Twenty-Five Things

Lorraine, bless her heart, tagged me to write 25 things about myself. I’ll try to think of things I’ve not posted on here yet.

1. I’m not fond of chocolate.
2. I love downhill skiing and want to take Lorraine because she's never been skiing before.
3. Bourbon and rum make me gag.
4. I cannot do two things at once
5. A well-known celebrity made a pass at me when I was 22.
6. I have an inordinate interest in area codes
7. My personal value is directly related to the number of people that read my blog
8. I still don’t have gray hair
9. I don’t color my hair
10. My parents were married 50 years + 8 months ago
11. I’ll be turning 50 next month. You do the math.
12. I will never get a tattoo
13. I hate boating
14. I was once walking across a moor in England and saw a white horse running through the mist.
15. I've always had a fear of leaving a pen or pencil pointing to the left
16. I have to see a map – I absolutely cannot follow verbal directions
17. I love music by The Killers
18. I’ve read five biographies about Janis Joplin
19. A close friend of mine recently proposed to Anderson Cooper
20. I have incredibly nice-looking legs
21. I don’t own any shorts
22. I was once employed as a telephone operator
23. I have a thing for prime numbers, so I’m stopping at number 23.

If you've read this, consider yourself "tagged".

In the Land of Mary Todd Lincoln

I'm in Springfield for the next three days. The staff meeting went well. The staff likes me. They really like me!

The pastries I ordered didn't show up, but the concierge was a good concierge and remedied the situation right away.

I'm going to be soooo busy with this conference the entire time. I got up at 5:45 this morning, picked my boss up at 7:00, drove the 200 miles to Springfield, hosted the staff meeting, then we all had a business dinner tonight with our funding agency.

Tomorrow, I have to set up our display table, assign staff members to occupy it, attend conferences and then there's a semi-formal awards dinner tomorrow night.

Friday, is more of the same.

I was SO hoping to see the new Mary Todd Lincoln exhibit downtown while I was here. Doesn't look like I'm going to get to do that.

How sad. I love everything about that woman. She's one of the many insane, tragic women in history that I adore. (Along with Janis Joplin, Karen Carpenter, the philosopher Simone Weil, and sometimes my boss).

Really. My life would be so dull without these wonderful women. I SO want to see the fan that Mary Todd Lincoln was holding when her husband was assasinated. (It has blood on it).

She lost three of her sons when they were children, her husband was assasinated, then her only remaining son placed her in an asylum.

The woman knew of affliction.

I love the fact that she used no punctuation. (What was that about?)

I should just send my boss back on the train and stay for an extra day in Springfield.

Just me and my Mary.

I see that Sally Field is playing her in an upcoming movie about the Lincolns. Don't you think that's an excellent choice? I see another Academy Award in her future if she can pull it off, don't you?