1. Sailboats: While I’ve only been sailing a few times, I have a great affinity for the romance and wonder of wooden boats. One of my fantasies is to sail as crew. One of my favorite things to do when it is rainy outside is brew strong tea, and curl up with books that chronical sailor’s voyages. My all-time favorite is Tania Aebi’s first book, Maiden Voyage.
2. San Francisco: Tony Bennett isn’t the only one to leave his heart there. I’ve poked all around the city by the bay, and never once has the city touched me with anything but positive energy. Fuzzy and I had our second kiss in San Francisco.
3. Sharks: While I learned to like hockey because of the novelty of living within walking distance of the arena where the San Jose Sharks played, it is the animal, not the team, that makes this list. It should be no surprise that I am fascinated by these big fish – after all, I devoted an entire Thursday 13 entry to them during Shark Week 2007.
4. Side Order of Life: This show premiered on Lifetime TV a couple weeks after Army Wives, which I love, and quickly became one of my favorite shows. Watching it every week is much like a continuing live-action chick-lit novel, and I’m still enjoying it for escapist entertainment.
5. Siesta: While I’ve never really been a fan of napping, working at home has put me into a pattern of working from morning through mid-afternoon, then breaking for a few hours to rest and read, and then resuming work when the sun is beginning to go down. I’ve always been very nocturnal, but this way, I’ve been able to keep a daytime shift and still indulge in the late nights that I love.
6. Singing: I started singing when I was little and have barely stopped since. When I’m working, I hum or sing, and when I can’t stare at the computer screen for another second, I get up, blast music, and dance and sing around the living room until I feel energized and my head feels clear.
7. Skating: I grew up in the seventies and eighties when skating parties at ice and roller rinks were all the rage. Cheap, innocent fun. With music. I prefer ice skating, and have nice skates that I almost never use, because none of my friends skate, and skating alone isn’t fun.
8. Sky: The stars, the moon, the planets…I love to gaze up at the night sky, and wonder, or dream. When the night is dark enough, I reintroduce myself to the constellations, and one of my favorite things to see is the moon in daylight, because it reminds me of fantasy planetscapes.
9. Sneakers: I love shoes, especially sandals and boots, and I have quite the collection, but for comfort and happy feet, nothing beats a pair of sneakers. My walking sneakers these days are a pair of white Reebok freestyles, but I’m loving the pink Converse All-Stars Fuzzy gave me for my birthday as well. I once said that I only wanted jobs where I could wear sneakers to work. I have one now.
10. Starbucks: While they do not have the best coffee in the world, they have brough espresso to almost every neighborhood, which makes me incredibly happy. Also, there’s something to be said for a consistant product. Finally, the folks at my neighborhood Starbucks always compliment my hair.
11. Sushi: I could eat sushi every day and never get sick of it. Sashimi, sushi rolls, nigiri, I love it all, except the octopus. I can’t stand the texture of octopus, and I don’t like the concept of eating an intelligent creature.
12. Stationery: I love the texture of paper, the feeling of linen fibers beneath my pen, the colors and styles and engravings that are used to personalize it. In my desk, I have a box just of single sheets of stationery (and envelopes) left over from favorite sets that are otherwise gone. I can never have too much stationery.
13. Swords: Fuzzy really cemented my love of swords because he collects them, but really, what’s not to love? They’re beautiful, and carry such history, and I like the notion that in order to kill someone with a sword you have to be connected to them, through steel, even if it’s only for a moment.

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