The Tens of Me

Ten things I like to write about:

1. Spirituality, of almost any sort
2. Football, which I hate and do not understand
3. My kids and grandkids
4. Lesbians and mysteries
5. Neurotic people, because I am one
6. Gardening, which I like in theory but not in practice
7. Conspiracies, most of which I don't believe in
8. Aliens, but that's another blog
9. Writing. Well, duh.
10. Midrash. It's a Jewish thing.

Ten things I like to read:

1. Huffington Post, last thing before I close up shop for the day
2. Mysteries
3. Tarot cards
4. The Bible and the Qur'an
5. News magazines
6. Spinning, weaving, and quilting magazines
7. Quirky humor (Christopher Moore, David and Amy Sedaris)
8. New age stuff
9. Comics
10. Jeff Rense for my daily dose of the absurdly paranoid

Ten places I want to go:

1. France, a childhood dream
2. Hawaii, because I had so much fun the first time
3. Wales, because my partner wants to go there
4. Machu Picchu, because it rained so much the first time we didn't see much
5. Alaska, by cruise, because I can use a heavy dose of beauty
6. Across Canada by train, staying at all the Grand Hotels
7. Istanbul, because I wasn't there anywhere near long enough
8. Taos and Santa Fe, NM, just because
9. Any US National Park, because I love them and collect them
10. Camping, because it smells good

Ten things I want to do:

1. Ride in a half-century
2. Travel with my grandchildren
3. Tour the country in an RV with my partner and our dog
4. Ride a bike down the Waimea Canyon in Kauai
5. Raft down the Colorado River
6. Design a to-die-for jacket that fits
7. Take a helicopter ride over something beautiful
8. Readjust my circadian rhythms so I'm not totally a vampire
9. Learn Spanish
10. Die old and leave an ugly corpse

Ten favorite authors:

1. Madeleine L'Engle
2. Anne Lamott
3. Rita Nakashima Brock
4. Nevada Barr
5. Jonathan Kellerman
6. Lawrence Goldstone
7. Christopher Moore
8. Terry Pratchett
9. Janet Evanovich
10. Annie Dillard

Ten favorite musicians:

1. Leonard Cohen
2. Motherlode
3. Cris Williamson
4. Tret Fure
5. Judy Fjell
6. The Beatles
7. Mozart
8. Libby Roderick
9. Laura Nyro
10. St. Louis Jesuits

Ten favorite religious figures:

1. Jesus
2. Kali
3. Ganeesh
4. Buddha
5. Mary Magdalene
6. Spider Woman
7. Dalai Lama
8. Lilith
9. Hildegarde of Bingen
10. St. Benedict

Ten famous people I almost know:

1. President Obama (my nephew knows him)
2. President Clinton (another nephew knows him)
3. Sally Struthers, Gloria on All In The Family (her father delivered me)
4. Willie Brown, former mayor of SF (oh, wait, I actually met him and sat in his seat behind home plate at a baseball game)
5. Frank Sinatra (my uncle knew him)
6. Former Senator Mark Hatfield, R., OR (my dad knew him)
7. Daniel Boone, (he's my xth-great-grandfather)
8. Some random horse thief (my mom swore there was one)
9. Matthew Fox, theologian, (my in-laws knew him)
10. Madeleine L'Engle (Oh, wait, I studied with her)

Ten oddest places I've ever been:

1. Trapped in Moab, UT, when our van died
2. Trapped in Mt. Shasta, when our van died again
3. Trapped by a cab driver in Pireaus, Athens
4. Trapped in an elevator when my friend and I decided to see what happened if we tried to open the doors from the inside when it was moving. We were kids. What can I say?
5. Trapped on the train from Aguas Caliente to Cusco after the engineer forgot to set the brake and the train rolled down a hill and crashed into another train.
6. Trapped in our house when Beaver Creek flooded and totally surrounded us. (See the theme yet?)
7. Trapped in some caverns in Turkey, about six stories underground, waiting for the crowds to clear out so I could escape.
8. Trapped on a little ferry from Patmos, Greece to Kusadasi, Turkey by a huge storm. The crew had to literally throw us off the boat because the ramp wouldn't stay attached to the sea wall.
9. Trapped on the ground in a stampede of horses. That one was really freaky. I was eight. I'm still afraid of horses until I actually mount.
10. Trapped at my mother-in-law's the first time I met her. For three days. With the flu.

Ten truly amazing experiences:

1. Giving birth. Three times.
2. Having an audience with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
3. Swimming two feet above a huge manta ray in Puget Sound
4. Having grandchildren
5. Coming out as a lesbian
6. Dying and living to tell about it
7. Celebrating Easter Vigil at the Cathedral of St. Titus on Crete with several thousands of people setting off fireworks right in the middle of the crowd
8. That stupid ferry from Patmos to Kusadasi. The ferry was little, the waves were big. My partner was sitting right by the rail enjoying every minute but she refuses to ride a roller coaster. Everybody else was clustered in the center of the boat screaming at her.
9. Walking on water in Kauai when I was suddenly surrounded by a school of hungry fish. (I'm an ichthyophobe. I scuba dive. I know it makes no sense. It is what it is.)
10. Building a house with my partner without getting divorced