Post the 500th.

This is my 500th post on this blog. I think it's funny that Miri and I started our blogs at the same time (I'm sure we were in the same room, I just can't remember whether we started them on the same day or not - I just know it was January of 2007) and she just hit her 1000th post. I guess that's what happens when you barely post once a month some years (like the year I was finishing grad school and planning a wedding at the same time, for example.)
In the interim, I've started or written on several other blogs, including a cooking blog, an inspirational blog for women, a travelblog, an internship journal, the virtual quote wall, and an attempt at a blog bookclub. I partially blame the glut of blogs for some writing burnout at some point, which is why I'm currently just writing on two, plus the occasional guest post, with the hope of expanding back out to three again in the future. (The Lovely Blog, for the record. I love it so, but we all just ran out of inspiration. I'm currently storing up loveliness for the future.)
I've been reading through some of my first posts this morning. I think my writing is better now, but more guarded. I think part of that was because I assumed that not very many people were reading it and I knew who they were, so I felt less like a dork when I yammered on about the books that shaped my entire being and "songs that have deeply and sincerely entered into the depths of my SOUL."

I've been enjoying my list of 100 Things that I made when I started the blog, and I thought I'd update it. I'll try to make the ones I'm directly commenting on correspond to the numbers in the original post in case I don't explain sufficiently and you want to check. (Some of the items require no updates, and those I'm going to fill in with whatever I darn well want. I'll put those in italics. I didn't say the post idea made sense, just that I wanted to do it.) I realize that there will still be many of you who get bored before the end, but I've learned over the last five years that some of you are remarkably persistent.

1. I love this blog. It has been a good friend and tool for procrastination for nearly five years now. Right now, for example, I am procrastinating the dusting. I believe the original title was Nerdier Than Thou. It has had a few others, but I finally settled on this one a couple of years ago, and I still feel that it's perfect. 
2. I still hate raisins. I still think it feels like eating bugs. However, I do like craisins and golden raisins, generally speaking, which is funny, since texture has always been the issue. I've also learned to like mushrooms since this blog began, which was also a texture thing. 
3. True confessions: I used to blog about my sad dating life a lot. Now I'm married, and I've stopped counting the boyfriends, since the most recent one never ended. It makes the blog less juicy, but the life more content. 
4. I no longer sleep with a stuffed dog named Humphrey, because now I sleep with a tall man named Eric. However, Humphrey is still around, and he sits on our makeshift dresser in a place of honor. Also, I still love Humphrey Bogart. 
5. I have a lot more than 12 days of music on my computer now. There's a lot I haven't listened to, and I feel like I'm in a bit of a music rut. I blame the fact that the computer with the music on it goes to school with Eric and I can't make playlists without the library in front of me. 
6. When I started this blog, I said, "I've seen Simon and Garfunkle, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, Blues Traveler, U2, The Format, Death Cab for Cutie, Jason Mraz, Augustana, They Might Be Giants, The Beach Boys, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Chicago, Chanticleer, The King's Singers, and Brian Regan in concert, and I'm going to see the Shins in February!" I've now seen . . . a lot more bands than that in concert, because I had not yet entered into my true concert obsession phase. I will try to remember as many as possible:
•  Ben Kweller (with The Brobecks)
• The Shins
• Joshua Radin
• Ingrid Michaelson
• Damien Rice
• The Arcade Fire (with LCD Soundsystem)
• Ben Folds (with Ben Lee and Chris Merritt)
• Chris Merritt (twice besides the time he opened for Ben Folds)
• Noah and the Whale (in Houston)
• The Decemberists
• The National (Indianapolis)
• Brandi Carlile (Indianapolis)
• Ben Lee (with Cary Brothers)
• Andrew Bird
• The Fray (twice)
• Straylight Run (not impressive)
• Colbie Callait (didn't even stay for the encore, but the tickets were free!) 
• Blues Traveler (in New Haven)
• Band of Horses (in London)
• Snow Patrol (with OK Go)
• Angels and Airwaves 
• Weezer
• M. Ward
• Bon Iver
• The Aquabats (twice) (with Yo Gabba Gabba the second time which was painful) 
7. I actually still stay in touch with some of my friends from high school. The first year that we didn't have our traditional New Year's Eve party with Little Smokies was last year - because I got married and drove down to Texas before the New Year. It went a whopping 8 years. 
8. I married off a total of 17 roommates before I got married (Mandi, Melanie, Cara, Star, Candice, Janice, Sam, Janie, Miri, Lili, Jennie, Marcie, Mandy, Krissie, Amanda, Whitney, Torie.) 
9. I currently have 2 roommates: Eric and Stickybun. 
10. I still want to go back to England - and actually did after the first version of this list was published. 
11. My favorite thing in my apartment now is our set of bookshelves. I love that when people come over they browse the shelves and start talking about books. This, more than any other reason, is why I will always have a hard time switching to e-books. 
12. Goal: I still want to see every Shakespeare play live. So far I've seen all but 5 comedies and 6.5 histories. I have successfully checked all of the tragedies off the list as you can see here: 
• The Tempest
• Twelfth Night (about 4 times)
• Much Ado About Nothing (3)
• Henry IV, Part 1
• The Winter's Tale
• Romeo and Juliet (twice, even though it's not one I love)
• Love's Labours Lost
• The Taming of the Shrew (twice)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream (I've lost count)
• Hamlet (4 times)
• As You Like It (twice)
• Antony and Cleopatra
• Coriolanus
• Titus Andronicus
• Macbeth
• The Merry Wives of Windsor (twice)
• The Merchant of Venice (twice)
• The Two Gentlemen of Verona
• King Lear (twice)
• Othello
• Julius Caesar
• Timon of Athens
• The Comedy of Errors
• Richard III
• Henry V
• Henry VIII (but it got rained out halfway through, so I'll probably have to see it again)
13. I still love Gregory Peck, and depressing movies. 
14. I no longer own any toe socks. I do, however, love long argyle socks. 
15. I don't know what I was smoking when I said Gregg's was my favorite place to eat in England. It was good, but Kahn's was much better. Also, the second time I was there I ate in some pubs that had delicious stuff. 
16. I still love Simon and Garfunkle. Some of my favorite songs of theirs are songs I didn't hear until a couple of years ago - "Keep the Customer Satisfied," "Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall," "The Blues Run the Game." 
17. I no longer feel the need to practice Toaster Strudel voodoo, but I did learn to make my own. It's delicious, and still good for the soul. 
18. Jane Eyre is still my favorite book, and I've now seen 6 movie versions. 
19. I wish Orson Welles could narrate my life. 
20. Since trading in my irrational crushes for a rational one (Eric) (although I suppose some might beg to differ) I've thought less about my irrational ones, like Gilbert Blythe and Hawkeye Pierce. But I do have a crush on The Doctor now. Luckily, Eric kinds of reminds me of him. 
21. I don't read as many critical essays for fun these days. I do, however, read a lot more nonfiction than I used to. Right now, for example, I'm reading about how scientists have tried to figure out the afterlife by weighing people to see if they weigh less when their soul leaves. (Thank you, Mary Roach, for making science so funny.) 
22. Since starting this blog, I've added Sylvia Plath and Ken Kesey to the list of people who are amazing and slightly crazy to read. Reading my post made me want to reread Mrs. Dalloway though. I wonder if everyone gets to feel such warm fuzzies about that book. Probably not. 
23. Since writing about how I love Yeats and "The Second Coming," I got to sing a Yeats poem in Women's Chorus. It was a prettier poem ("The Lake Isle of Innisfree) although now I'm imagining a choral arrangement of "The Second Coming" and it is almost as hilarious as the time we sang "Fie on Sinful Fantasy" in Madrigals back in high school. ("Lust is but a bloody fire! Kindled with unchaste desire!") 
24. I got better at making comments in class after this, particularly in grad school. Now I teach seminary and try to make kids comment in class. 
25. I miss being one half of M&M, although now Miri is part of the Miri and Mike M&M, which is also nice. 
26. I still love my mom's lemon chicken, but I also love . . . so many things. Since this blog began, I have grown to absolutely love cooking, experimenting, and sharing the food I cook. However, I do believe that a post about my mom's lemon chicken will be going up on Sisters-in-Long soon. 
27. I still love to read about subjects that sound really weird and morbid when I tell people about them. For example, I just took a book to book club and told everyone how fascinating the part about cannibalism was. Some of the ladies there looked at me like I was insane. (It was the best book ever!!!) 
28. I want to reread A Tale of Two Cities. However, I've had a hard time getting into Dickens since then, unless it's a Dickens movie. 
29. I'm really grateful that for the last few months I've had lots of time to read. It's been nice to read books in a couple of days and then have Eric say, "When did you start that book??" Good times. 
30. I still blame my brothers for a lot of my musical taste. I'm grateful that I married into a family where I can sit with my in-laws and discuss music (or old movies, depending on the in-law.) 
31. I miss the trebuchet. 
32. I almost never listen to John Mayer anymore. I was just thinking about him this morning, and I don't know why. 
33. I still can't pick a favorite song. I'm not even going to try. 
34. My favorite cold cereal now is probably Quaker Oatmeal Squares or whatever Blueberry Morning knockoff I can find. However . . . I still love Cinnamon Toast Crunch. 
35. I still have a blanket with sleeves! Right now it's on my bed. 
36. I still love poetry, and having poetry books on my shelf. However, we have so many history books on our shelves now that I don't need the intellectual boost, even if most of the history books are Eric's.
37. I no longer have a transcendentalist corner in my room, but I kind of miss it. That was a very peaceful corner. 
38. I still love road trips, but luckily I married a man who also loves road trips! We did a lot of driving together when we were first dating, and now we go on frequent mini road trips to Houston and San Antonio, and we've driven 4000+ miles together on a single trip. 
39. I miss Pace's and Nielsen's. 
40. I still have a Jane Austen action figure. Also, a librarian action figure. 
41. I still love journals. I haven't done much with my giant journal lately, but I still like putting paint on things, so I offer to assist Eric whenever he paints big projects. 
42. I hadn't listened to much classical music for a little while, and suddenly Eric started wanting to listen to it while we were reading in the evenings. We just bought this gorgeous album of Yo Yo Ma playing Ennio Morricone music. It's lovely. 
43. When I was little, I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. Then I realized I couldn't draw. So I married one instead. 
44. I've gotten better at not rejecting things because they are popular. I think I can contribute at least some of this to Ann, who taught me that some things that are crazy popular and stupid are also really hilarious. 
45. This summer I broke my guitar back out after not having played it much for a little while. I learned to play "King of the Road" by Roger Miller, and "Save it for a Rainy Day" by The Jayhawks. 
46. I can no longer say that my only pets have been named after literary characters. Now I have to say they've been named after literary characters . . . and desserts. (Also, there was that time Jennie had a goldfish in our apartment and we named it Kishkumen. Sometimes we called him Fishkumen. Sometimes, Kishie the Fishie. So literary characters, desserts, and Gadianton Robbers.) 
47. No more eating on campus these days, although at IU I traded in pasta for pizza and waffle fries. 
48. I still get too involved in the books I read and feel a sense of loss when I finish them. 
49. I have received many more bouquets of flowers in my life of late. 
50. I still love Trivial Pursuit, and thankfully, Eric will play it with me. I've also learned to love Scrabble.
51. I still love Oscar Wilde. I'm also a big fan of Tom Stoppard. 
52. I miss roommate sleepovers in the living room. 
53. I hope that someday I have another trampoline. And another dog. 
54. Chicken cordon bleu is still really fun to cook. Around the same time I wrote the original post, I taught a bunch of boys how to make it. They called me for several years after that to ask about how long to cook it because they were making it for their families for Christmas or they were making it with dates. 
55. I'm still good at cutting up avocados. Not so much mangoes. 
56. I miss playing the viola. But I'm not really sorry I quit, because I miss choir more. 
57. I still see things all the time that make me think of the little reading nooks I used to try to create in my room. I just love a good nook. 
58. I don't have a window seat right now, but I do have a balcony garden. It's almost as good - except that it dies.  
59. Additions to the list of memories connected to music - realizing I really liked Eric after he sent me "Terrible Vision" by Rhett Butler, sending him "After All" by Sondre Lerche when I realized I was falling in love with him. 
60. I hadn't seen Princess Bride in years, but a few months ago I showed it to my Young Women. I forgot how much I enjoy that movie. 
61. I still know all the words to "We Didn't Start the Fire." 
62. I cry even more than I did when I started this blog and talked about how I had started to cry. BAH. 
63. I went to the midnight showing of the last Harry Potter movie with Eric and his mom, brother, and sister-in-law. His mom was sure that everyone there would be 12, but they were all our age. 
64. I still love Robin Hood. I really loved the BBC Robin Hood until the end of season two, which destroyed my heart. 
65. A few months ago, I got an invitation to the wedding of the guy who was my first date - and he definitely sent a present for mine. 
66. I still adore peanut butter. I have a friend whose child is allergic to peanuts, and I am terrified that my love of peanut butter will be stymied as hers was. 
67. My new car's name is Stella. R.I.P. Miss Daisy. 
68. I have learned to like some soups. Lindsey's cheesy cauliflower, homemade zuppa toscana, and butternut squash soup have all made soup a more bearable option. 
69. I still have that Louisa May Alcott sign on my wall! It's still true! 
70. Since starting as a seminary teacher, I have started hitting my snooze button less. 2 times instead of 4, usually. 
71. I still love "When Faith Endures," and I love playing through hymns that we never sing in church.
72. I really should learn how to doodle. 
73. My nieces and nephews all like me now! Win! 
74. One of my favorite things about my friend Debra is that we had basically the same childhood as far as dolls go. We swap ideas about what to do with dolls all the time. I still think bigger dolls are better than Barbies. 
75. I knew that Eric and I were destined to be together when I realized with both think Donatello is the best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. 
76. I'm coming around to the idea of stuffed crust pizza, but I don't ever make it that way. 
77. I still love making collections of music, but I don't have very many playlists in progress right now (see above, the bit about the laptop.) However, I did make a hurricane playlist. I'm disappointed that we didn't even get a tropical storm. 
78. I FORGOT THAT I SKEDADDLED UP THE CHAMPS ELYSEES! This list is the best! 
79. I think it's time to go to another professional baseball game. 
80. I've decided that I don't need to read whole Shakespeare plays. Watching them and then going back and rereading favorite parts is enough. 
81. I wrote before that I like to pronounce acronyms. I took a class in which my teacher said that acronyms are like Pinocchio: they all want to be real words. I believe this. 
82. I like scary movies and stories more than I used to. In fact, this week I'm hosting a book club, and we're going to talk about Octobery reads. 
83. I don't hate hardback books now - probably because I have more time to read at home, so I don't mind that they're heavy. And they're so pretty! 
84. I still alphabetize my movies, and I still don't alphabetize (but do categorize) my books. I also alphabetize my spices. I just met a lady who alphabetizes her canned goods. I almost hugged her. 
85. I still like window shopping, and I'm still really good at talking myself out of buying things. However, often the windows now are browser windows. 
86. I love that once people thought I wished I could be married to Shakespeare. Just yesterday, the following conversation occurred on my facebook wall: 
• Brittany: I don't know who else to ask...are you excited about the movie Anonymous? Or do you think its just a silly Shakespeare-as-a-person-was-dramatic movie? I NEED your opinion :)
• Me: Hahaha. Well, I just read a book that convincingly refuted the Edward de Vere theory for me, so I feel like it's kind of silly that they're making an entire movie about such a silly, unfounded theory. (For example - did you know Edward de Vere actually wrote plays under his own name that weren't any good? Why would he take credit for those and not the good ones?) But . . . I'll probably see it anyway, because hey! Why not?
• Brittany: I'm basically in the same boat. i say basically because I didn't know half of the information you just gave me hahaha.
• Me:Hahaha. I just read Bill Bryson's Shakespeare book, so now I'm in all out righteous indignation about Shakespeare writing Shakespeare's plays (did you know that no one questioned it until at least 200 years after his death?)
87. I need to buy some Nutella. It's been FAR too long. 
88. I keep trying to get Eric to wear fedoras. I think if anyone could bring them back, he could. 
89. I still love planting things, even though they keep dying in the insane Texas heat. I'm going to try again now that it's kind of fall-y. And by that I mean . . . in the high 80s and low 90s instead of in the 100s. 
90. I just bought some lemon pepper for my Macaroni and Cheese and convinced Eric that it was a good idea. 
91. I do not miss the smell of my Malian roommate's cooking. And just reading about how she fed me cow tongue made me remember how eating it felt like eating my own tongue. 
92. I think it's funny that I mentioned eating seaweed in that original post, because now I eat it all the time with sushi. 
93. I don't mind orange so much anymore! And for years, "Green Eyes" was my ringtone. 
94. Remember how I was on the National Academic League team in high school? Well, I married I boy who did some kind of science olympiad. Yep. 
95. Oh my gosh. St. Crispin's Day Speech. Still the best of all the speeches. 
96. I sacrifice sleep to read less now that I get up at 5:30 am, but sometimes when I can't sleep, I come out in the living room and read . . . and if it's a really good book I might not get back to bed for hours. 
97. I wish M*A*S*H were on instant watch. However, it may have been replaced as my all-time favorite show by Buffy or Doctor Who. 
98. I've still only had stitches once. It would be nice to keep it that way. 
99. My favorite kitchen utensil is no longer the salad spinner. It's now the Kitchen Aid (seriously - was I on crack?) with the electric fry pan as a close runner-up. 
100. I am still the hottest thing since soup. 

Thanks for sticking with me through 500 posts (or joining me . . . whenever.)