100 Things I Like

I stumbled across this on Golf Widow's Ministry of Silly Walks.

The instructions read: Make a list of 100 things you like in no particular order. Avoid the obvious (significant other, pie ...) and be completely honest with yourself. If you try to think of things that you are curious about and inspired by, you'll end up discovering a lot about yourself and, in doing so, developing a sort of bank of your interests and ideas.

1. Memes (I admit it--I love these crazy things)
2. E-mail
3. Snow (to look at, not to be in)
4. Comfy socks
5. Taking photos and making videos
6. Books
7. Mint-flavored toothpaste
8. Blowing dandelions filaments off of the plant
9. Movies, either in the theatre or on DVD
10. Word games
11. Jigsaw puzzles
12. People who give selflessly and unobtrusively
13. The sound of rain on the roof when I'm snug inside.
14. Marching bands
15. Spectacular vistas
16. The smell of the paper of just-off-the-press books
17. Whales, the bigger the better. Gimme a humpback rather than an orca, for example.
18. Elephants. I am fascinated by the social structure of elephant societies.
19. The feel of a keyboard under my fingers.
20. Older ladies walking in downtown San Francisco. They all have that certain "look" that reminds me of my growing up years there. They are a dying breed.
21. The sound of my mother singing softly, under her breath, while she works
22. Hugging old friends
23. Jeopardy -- only game show on TV any more that is fun to watch. I liked game shows better before they added bells and whistles, when it was just the wits of the contestants of the guest panelists (like "Match Game")
24. "Girl talk." I don't get enough of it.
25. People who speak "theatre-ese" and who "get" all my obscure brilliant comments
26. Soft pretzels, which I don't buy because I don't want people to talk about the fat lady eating the big soft pretzel.
27. Old clothes you find in the back of your closet that actually FIT.
28. Peanuts (the Charlie Brown / Snoopy kind)
29. Peanuts (the kind you feed to elephants)
30. The insignificant feeling you get when standing in the middle of a huge gothic cathedral
31. Remembering the days when I "believed" -- in religion, in government. Why do we have to grow up?
32. The smell of roasting coffee, roasting cocoa beans, tomatoes being cooked (I've lived near a lot of factories in my day!)
33. The feel of relief when a plane touches down after a flight and your luggage comes out right away.
34. Being a grandmother. (even though it's only been 3 days)
35. Soft, fluffy slippers
36. Butter. Cream. Cheese. Fried food. Fast food. Greasy food. And everything else that's bad for me.
37. Hearing from someone who stumbled across me on the internet, and whom I haven't seen or heard from in years. (Just happened the other day....Hi, Tanya!)
38. Foreign languages. I don't speak any fluently, but I love trying to figure out what language is being spoken and what is being said.
39. Long, meaningful conversations about almost anything. I miss my mid-night conversations about life, death, love, and politics with David and Paul.
40. Nature specials on TV.
41. The faces of little children. I love taking close up photos of kids, whether I know them or not.
42. A-capella choral music
43. The baby of any species, the fluffier the better.
44. Watching the birds at my mother's bird feeder (which she won't have if she has to move!)
45. Text messaging, especially with Jeri (since I seem to do it more with her than anyone else)
46. Watching dogs run full-out at the dog park. Sheer joy.
47. The emerald green of the hills in springtime
48. Any view of San Francisco on a clear day.
49. Any view of San Francisco on any day.
50. Sushi -- but really only the "safe" ones, like spicy tuna, shrimp, etc. I like eel, but only if I don't know that I'm eating it.
51. Watching my children enjoy each other's company.
52. Air conditioning
53. Candlelight
54. The smell of crab pots on Fisherman's wharf
55. Watching people doing things I wouldn't be caught dead doing (like dancing or riding a roller coaster)
56. High heels -- on anybody but me.
57. the San Francisco Chronicle columnist, Jon Carroll (even if he does think there are 108 beads in a catholic rosary)
58. Al Gore, for inventing the internet :)
59. Interesting postage stamps. We see so few of them in these days of e-mail
60. Instant gratification
61. The poetry of Claire Amy Atkins
62. MailWasher
63. Well-written blogs that inspire me to write better entries myself (any day now!)
64. People who read this journal. Bless 'em all.
65. The smell of a newborn baby's hair
66. Having a laughing fit with a good friend, when everything seems silly and you can't catch your breath from laughing so hard.
67. Internet Cafes and free wi fi
68. Ireland
69. Greeting cards. I don't buy as many as I used to because they cost so much now, but I still like standing in a card shop and reading them.
70. Gilbert & Sullivan (even though I've seen each operetta countless times)
71. Says You
72. Playing Scrabble at The Pixie Pit.
73. Back scratchers
74. Thick, heavy fog.
75. Schmaltzy shows like Waltons, Little House, Touched by an Angel and 7th Heaven. I'm a sucker for tear-jerkers.
76. Having people in the box office of several theatres greet me by name when I show up to pick up my tickets (the perk of being a critic!)
77. How-to books for computers, even though I rarely read them!
78. Amazon one-click ordering (see #77!!)
79. Actress / comedienne Jane Lynch
80. My cuisinart. It was the only "luxury" item I bought myself with my father's savings after he died. I think I have used it almost every day since (and he's been dead more than 10 years).
81. Word Perfect (I sure hope I can find my program disks again!)
82. Eclipses. I have only experienced one full eclipse of the sun during the middle of the day and it was one of the strangest experiences I'd ever had.
83. S'mores -- but the "real" kind, with marshmallows cooked on a tree branch over an open fire, and probably burned a little bit. None of this "electric" s'more machine for me!
84. Old book stores, new book stores, any book stores.
85. The Christmases we used to have, with everybody waking up in the same house and coming downstairs to open packages and have a special breakfast. I miss those days.
86. Winery tours
87. Giving my famous tour of San Francisco
88. Chocolate (how come it took me to #88 to get to chocolate?)
89. The Golden Gate bridge, from any angle -- under it, on it, far away from it. I love it.
90. Walking through a pile of autumn leaves (pretending that you're not deliberately going out of your way to walk on them and make them crackle).
91. Doves nesting and raising babies on my mother's front porch (which won't be possible if she has to move).
92. The silence of a redwood forest (when you get far enough away from the crowds of tourists)
93. Sunflowers
94. Floating in a hot air balloon
95. Fields of tulips
96. Riding on the train
97. The sound of the wind blowing through the trees
98. Vincent Van Gogh's paintings (absolutely loved touring the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam)
99. 2-ply toilet paper (just to get down to basics, here!)
100. Puppies, puppies, puppies