There's a thing going around some blogs, an assignment really. Write 100 things about yourself, which is even more ridiculously self indulgent than actually having a blog in the first place. I did it anyway. Mostly because I'm supposed to be cleaning the kitchen, and this was the lesser of the two evils. You would've done it too. Especially since my oven exhaust fan needs vacuuming out. And there's something inside a Tupperware container in the back of the fridge that might have once been spinach.

Pity me.

Okay, here's the list. I expect condensed versions from all of you in the comments section. It's only fair.

1. I have an irrational love of snickerdoodles.
2. Consequently, I make the best snickerdoodles on earth. It's been studied.
3. Sadly, I rarely make the snickerdoodles anymore because I like my pants and don't want to have to buy new ones all over again.
4. I already had to do this once after I started running.
5. I lost twenty pounds in six months.
6. That wasn't why I started running but is possibly the best side effect of anything ever.
7. I highly recommend it.
8. I do run a lot.
9. I once ran 32 miles through the desert, which turned out to be harder than I thought it was going to be.
10. Yes, I know that sounds stupid.
11. I came in 3rd from last.
12. I decided I couldn't let that stand and immediately signed up for another ultra race.
13. But I learned my lesson.
14. This one is through redwood forests.
15. It is clear to me now that I don't do well running through sand.
16. Relentless headwinds also suck.
17. I've decided to sign up for a 50-miler next year.
18. There are 100-mile races (and longer). Someday I want to do one.
19. Someday very far away from now.
20. I can't believe I'm only 1/5 of the way through this list.
21. The best present I ever got was running-related.
22. My husband bought me blue cheetah print gators.
23. Gators being the shoe covers that look like spats and keep debris out of your shoes on trail runs.
24. They have nothing to do with swamp critters.
25. They were my Valentine's Day present last year.
26. Yes, I did think they were romantic.
27. Next year, I'm hoping for a new vacuum.
28. No, I'm not kidding.
29. An upright carpet shampooer would be even better.
30. I like practical gifts.
31. I also like a clean house.
32. This has lead to the misconception that I like to clean.
33. I do not.
34. I like the end result.
35. This is not at all the same.
36. If I could afford to hire a housekeeper, I would.
37. I can't.
38. Because I spend all my money on running shoes and race entry fees.
39. No, I do not think this is stupid.
40. I decided to be a professional writer in the 8th grade.
41. My English teacher asked me to stay after class.
42. I was pretty sure I was about to be yelled at.
43. Instead, she told me I should write for a living.
44. It hadn't occurred to me that it would be possible to get paid for that.
45. I still find the concept odd.
46. But it seemed like a pretty good idea.
47. Still does.
48. I did decide I needed a Plan B.
49. I majored in journalism.
50. I skipped a year of high school and was younger than all my classmates in college.
51. I got the best education money can buy - for relatively little money considering it was a state school.
52. And I had a full-ride scholarship.
53. Sadly, I hated the actual job.
54. The work was good.
55. The atmosphere sucked.
56. In newsrooms, everyone is running around like the world is about to end in the next five minutes.
57. They genuinely think it might.
58. They genuinely like it.
59. I did not.
60. I left.
61. I am not sad about this most of the time.
62. I did have amazing experiences though.
63. I was working at a daily paper on 9/11.
64. My editor called me at home, woke me up and told me to get my ass in right this very minute.
65. It was the most intense day of my career.
66. I was also still in the newsroom during the start of the subsequent invasion and war.
67. I learned a lot about Iraqi geography.
68. The war is still going on, but I'm no longer responsible for making sure you know that.
69. I did nearly every job that is possible in a newsroom.
70. I was a reporter.
71. A copy editor.
72. A page designer.
73. And a graphic artist.
74. Graphic artists are responsible for all the charts, graphs, diagrams and illustrations in the paper.
75. People always asked me that.
76. Of all the jobs, graphic artist paid the best.
77. The only people in newsrooms who make less money than reporters are photographers.
78. That's because everybody wants that job.
79. T.V. reporters, at least in medium to small markets, make even less.
80. The T.V. reporters who worked in my market made so little they qualified for food stamps.
81. You have to love your job to work for that little money and under that much stress.
82. This is another reason I'm not sad about leaving.
83. The people were great though.
84. Well, most of them.
85. I moved to L.A. when my husband got a job here.
86. It was one of two cities I absolutely never wanted to live in.
87. The other was New York.
88. Now, I love it.
89. I can't explain that.
90. Possibly it's because I started writing full time when we moved.
91. I love that too.
92. I still don't want to live in New York, though.
93. I'm currently shopping my book Suzy Q. Paparazzi to agents.
94. I hope they like it.
95. I hope they laugh.
96. Not at me.
97. At the book.
98. I have no desire to write War and Peace.
99. Mostly, I just want to entertain you on the redeye flight from Newark to Oklahoma City.
100. And be on the bestseller lists.