrassing facts about myself with the entire world via blog). I shoot for things that many times I fail at. But, through this experience, I've learned that I'm perhaps not an awful person. And maybe one of my strengths is that I underestimate myself--I'm always happily surprised!

And through comments others have made, I've also learned that I'm not alone in many of these.

Although I'm still fairly sure no one knows what to do with those stick air fresheners.

So yeah...these are for me. But they're also for you. I present them with no lofty goals. Just a snapshot of life.

100 Confessions: Family

(99) My family is kind of messed up. I make light of it. But occasionally on bad days, I spill all sorts of the ridiculous details. I've done this to acquaintances, employees, bartenders. I usually apologize afterwards for giving them intimate information they really have no interest in.

I have gotten better at it. At one point in a party scenario, someone began talking about their family and made the mistake of asking about my family background. I literally destroyed the conversation. Dead silence followed and no one knew how to restart it.

100 Confessions: Backseat Readers

(98) I can't write with people reading while I write. I freeze. I get annoyed. I shout for them to leave. Performance anxiety? Maybe.

100 Confessions: Pies

(97) I like to make pies. This is a recent occurance in my life. As a child, my Canadian grandmother would make me "raspberry patte" which is a raspberry pie made with raspberries picked fresh from a local patch. (In a related note, this is the same grandmother who used the word "Quebequoise" as a curse word. Quebequoise being "people from Quebec").

She died when I was in early high school. But recently, Mimi and I were at Clydes in Chinatown and decided to order the raspberry pie. And when I tasted it, I was like "this is just not right. Something's missing here." And so I began my pie making journey. I'm pretty sure I still haven't managed to do the "raspberry patte" but what I made was pretty good.

100 Confessions: Fire

(96) I think bonfires rock. One of the best feelings in the world is being near a fire, and being warm, while it's cold outside.

I think I get this from my grandfather. In visits to Canada, we stayed at a local campground. He would come over while my family was still asleep and get the previous nights' fire going again. And he had a propensity for continually adding logs to our family bonfire until nearby trees would get singed.

100 Confessions: Favorite Movies

(95) My Top Ten Movie List:

1. It's A Wonderful Life- I think many people would list this in their lineup. I watch this every thanksgiving and several times during Christmas (I usually watch it once during the rest of the year, albeit a bit more guiltily). I want to be George Bailey.

2. Back to the Future- What can be better than going back in time in nuclear-propelled DeLorean to rescue your parent's marriage? And in the process, Michael J. Fox also gets to dump manure on his dad's boss.

3. Top Gun- I wanted to be a fighter pilot after watching this movie. That desire lasted all the way until I went to my first eye appointment and realized I could never fly with 20/200 vision.

4. The Godfather- Morality tale about gangsters and the downward spiral of crime.

5. Lord of the Rings- I'm a dork. Enough said.

6. Star Wars- See "Lord of the Rings."

7. Parent Trap- this one may take some explaining. So I never saw this until I was in my 20s. (No I didn't no it was Lindsey Lohan). And I suppose it's every divorced kid's dream to see their parents get back together--even though it never happens in real life. So two troublesome kids getting to know their other parent and ultimately bringing them back together, was I thought pretty cool.

Shut up and stop laughing.

8. Rudy- the inspiring story of the football player who could. He wanted to play for Notre Dame, and sure enough, he got to play for a Notre Dame. Great story.

9. Indiana Jones- classic story of the Western professor going to the east and discovering the Ark of the Covenant, which folks there were too daft to realize was under their feet the whole time!

10. Rocky- ADRIAN! This basically Rudy. But boxing, not football.

100 Confessions: My Little Sister

(94) My sister and I have our own language. We quote obscure TV show episodes/movies and make weird sounds that leave us rolling on the floor laughing. Other people who spend time around us have no idea what's going on. Video quoted typically include: "Kung Pow," "Family Guy," "How I Met Your Mother," "Airplane."