Having recovered sufficiently from the shock of having BOTH junior high schools I attended shut down entirely, I will come up with some more things about me. (I was inspired by Kip, who has started his own list. But I still don't think there's anything on here that he doesn't already know.)


7. Barry Manilow once almost canceled a concert because of something I wrote. If you want the details, e-mail me.

8. I broke a national news story about Rand McNally intentionally leaving three states out of an atlas: North Dakota, South Dakota and Oklahoma. Jay Leno even joked about it.

9. I once flew in one of those Red Baron-style open-cockpit planes. I didn't tell my mother about it until after we were safely on the ground.

10. I would rather take a bath than a shower, and I almost always do.

11. When I was a freshman in college, I danced for 18 hours in a dance marathon. We all finished up the marathon by doing the Hustle in a long (tired) line. (Guess that dates me, doesn't it.)

12. I pour milk on chocolate ice cream before I eat it.

13. When I was in seventh grade in Golden, Colorado, I was a winner in an essay contest sponsored by the local newspaper. The topic was "Why My Mother Is a Star."

14. My favorite cereal is Rice Krispies.

15. I hate beets and zebras. (I suggested to Jennifer the other day that I might be able to overcome both fears at once by going to a zoo and pelting the zebras with beets. She was skeptical.)

16. I consider "Body Heat" the sexiest movie ever made, and "Moondance" by Van Morrison the sexiest song ever recorded. (Although a good case could be made for "Crystal Blue Persuasion" by Tommy James and the Shondells.)

Earlier today I came across a list of "100 Things About Me" on a woman's blog.


I thought it was a good idea, so I figured I'd pull a Jayson Blair and shamelessly plagiarize the idea, if not the actual items.


I'll do a few at a time. Here are some things about me:


1. One of my biggest fears is driving off the road into a body of water, being unable to get out of the car and drowning.

2. When I was in third grade, I fell face-first on a metal foot-scraper mat and had to have 15 stitches in and around my mouth. I still have a scar on my chin.

3. I got married in Las Vegas on Nov. 24, 2000, and I can prove it. Go here and enter my maiden name, Bonnie Elizabeth Gerboth, in the "bride's name" field. (For an explanation of the name, see the next item.)

4. My real name is Bonnie Elizabeth Gerboth Sundquist. I was named after both grandmothers and was called Bonnie Beth for years until I rebelled in seventh grade and became Betsy, which is a nickname for Elizabeth.

5. I skipped most of first grade because I taught myself to read before I started school and made a nuisance of myself whispering the correct word to the other kids during reading circle. What a pain in the ass I must have been.

6. I was a pom-pom girl when I was in the ninth grade at Hughes Junior High School in Bismarck, N.D. (I just looked up Hughes on the Web so I could put in a link, and much to my shock, I see it's become Horizon Middle School. I am seriously traumatized and I will have to stop blogging for the moment and do some further investigation. Talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic: Should any school I attended be allowed to CHANGE ITS NAME without seeking my permission first? Discuss.)

I just attended a mandatory half-hour session on how to identify and report sexual harassment.


One of the handouts says that the company for which I work prohibits employees from taking RETAILIATORY action against anyone who has reported harassment:


"You have reported sexual harassment! You must shop till you drop!"


Or, alternatively, they take away all your credit cards.

I am planning to watch (or at least tape) tonight's TV movie about Martha Stewart, starring Cybill Shepherd. But I think Cybill's got it wrong.


Kip says she was on "The Today Show" this morning, talking about how much she admires Martha, blah blah blah. But I think she's got it wrong: "There’s just something about being blond and powerful," Shepherd says, "that really pisses people off."


Um, no. There's something about being powerful and believing that you're above the law that really pisses people off, Cyb.


And anyway, at this point, you're probably as much a natural blonde as I am a natural redhead. So shut up.