100 Things
Well here goes with my contribution to the 100 Things About Me List. I have tried to be as honest with this list as is possible given that I am publishing it on the web. It is certainly not definitive... just what comes to mind at this point and time of my life.
1. Countries I have travelled to: England, France, Germany, Amsterdam, Italy, United States, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand, Singapore;
2. States in the U.S. I have travelled to: Florida, Washington D.C., Texas, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Atlanta, California, Massachusetts;
3. I have travelled more outside of Canada than within Canada;
4. I was an extra in the mini series of Rich Man Poor Man; played a reporter in a scene with Peter Strauss in an airport; on set for 14 hours to film a 2 minute scene;
5. I have met or got autographs from: Drew Barrymore as a child right after E.T. (she printed), Mickey Rourke, Ed Asner, Matt Dillon, Shirley McLaine, Paul McCartney;
6. I was living in London, England in my early twenties and worked in a building where McCartney had a recording studio; got his autograph in the elevator; he rarely signs autographs;
7. I sold the McCartney autograph on EBay for a lot of money at a time when I was broke and desperate for cash;
8. I once had dinner in New York with Dorothy Hamill when she was married to Dean Martin's son along with some other minor celebrities;
9. One of my all time best friends (who also happened to be my second cousin) had a serious relationship with the Olympic Gold Medalist John Curry; they are now both dead;
10. My Father was a beef farmer; my Mother was a stay-at-home Mom;
11. My first real pet was a dog named Buffy who lived to be almost 15 years old;
12. After that I had two cats, Beau and Squirt who died within three months of each other;
13. 1998, The WORST year of my life: I lost a job, my two cats and my Father died within a few months of each other;
14. I rode horses competetively as a teenager; I wanted to ride in the Three Day Event at the Olympics but I wasn't good enough - I was also too heavy;
15. I was overweight as a child; other kids teased me and called me fatty; why are children so fucking cruel?
16. I knew I was gay when I was a child - I just didn't have language for it until I was in my late teens;
17. I weighed close to 300 lbs. when I was eighteen; I ran away to London, England and lost 90 lbs over 4 months using diet drugs; I didn't tell anyone that I had lost so much weight and nobody recognized me at the airport when I came home;
18. That summer, Prince Charles married Lady Diana; we camped on the street for 48 hours and had a very good view of the parade of Royals;
19. I remember being very impressed that the Prime Minister Trudeau was the last World leader/dignitary in the parade before the actual Royals; Nancy Reagan rode in a bus with some other European heads of state which I don't think she was too happy about;
20. My first job was at a McDonalds; I once sold vacuum cleaners;
21. My first real career was as a fashion/retail buyer;
22. When I was buying menswear for Canada's largest chain of department stores, I produced a huge fashion event called GQ Live; go figure - I could once pick up the phone and call one of the editor's of GQ Live in New York - my life is very different now...
23. I had a taste of the bright lights, big city thing when I was in my 20's - OMG, I think that being a famous celebrity would be the lowest form of misery;
24. I Co-ordinated Fashion Cares in 1992 which is one of Canada's foremost AIDS fundraiser; after it was all over, I was the last one to leave the venue after hearing on the news that someday I had known had died of AIDS...
25. Almost all of my best friends died of AIDS; our grief also killed a lot of relationships;
26. I will be 44 years old in July;
27. I am 6' 1" tall, with brown hair and eyes, currently weigh 258 lbs.;
28. After losing all that weight when I was 18/19, I stayed under 22o lbs. until I turned 35 then all hell broke loose;
29. Over the past 4 years or so, I have gained and lost 40 lbs. 3 times - HATEFUL!
30. 40 of my years have been lived between just 3 residences; two of those residences are basically across the street from each other in downtown Toronto;
31. I don't know the names of my next door neighbours and they have lived beside me for 16 years; we like our privacy;
32. Currently, I have two cats named James and Dolly Peasley; they are brother and sister; sometimes, I think I love them so much I could die;
33. I can't imagine the love a parent has for a human child; I think I would be consumed;
34. After I flamed out of my fashion career, I was treated for a nickel and dime drug habit; I didn't use drugs for years afterwards but relapsed on and off for several years after that; I consider myself very lucky that I never got into any kind of serious trouble; I am not proud of this but it's part of my truth;
35. I got a degree in Social Work (honours) but didn't have the means or emotional stability to get my Masters;
36. I have always felt that I cheated myself by not getting a graduate degree; maybe someday before I die;
37. I also have a partial degree in commerce, a law clerk's certificate and a fashion merchandising diploma - it took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up;
38. I worked very briefly in child welfare; I sucked! I couldn't take babies away from their mothers;
39. For a period of a couple of years I was seriously thinking about joining a monastery and becoming a monk;
40. I spent time in a monastery in Cambridge Mass, very close to Harvard;
41. My very first run was in Cambridge along the Charles River;
42. Some of my fave movies: Harold and Maude, Chariots of Fire;
43. Fave TV show - Six Feet Under; I fucking wailed for about 2 hours after the series finale which I consider the best 10 minutes of TV ever filmed!
44. Canada's answer to Tivo is called Personal Video Recorder; I am a PVR snob - I no longer watch commercials;
45. One of my terrible trashy secrets is that I sometimes play Bingo;
46. One year, I saw the Gay Pride Parade in both New York City and Toronto on the same day;
47. Les Miserable is probably my favourite musical and favourite book; I have read the whole 130o odd pages of Hugo's novel;
48. I bowl in a gay bowling league; I'm not very good;
49. I was obsessed with the sport of tennis for many years;
50. I competed as a novice in the 1994 Gay Games in New York; I lost in the round right before the medals;
51. Walking into Yankee Stadium in the closing parade of athletes was one of my most thrilling moments in life;
52. I co-produced the first gay and lesbian tennis tournament in Canada in 1995;
53. To this day, I don't really know how or why I quit tennis; I am trying to find my game again;
54. As a child, I went to Sunday School; for about 20 years as an adult I wanted nothing to do with organized religion; then, one day, at a particularly low ebb of my life, I walked into the Church of the Redeemer, Toronto's most liberal and socially progressive churches;
55. It changed my life;
56. If ever there is a life moment that you have to get it right the first time, it is giving the eulogy at a parent's funeral; I so got it right!
57. I think that George Bush is evil personified; it makes me angry that he claims to be a Christian;
58. Did he (and all of the other right wing evangelical lunatics) misunderstand Jesus' teaching in the Gospels about love?
59. I am was born into a Christian family - but I believe that we are all related as humans, no matter what religion we practice, no matter what we choose to call God or worship as God, I don't believe that any religion is better than another;
60. It fucking pisses me off that so much evil in the world has been done in the name of religion;
61. I have voted in every single election since I turned 18;
62. I am a card carrying New Democrat;
63. I have seen the same therapist for 9 years;
64. I have had the same GP for over 20 years; She is the best!
65. When I was a kid, I had a huge crush on David Cassidy from the Partridge Family;
66. Reality TV sucks - c'mon do you really believe that any of it is real?
67. Oprah Winfrey's power and influence scares me;
68. I'm not a communist by any stretch, but I think there should be a maximum amount of money that anyone can earn - c'mon does anyone really need a billion dollars? Given the amount of money in the world - why is anyone hungry?
69. I once worked for a Judge running a courtroom - think of Judge Judy's clerk;
70. I have ran two 5k races;
71. I hated red wine until I quit smoking?? Go figure?
72. If I was stranded on a desert island and could choose only one food to eat for the rest of my life - I would pick cheese;
73. I have a hard time getting through a day without pasta; I could live the rest of my life quite happily without rice or potatoes;
74. My fave breakfast is bacon and eggs;
75. I wish I could live my whole life at 5:00 a.m.; from that point it is frequently all downhill;
76. The sound of my cats purring is just freakin awesome;
77. If I could be anything that I'm not - I would be a ballet dancer;
78. I won the school baking competitions in grades 1 and 2; people accused me of cheating; I didn't;
79. I won a bunch of trophies one year for public speaking - my speech was on the triple crown winning race horse Secretariat;
80. I played the piano as a child; My Mother hoped I would grow up to be Liberace; at a very young age, I could make people cry playing the Theme from Love Story - ROTFLMAO...
81. Today, I can barely play a note;
82. I despise people who flaunt wealth and material goods; however, I admit that I like nice things as much as the next person - but let's be reasonable ....;
83. The song Puff The Magic Dragon makes me cry; but so do telephone commercials;
84. A favourite moment - summer, sitting on the dock at the lake with my sis and brother-in-law, drinking scotch, watching the sunset...
85. I suck at the game of office politics; I am more likely to tell somebody to fuck off rather than play stupid games;
86. I am addicted to Sudoku;
87. Periodically, I have this weird dream about swimming Lake Ontario;
88. I want to run a marathon; I have no desire to run anything longer than that...
89. I live alone; I crave solitude; I don't mind my own company;
90. I despise shell fish;
91. I think that capital punishment is absolutely wrong - ALWAYS; the state has no right to kill;
92. The first movie I ever saw in a theatre - The Sound of Music;
93. The last concert I saw was Elton John; floor seats just a few rows from the stage; awesome!
94. My middle name is Cole - it is my Grandmother's maiden name; it was also my Father's middle name;
95. The new series WEEDS is also great television; if I weren't gay, I would lust after Mary Louise Parker;
96. Despite my frequent whinging and moaning about the viscissitudes of life - I am truly, truly happy as a human being; I am grateful for all that I have;
97. The Academy Awards show is tooooooooooo long....
98. I am not afraid of death; however, I am terrified of dying;
99. I do not regret anything about my life; I am who I am today because of everything that has gone before - how can I regret that which has made me who I am?
and, drum roll please....
100. There is nothing I could possibly list at spot 100 that could possibly say more about me than nos 96, and 98-99.
1. Countries I have travelled to: England, France, Germany, Amsterdam, Italy, United States, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand, Singapore;
2. States in the U.S. I have travelled to: Florida, Washington D.C., Texas, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Atlanta, California, Massachusetts;
3. I have travelled more outside of Canada than within Canada;
4. I was an extra in the mini series of Rich Man Poor Man; played a reporter in a scene with Peter Strauss in an airport; on set for 14 hours to film a 2 minute scene;
5. I have met or got autographs from: Drew Barrymore as a child right after E.T. (she printed), Mickey Rourke, Ed Asner, Matt Dillon, Shirley McLaine, Paul McCartney;
6. I was living in London, England in my early twenties and worked in a building where McCartney had a recording studio; got his autograph in the elevator; he rarely signs autographs;
7. I sold the McCartney autograph on EBay for a lot of money at a time when I was broke and desperate for cash;
8. I once had dinner in New York with Dorothy Hamill when she was married to Dean Martin's son along with some other minor celebrities;
9. One of my all time best friends (who also happened to be my second cousin) had a serious relationship with the Olympic Gold Medalist John Curry; they are now both dead;
10. My Father was a beef farmer; my Mother was a stay-at-home Mom;
11. My first real pet was a dog named Buffy who lived to be almost 15 years old;
12. After that I had two cats, Beau and Squirt who died within three months of each other;
13. 1998, The WORST year of my life: I lost a job, my two cats and my Father died within a few months of each other;
14. I rode horses competetively as a teenager; I wanted to ride in the Three Day Event at the Olympics but I wasn't good enough - I was also too heavy;
15. I was overweight as a child; other kids teased me and called me fatty; why are children so fucking cruel?
16. I knew I was gay when I was a child - I just didn't have language for it until I was in my late teens;
17. I weighed close to 300 lbs. when I was eighteen; I ran away to London, England and lost 90 lbs over 4 months using diet drugs; I didn't tell anyone that I had lost so much weight and nobody recognized me at the airport when I came home;
18. That summer, Prince Charles married Lady Diana; we camped on the street for 48 hours and had a very good view of the parade of Royals;
19. I remember being very impressed that the Prime Minister Trudeau was the last World leader/dignitary in the parade before the actual Royals; Nancy Reagan rode in a bus with some other European heads of state which I don't think she was too happy about;
20. My first job was at a McDonalds; I once sold vacuum cleaners;
21. My first real career was as a fashion/retail buyer;
22. When I was buying menswear for Canada's largest chain of department stores, I produced a huge fashion event called GQ Live; go figure - I could once pick up the phone and call one of the editor's of GQ Live in New York - my life is very different now...
23. I had a taste of the bright lights, big city thing when I was in my 20's - OMG, I think that being a famous celebrity would be the lowest form of misery;
24. I Co-ordinated Fashion Cares in 1992 which is one of Canada's foremost AIDS fundraiser; after it was all over, I was the last one to leave the venue after hearing on the news that someday I had known had died of AIDS...
25. Almost all of my best friends died of AIDS; our grief also killed a lot of relationships;
26. I will be 44 years old in July;
27. I am 6' 1" tall, with brown hair and eyes, currently weigh 258 lbs.;
28. After losing all that weight when I was 18/19, I stayed under 22o lbs. until I turned 35 then all hell broke loose;
29. Over the past 4 years or so, I have gained and lost 40 lbs. 3 times - HATEFUL!
30. 40 of my years have been lived between just 3 residences; two of those residences are basically across the street from each other in downtown Toronto;
31. I don't know the names of my next door neighbours and they have lived beside me for 16 years; we like our privacy;
32. Currently, I have two cats named James and Dolly Peasley; they are brother and sister; sometimes, I think I love them so much I could die;
33. I can't imagine the love a parent has for a human child; I think I would be consumed;
34. After I flamed out of my fashion career, I was treated for a nickel and dime drug habit; I didn't use drugs for years afterwards but relapsed on and off for several years after that; I consider myself very lucky that I never got into any kind of serious trouble; I am not proud of this but it's part of my truth;
35. I got a degree in Social Work (honours) but didn't have the means or emotional stability to get my Masters;
36. I have always felt that I cheated myself by not getting a graduate degree; maybe someday before I die;
37. I also have a partial degree in commerce, a law clerk's certificate and a fashion merchandising diploma - it took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up;
38. I worked very briefly in child welfare; I sucked! I couldn't take babies away from their mothers;
39. For a period of a couple of years I was seriously thinking about joining a monastery and becoming a monk;
40. I spent time in a monastery in Cambridge Mass, very close to Harvard;
41. My very first run was in Cambridge along the Charles River;
42. Some of my fave movies: Harold and Maude, Chariots of Fire;
43. Fave TV show - Six Feet Under; I fucking wailed for about 2 hours after the series finale which I consider the best 10 minutes of TV ever filmed!
44. Canada's answer to Tivo is called Personal Video Recorder; I am a PVR snob - I no longer watch commercials;
45. One of my terrible trashy secrets is that I sometimes play Bingo;
46. One year, I saw the Gay Pride Parade in both New York City and Toronto on the same day;
47. Les Miserable is probably my favourite musical and favourite book; I have read the whole 130o odd pages of Hugo's novel;
48. I bowl in a gay bowling league; I'm not very good;
49. I was obsessed with the sport of tennis for many years;
50. I competed as a novice in the 1994 Gay Games in New York; I lost in the round right before the medals;
51. Walking into Yankee Stadium in the closing parade of athletes was one of my most thrilling moments in life;
52. I co-produced the first gay and lesbian tennis tournament in Canada in 1995;
53. To this day, I don't really know how or why I quit tennis; I am trying to find my game again;
54. As a child, I went to Sunday School; for about 20 years as an adult I wanted nothing to do with organized religion; then, one day, at a particularly low ebb of my life, I walked into the Church of the Redeemer, Toronto's most liberal and socially progressive churches;
55. It changed my life;
56. If ever there is a life moment that you have to get it right the first time, it is giving the eulogy at a parent's funeral; I so got it right!
57. I think that George Bush is evil personified; it makes me angry that he claims to be a Christian;
58. Did he (and all of the other right wing evangelical lunatics) misunderstand Jesus' teaching in the Gospels about love?
59. I am was born into a Christian family - but I believe that we are all related as humans, no matter what religion we practice, no matter what we choose to call God or worship as God, I don't believe that any religion is better than another;
60. It fucking pisses me off that so much evil in the world has been done in the name of religion;
61. I have voted in every single election since I turned 18;
62. I am a card carrying New Democrat;
63. I have seen the same therapist for 9 years;
64. I have had the same GP for over 20 years; She is the best!
65. When I was a kid, I had a huge crush on David Cassidy from the Partridge Family;
66. Reality TV sucks - c'mon do you really believe that any of it is real?
67. Oprah Winfrey's power and influence scares me;
68. I'm not a communist by any stretch, but I think there should be a maximum amount of money that anyone can earn - c'mon does anyone really need a billion dollars? Given the amount of money in the world - why is anyone hungry?
69. I once worked for a Judge running a courtroom - think of Judge Judy's clerk;
70. I have ran two 5k races;
71. I hated red wine until I quit smoking?? Go figure?
72. If I was stranded on a desert island and could choose only one food to eat for the rest of my life - I would pick cheese;
73. I have a hard time getting through a day without pasta; I could live the rest of my life quite happily without rice or potatoes;
74. My fave breakfast is bacon and eggs;
75. I wish I could live my whole life at 5:00 a.m.; from that point it is frequently all downhill;
76. The sound of my cats purring is just freakin awesome;
77. If I could be anything that I'm not - I would be a ballet dancer;
78. I won the school baking competitions in grades 1 and 2; people accused me of cheating; I didn't;
79. I won a bunch of trophies one year for public speaking - my speech was on the triple crown winning race horse Secretariat;
80. I played the piano as a child; My Mother hoped I would grow up to be Liberace; at a very young age, I could make people cry playing the Theme from Love Story - ROTFLMAO...
81. Today, I can barely play a note;
82. I despise people who flaunt wealth and material goods; however, I admit that I like nice things as much as the next person - but let's be reasonable ....;
83. The song Puff The Magic Dragon makes me cry; but so do telephone commercials;
84. A favourite moment - summer, sitting on the dock at the lake with my sis and brother-in-law, drinking scotch, watching the sunset...
85. I suck at the game of office politics; I am more likely to tell somebody to fuck off rather than play stupid games;
86. I am addicted to Sudoku;
87. Periodically, I have this weird dream about swimming Lake Ontario;
88. I want to run a marathon; I have no desire to run anything longer than that...
89. I live alone; I crave solitude; I don't mind my own company;
90. I despise shell fish;
91. I think that capital punishment is absolutely wrong - ALWAYS; the state has no right to kill;
92. The first movie I ever saw in a theatre - The Sound of Music;
93. The last concert I saw was Elton John; floor seats just a few rows from the stage; awesome!
94. My middle name is Cole - it is my Grandmother's maiden name; it was also my Father's middle name;
95. The new series WEEDS is also great television; if I weren't gay, I would lust after Mary Louise Parker;
96. Despite my frequent whinging and moaning about the viscissitudes of life - I am truly, truly happy as a human being; I am grateful for all that I have;
97. The Academy Awards show is tooooooooooo long....
98. I am not afraid of death; however, I am terrified of dying;
99. I do not regret anything about my life; I am who I am today because of everything that has gone before - how can I regret that which has made me who I am?
and, drum roll please....
100. There is nothing I could possibly list at spot 100 that could possibly say more about me than nos 96, and 98-99.
posted by Scott at 6:12 PM
3 Comments:
Very cool list! You are quite the traveler and celebrity spotter! :) OMG--my husband LOOVVEEEEEEEEEESSSS Soduku. It's way too mathy for me. But I do love cheese! :)
Totally agree with 98 and 99
Very nice list! I think this quote from you "I am not proud of this but it's part of my truth" is awesome, it sums up how I feel about many aspects of my life.
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