Little Addictions

1. Pepsi - This is one of my worst habits because it's usually NOT diet. I really don't like diet drinks; although oddly right now I am drinking diet Pepsi because it's all I have. My dad used to drink about 7,000 Pepsi's a day, I swear. It's the caffeine AND the sugar I love. Even more the sugar - because I started drinking caffeine-free Pepsi years ago. I can't live without the sugar and yet it's sooooooooooooooooo bad for you.

2. Anything salty, greasy or fried. Is it a wonder I love the food in the South so much? I cannot have these in the house or they're gone in two seconds: Any kind of potato chips, Doritos, pistachio nuts, pretzels, anything you can heat up that's greasy and fried. Donuts too, even though they're sweet.


3. Traveling: I admit, one of the reasons I LOVE being on a school calendar is the time off I get so I can travel. Even to ATLANTA - so I can see my niece. Or to Palm Springs so I can sit by the pool with a fruity drink and relax. I really, really want to go back to Europe but that's not going to happen until I get a full-time job. I hate flying and hate long car trips and yet love going other places - the more foreign the better. I loved Rome sooooooooooooooooo much! I can't wait to go back to Italy. Rome is a wild ride. I want to visit so many countries, especially Ireland, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland and I desperately want to go back to London.

4. Books: Anyone who knows me well knows my obsession with books and reading. I love everything about books. I could not, nor would I want to, live without books and reading. I love buying books, owning books, going into second-hand bookstores, feeling the pages of ancient books with their oh-so-fragile pages and the smell of history permeating their covers and spines...I have probably bought and read literally thousands and thousands of books since I was 18. I've tried going to libraries but they never have what I want to read or I don't want to be limited to two weeks to keep a book, or I'd take home a book and something scary and gross would be on it. I know I've spent waaaaaay too much money on books. Sometimes I regret it. It's a bitch to move with so many books. So I've had to give away the majority of my collection. Books are your friends. They've kept me sane and kept me entertained and kept me happy my whole life. My biggest thrill in elementary school was going to the library and getting to visit the bookmobile. Judy Blume was my hero. Thank you God, for books.

5. Slot machines: Ok, I know S had this on her list, but seriously, get me near these and I can't stop playing. I used to have more control over myself. I fall into the idiotic category of the gambler who is just POSITIVE the NEXT SPIN is going to be THE ONE where I win big. I'm a moron I know. The house ALWAYS wins. I can't wait to go to Palm Springs. They have a casino across the street from the hotel we're staying at. My mom always abandons me and I can sit at a slot machine for hours, pulling that lever like a dumb-ass monkey in a laboratory. I'm pathetic.

6. Movies: I have probably seen more movies than all my good friends combined. I know there are SERIOUS cinephiles out there I can't even compete with, but I watch a LOT of movies. Growing up, movies were my salvation, alongside books. Can you tell I like escapism? Movies also ruined me. I grew up thinking I'd meet The One across a crowded room, that true love only took about two hours, and that Luke Skywalker was the sexiest man alive. I grew up wondering where the background music was during all my important moments in life. Seriously, movies are still a huge obsession and I don't know anyone who loves them like I do, or watches the ones I watch, over and over, and it's kind of lonely because I have no one to talk to about my movies. I am totally and utterly enamored with what I believe was one of the golden ages of film making - the 1970's. All the great directors - Spielberg, Scorsese, de Palma, Coppoloa, Woody Allen, William Friedkin, etc. were young and brave and doing their best work. So were the great actors of our day - de Niro and Pacino were young and hadn't become sad caricatures of themselves. Recently I saw a movie that I know S loves as well - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (I think that's it) and it's just gorgeously shot and acted and when I come across a what I feel is a movie with even a tiny bit of greatness to it, I am elevated and taken to a place I can't quite describe. I first remember this happening when I was 10 years old, saw my first James Bond film, and Star Wars. Movie making has ruined me yes, but it's also saved me.

7. Martinis: It all started with the Appletinis at the Polo Lounge. Pure brilliance. Then I started drinking Cosmos, and all kinds of martinis. I think the martini is the height of alcoholic elegance. My new favourite drink is a Sidecar. If you ever get a really great Sidecar, it's like drinking the nectar of the Gods.

8. The Internet: How did I ever live without it? I first got on it via AOL when I was 26. I went 26 whole years without it! I didn't miss it, because I didn't know it existed. Now I can't get off it. It's a drug that just won't let me go. However I've met some of the best friends of my life through it, and for that, I'm eternally grateful.

9. Music: Music was beyond an obsession for me from ages 16 to about 30. After my dad died and I got sick I was on so many mind and soul-numbing drugs I lost touch with music. I remember in college, asking my mom how she just wasn't obsessed with music. I loved it so much I tried to ruin it by going into the music business. I was young and naive. I wanted to be an A and R person. I didn't know that was mostly a male-dominated field - like being a talent scout. At the time I thought I'd want to spend my whole life in smoky clubs around bands. I didn't. But I have re-discovered music and is there anything closer to Heaven?

10. Art: I'd be an idiot if I didn't include this one. I slaved for four years to get a Master's Degree in the history of art. Even if I never teach it again (which would make me sad) I will always be grateful for the knowledge I have. I am moved beyond measure by Caravaggio's Christ, by van Gogh's gorgeous yellows, by Rembrandt's sweet son Titus, by Matisse's dancing nudes, by Berthe Morisot's thick brushstrokes...by Manet's saloon girl, and Monet's haystacks. Going to Europe AFTER I had taught art history for 6 years made the experience so much sweeter for ME. I don't know if other people care - or even know what they're missing by not having so much background info on the artists. Maybe it's like the Internet...you don't miss what you never had. But I think it makes my appreciation of it all so much richer.

That's all for now. I know I have about 20 more addictions and some are worse than others but my fingers are tired.