OK, I'm a sucker for these "pass it along" type thingies (though forward me a chain letter, and it immediately goes into my online trash can), so when the most in-shape blogger I know, boXer girl, reached through the Internet, tagged me on the shoulder with her pink boxing glove and shouted, "You're it!" I got all giddy with excitement. (You're never too old to play Duck, Duck, Goose, you know.) Here are the rules:
Think back on the last 15 years of your life. What would you tell someone that you hadn't seen or talked to for 15 years? How would you sum up your life? You get 10 bullet points. A list of 10 things to summarize about you. At the end of your list, tag 5 more people and send on the love.
1. In 2001, I was bitten hard by the travel bug. The doctors say it's a permanent condition with no hopes of recovery. The infection has since sent me to 50-something countries on five continents. It also caused a slight change in the career path, by prompting me to leave the world of "hard news" once I figured out I could somehow swing a job out of jet-setting. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, some might say. I say, if you can't have the standard six weeks of vacation time most Europeans get, become a travel writer. Or a hooker, one.
2. I made my national TV debut a few times over, the first being on the pre-game show of the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona four New Years' ago. My friend Staci and I were recovering from alcohol poisioning the block party the night before and were stopped somewhere in downtown Tempe by an NBC crew asking our thoughts on tramp stamps. I'm sure if I hadn't been suffering a headache the size of Texas, I might have been able to come up with something clever. Last year, I was randomly asked to memorize a couple spots for CNBC's Fast Money. It was the highlight of my career, speaking about the economic stimuli in the stock market and other such terms that are Greek to me. I then filmed two shows for the Travel Channel weeks later; five hours of footage and I was maybe on air for four minutes. Oh yeah, and there were those two times I made it into the background of Good Morning America and (ashamedly) some Fox News program, of which I can't remember the name (though my grandfather would disown me for any slam on Fox News, so shhhh, forget I said that).
3. At one time, I was an advice columnist. I know what you're thinking -- who am I to give advice? At least, that's what I was thinking when I got the gig. The entertainment editor, John, an indie dude from Chi-Town permanently clad in Chuck Taylors and band tees, and I, the features ed, penned a he-said, she-said Friday column for our university newspaper, which was a daily and published roughly 20,000 copies per issue. We received several e-mails a week from students with questions ranging from roommate issue to thoughts on threesomes (I sent those ones to John). I read back through those columns at times and think, "wow! I really sucked as a writer back then." Since Scott is likely to track them down with his expert knowledge of Google -- he's already threatened to do so -- I'll save him the trouble and post one or two for your amusement. My most shining moment was when I was in Florida for Spring Break during senior year, and a group of frat guys recognized me from the column mug shot. "Aren't you that sex columnist girl from UT?" "Um, I don't know what you're talking about..." "Let us buy you a drink!" "On second thought, why yes I am!"
4. I got arrested. Yes, 'tis true. Granted, it was expunged from my record shortly after -- the best part of hailing from a small town is having a father with influence -- but it's still a blip on an otherwise spotless record. I should also note that I got arrested after drinking ONE DAIQUIRI and being responsible enough to enlist a SOBER FRIEND to drive my car home, but apparently when you're a group of 18 year olds going 10mph under the speed limit on a country road in Tennessee at 3am and a cocky cop who has to meet a nightly quota stumbles upon you, you're destined to be thrown in the slammer. I should also note, we weren't actually taken down to the station, nor was I handcuffed -- though that would have made for a much better story, so let's envision that I was.
5. I published my first book (a travel guide, but still). And a year from now, my name will grace the cover of another. While the ultimate goal is and always has been novel writing -- full of travel anecdotes, natch -- it's a start.
6. I moved to Europe, twice. I fell in love the second time. Two years after returning from Europe for good (at least for the time being), I chased him out to the Left Coast. I'm completely ecstatic about how things have worked out thus far. We have a lovely home in South San Francisco, which consists of a Cat, an aquarium full of fish, two tomato plants and a lemon tree.
7. I was a college athlete. I originally went to Sewanee: the University of the South with the intention of playing soccer, as I had attended clinics with the coach since I was in middle school. I wound up on the tennis team instead (funny how those things worked out). I had a great two-year run, made lots of friends, and walked away with more stories than could fill a book (most not G-rated enough for this blog, sorry!). Then, I transferred to the University of Tennessee and became the tennis team correspondent for the newspaper instead. Sewanee's the most beautiful campus you'll ever step foot upon; UT (Knoxville) is likely the most fun. Particularly during football season.
8. I interviewed my first "celebrity," Ron Jeremy, at the ripe age of 21, in the "green room" at the UT auditorium after a pornography debate. No, I did not shake his hand. From then on out, my life would consist of random celebrity encounters. If you'd told me 10 years ago -- heck, even five -- that a normal girl from small town America would wind up with a job that allowed her to banter with the likes of Stephen Colbert, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Jon Stewart, Hugh Jackman, and hundreds of other celebs on a daily basis, I would have told you you were crazy. I'm still holding out for the day when Clooney wants to chat.
9. On that note, I purged my DVD collection of all things Richard Gere. Dude's a jerk in real life. He yelled at me inside Cipriani at an AIDS event last year, in front of the likes of Woody Allen, Beyonce, Kim Cattrall and Eve. I did not appreciate it one bit.
10. Through my travels, many of them solo, I've had some crazy adventures: been held at gunpoint in Italy, helped free African refugees, was almost killed by a pack of rabid mountain goats in the Italian Alps...but those are all stories for another time. I can't reveal all my best in one mere post, otherwise you won't have reason to come back! ;-)
Most of that is probably not news to any of you if you read my blog semi-regularly, but it was the best I could come up with spur of the moment. So now I'm tagging a handful of people I think are the most likely to read this (and in return, respond): Cheaper than Therapy, The Misadventures of K, The Life of Me, She Likes Purple, No Pasa Nada. Ready...set...go!
Think back on the last 15 years of your life. What would you tell someone that you hadn't seen or talked to for 15 years? How would you sum up your life? You get 10 bullet points. A list of 10 things to summarize about you. At the end of your list, tag 5 more people and send on the love.
1. In 2001, I was bitten hard by the travel bug. The doctors say it's a permanent condition with no hopes of recovery. The infection has since sent me to 50-something countries on five continents. It also caused a slight change in the career path, by prompting me to leave the world of "hard news" once I figured out I could somehow swing a job out of jet-setting. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, some might say. I say, if you can't have the standard six weeks of vacation time most Europeans get, become a travel writer. Or a hooker, one.
2. I made my national TV debut a few times over, the first being on the pre-game show of the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona four New Years' ago. My friend Staci and I were recovering from alcohol poisioning the block party the night before and were stopped somewhere in downtown Tempe by an NBC crew asking our thoughts on tramp stamps. I'm sure if I hadn't been suffering a headache the size of Texas, I might have been able to come up with something clever. Last year, I was randomly asked to memorize a couple spots for CNBC's Fast Money. It was the highlight of my career, speaking about the economic stimuli in the stock market and other such terms that are Greek to me. I then filmed two shows for the Travel Channel weeks later; five hours of footage and I was maybe on air for four minutes. Oh yeah, and there were those two times I made it into the background of Good Morning America and (ashamedly) some Fox News program, of which I can't remember the name (though my grandfather would disown me for any slam on Fox News, so shhhh, forget I said that).
3. At one time, I was an advice columnist. I know what you're thinking -- who am I to give advice? At least, that's what I was thinking when I got the gig. The entertainment editor, John, an indie dude from Chi-Town permanently clad in Chuck Taylors and band tees, and I, the features ed, penned a he-said, she-said Friday column for our university newspaper, which was a daily and published roughly 20,000 copies per issue. We received several e-mails a week from students with questions ranging from roommate issue to thoughts on threesomes (I sent those ones to John). I read back through those columns at times and think, "wow! I really sucked as a writer back then." Since Scott is likely to track them down with his expert knowledge of Google -- he's already threatened to do so -- I'll save him the trouble and post one or two for your amusement. My most shining moment was when I was in Florida for Spring Break during senior year, and a group of frat guys recognized me from the column mug shot. "Aren't you that sex columnist girl from UT?" "Um, I don't know what you're talking about..." "Let us buy you a drink!" "On second thought, why yes I am!"
4. I got arrested. Yes, 'tis true. Granted, it was expunged from my record shortly after -- the best part of hailing from a small town is having a father with influence -- but it's still a blip on an otherwise spotless record. I should also note that I got arrested after drinking ONE DAIQUIRI and being responsible enough to enlist a SOBER FRIEND to drive my car home, but apparently when you're a group of 18 year olds going 10mph under the speed limit on a country road in Tennessee at 3am and a cocky cop who has to meet a nightly quota stumbles upon you, you're destined to be thrown in the slammer. I should also note, we weren't actually taken down to the station, nor was I handcuffed -- though that would have made for a much better story, so let's envision that I was.
5. I published my first book (a travel guide, but still). And a year from now, my name will grace the cover of another. While the ultimate goal is and always has been novel writing -- full of travel anecdotes, natch -- it's a start.
6. I moved to Europe, twice. I fell in love the second time. Two years after returning from Europe for good (at least for the time being), I chased him out to the Left Coast. I'm completely ecstatic about how things have worked out thus far. We have a lovely home in South San Francisco, which consists of a Cat, an aquarium full of fish, two tomato plants and a lemon tree.
7. I was a college athlete. I originally went to Sewanee: the University of the South with the intention of playing soccer, as I had attended clinics with the coach since I was in middle school. I wound up on the tennis team instead (funny how those things worked out). I had a great two-year run, made lots of friends, and walked away with more stories than could fill a book (most not G-rated enough for this blog, sorry!). Then, I transferred to the University of Tennessee and became the tennis team correspondent for the newspaper instead. Sewanee's the most beautiful campus you'll ever step foot upon; UT (Knoxville) is likely the most fun. Particularly during football season.
8. I interviewed my first "celebrity," Ron Jeremy, at the ripe age of 21, in the "green room" at the UT auditorium after a pornography debate. No, I did not shake his hand. From then on out, my life would consist of random celebrity encounters. If you'd told me 10 years ago -- heck, even five -- that a normal girl from small town America would wind up with a job that allowed her to banter with the likes of Stephen Colbert, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Jon Stewart, Hugh Jackman, and hundreds of other celebs on a daily basis, I would have told you you were crazy. I'm still holding out for the day when Clooney wants to chat.
9. On that note, I purged my DVD collection of all things Richard Gere. Dude's a jerk in real life. He yelled at me inside Cipriani at an AIDS event last year, in front of the likes of Woody Allen, Beyonce, Kim Cattrall and Eve. I did not appreciate it one bit.
10. Through my travels, many of them solo, I've had some crazy adventures: been held at gunpoint in Italy, helped free African refugees, was almost killed by a pack of rabid mountain goats in the Italian Alps...but those are all stories for another time. I can't reveal all my best in one mere post, otherwise you won't have reason to come back! ;-)
Most of that is probably not news to any of you if you read my blog semi-regularly, but it was the best I could come up with spur of the moment. So now I'm tagging a handful of people I think are the most likely to read this (and in return, respond): Cheaper than Therapy, The Misadventures of K, The Life of Me, She Likes Purple, No Pasa Nada. Ready...set...go!
7 comments:
it might take me a while to finish, but little bullet snipets make great distractions in the midst of writing the thesis!
You totally rock! What an amazing 15 years! (and thanks for the inside scoop on Gere... got anything on Cruise?? Hmmm...)
This is the very first time I've read your blog. What I did not want to hear was that you got robbed at gunpoint in Italy. I'm going to Italy at the end of this month!
Also you are the coolest person ever!
also? Richard Gere...not hot. at all.
hahaha.
also? i have a question...what was the VERY best place you've been? and what was the very worst?
i'm so going to do this...but sadly, mine will NOT be as interesting ;)
Why is the University of the South called Sewanee? Is this a dumb question? Probably.
How am I to compete with this?! I will do my best...
I moved to Europe, twice. I fell in love the second time. Two years after returning from Europe for good (at least for the time being), I chased him out to the Left Coast. I'm completely ecstatic about how things have worked out thus far. We have a lovely home in South San Francisco, which consists of a Cat, an aquarium full of fish, two tomato plants and a lemon tree.
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