Saturday, March 08, 2008

wonder of me x 100

Kristen knows she can get me to post when she tags me on a meme, although this time around she acknowledged that she might be pushing my aversion to "wonder of me" posts a bit too far.

Boy, did she ever.

I started this one the other night and needed to abandon it because it was just too gross. And, well, it's still pretty gross.

100 Amazing Things I've Already Done

This list is meant to be in response to those lists that are often generated about the things you want to do before you die to justify your time on the planet; the kind of list that will inevitably make you feel like sh*t as you look at your watch and realize that time is ticking and the top of Mount Everest isn't getting any closer to sea level.

So, yeah, this is a list of 100 thing that I have already done. Some are more impressive than others, some are about what has shaped me as a person, but all are things that I can pull out as story fodder ("Did I ever tell you about that time . . . ?"). There is a bit of starf*cking going on in here, so excuse me.

Enjoy. I tag everyone who feels the need for a little self affirmation. You can write the list in your notebook if you feel like it.

I have . . .

  1. Surfed in Oregon
  2. Won the gold medal in the National Latin Exam
  3. Climbed the Acropolis in four-inch red heels
  4. Salsa danced with Joan Baez and Desmond Tutu — at the same time
  5. Been given ride home by Jackson Browne — from his concert
  6. Talked to Maura Tierney in the bathroom at a movie premiere
  7. Earned my master degree from Harvard
  8. Driven cross-country — three times
  9. Run Rock the Vote
  10. Published a zine
  11. Published a blog — for more than three years
  12. Been a Salzburg Seminar faculty member
  13. Traveled to South Africa – twice
  14. Visited Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island
  15. Dipped my toes in the Indian Ocean
  16. Met Al Gore
  17. Met Ted Kennedy
  18. Taken a class from Michael Ignatieff
  19. Done an independent study with Samantha Power
  20. Developed the strategy for the first-ever Cabinet member blog
  21. Kissed a Heartbreaker
  22. Met two members of Nirvana — and kissed one of them
  23. Seen a woman take her clothes off in front of the presidential palace in Prague
  24. Maintained a friendship with Chris for 20 years
  25. Survived and overcome
  26. Been a guest on Loveline
  27. Avoided financial ruin after a medical emergency that occurred when I did not have insurance
  28. Celebrated New Year’s Eve in Edinburgh
  29. Moved to London with no job and no place to live when I was 24
  30. Visited the Lower 9th Ward post-Katrina
  31. Written and read an original essay on NPR
  32. Walked through Sherwood Forest
  33. Trained young political leaders in Cambodia
  34. Sat in a green room with Ted Nugent
  35. Appeared on CNN as a regular political commentator
  36. Contributed to fighting the global health crisis
  37. Created a career out of doing “good”
  38. Visited Bonnie Raitt back stage
  39. Seen Badlands in a movie theater
  40. Managed to avoid ever going bowling
  41. Dropped out of college for a year and a half — and gone back to school
  42. Moved to San Francisco (from Connecticut) on a Greyhound bus when I was 20
  43. Met Bill Clinton
  44. Trained youth organizers in Mexico
  45. Been on the merry-go-round near the Eiffel Tower
  46. Been John Hughes’ pen pal
  47. Stayed in David O. Russell's guest room
  48. Gone from growing up on AFDC/welfare to now earning more than xx percent of the population (too tacky to actually write)
  49. Been offered a job by Mary Robinson
  50. Spoken at my grandmother’s funeral
  51. Had an essay published by the Carnegie Corporation of New York
  52. Attended a presidential debate
  53. Met Bono
  54. Met — and been quoted by in a speech by — Sting
  55. Seen Wilco in concert (at least) 10 times
  56. Climbed the Wicklow mountains in Ireland
  57. Gone on a road trip to the Clinton Library
  58. Talked on the phone with Katherine Hepburn
  59. Shaken hands with John Edwards
  60. Stood outside the Cambridge City Hall at 12:01 am on May 17, 2004 to congratulate the first-ever same sex couples to be married in Massachusetts
  61. Voted in every local and national election since I turned 18
  62. Attended the International AIDS Conference — in Barcelona and in Toronto
  63. Maintained a database of everyone I have met for 10 years
  64. Watched Taylor give birth to Victoria
  65. Called John McCain a “wuss” on CNN
  66. Received flowers from Martin Sheen
  67. Managed to convince foundations and companies to give projects I am working on tens of millions of dollars
  68. Been linked to by Jeff Jarvis
  69. Had one of my ads used as set dressing (Zoey's dorm room) on The West Wing
  70. Had another one of my ads used as an example of ad agency star Helen Hunt’s work in What Women Want
  71. Overcome my fear of cockroaches
  72. Had an essay published in How to Get Stupid White Men out of Office
  73. Seen Edward Norton and Catherine Keener off-Broadway
  74. Seen John C. Reilly and Philip Seymour Hoffman on Broadway
  75. Gone to an Ozzy Osborne concert — minus adult supervision — when I was 10
  76. Seen Nation of Ulysses in concert
  77. Seen Circus Lupus in concert
  78. Seen Lungfish in concert
  79. Seen Beat Happening in concert
  80. Advised three presidential campaigns on young voter outreach
  81. Managed to have the most perfectly 80’s iconic first make out session ever: behind the Space Invaders game; at the roller skating rink; wearing sneaker skates, designer jeans, a velour Izod pullover and a turtleneck with a whale on the collar; while Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” played in the background
  82. Interviewed Heather Armstrong and Robert Scoble
  83. Saw Jawbox in concert in London
  84. Worked on a diversity project that was cited by President Clinton's Initiative on Race as a “Promising Practice”
  85. Had Carrie Fisher/Princess Leia ask me who she needed to f*ck to get into the VIP section
  86. Exchanged emails with Pierre Omidyar
  87. Met Walter Mondale
  88. Gone to a rave in Southampton, England
  89. Visited Angkor Wat
  90. Shared "guest" status with Billy Baldwin on an ABCNews.com web chat
  91. Served as an adviser on UNAIDS project
  92. Attended four of five True False Film Festivals
  93. Become a connoisseur of single malt scotch
  94. Eaten dinner at a table next to Donald Rumsfeld
  95. Served as a BBC political commentator on that fateful 2000 election eve
  96. Worked on a documentary film project with Frances Reid
  97. Organized a mayoral debate for young people in Kansas City
  98. Driven the 101 from Los Angeles to San Francisco
  99. Stayed at the oldest hotel in Savannah, Georgia
  100. Attended one of two Dismemberment Plan reunion shows

7 comments:

Atkins Gal said...

Wow. That's one hell of a list. I think you're my new write-in candidate.

abf said...

Ah, you toy with me.

Anonymous said...

You inspire me.

abf said...

Thanks. That's awfully nice of you to say. Just don't make me go bowling.

Hillary said...

OMFG. I will buy you as much scotch as it takes on the 20th to hear more about #22. (I'm shallow that way. Don't get me wrong - I love the whole list!)
~H

Anonymous said...

I want to see you on American Gladiators.

...and arm wrestle Hulk Hogan after you lay the smackdown in the Eliminator.

Anonymous said...

kary974

u talk with maura????? oh, i'm so jealous!!! lol