Monday, March 2, 2009

100th blog post!

I fully remember the day when I started this blog. I was sitting in my first year property law class with the scariest teacher in the world who, if you were so unlucky to get called on, would call on you for 90 minutes straight. It was almost the end of the school year and several of us were taking abroad trips during the summer. We decided that we would start blogs and write about our adventures and keep our friends updated. When I got to the Dominican Republic, I found that the internet cafes couldn't load the blogger page. But I decided to keep it and while I don't write in it nearly as much as I should (seeing that this is almost 2 years later), I'm happy that I have it and pumped that this is my 100th post.

I keep this blog for me as a place to write really random thoughts and as a reflection of where my head was at any given point in time. But there are some really fantastic people who read this blog - I absolutely adore all of you and am so thankful for all the nice comments that I receive.

A long time ago a friend challenged me to write 100 things about myself. I wasn't sure if I could pull it off, but I thought maybe if I did it chronologically, it could happen. So, in honor of this 100th post I present "100 Random Things About Bianca":

1) My mother had her choice of 3 Wednesdays to have me: she chose May 18th because it's Haitian Flag Day. She grew up there and every year on my birthday she likes to tell me that there is a huge celebration in Haiti in my honor.

2) I was named after Bianca Jagger, ex-wife of Mick Jagger and Studio 54 regular (the pic is of her riding a horse in the club. Out of control). She's now a great humanitarian. I'm a girl who loves to go out dancing and went to law school with all these plans to save the world. I would say I was named after the right woman

3) I went to a Jewish pre-school even though I'm Roman Catholic. My mom still has the Menorah I made out of a block of wood and birthday candles.

4) I started taking dance classes when I was 3 years old. I loved it. I would wear my tutus all over the house and if my mom was in a good mood, to the grocery store, libary, etc.

5) My earliest memories are of me dancing on top of my coffee table to all the songs on Madonna's "Like a Virgin". I knew every word to every song. Cleary I didn't know what she meant, but I adored her. Which brings me to

6) "Dress You Up" may be my favorite song of all time. It's so 80's and poppy but I can't hear it without singing at the top of my lungs and dancing around. I once recreated this outfit.

7) Chicago Style Pizza is my favorite food in the world. I get it shipped out to California because I haven't found a place that gets it right. When I was little, I hated it and would only eat parts of it. For a few years I'd only eat the crust. At some other point I thought the crust was gross and would only eat the cheese on top. Silly Bianca.

8) My parents never forced me to eat certain foods. I'm still an extremely picky eater.

9) I used to read magazines that were designed for girls older than me. I started reading "Teen" when I was 9, "YM" when I was 10, and "Seventeen" when I was 12. I'm a rebel.

10) I loved fashion from an early age and I was a big fan of "Dress N'Dazzle". I had this outfit. I can't believe they tried to pretend it was 3 dresses in 1:

11) I learned how to walk in heels when I was 8 and got my first pair when I was 10. My nutty Godmother in NY gave me clothes that were designed for girls at least 5 years older than me.

12) I went to a super small single-sex classroom grade school. There were only 19 girls in my class.

13) I met my best friend in 2nd grade. She walked up to me and told me she liked my hair. I told her I liked hers better. We were best friends ever since.

14) That same year I won a really big award at the end of the year prize day. Each year it was given to the 2nd grader who showed the most kindness and generosity to her fellow classmates. All these pompous parents pulled out their expensive camcorders because they were convinced their daughter was going to win. My mom said it took a ton of energy to control her laughter when she looked at their faces when I won.

15) The first word I read was "fuck". I was 3 and it was written in crayon on the laundry room wall in my apartment building. My mom didn't know whether to yell at me or tell me congrats.

16) Sometimes I'll randomly make comments in French. It's completely unintentional. My mom speaks it fluently and I took classes in grade/high school and a little bit in college. Sadly my french isn't so great.

17) I used to love the show "California Dreams" and wanted to start my own band. Tiffany and I would hold auditions on the playground.

18) Besides my ankle, the worst injury was when I got a huge gash in my chin when I was 4. I was at the park on a big metal pumpkin (a la Cinderella) and some girl said "fuck" to me. I politely informed her that it was a bad word. But as I spoke I let go and my chin smacked the metal. I still have a little scar.

19) I went through a year or so period when I refused to eat. My parents had to sit at the table with me for hours until I took a few bites of my food. But I would eat puffy cheetos.

20) I used to rock bedazzled jeans. No, I'm not ashamed.

21) My parents always had the best junk food cabinet. At any given time we had fruit roll ups, gushers, hostess cupcakes, pringles, etc.

22) One time while enjoying some treat from the cabinet, I decided to enjoy a glass of non-alcoholic eggnog. Worst idea ever. I threw up all night. To this day just thinking about eggnog makes me gag.

23) My first celebrity crush was Jonathan Brandis. His "Teen Beat" pictures were all over my bedroom door. That is part of why:

24) "Ladybugs" is one of my favorite movies. It's totally underrated. Tiffany and I can recite it word for word. We're awesome.

25) That movie made me enjoy playing soccer. That and orange slices and capri sun.

26) I really love "Schoolhouse Rock". I will bust out into "I'm Just a Bill" at random.

27) When I graduated 8th grade, I was the girl with the least developed body. I prayed every night for God to give me boobs.

28) I now have the largest boobs of anyone I know. I guess prayer works.

28) I went to an all-girls high school. People are surprised that it was by choice.

29) I had my first kiss when I was in 3rd grade. The boy's name was Sam and I thought he was oh so dreamy. We were at a family friend's son's birthday party at Discovery Zone. We kissed in the tubes. He took my choker necklace to remember me by.

30) The only detention I ever served was for being late to school 3 times.

31) The school tried to give me multiple detentions for my skirt being too short. My mom called and told them if they wanted to buy me a new skirt, they could. Otherwise, I would not be serving detention.

32) My favorite unit in gym class was badminton. I love it. And I kicked ass.

33) When I was in 8th grade, I got to adopt a dog because I got straight As. He was a black cocker spaniel named Taco. People always asked if he had a brother named Burrito. They thought they were funny. But he really did have a brother named Burrito.

34) My first concert was N'Sync. I'm not ashamed.

35) I've always been a good writer. My honors english teachers always commented that they could tell that I put a lot of time and effort into my papers. I always wrote them the night before.

36) I took the Metra for the first 2 years of high school. It took me 45 minutes to get to school and I hated it.

37) My first boyfriend took the same train at the same station. He was friends with another friend of mine and we first talked online. It wasn't until weeks later when I saw a picture of him on his website that I realized that we took the train together. The relationship lasted a month.

38) My first car was a 1989 Honda Accord. It was the perfect first car.

39) I totalled the car 4 months later. The accident happened 2 minutes away from school. To this day I'm still extremely cautious when making left hand turns.

40) This car was replaced by a blue Ford Focus. I picked it because it matched my coat. That car was totalled years later when it was parked in front of my brother's house. A drunk frat boy hit it and drove away. Too bad he didn't realize that his license plate fell off in the process.

41) I was a theater brat. But I was never in a school production.

42) I studied at an independent theater in Chicago. My junior and senior year, I was super lucky to be selected to be in their company. It was amazing.

43) I was also a choir brat in high school. I tried out for the competitive choir on a whim and made it.

44) I was really into ska and pop-punk music. I loved Reel Big Fish and Blink 182.

45) In high school, I went to almost every Q-101 festival.

46) At Q-101 Jamboree in 2000 I smoked my first cigarette. I was 17.

47) I smoked on and off for 2 years. Every once in a while when I'm super stressed I still crave one.

48) My mom's smoked my entire life and on an almost daily basis I tell her to quit. She doesn't know that I ever smoked and I think she'd be devasted if she knew.

49) I first got the internet when I was in 8th grade. AOL 3.0. It took forever to connect.

50) My AIM name is still the same one I had in 8th grade. I'm too lazy to change it.

51) When I was in high school, my dad refused to let me fill up my car with gas. He was being "protective" and didn't want me to run into any problems at the gas station. I filled up my first tank when I got my current car when I was 20.

52) I had my first job when I was 16. I was an administrative assistant at a temp agency. A lot of my job was contacting clients about jobs they were hired for and mailing out their checks.

53) At this job I was asked out by clients about once a week. My dad, who was the accountant for the company, would come out and tell them that he was my father and the man who signed their checks.

54) That same summer I went out on a date when a guy that I was friends with for a while. We went to a movie at a theater where my brother worked a few summers back and still had friends who worked there. He called these friends to let them know that I was going to be there and to "watch out for me". They spent the entire movie sitting behind me and making comments any time the guy tried to put his arm around me, hold my hand, or even talk to me. Worst date ever.

55) Surprisingly, that guy still wanted to date me.

56) Junior year we had to have a meeting with our parents and our college counselors. The counselor told my parents which schools I was interested in applying to and what my chances were of getting accepted. The only school in IL was University of IL in Champagne-Urbana. The majority were in California. My parents were pissed.

57) My parents were really protective and I never got the chance to do things on my own. I decided to apply to schools outside of IL so I'd be forced to do things for myself.

58) I chose my college because there were palm trees at the front entrance.

59) The summer before I left for college I worked as a camp counselor at an visual and performing arts camp. My campers were not into art. They spent the entire summer begging me to teach them how to wear make-up. I've never seen kids so happy as they were on the last day when I taught them.

60) I was supposed to fly out to school on September 12, 2001. Every flight I booked to San Jose for the next 5 days was cancelled. Finally my parents and I loaded up the minivan and drove out to California. It took 3 days.

61) Somewhere in the dessert in the middle of Nevada we got a flat tire. My dad had issues changing the tire and I told him "get out of the way" and I did it by myself. That's one of the few times I heard him say that he was proud to call me his daughter.

62) I could not stand my freshman year roomie. She locked me out every friday night and kept coffee in the coffee pot for days at a time and would rewarm it.

63) I met the boy the 2nd day I was at school. There was a huge meet and greet thing in the dorm's lounge. I went up there to get my computer fixed and a girl (one of my future roomies) was the first person I met and decided to introduce me to a few people, one of which was the boy. He said hi to me and didn't say one other thing the 20 minutes I was talking to that group of people.

64) I did not like him at all.

65) A few days later I found out he was in my English class. We went to the cafeteria after class to get sandwiches. He said a few more words this time and I decided that we could be friends.

66) The boy and I helped a guy we knew ask out a girl who was our friend. During the process he told me that the boy and I should go out. I told him he was crazy.

67) A few weeks later the boy and I kissed. I knew that I didn't want to start dating someone so early (after all, this was my frist time at a co-ed school and there were boys EVERYWHERE) so I decided that the thing with me and him would be a fling. Here we are 7 1/2 years later.

68) I declared Biology as my major when I started school. I wanted to be a pediatrician since I was 5. I hated chemistry. It was the hardest A I ever earned and I decided that I would have to change my plan.

69) I asked my sophomore year roomie to be my roommate by posting a cheesy poem on her door. It said "roses are red, violets are sometimes pink. I wanna be your roomie, what do you think?" I'm ridiculous.

70) We lived together for 3 years and she's one of the most amazing people I know.

71) That year, we were in the same French class and had a big presentation. The night before we decided to do some "spring cleaning" (drink the little bits of alcohol left in the random bottles around our room) and watch Woodstock: the movie. It's one of my favorite college memories.

72) In college I had a hamster named Abbie. She was named after Absolute vodka.

73) On my 21st birthday I got so drunk that I called my mom at 4 a.m. Chicago time to inform her that I drank a lot.

74) The next day a few of us went to "1984" to go dancing. My roomie Erin and I got insanely drunk on 1 drink. I don't remember any of it, but I do remember throwing up on the side of the road. Jessica = best DD ever.

75) 1984 is still my favorite place to go dancing.

76) My other roomie ran for State Assembly our senior year. Yes, like real state politics. It was the only time that my liberal self voted for a Republican.

77) I joined a sorority my junior year. I decided to go for it because 1) they gave us free roundtable breadsticks at the introduction meeting and 2) they had really cute pens. I spent the next 2 years having a love/hate relationship with it.

78) I decided to apply for student government my senior year, hoping to get appointed to one of the class offices. They placed me on the Executive Board. It was one of the most demanding things I've ever done, but I met one of my really great friends from it.

79) Every year my roomies and I took cute pictures and made them into Christmas cards. These are the only photos my mom has on her fridge.

80) I never really rebelled in college. In my mom's eyes, the worst thing that I did was get my ears double pierced. But she was really pissed about it.

81) Good thing she didn't know that I also had my belly button pierced.

82) The roomies and I made a pact to get Alkaline Trio tattoos. Jess already has hers. I have to find a way to incorporate it into the 1 tattoo I'm considering.

83) All of my friends in college were WAY into the Harry Potter books. I tried and tried to get into them...I only made it through the first 2. But I have seen all the movies.

84) After graduation I worked for an intellectual property law firm. I hated it more than anything and I quit after 3 months. I wasn't sure if law was the right career for me, but I decided to apply to law school anyway.

85) A few weeks before I started law school, I found out my parents were getting divorced.

86) The gory details of the divorce resulted in me not talking to my dad. I still don't.

87) I had planned on dropping out of law school after the first semester. Convinced that external factors were the reason for my unhappiness, the boy and my mom convinced me to keep going. I cannot believe it's over this year (yay!!!)

88) That year I found out that my school had a 2 week immersion trip (and the basis fo this blog) to the Dominican Republic to work with Haitian Refugees. Seeing that I'm 1/2 Haitian, I had to apply and was thrilled to go. Besides Canada (where I stayed with family) and Puerto Rico (where I went w/my friend's family and stayed at a ritzy resort) it was my first trip out of the country. I was excited and terrified.

89) Being the picky eater I am, I survived on cookies and rice. I lost 10 pounds by the end of the trip.

90) My mom was born and raised in Haiti but because of the conflict there, I haven't been able to go. On my trip to the Dominican Republic, we crossed the bridge and spent 10 minutes in Haiti. I cried. One of the best moments of my life.

91) One of the many, many reasons that I love the movie "Clueless" is because Cher does one of her debate speeches about the Haiti-ans. I almost peed my pants laughing when I saw that. I can recite the movie word for word.

92) I love my tivo. I don't think I could have made it through law school without it.

93) I'm really, really good at "Don't Forget the Lyrics", due to my ridiculous amount of music knowledge. People tell me I should apply to be on the show, but I'm afraid the first song picked will be so completely random that I'll fail.

94) I absolutely adore my dog. Not only is he ridiculously cute, but he also participates in my dancing parties by hopping along next to me.


95) When I was 18, if you told me that at the age of 26 I would be a lawyer and married I would tell you that you were the biggest idiot I've ever met. Oops.

96) If no one wakes me up, I can easily sleep until 1 p.m.

97) For graduation, I think I'm going to treat myself to a pair of Christian Loubouins. Can I afford them? Not really. But the little kick I'll give when I get my diploma to show off the red sole will be totally worth it.

98) I'm convinced that I'll never be able to grow my hair longer than a few inches past my shoulders. But I would really really love to.

99) I really want to take hustle lessons. Yes, I know disco is dead. I still want to.

100) I'm a little scared about what the next 25 years has in store for me. But I'm also excited.

I can't believe I actually thought of 100 things about me. If you read through this, you now know some of the most important things about me. And you're awesome.

7 comments:

jenn said...

wow - i am super impressed that you were able to do this! your list was HILARIOUS. i agree - chicago style pizza is the best. whenever i go home, the first thing i do is stop at a lou malnati's (or portillo's). i've also lived in wisconsin, ohio, and georgia...no one does pizza like chicago. gushers are still the best sugary snack ever. jonathan brandis was my favorite too. i would watch seaquest just to see him. it's so sad that he isn't alive anymore :( also...i had a bird named taco. everyone asked me if i had another one named burrito. i wanted to slap them. and...q101 shows were always the best. Especially Twisted Christmas. They'd always have them at Rosemont Horizon (or whatever it's called now...allstate arena??) and that is also where I smoked my first cigarette. TOO funny! I can relate to so many of your 100 things - it must be the Chicago girl in me ;) k this was the longest comment ever - sorry!!

Tiffany said...

okay this post is my favotie blog post EVER. i love all these things about you, some i didnt know!! i would have liked a star crunch mention on the treat cabinent but ok. b, i seriously love you soooo much, you are the best person in the world!!!

Anonymous said...

you've inspired me. i make 100 in 5 more posts, and i think i'm going to do a list of my 100 favorite songs to celebrate!

Bayjb said...

Wow there is a lot of stuff here. Happy 100th post and cheers to many more!

Shaina said...

Happy 100! I really enjoyed reading your 100 things - wow! I am so impressed that you actually did this. Yayayayay!

Thanks for the WW comment. I've never tried the Ziti - I'll definitely have to give it a shot! And yes, please, run out RIGHT NOW and buy the chocolate chip cookie dough sundae. You won't regret it, I promise! :)

Lyndsy said...

I love dress you up! On repeat often on my Ipod :)

Anonymous said...

Holy crap. This was a serious effort. Especially compared to most of the other "100 Things about me" posts floating out there.

Congrats on hitting 100! And you're totally right on getting pizza shipped to you. If you can't find anything good enough where you're at, and you're not in Chicago, it's just better to have Chicago sent to you.