La randonnée

I finally got tagged in the Facebook "25 Random Things" meme, and since I spent way too long coming up with an exquisite gallimaufry of factoids about me, I'm posting it to my blog as well as to Facebook. I know that this makes me probably two weeks behind the times, and the virtual world has moved onto other fads (Twitter! Seriously, how did that explode so fast?). But this is nothing new for me: I feel like I'm always a little bit chronologically off-kilter. You can take that as a bonus fact about me, if you will.

As for the other 25...

1. I hate parsley, but I love cilantro.

2. If forced to choose between giving up eating meat and giving up wearing leather shoes/gloves/etc., I would give up meat.

3. The most I have ever cried at a movie was when I saw The King and I at the age of five. I was inconsolable.

4. For a long time my favorite Classic Hollywood actress was Audrey Hepburn, but a few years ago it switched to Ingrid Bergman.

5. I wish more people (male and female) still wore hats.

6. As a little girl I was incensed to learn that the French word for “garbage can” (la poubelle) is feminine. I thought it was an insult to my whole gender.

7. People who don’t know me very well are always surprised when they learn that I love to sing karaoke.

8. I can’t stand rooms with low ceilings. High ceilings are even more important to me than windows are.

9. My most common nightmare involves my teeth rotting or falling out. I am a bit paranoid about dental health.

10. My most pleasant dreams are ones in which I am exploring a big mansion or palace.

11. Many years ago I made a pledge to myself that I wouldn’t get addicted to caffeine in the mornings, and I’ve kept my word.

12. I am grateful that one of my high-school English classes introduced me to authors like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, because otherwise I fear I might’ve been too much of a snob to read them on my own.

13. Sometimes I feel like the name “Marissa” doesn’t suit my personality. But I don’t have a name picked out to replace it, either.

14. The best two blocks in downtown Portland, according to me: 11th Ave between Burnside and Davis. Powell’s Books, Sur La Table, Mio Gelato, Anthropologie and Portland Center Stage. YES.

15. I can rattle off the names of the alphabetical streets in Portland really fast (AnkenyBurnsideCouchDavis…). I am working on being able to do the same for San Francisco (HugoIrvingJudahKirkham…).

16. Because I grew up in the heart of suburbia, I am really unduly excited that I now live half a block from a taqueria.

17. The first show I ever saw on Broadway was Cats.

18. Speaking of which, I definitely prefer cats to dogs. The guy at my neighborhood hardware store even told me “You look like a cat person” the other week.

19. The first Shakespeare play I ever saw was A Midsummer Night’s Dream. There were trapezes involved. It was pretty spectacular.

20. In junior high school I disdained teenybopper music like Britney and ‘Nsync. But now I have a weird nostalgia for it. Funny how that works.

21. The one and only time I joined a sports team (softball, fourth grade), I was named “Most Improved Player.”

22. Even before I had met any professional playwrights, I knew I wanted to be a playwright. Which must be kind of unusual, to choose a career without ever having spoken to anyone in that profession.

23. I have worn plastic-framed glasses since high school, but only in the last few months has anyone told me I look like Tina Fey.

24. I name my computers after mythological figures. My current laptop is “Orphée” (French for “Orpheus”).

25. I didn’t learn how to ride a bike without training wheels till I was 7 and didn’t get my driver’s license till I was 20.