1. My name is not Pascale Soleil.

2. I'm tall and reasonably slender.

3. I don't look my age now, but I'm sure I will some day. The same thing happened when I was younger.

4. I believe time is on my side.

5. I'm not very sporty or athletic, but when I can be bothered to exercise I shape up quickly.

6. I grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, where my Mom became a town meeting member at the same time as Michael Dukakis.

7. I met my first real boyfriend my Freshman year of college. He's now a Rabbi living in Jerusalem.

8. My heart was definitively broken my Sophmore year. I fell in love with someone who didn't exist. Or, more accurately, there was a guy there, but he wasn't who I thought he was.

9. At home from college, I was bitten on the heel of my thumb by my cat (not her fault, long story) and I was subsequently hospitalized for a week with a severe infection. At first, they thought they might have to amputate my hand. After the first rush of fear was past, I came to look forward to the strange vampiric sensation of the sting of heparin followed by the cold drip of antibiotic into my arm. Hospitals are sensory-deprivation zones, and any old thrill will do. Had I not entered the hospital that day, I would probably have died in my sleep overnight.

10. I went to Berkeley California one summer during college to write The Great American Novel. I rented a fancy typewriter. I took riding lessons and wrote nothing.

11. When I was a Junior I bashed my elbow on a faucet in the shower and passed out. When I came to on the tiled floor, I was in serious pain. I staggered to the bathroom sink, saw in the mirror that three of my front teeth had been broken off or knocked completely out, and fainted again.

12. I am overeducated.

13. I have a big vocabulary, which I will deploy at the slightest provocation.

14. I used to smoke, but never heavily. I quit when I noticed that I smoked when I felt bad about myself. (That, and it really didn't agree with me after awhile.)

15. The bravest thing I've ever done was to get between a group of teenage boys and the homeless man they were tormenting. "Don't you have something better to do?" I asked them. They shrugged sullenly, milled around a bit, and then drifted off. In retrospect it wasn't that big a deal, but I was shaking with fear at the time.

16. I grew up with pinko parents, I became a radical libertarian in college, and now I'm an inconsistent progressive who occasionally astonishes one and all by arguing a conservative cause.

17. Ideology is the first refuge of narrow minds. I try to think for myself.

18. I love to read. I'll read the back of the cereal box if nothing else is available.

19. If I could have only one book on a desert island, I think it would have to be a complete Shakespeare.

20. I watch bad TV as an anesthetic, more than I should.

21. I used to love to travel as a tourist, now I like to go places and try to live life as it's lived there.

22. I'm good with languages (or at least I used to be, I haven't tried to learn a new one in a while).

23. I'd like to live in Paris for awhile sometime.

24. I positively enjoy looking at other people's snapshots.

25. I have a tendency to professionalize my hobbies, so that the thing that was so much fun becomes a job.

26. I have changed careers three times ~ four, if you count deciding not to be a musician.

27. If I could do the math, I'd be a physicist.

28. I don't like to lie baking in the sun.

29. I don't like to get wet more than once a day, unless it's very hot out, or I'm at the beach, or a lake, or a really nice swimming pool.

30. I like to go for long walks.

31. I love to dance. I will boogie to rhythm and blues, get down to rock and roll, and swing to swing. I'll square dance if that's what's on offer. I don't have much experience with traditional ballroom or salsa, but I'm eager to learn. I don't go dancing enough: let's dance!

32. I have great hands.

33. I give a fabulous backrub.

34. Give me a fabulous backrub, and I'll follow you anywhere. (Just barely hyperbole.)

35. A limp handshake is an abomination. I hate them. Didn't these people's parents teach them this essential interpersonal skill?

36. I like to make things with my hands.

37. On eight hours' sleep, I'm just about human. On ten, I'm an angel. Guess how often I get 8 hours' sleep.

38. I drink coffee, but not in vast quantities.

39. I am not a morning person. But I might get more done if I were.

40. I procrastinate. A lot.

41. I think problem-solving is fun.

42. I like learning enough from my clients to be able to offer them solutions that they will be happy to use for a long time.

43. I give good demo.

44. When I work, I work hard.

45. When I can, I like to work with people who are smarter than I am ~ it keeps me on my toes.

46. I like gizmos. A well-designed gizmo is a joy forever. Or until the next cool gizmo comes along.

47. I have been called a strong flavor.

48. When I'm hungry I get stupid and cranky. It's not pretty.

49. I'm a pickivore: I don't eat meat or fowl, and I'm allergic to shellfish. But I'm not a food-nazi. What you eat is your business.

50. Salmon is my favorite protein.

51. I like most vegetables, except for okra and that slimy raw grated Japanese tuber (yama imo?).

52. Give me a salad of mixed greens with a nice, sharp vinaigrette.

53. For dessert, I like a fruit tart.

54. Lately, I've asked for Pinot Grigio when I want a white wine.

55. I bought an assortment of liquor for a party I had in May. At this rate, it'll probably last for ten years.

56. I prefer small, intimate dinner parties to big shindigs.

57. I'm a good cook, and I enjoy cooking, but cooking for one is boring.

58. A picnic on a beautiful day or a balmy night is one of the nicest ways to spend time with someone you care about.

59. My favorite restaurant in DC is Kinkead's.

60. Whenever I go to a live performance of music or theatre or dance I wonder why I don't do it more often.

61. If you demand that I name one, I'll tell you that The Philadelphia Story is my favorite movie.

62. I cry at the movies.

63. If a person calls me "dear" without having met me, they'd better be over 80 or working in a diner.

64. I no longer swear like a sailor.

65. Giving someone the right gift is intensely pleasurable.

66. I don't like to be taken for granted.

67. I'm partial to cats, but have begun to appreciate the charms of dogs as well.

68. I like being around people who are enthusiastic.

69. I am blessed with extravagantly terrific friends.

70. I take friendship extremely seriously, and it is central to my life.

71. My friends are of all different ages.

72. I'm ready to be a lover, a partner, and a mate.

73. I have learned to trust my intuition.

74. I have also learned when my intuition is likely to be unreliable.

75. I love my city, Washington DC. Remember the phrase "No taxation without representation"? We had a revolution over it. Well, here in DC we pay federal taxes but we have no federal representation. No representation ~ but a couple of congressional committees that make all kinds of decisions about our lives without any accountability to us. Does that seem right to you?

76. I've lived in the same apartment for nine years; all my friends are buying homes.

77. I have always had other priorities than making money ~ and it shows.

78. If I were rich, I'd try to have fun giving money away creatively and productively.

79. It's not hard to hurt my feelings.

80. I keep my promises.

81. I don't make a lot of promises.

82. I was in a car accident a couple of years ago. My knees were damaged, but my sense of invulnerability was damaged even more.

83. Injustice outrages me.

84. Cruelty makes me sick.

85. Anger frightens me.

86. Sincere praise sinks into my heart and nourishes me.

87. Compassion enlarges my sense of the possible.

88. Over and over I am stunned by how beautiful the world is.

89. I am glad to be here.

90. You do not need to earn my respect. You have it until you do something disrespectful yourself.

91. Once lost, it is difficult to regain my trust.

92. I am a goofball. I can be really really silly. And I like it.

93. I can't stand fingernail polish (it makes my fingers feel like they're suffocating), but I enjoy toenail polish in the summer (my toes apparently don't need to breathe).

94. I'm always surprised when people tell me that I have a distinctive personal style.

95. I hope I live long enough to meet a sentient machine intelligence ~ there are some questions I'd like to ask.

96. Although I value solitude, I have come to appreciate the gifts of community.

97. I believe there are as many ways to God as there are people. The Spirit is a teacher of skillful means.

98. I keep learning to pray.

99. I believe that anything worth doing is a form of conversation.

100. My name is Pascale Soleil; it's the name I choose.

© Copyright 2002 Pascale Soleil.
Last updated: 11/10/02; 2:25:44 PM.
Comments by: YACCS