Twenty Things

First of all, I can’t believe it’s March. Never mind the fact that it’s already 2009. (Remember when “The Year Two Thousand” sounded so waaaaay off and futuristic? And we’ve nearly lost another decade since then? How is that possible?!) So not only all that, but we’re already up to Twenty Odd Facts and Figures You May or May Not Already Know About Me.

16. I get a kick out of going to the dentist and getting a new dental hygienist. Why? Because invariably on that very first cleaning pass I’ll see her pause, furrow her brow, and stop cleaning. It’s at that point I say, “You found my baby tooth, didn’t you?” That’s right. I’m 43 years old and still have a baby tooth. (In fact, I’m so old I should start calling it a “deciduous tooth.”)

17. If you remember way back to Thing #1, I happened to mention I was male. Therefore Thing #17 may come as a surprise to you. I absolutely couldn’t care less about sports. Baseball, basketball, football (both kinds), auto racing, tennis, jai-alai … it doesn’t matter. I just don’t get it. I’m the kind of person who, when asked on Monday morning what he thought of the Superbowl, would respond, “That was yesterday?” Further, if someone told me it was played between the New York Mets and the Boise Buffaloes, I wouldn’t even question it. Okay, so a dozen guys spent a couple hours marching a ball down a field and went a bit further than the other dozen guys. Big deal. And the fact that eight trillion dollars changes hands over such an event is enough to make my head a splode.

18. I went to Germany for dinner once. Most people stay in a country for longer than that. But we were in Switzerland and someone knew of a good restaurant just a little ways over the border, so we got our passports, packed into a rental car, and went to Germany for dinner.

19. Remember #19?

Okay, okay, in case you feel cheated by a “rerun” I’ll throw in a bonus fact at no extra charge: I like Monty Python. And Red Dwarf. Frankly, I like a lot of British comedy. Someday British comedy is going to like me back.

20. I like movies and I like going to movies and I like eating hot “buttered” movie popcorn out of very large movie popcorn buckets. I just wish going to the movies and eating popcorn didn’t cost $147.50. Some people can easily list their favorite movie(s). I’m not one of them. I can’t even list an unordered “top ten” because it varies by whatever I’m in the mood for. That said, here is a very, very random and most unrepresentative sampling of movies I like, in alphabetical order:

  • The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
  • Big Fish
  • A Christmas Story
  • Christopher Guest films
  • Contact
  • Die Hard
  • The Fifth Element
  • Forrest Gump
  • Galaxy Quest
  • Groundhog Day
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
  • The Iron Giant
  • It’s A Wonderful Life
  • The Jerk
  • A Knight’s Tale
  • L.A. Story
  • Labyrinth
  • The Matrix
  • The Nightmare Before Christmas
  • Basically all Pixar films
  • The Princess Bride
  • Rocky
  • Shanghai Noon
  • Shaolin Soccer
  • The Sixth Sense

If you’re wondering where “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings” are on this list, don’t worry. Both will be subjects of full-length Leftover posts in the future.

Anyway, I hope you’re still enjoying this. Only twenty percent to go now! What could those last five things be? Oh what could they be…?



16 Responses to “Twenty Things”

Michelle said
on
March 4, 2009 at 1:07 am

Woot first comment!!

Great Post.

A baby tooth… really?

Tom Rooney said
on
March 4, 2009 at 5:37 am

You movie list is very close to my favorites. Seeing you like Monty Python, I’d also throw in
The Meaning of Life
Life of Brian
The Holy Grail

Tuscanystone said
on
March 4, 2009 at 6:11 am

I’m sad you like the dentist even if it is only to show off your baby tooth! No-one in this world LIKES dentists!

I see the British humour in you!

I’m female and love football, so I suppose we were switched in the womb!

Tusc 😉

Mara @ What's For Dinner? said
on
March 4, 2009 at 6:49 am

I love your favorite movies… though I agree that Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and Meaning of life (or at least a Monty Python category) should be added!

“Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!”

Charlie said
on
March 4, 2009 at 6:53 am

I did think of the Monty Python movies, of course, but had to stick to my original goal of giving a “most unrepresentative sampling of movies.” Otherwise, I’d still be writing the list right now. And after already declaring my fondness of British comedy, I left the MP movies off the list to give more shelf space to other genres.

Charlie said
on
March 4, 2009 at 6:56 am

It’s amazing how difficult it is to come up with a list like that in the first place. As soon as I said it was a list of “movies I like” instead of “my favorite movies,” it got easier. But I still could have tripled the size of that list without any problem.

I suppose I could try and rank them someday. In that case, Shaolin Soccer would be much higher up on the list. In fact, now that I think about it, I should edit the post to say the original Chinese version and not the severely lame Americanized version. Give me subtitles or give me … no movie at all.

Meg said
on
March 4, 2009 at 7:15 am

I see several of my favorites on that list…including Big Fish! Of course, my husband and I both love Rocky and it seems there is one on every weekend. Which Rocky is your favorite?

maggieapril said
on
March 4, 2009 at 7:30 am

A guy who doesn’t like sports – that is SO awesome. But how the heck do you manage to make small talk with other guys?

I was once in Switzerland and went to France for dinner.

Charlie said
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March 4, 2009 at 9:36 am

Meg: Definitely the one that got Best Picture.

Hallie said
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March 4, 2009 at 10:10 am

Does that make you long in the tooth???

Hallie 🙂

Biz said
on
March 4, 2009 at 10:13 am

I love Big Fish – it always makes me cry!

While I can tolerate fooball, I LOVE watching baseball and going to baseball games – the tailgaiting, the cold beers, cheddar brats – and of course, the 1 in 4 times I forget sunscreen and get sunburned!

Quix said
on
March 4, 2009 at 11:06 am

I love going to sporting events. I can get into a good game on TV. However, I can’t see going out of my way to watch sports every week and keep up with teams and scores. My fiance and group of guy friends aren’t much into sports either (most of them) so it’s more common than you might think.

And I once went to Canada for lunch, but that’s not nearly as cool.

Anne (Happy Fun Pants) said
on
March 4, 2009 at 11:36 am

OH MY GOSH. I almost peed in my pants when I read your post because I was so excited to comment about how cool and funny you are. Also, I’ve had a lot of hot tea today.

First, WAY to pull out the Conan O’ Brien reference. When people talk about anything that happened in 2000, that little “song” is ALWAYS playing in my head right after they say 2000. Most times I don’t whine/sing it.

Second, you named Christopher Guest movies!!! I knew I liked you. 🙂 “Waiting for Guffman” is my personal favorite…though it might lots to do with the fact that I went to college in a small town in Missouri.

Third, Galaxy Quest? OMG. One of the funniest movies of all time.

Fourth, please…I fell in love with your blog when you wrote about all things Princess Bride related. It’s when I added you to my google reader and then got the tattoo of your grilled PB&J sandwiches on my back.

Fifth (and finally), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is a seriously creepy movie. Like I saw it with an ex when I was in college and I was all “I know I’ve never done drugs – heck, I’ve never even had a drink…but am I high right now? Because this movie makes no sense.”

In case you can’t tell, I heart your blog.

Charlie said
on
March 4, 2009 at 11:36 am

Quix: Well, than how about standing in the United States and peeing into Canada? I actually witnessed that firsthand once. Nothing against Canada, per se, but those involved just found it amusing that you could be in two different countries at once in that fashion.

Charlie said
on
March 4, 2009 at 11:38 am

Anne: I almost put “Stool Boom” in parens after the Christopher Guest reference, but I thought I might get that song stuck in people’s heads.

Sagan said
on
March 4, 2009 at 9:02 pm

Die Hard, sweet! And The Princess Bride is way up there on my favorite books/movies.

LOVE British humour.