Participate in the 100 things project. Deadline: Nov 23 2002.

1. My middle name is Jo.
2. I really like beets.
3. My favorite color is red.
4. I was born a blonde.
5. These days my hair color comes out of a bottle.
6. I was conceived in Idaho in the attic of a house belonging to an Episcopalian priest.
7. I am short.
8. I was in a youth circus, 1974-1976.
9. I took tap dancing from age 6 to age 12.
10. There are some things I won't write about on my web site.
11. I met my husband in a bar.
12. When we were kids and played role-playing games, I nearly always took a male role.
13. I was often the peacemaker in childhood disputes in my neighborhood.
14. One-quarter mile from where I grew up, there is a cemetery and in that cemetery is a large monument stone with my family name on it.
15. I learned to knit in 4-H.
16. I like digging up weeds.
17. As a little girl I did not like dolls, much to my mother's consternation.
18. I didn't like dresses, either. Ditto.
19. As a young girl I made a conscious decision to not be intimidated by mechanical things.
20. I'm a pretty good speller.
21. I nonetheless rely on dictionary.com
22. In the summer of 1983 I rebuilt a Volkswagen engine, with some help.
23. A woman seeing me working on my VW proclaimed me "A woman of the '80s."
24. I taught English at the YMCA in Gaoxiung (Kaohsiung) Taiwan in 1984.
25. While in Taiwan I was exposed to Hepatitis C.
26. I gave blood after returning from Taiwan and before being diagnosed as having the anti-bodies for Hep C.
27. I can no longer give blood.
28. I raised beef cattle and sheep as 4-H projects.
29. I still remember the 4-H pledge.
30. I remember an alphabet-based memory game we played on a field trip in 1980.
31. I have never smoked ... tobacco.
32. I struggle with my weight.
33. 1996 was the year I began learning kung-fu.
34. I support OPB.
35. My favorite animal growing up was the beaver.
36. I admired beavers because they had a work ethic.
37. I collect children's books and folk stories.
38. I hate shopping for clothes - or just about anything else for that matter.
39. I have a hard time remembering the names of people I have just met.
40. I like Asian food.
41. I like to save money.
42. By nature, I am a gullible person.
43. To compensate for my natural gullibility, I have developed a shell of cynicism.
44. It doesn't always work, though.
45. My mother cut my hair in a pixie shag when I was little.
46. I hated that hair cut.
47. I have two half-brothers and one half-sister.
48. I have two real brothers.
49. I consider my adoptive family my real family.
50. My older brother is also adopted, whereas my younger brother is not.
51. My younger brother and I resemble each other, despite not being birth-related.
52. I do not have children, nor do I wish to.
53. My husband feels the same.
54. I like it when my friends have children.
55. I can touch my chin to my knee by bending over (not lifting my knee to my chin).
56. I have always been pretty flexible.
57. The most I have ever weighed is 161 lbs.
58. I'm embarrassed I weighed that much.
59. I made my own headpiece when I got married, using roses my husband had given me, which I had dried and shellacked .
60. On my wedding day I finished knitting a sweater I planned to take with on honeymoon.
61. We honeymooned in Boston and Montreal.
62. I refused to move in with my husband before we got married, in part because I couldn't face my elderly relatives who would have disapproved.
63. I like animals better than people.
64. I consider it an honor when a small child appears to like me.
65. I am fundamentally shy.
66. I have created my own Christmas cards since 1986.
67. I still think the first Christmas card I made is one of the best.
68. The first car I drove was the family's '66 Chrysler New Yorker.
69. As a child I entertained fantasies of persecution by other members of my family. Or witches.
70. My childhood bedroom doubled as our guest bedroom.
71. I always dressed up for Christmas dinner, even though the rest of the family didn't.
72. I am a registered Democrat.
73. My favorite class in high school was chemistry.
74. I graduated fourth in my high school class.
75. My least favorite class in high school was gym.
76. I initiated a search for my birth family when I turned the age my (adoptive) parents were when I was born.
77. I have been using Adobe Illustrator since version 1.1.
78. I have won a trophy and medals for sparring and forms in martial arts tournaments.
79. The martial arts tournaments I have competed in were very small.
80. My martial arts-related injuries include a broken nose and a separated shoulder.
81. I adore puzzles of all kinds.
82. We have a subscription to New Yorker magazine.
83. I like fruit and berries of all kinds.
84. My hair has been cut short most of my adult life.
85. I am impressed by cleverness.
86. I balance my checkbook every month.
87. I pay my credit card balances every month.
88. Only once or twice have I ever been charged interest on a credit card.
89. My ears are double-pierced.
90. I first encountered an unusual body piercing in the summer of 1983.
91. I think the punk look is retro.
92. I like men with a slightly Asian look.
93. Over twenty years ago I devised a name-hyphenation scheme for couples whose individual surnames are already hyphenated.
94. I like cheesy movies with great special effects.
95. I dislike "chick flicks", especially ones where the daughter dies.
96. Not only do I dream in color, I experience all physical senses and sensations dreaming.
97. In 1976 I saw six movies. Five of them were "Star Wars".
98. I think "Babylon 5" is a better, more "realistic" TV series than any of the "Star Trek" series.
99. Growing up, I owned more books than the rest of my family combined.
100. I need a job.