24. My brother and sister and I have had pet water moccasins and once we had a pet cottonmouth. Two of the more deadly snake species to be found in the continental US.
23. We hand fed the cottonmouth, believing him to be toothless. Months into his captivity, we saw him unhinge his fangs. I don't know why we are all still alive.
22. In high school, my sister and I concocted an idea to raise money for our speech/debate team -- a "Babbleathon." Pledges per hour of nonstop talking, we aimed to be in the Guinness Book of World Records. We sat in front of the local grocery store, day and night during spring break. I broke the record (6 days and some hours), but because my mother was one of the officials, we weren't put in the book. I slept for three days straight after that.
21. As a teacher, I was the first in my Hawaii school district to realize how cool the internet was going to be for teaching (and that was back when it was all embedded folders, before Mozilla came out with a graphical interface...). Our home internet connection was one of the first 5 home services on Hawaii's fledgling pixi.com
20. I dabble in three languages beyond English and have a goal to become conversational in at least two of them. Probably Spanish and Hebrew.
19. I used to get my hackles up when I was introduced as "Dave's wife, Kim" and then really steamed when the "Kim" was dropped and I was just "Dave's wife." Then my kids came along and I was "Jake and Sara's mom". No other introduction needed, I think that is all I will have on my headstone. They are my best work (and I didn't really do that much -- I just worked hard to not mess it up).
18. You all probably know this, but I do enjoy animals. And have my own petting zoo. Currently 15 (or more, they keep making babies) llamas, a 37 year old mare
17. I took a wilderness survival course as a PE credit in undergrad years, and survived three days with little more than the clothes on my back and a small emergency pack in the Sierras in November.
16. Butchering animals doesn't bother me (I've helped).
15. Death doesn't bother me. Though I do want to hang around long enough to bear witness to the journeys my kids are about to begin.
14. I've been target shooting with 6 different guns, including a .357 and .454. I want to learn to shoot a shotgun and a rifle. I'd like to hunt something.
13. I have a long list of things I'm going to learn to do: Parachute jump, fly a plane (in that order...), sail a boat, ride a motorcycle to name a few.
12. I'm going to take a welding class. I'd like to build a decorative entry gate.
11. I plan to hike a significant portion of the Pacific Crest Trail with my irish wolfhounds.
10. I plan to ride a significant part of the Oregon Trail on horseback.
9. I will (co)write at least one book (Michelle???).
8. I believe that opportunities I build with and for other people are way more fun than solo ventures.
7. I am still looking for the perfect property --
6. My favorite artists are Monet and Van Gogh (Water Lilies and Starry Night, though Sunflowers is a close third).
5. I love to garden, and prefer sort of a wild and naturalized design. With the vegies intermixed with the ornamentals.
4. I once allowed myself to weigh 220 pounds. It took 8 months to lose 70 of those pounds. That was 4 years ago. Now it's time to lose the other 30...
3. My "first marriage" lasted 27 years.
2. There will never be a second marriage -- I am really enjoying living on my own.
1. My new year's resolutions this year were to develop better balance and peace in my own life, and to find old friends and catch up. So far, so good... Oh yeah, and the resolution that is on the list every year -- improve my handwriting. Oh well, can't win them all!
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