Virtual champagne toast
December 30th, 2006
Before the holidays, Charlene Prince Birkeland of Crazed Parent tagged me for a virtual cocktail party. In order to play, I’m supposed to reveal five things you probably don’t know about me, so here goes…
1. My first teenage job (other than babysitting) was working as a supermarket checker in New Jersey. That year, the store got this nifty new piece of technology some of you may have heard of — I believe they call it a Price Scanner. Bad news for me because now they could accurately track who was the slowest cashier on staff. You guessed it: moi.
2. About ten years ago, my credit card debt was greater than my annual income. And I’m not talking consumer debt — this was purely cost of living expenses I’d managed to rack up. Granted, I could have been less stubborn and gotten a roommate. Or lived in a studio apartment instead of a one-bedroom. Or gotten a job to supplement my paltry freelance income. But noooooo, I had to do things my own damn impractical way because I was — ahem — An Entrepreneur. Eventually I wised up and moved from San Francisco to Seattle for a lucrative high-tech temp gig. While I hated office life and the commute that came with it, I paid off my Big Scary Debt in just a year (easy to do when you double your income), made some stellar freelance contacts, and met my sweetie.
3. During my years of Sprawling Debt, I took a freelance job ghostwriting some audiotapes for this woman.
4. Although I’ve edited dozens of computer programming books and written piles of marketing copy about all sorts of software products, I am a complete and utter Luddite. In fact, I couldn’t be less interested in “optimizing” my computer or shopping for a new one, even though I desperately need to do both right about now. I would rather make 250 cold calls to potential new customers than figure out what type of computer to get. Seriously.
5. This has nothing to do with work, but… I heart musicals. Like freaking crazy. Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, The King and I, The Wiz, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Fiddler on the Roof, you name it. Last night I went to see the movie version of Dreamgirls and was happier than a little pink piggie in a vat of farm poop. Jennifer Hudson rocked it. Hard. I wept every time she opened her mouth to sing. Eddie Murphy kicked booty too. (Really.) If you love schlock and camp and Beyonce’s sweet butt (and don’t mind a whole lotta watered-down vanilla in your Motown), race to the nearest theater. I’m not promising you a great movie. But if you like this kind of cheese, expect to be wonderfully, mindlessly entertained.
But enough about me. To keep this virtual cocktail party going, I’ve also been charged with tagging five bloggers I’d love to ring in the new year with. So herewith, a handful of women whose careers I suspect I’d never tire of hearing about. Time to dish, ladies…
- Ex-cabbie Melissa Plaut of New York Hack
- Techie Jane Pinckard of GameGirlAdvance
- Travel writer Jen Leo of The Written Road
- Any of the cyclists from The Ride Society
- The ever-brilliant Tina Fey
Also, I’d love to learn five things I don’t know about you, dear reader, seeing that TIME magazine named you Person of the Year. So c’mon and join this lil’ virtual champagne toast. Gimme the links to your own Five Things posts in the comments section below. You know you wanna.
Oh, and happy 2007.
Entry Filed under: Coffee break
9 Comments Add your own
1. crazedparent | January 2nd, 2007 at 12:22 pm
thanks for playing:)
when in doubt, apple macbook is the bomb. (do people still say the bomb? this is when i feel old.)
2. Michelle Goodman | January 2nd, 2007 at 12:31 pm
thanks, CP. i still say ‘the bomb.’ though i think i might be old. i also say ’stone cold fox’ and was ultra-excited to see that phrase used in DREAMGIRLS this weekend. or maybe it was IDLEWILD, which i rented the next night. (i DID have a fever, so my memory’s shot. then again, i’m probably just o-l-d.)
3. jill | January 2nd, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Love this list! But what about the movie version (not the Broadway soundtrack) of Hair?? Love it!
4. Michelle Goodman | January 2nd, 2007 at 1:15 pm
OF COURSE, HAIR! in fact, my sister and i started a “musicals night” with a bunch of girlfriends a couple years ago. we watched hair, godspell, JCSS, west side story, bye bye birdie, the wiz, and… and… i can’t remember what else. i’m kind of also jonsing to see PIPPIN, to see if it’s any good as an adult (loved it as a kid, but something tells me it’s no better than godspell, which has great songs but is truly bad movie).
you probably won’t be surprised to learn that i like the 70s musicals best. also a huge fan of the Rock Opera. TOMMY still blows me away. plus, you can’t beat anne margaret writhing in baked beans.
oh, btw, i have never seen PHANTOM, and while i saw CATS as a kid, i never want to go back. shudder.
5. Anne | January 2nd, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Glad to see you had My Fair Lady on your list – that is tops for me. I’m also a musical junkie – spent many long summer afternoons in the jr. high years watching almost everything I could on American Movie Classics. Singin In the Rain, South Pacific – also good times. What about the more recent, Cry Baby with (love him, love him, love him) Johnny Depp? Speaking of the 70’s – Car Wash was also a fave with my family.
I’ve got nothing but respect and admiration for Tina Fey. Thanks for the link to her hilarious Myspace page.
6. Michelle Goodman | January 2nd, 2007 at 3:28 pm
anne, i saw MFL as a kid, in nyc, and the king and i (yul rules!), joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat, and so many others. even beatlemania (to this day, i still don’t get how a cover band = a broadway show).
i’ve never seen CRY BABY. now must rent it. thanks. would love to re-rent CAR WASH too, for old time’s sake.
also, is anyone as psyched as i am about the new reality tv show where guests audition for a lead part in GREASE? brilliant! think it starts this week.
7. ddv | January 2nd, 2007 at 4:42 pm
No Les Miserables love out there?!? I must have that entire musical committed to memory and have seen it numerous times on stage. There hasn’t been a very good musical version committed to film however….
ddv
8. Michelle Goodman | January 2nd, 2007 at 5:40 pm
ddv, never seen le mis, but my dad swears i’m missing out. i will have to check it out sometime. also, what about moulin rouge? i saw a few min of that on tv recently and can’t wait to rent it. looks fun.
9. Anne | January 2nd, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Cry Baby = super-cheesy but fun. Moulin Rouge gets better every time I watch it. I’ve found when it comes to Moulin Rouge, folks either love it or hate it.
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed