SCRATCHING THE ITCH . . .

Sometimes, even if I'm preoccupied, busy, not having the time to really do so, I just want to sit down and type something. Anything. I want to pour out my soul. Or simply be hilariously witty. Or write a story. A true story, maybe. Perhaps even an uber-long email. I just want to type and type and type. When I was working, this was easy: I could buckle down and bust out a habeas (after hours of mulling and mulling and Yahoo! Games, naturally). This would satisfy the restless itchiness in my fingertips, the craving for the push and pull of the keyboard, the clackety-clack-clack-clack of the words forming themselves before my very eyes. A miraculous thing, really.

So thank you, MetroDad, for soothing my itchy fingers, even temporarily.

7 Things I Want To Do Before I Die
1. Write and publish a non-fiction book.
2. Get a Ph.D. ... in something interesting and not necessarily useful for anything.
3. Marry a man I love passionately and fully and who loves me passionately and fully, and have lots and lots of babies with him.
4. Save New York City.
5. Travel to and absorb London, Alaska, the Berkshires, Tokyo, Umbria and Tuscany, Barcelona, the Galapagos Islands, Patagonia, the entire Maine coastline, New Zealand, St. Petersburg, Israel, Banff, Route 66, Czechoslovakia, the British countryside, Provence, Sicily ... the list is endless.
6. See and know the rest of my family in North Korea.
7. Build and live in an eco-house, and raise my family to be responsible citizens, able to care well for Creation.

7 Things I Cannot Do ... Yet
1. Play sports that require use or manipulation of a ball. Okay, I'm not horrible at golf, but I still whacked Cheezer in the arm with a misdirected 7-iron shot. (N.B.: HE WAS STANDING IN THE WAY!)
2. Understand the miserly selfishness, bitterness and small-heartedness of some.
3. Have complete compassion and patience for those for whom it is difficult to have complete compassion and patience.
4. Simple math.
5. Leave New York.
6. Give up on the hope that He is calling me to marry someone whom I will love passionately and fully, who will love me passionately and fully, and with whom I will have lots and lots of babies.
7. Give up on the hope that those I love will come back to New York and live right near me so I can see them and be with them all the time.

7 Things That Attract Me To The Opposite Sex
1. Unshakeable faith.
2. Deep-seated kindness and compassion.
3. Well-rounded edjumacation, manifested in the ability to talk about anything and everything, and the desire to learn more, always.
4. A nice set of shoulders, a phenomenal back, gentle hands, eyes that crinkle just so upon laughter, and that special warmth that fills a room.
5. A heart's vision for something bigger than just what he can see, arms that reach out for the divine.
6. Intelligent and non-biting wit that nevertheless delivers the best-timed zingers and draws out gut-busting laughter.
7. Immovable love for his family and friends, shown by the extension of endless grace from the perspective of humility.

7 Things That I Say Most Often
1. I could really use a cigarette right about now.
2. Word. (Said with the most anti-ghetto inflection possible.)
3. Nuh-UH.
4. What the ...
5. Dude.
6. I'll send you an email.
7. Whatchyou doing?
Bonus: Whoa.

7 Celebrity Crushes
1. Jimmy Fallon
2. Tino Martinez
3. Jason Mraz's voice
4. Orlando Bloom, but only as Legolas, from "Lord of the Rings"
5. Conan O'Brien
6. John Cusack
7. Vince Vaughn
Bonus: Julia Roberts; Josh Holloway