100 Things

  1. I’m a Taurus on the cusp of Gemini and adequately possess traits of both.
  2. My grandmother named me, but my father’s the one who chose the spelling.
  3. I’m so rarely referred to by my full name; I tend to be oblivious when it is used.
  4. Due in part to a rather embarrassing situation when I was in kindergarten, kids relentlessly made fun of my last name when I was little. (It’s pretty amusing to me now, but back then I sincerely despised my last name because of that.)
  5. My initials are CEO, which I find beyond cool.
  6. It’s easier to write in lowercase, though. Thus the online usage as a “handle.”
  7. The creation of my other online “nick,” Bleu Unicorn, came about by randomly typing words until AOL accepted it as unique.
  8. Yes, I once was an America Online user.
  9. Because I’ve always been short and small for my age, growing up my family called me “Peanut.”
  10. Every bit of knowledge I have regarding website coding and design has been self-taught.
  11. Of all the domains I have owned, this one may not be the most creative but it is my favorite because it’s so very short.
  12. As a child I used to have a recurring nightmare, but I have no memory of what it was about. (I’m scared to force myself to remember lest I start having the nightmare again.)
  13. Snoopy is my hero. Seriously.
  14. I’m both lactose intolerant and allergic to cow’s milk.
  15. I have an above average IQ.
  16. I got a 980 on my first attempt at the SATs. (I ran out of time with 40 math questions unanswered.)
  17. In middle school, I was part of an elite choir called “Jazz Pop.” A position I never tried out for, but was instead requested to join via a recommendation from another Cyndy, my former music teacher.
  18. Lasagna is my all-time favorite food to eat.
  19. Ice cream runs a very close second.
  20. Emperor penguins are my absolute favorite animal, but it annoys me that people now assume this is because of films like March of the Penguins or Happy Feet.
  21. At times I can be incredibly shy, especially in large groups of people.
  22. I find religion to be thoroughly intriguing from an academic standpoint.
  23. I think of myself as spiritual, but not overly religious.
  24. Languages are also immensely interesting to me.
  25. I’ve a gift with learning them, but rarely an opportunity to practice.
  26. I was a cheerleader in high school.
  27. I was also on the yearbook staff.
  28. And, of course, in the choir.
  29. Like many children, I was told repeatedly by my relatives that I would most probably grow to enjoy the foods I loathed.
  30. This has turned out to be quite true for strawberries, but I still detest hot dogs.
  31. My parents used to describe me as a “picky eater” when I was a kid, but it would be more accurate to say I just didn’t eat large portions.
  32. Throughout my life, I have been described by several people as “having a kinship with animals.”
  33. I’ve always been that person who could, for instance, get the cat who hates to be touched or picked up to contentedly crawl onto my lap.
  34. When I was little, I wanted to grow up to become either an airplane pilot or a cashier.
  35. I always told my parents I wanted to be a teacher.
  36. No matter how often I’ve been in front of an audience, I still suffer from horrible stage fright.
  37. I’m highly critical of my writing and terribly insecure when sharing it. (Even school assignments!)
  38. Probably because I enjoy learning, I’ve always been an exceptionally good student.
  39. However, I’m the worst example to follow in proper study habits.
  40. Yet, I’m a certified tutor!
  41. My favorite word is cacophony; simply because I enjoy that it embodies its meaning.
  42. I agree with Ralph W. Emerson when he said, “A friend is a gift you give yourself.”
  43. I have a love of shoes, yet whenever possible I’m barefoot.
  44. Even more odd, my feet are so extremely ticklish that I can’t stand having them touched!
  45. I have never in my life been without a pet of some variety. (Generally, a dog.)
  46. My very first pet was a black-and-white guinea pig named Boomer.
  47. While training with my first guide dog, Dolly, I developed a pretty severe allergy to dogs.
  48. Without trained steps to take, I can’t dance.
  49. I have, what I refer to as, anti-rhythm.
  50. I’m something of a klutz.
  51. While peeling potatoes once, I managed to slice off the tip of my right middle finger.
  52. I’m right handed.
  53. The first bone I ever broke was my tail bone. I fell on a patch of ice while cross-country skiing.
  54. I broke it again a few years later falling down my porch steps.
  55. In my junior year of high school, I was a foreign exchange student in Spain.
  56. I sleep very soundly.
  57. Once, I quite literally slept through an earthquake.
  58. I’m addicted to Netflix; mostly because of TV on DVD.
  59. Amazon is another guilty pleasure.
  60. I’m half-Asian on my mother’s side.
  61. My grandfather is Korean and my grandmother is Japanese.
  62. I’m a reluctant collector. In that, people have bought me gifts and along with others continue to contribute to a common theme. (For instance, over the last ten years I’ve amassed a pretty substantial M&M’s dispenser collection even though I’ve personally never purchased one.)
  63. A few years ago I donated nearly 500 of my stuffed animals to charity.
  64. I still have around 100 or more.
  65. Not surprisingly, nearly half of them are emperor penguins!
  66. Aside from rude people and liars, my biggest pet peeve is software that thinks it’s smarter than you. (MS Office drives me nuts with its auto-correct feature, for instance.)
  67. I constantly am engaged in a battle about fingernail length. If mine are too short, I chew them right down to the quick, but if they’re too long I have issues typing or using my guide dog’s harness.
  68. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve worn makeup.
  69. Besides a watch, I generally don’t wear jewelry.
  70. I’ve been told I have incredibly neat penmanship. Strangely, every time I’m told that has been when I’m writing quite sloppy.
  71. I believe in magic.
  72. I never had an imaginary friend as a child; instead I just talked to myself.
  73. And hummed.
  74. I find extreme quiet to be more distracting than raucous noise. (Taking tests in school used to unnerve me because I would find myself bothered by hearing pencils on paper or people breathing.)
  75. Living alone, I find myself in a similar situation with the supreme quiet. Often, I have the television on for “white noise.”
  76. As a child, I would often times lay in bed for hours before falling asleep, waiting until my parents went to bed because that sliver of light seeping in from under the door. (It’s complicated to explain, but it stems from my eye disorder.)
  77. I often tease my father that it took him four years to figure out I was blind.
  78. Less often, he reminds me that I took eight.
  79. I used to think people were just teasing me when they would point out something they saw, but I didn’t.
  80. Literally, I see the world in black-and-white.
  81. I also have nystagmus.
  82. And a small amount of astigmatism.
  83. I got my first pimple at 18.
  84. I got my first gray hair at 16, and there have been many more to join it since then.
  85. I think of myself as quite savvy with technology.
  86. Yet, I had my cell phone for two years before I figured out how to take pictures with it.
  87. As of yet, I have never sent a text message. (Yes, I know how.)
  88. To this day, my father is convinced the only reason I passed the second grade is because I gave my teacher neck rubs.
  89. According to various sources, I’m quite a good masseur.
  90. Having, to date, never had anything resembling a proper massage; I have no comment on this.
  91. I took English style horseback riding lessons when I was younger and thus prefer it still.
  92. However, outside of those lessons, I have always rode Western.
  93. The first horse I ever rode was a Percheron stallion; I was four. It was like riding an elephant!
  94. I have ridden an elephant. A number of times.
  95. I’ve also ridden a camel.
  96. For all the traveling I’ve done in my life, I’m woefully under-traveled in the USA. Outside of NY, I’ve only visited FL and AR.
  97. I want to visit New Zealand someday. I think it’s incredibly beautiful there.
  98. Thanks to my dad, I got to attend Trilogy Tuesday. (I fell asleep during The Two Towers.)
  99. When I was eight, I choked on a single strand of spaghetti and was scared to eat it for several years afterwards.
  100. Considering I find myself frightfully dull, I’m that much more astounded anyone is interested enough to read all of this.