so...RECHERCHE tagged me...off the top of my head here you go:
20 random things about me
1. When I was in my early 20s and living in Hollywood, CA I used to spend a lot of time with celebrities of some level at various celebrity functions and notorious parties in the Hollywood Hills. I had two very hawt girlfriends as roommates who had also moved from our tiny East Coast small town to soak up Los Angeles life and dreams. One of them was the girlfriend of Jon Andersons (of YES) Personal Manager and the other was dating a really high profile record producer. I also had numerous connections of my own in the music world, a top editor for Rolling Stone, a major film director/writer/producer and a major producer at Geffen Records were very close personal friends of mine. At one of these parties in the hills I happened upon Robert Downey Jr. (CC DeVille was also amongst the bizarre cast of characters but that would take an entire page) who really had little to no interest in me as I a. did not have any cocaine b. did not give him the sure Ill let you violate the shit out of me tonight even though tomorrow youll forget I my name and my entire existence vibe that he appeared to be searching for that evening. I did, however, try to entice him with my own well cultured man I am really drunk and behaving in a blindingly stupid manner right now. I rather failed miserably and he basically gave me a sort of yeah, okay, move along nod and left me to my own devices. I wound up dancing and singing with my girlfriend in the middle of the party to Steely Dans Bodhisattva much to the delight to the other party guests.
2. I lived on a commune in White Salmon, Was which is directly across the river from Hood River, OR for a short period of time when I was about 8 years old. We had no electricity and lived in a cabin while my sisters parents (she clearly was not my blood sister but my mom was a crazy hippie and she and her best friend raised us as sisters) lived in a huge custom teepee, we had two outhouses for bathrooms as well as a solar powered dome for a kitchen, a natural sweat bath and 2 horses. My sister and I rarely wore any clothes except when riding bareback on the horsies for reason we had to discover the hard way. There was a lake/pond across this open and vast field that had fence around it with a bull inside. We would have to time it carefully and run like hell to cross the field un-charged by said bull. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at once. On the other side we had a rope swing that we delighted in jumping into the lake from. The first time I saw a mans penis was at that lake. He had a tan line from his bathing suit and it took me forever to figure out that it wasnt his bathing suit. When he jumped from that rope swing into the water and I saw spare parts whipping in the wind I figured it out.
3. I almost wrote for porn inadvertently when I lived in Los Angeles in my late twenties. I went on what I thought was a legitimate writing gig, it had been described to me over the phone as writing the description for the back cover of a fitness video. When I arrived and saw crushed deep purple velvet adorning the stage I knew something was up. When I questioned the lead actor saying, I thought this was an exercise video his response was, Well call it erotically exercising. I said ciao and left. I often wonder how much better off financially I might have been if I had just stayed with that as a career path or how different my life might be now.
4. When I was a freshman in high school I had a ridiculous crush on Boy George I mean walls covered, heart beating fast, blood rushing to my face when his videos would come on, MAJOR crush. When people would tell me he was gay I actually argued with them about it and swore they were wrong. If he were gay he couldnt find and fall in love with ME, duh. Im not really sure what this means but I was clearly confused about many things.
5. The character of Corey in Say Anything was based on me. Cameron did not even change my name. He and I had been close friends for quite some time and he called me when I was 16 and living in a boarding house in Ocean City, NJ as I did every summer, waitressing and doing the Jersey shore thang. He told me he had just finished this script and that he had not only based this character on me, but also my fucktard non-boyfriend Joe, his girlfriend Mimi and a few other of my friends. He was going to keep the names intact if I said it was okay and did I want to fly out and watch him film it? I did just that. To me he was always just Cameron, another writer from Rolling Stone that I had met through my friend Mikal. I never could have had the foresight to have known he would become the legendary moviemaker he is today. I am so incredibly proud of him and honored and touched to have been a part of one of his creations.
6. Four years ago I was diagnosed with autoimmune, a chronic illness that was crippling for me for quite some time. I was put on chemotherapy and disability for over a year while going through an excruciating separation after having been verbally, mentally and physically abused by my ex-husband for too long. Apparently the stress activated this dormant T-cell and my body just literally crumbled. I became anorexic and had an intense nervous breakdown. What I regret most from that time is what my daughter endured and how that experience will affect her for the rest of her life.
7. I was a Journalism major in college with a Political Science minor. With this curriculum I was required to take a number of Marketing classes. I hated them. I mean absolutely could not handle them. I skipped nearly every one after I sat through what seemed like an eternity, which was in reality, just an hour and a half and barely passed all of those classes. I have been a Marketing Manager or Director in various realms for over 10 years now.
8. The first dinosaur bones in North America were found in my hometown. The movie Halloween was based on our town but they were not allowed to film it there because the residents felt it was a distasteful portrait of our quaint little slice of history so they named it Haddonfield, OH instead of New Jersey or some such nonsense. None of these little tidbits thrilled me so much growing up there as the fact that we had minutemen tunnels and some of the richest history in this country having been founded in the early 1600's.
9. Having grown up just on the other side of the bridge from Philadelphia, I used to spend a lot of time there. When I was a teenager and used to walk across the same cobblestone Benjamin Franklin did behind Independence Hall on the way to South Street I used to seriously believe if I concentrated hard enough I could see the ghosts of our forefathers or something of a silhouette. With the exception of the times I was on LSD, this never happened. It should be noted that I had the unforgettable experience of living here in 1976. The Bicentennial in Philadelphia was time I will always remember as very exciting and very unique.
10. I used to do LSD at least once, sometimes 2 or 3 times a week when I was a Junior in high school I once had to drive my gym teacher to the DMV while tripping my face off rather than tell him I was on drugs. It doesnt say much for our Drivers Ed program that he didnt notice.
11. I have been to every single state in this country with the exception of Maine and Rhode Island but only been out of the country once to go to the Virgin Islands. I have driven across the country a total of 8 times.
12. I have moved 33 times in my lifetime. I am 37.
13. I was obsessed with The Beatles for a good portion of my youth I was completely in love with John Lennon. I had (and still have) a t-shirt from the first American concert they played. I read every book I could get my hands on regarding their history. I got to go see Beatlemania which was the closest to the real thing as was around when I was growing up. I remember exactly where I was and how it affected me when I heard Lennon had been shot. I was in 7th grade at the breakfast table when it came on the radio. My mother describes it as my going into shock. I was hysterical. She kept me home from school that day.
14. The first concert I ever saw that my mother did not take me to (I was raised around music) was Shaun Cassidy. A few months later I saw Andy Gibb. Both events are still emblazoned in my memory as are those strange bulges underneath Shauns tight white pants and Andys gold lame ones.
15. My grandfather died on Valentines Day when I was in 5th grade. It was my first encounter with death and I was devastated. He had been the only real substantial and permanent father figure I had until that point. Valentines Day was dreadful for me from there on. Years later my first divorce was final on Valentine s Day which did not make the day any more bearable for me. When I was pregnant with my daughter, my due date was February 28th. On February 13th of that year I made a silent prayer to my grandfather to let her come early and be born on Valentines Day so that we could finally have something to celebrate instead of mourn on that day. My water broke in the middle of the night and she was indeed born on Valentines Day.
This has caused me to believe in angels on some level.
16. I have been married twice but never to the right man. I swore I would never get married again. It was then that I met the right man.
17. I am horribly afraid of heights. Even in really tall skyscrapers looking down out the window makes me get dizzy and sweaty. Ferris Wheels are evil. So are spiders. I believe that hell is whatever you fear the most. In my case, my eternal hell would encompass a never-ending loop of Natalie merchant and Belinda Carlisle while stuck at the top of a ferris wheel sharing the seat with a bunch of spiders. But seriously folks, some days I feel like we are currently living in hell until I remember my childrens smiles. Then I know what true divine intervention feels like.
18. When I was a young girl, after having read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe for the first time I used to sit in my closet and squeeze my eyes shut in the hopes that upon opening them I would be in Narnia. I imagine you can guess the results.
19. I was told I could not have children. I have two of the most beautiful, perfect, awe inspiring children in creation. They are and will continue to be my finest and proudest achievement and the most humbling blessings I will ever know. They both teach me more about life than I have ever learned in my own experience.
20. My dream would be to leave this civilization with my tribe and travel the world settling in each place for a year or so until we run out of things to see or die.
20 random things about me
1. When I was in my early 20s and living in Hollywood, CA I used to spend a lot of time with celebrities of some level at various celebrity functions and notorious parties in the Hollywood Hills. I had two very hawt girlfriends as roommates who had also moved from our tiny East Coast small town to soak up Los Angeles life and dreams. One of them was the girlfriend of Jon Andersons (of YES) Personal Manager and the other was dating a really high profile record producer. I also had numerous connections of my own in the music world, a top editor for Rolling Stone, a major film director/writer/producer and a major producer at Geffen Records were very close personal friends of mine. At one of these parties in the hills I happened upon Robert Downey Jr. (CC DeVille was also amongst the bizarre cast of characters but that would take an entire page) who really had little to no interest in me as I a. did not have any cocaine b. did not give him the sure Ill let you violate the shit out of me tonight even though tomorrow youll forget I my name and my entire existence vibe that he appeared to be searching for that evening. I did, however, try to entice him with my own well cultured man I am really drunk and behaving in a blindingly stupid manner right now. I rather failed miserably and he basically gave me a sort of yeah, okay, move along nod and left me to my own devices. I wound up dancing and singing with my girlfriend in the middle of the party to Steely Dans Bodhisattva much to the delight to the other party guests.
2. I lived on a commune in White Salmon, Was which is directly across the river from Hood River, OR for a short period of time when I was about 8 years old. We had no electricity and lived in a cabin while my sisters parents (she clearly was not my blood sister but my mom was a crazy hippie and she and her best friend raised us as sisters) lived in a huge custom teepee, we had two outhouses for bathrooms as well as a solar powered dome for a kitchen, a natural sweat bath and 2 horses. My sister and I rarely wore any clothes except when riding bareback on the horsies for reason we had to discover the hard way. There was a lake/pond across this open and vast field that had fence around it with a bull inside. We would have to time it carefully and run like hell to cross the field un-charged by said bull. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at once. On the other side we had a rope swing that we delighted in jumping into the lake from. The first time I saw a mans penis was at that lake. He had a tan line from his bathing suit and it took me forever to figure out that it wasnt his bathing suit. When he jumped from that rope swing into the water and I saw spare parts whipping in the wind I figured it out.
3. I almost wrote for porn inadvertently when I lived in Los Angeles in my late twenties. I went on what I thought was a legitimate writing gig, it had been described to me over the phone as writing the description for the back cover of a fitness video. When I arrived and saw crushed deep purple velvet adorning the stage I knew something was up. When I questioned the lead actor saying, I thought this was an exercise video his response was, Well call it erotically exercising. I said ciao and left. I often wonder how much better off financially I might have been if I had just stayed with that as a career path or how different my life might be now.
4. When I was a freshman in high school I had a ridiculous crush on Boy George I mean walls covered, heart beating fast, blood rushing to my face when his videos would come on, MAJOR crush. When people would tell me he was gay I actually argued with them about it and swore they were wrong. If he were gay he couldnt find and fall in love with ME, duh. Im not really sure what this means but I was clearly confused about many things.
5. The character of Corey in Say Anything was based on me. Cameron did not even change my name. He and I had been close friends for quite some time and he called me when I was 16 and living in a boarding house in Ocean City, NJ as I did every summer, waitressing and doing the Jersey shore thang. He told me he had just finished this script and that he had not only based this character on me, but also my fucktard non-boyfriend Joe, his girlfriend Mimi and a few other of my friends. He was going to keep the names intact if I said it was okay and did I want to fly out and watch him film it? I did just that. To me he was always just Cameron, another writer from Rolling Stone that I had met through my friend Mikal. I never could have had the foresight to have known he would become the legendary moviemaker he is today. I am so incredibly proud of him and honored and touched to have been a part of one of his creations.
6. Four years ago I was diagnosed with autoimmune, a chronic illness that was crippling for me for quite some time. I was put on chemotherapy and disability for over a year while going through an excruciating separation after having been verbally, mentally and physically abused by my ex-husband for too long. Apparently the stress activated this dormant T-cell and my body just literally crumbled. I became anorexic and had an intense nervous breakdown. What I regret most from that time is what my daughter endured and how that experience will affect her for the rest of her life.
7. I was a Journalism major in college with a Political Science minor. With this curriculum I was required to take a number of Marketing classes. I hated them. I mean absolutely could not handle them. I skipped nearly every one after I sat through what seemed like an eternity, which was in reality, just an hour and a half and barely passed all of those classes. I have been a Marketing Manager or Director in various realms for over 10 years now.
8. The first dinosaur bones in North America were found in my hometown. The movie Halloween was based on our town but they were not allowed to film it there because the residents felt it was a distasteful portrait of our quaint little slice of history so they named it Haddonfield, OH instead of New Jersey or some such nonsense. None of these little tidbits thrilled me so much growing up there as the fact that we had minutemen tunnels and some of the richest history in this country having been founded in the early 1600's.
9. Having grown up just on the other side of the bridge from Philadelphia, I used to spend a lot of time there. When I was a teenager and used to walk across the same cobblestone Benjamin Franklin did behind Independence Hall on the way to South Street I used to seriously believe if I concentrated hard enough I could see the ghosts of our forefathers or something of a silhouette. With the exception of the times I was on LSD, this never happened. It should be noted that I had the unforgettable experience of living here in 1976. The Bicentennial in Philadelphia was time I will always remember as very exciting and very unique.
10. I used to do LSD at least once, sometimes 2 or 3 times a week when I was a Junior in high school I once had to drive my gym teacher to the DMV while tripping my face off rather than tell him I was on drugs. It doesnt say much for our Drivers Ed program that he didnt notice.
11. I have been to every single state in this country with the exception of Maine and Rhode Island but only been out of the country once to go to the Virgin Islands. I have driven across the country a total of 8 times.
12. I have moved 33 times in my lifetime. I am 37.
13. I was obsessed with The Beatles for a good portion of my youth I was completely in love with John Lennon. I had (and still have) a t-shirt from the first American concert they played. I read every book I could get my hands on regarding their history. I got to go see Beatlemania which was the closest to the real thing as was around when I was growing up. I remember exactly where I was and how it affected me when I heard Lennon had been shot. I was in 7th grade at the breakfast table when it came on the radio. My mother describes it as my going into shock. I was hysterical. She kept me home from school that day.
14. The first concert I ever saw that my mother did not take me to (I was raised around music) was Shaun Cassidy. A few months later I saw Andy Gibb. Both events are still emblazoned in my memory as are those strange bulges underneath Shauns tight white pants and Andys gold lame ones.
15. My grandfather died on Valentines Day when I was in 5th grade. It was my first encounter with death and I was devastated. He had been the only real substantial and permanent father figure I had until that point. Valentines Day was dreadful for me from there on. Years later my first divorce was final on Valentine s Day which did not make the day any more bearable for me. When I was pregnant with my daughter, my due date was February 28th. On February 13th of that year I made a silent prayer to my grandfather to let her come early and be born on Valentines Day so that we could finally have something to celebrate instead of mourn on that day. My water broke in the middle of the night and she was indeed born on Valentines Day.
This has caused me to believe in angels on some level.
16. I have been married twice but never to the right man. I swore I would never get married again. It was then that I met the right man.
17. I am horribly afraid of heights. Even in really tall skyscrapers looking down out the window makes me get dizzy and sweaty. Ferris Wheels are evil. So are spiders. I believe that hell is whatever you fear the most. In my case, my eternal hell would encompass a never-ending loop of Natalie merchant and Belinda Carlisle while stuck at the top of a ferris wheel sharing the seat with a bunch of spiders. But seriously folks, some days I feel like we are currently living in hell until I remember my childrens smiles. Then I know what true divine intervention feels like.
18. When I was a young girl, after having read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe for the first time I used to sit in my closet and squeeze my eyes shut in the hopes that upon opening them I would be in Narnia. I imagine you can guess the results.
19. I was told I could not have children. I have two of the most beautiful, perfect, awe inspiring children in creation. They are and will continue to be my finest and proudest achievement and the most humbling blessings I will ever know. They both teach me more about life than I have ever learned in my own experience.
20. My dream would be to leave this civilization with my tribe and travel the world settling in each place for a year or so until we run out of things to see or die.
VIEW 10 of 10 COMMENTS
You have done so much and have such stories!
Wow. I hope my life is as fullfilling and full of adventure as your has been one day.
And congratulations on being so strong and working through so much also.
yes, the Griffin and Sabine books are just amazing - I lost track of the series a few years ago, should follow up... Hmmm, CHristmas is coming, after all.