25 Random Things About Me

By Emily List

1) I LOVE Valentine's Day. Man or no man, who cares? It's the one day where it's acceptable to wear red and pink together, stuff yourself with chocolate and candy hearts and send coy little notes and flowers to the people you care about! And really, what is more cause for celebration than LOVE?

2) My friend Xiao and I hopped a train from London to Paris and kept going to Milan (where we met our awesome travel-buddy Adinah), Venice, Florence, Cremona, Rome and Barcelona. If you have never taken a train through the Alps, you should get on that now. 



3) I am mad about murder mysteries. I love books by Wilkie Collins, Laura Lippman, Harlan Coben and Kate Atkinson but just about any crime writer (helps if they are English) will do. 



4) I'm a royalist. Okay, Henry VIII is a bastard but he is interesting and his wives are AMAZINGLY interesting. I love Charles I and still haven't gotten over his 1649 beheading. I saw the Queen from a few feet away at Windsor Castle and cried, she was so stunningly gorgeous. My dog (a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, what else) is named after Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.

5) I'm such a kid at heart. I still watch Arthur and old Fraggle Rock videos and collect Archie Comics like nobody's business. I pray for the day that they'll put "Eureka's Castle" back on television.

6) My favorite acting role was Ida, a sweet, nearly-blind, sixty-something Irish gal living with her deaf mother, Peg, and stroke-prone grandma, M'dear. 



7) One of my dream jobs is being a theatre critic because I love theatre and I love writing. I worked for a famous critic in London who couldn't write but got by on her eccentricity and charm. She paid me in salad lunches and free trips to the theatre. 



8) I love driving around in my lime-green bug. His name is Steve, after Steve Nash, my favorite basketball player.

9) I would date any one of the Rolling Stones, at any age. 



10) I once had to perform a love-scene with a guy who had a bloody nose. He got the bloody nose when part of the set fell down and smacked him in the face. Even though he found two pieces of tissue to put up his nostrils, we decided to shake hands instead of kiss. 



11) I love my family more than anything in the world. My mom is my best friend. 



12) In college, I met Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland. Recently, I met Ted Kennedy.



13) I love to dance, whether it is in the kitchen or in a ballet studio or at a club in Prague... just get me on a dance floor and I'll burn it up! 



14) I'm the happiest and most relaxed when I'm at the beach in Maine. Yes, I do love long walks on the beach and lobster dinners by the shore.



15) Randolph-Macon Woman's College gave me an "Olivia" for my karaoke skills when I sang Pasty Kline's "Walking After Midnight.' Now if I could just get an Oscar to go with it... 



16) The first play I ever wrote was "Little Red Ross Perot.' I played Bob Dole Wolf. 



17) I think older people are incredibly interesting. I met my pen-pal Bill in the garden of the Chelsea Royal Pensioners Hospital on a trip to England. 



18) I think everything is better with clotted cream. 



19) My class in England dubbed me "Biscuit Queen" and "Most Likely to Become a Las Vegas Showgirl." 



20) I love performing Shakespeare under the stars. Or anywhere. But especially under the stars. 



21) Lucille Ball and Maggie Smith are my heroes. Nobody can get fake-sloshed like Lucy. And nobody can give a glacial stare like Maggie Smith. Nobody. 



22) My first dancing role was as a flying squirrel. My second was as a piece of seaweed. 



23) Coffee is my vice of choice. Eggnog Lattes, Carmel Lattes, Pumpkin Spice Lattes... you make it, I'm there. 



24) I laugh whenever possible.

25) I HAVE heard of the women's political group, "Emily's List." Power to them. But I came first.