ATOZ ME

Totally stolen from Amy, who got it from Susannah. But it rocks, and I'm always a whore for memes...

accent: None -- plain old Midwestern blah. However, I can do almost any accent I want -- my best are British (various classes), German, New Yorker, Southerner, and Scots. I'm very good at them. People always want me to do them. I should be an actor; still haven't ruled that out.

booze: Geez, where to start? Gin. Rum. Beer. Wine (red). Absinthe. Tequila.

chore I hate: Cleaning cat litter box. Frickin' cats.

dogs/cats: Two cats; unnamed, to protect their identities and keep the stalkers at bay.

essential electronics: iPod and my laptop.

favorite perfume/cologne: Lauder's "Beyond Paradise for Men" -- makes me smell damned good.

gold/silver: Silver -- I'm too warm-complected for gold, I think. Silver's cool, anyway, precisely because it tarnishes.

hometown: NE Ohio, Rust Belt. Not Cleveland. More desolate.

insomnia: Almost never. For me, five minutes awake in bed is "insomnia" -- hah! Though I find if I lay on my back, I can't fall asleep. I have to lay on my stomach to sleep.

job title: Senior Editor at a prestigious place, but am not saying more.

kids: Two beautiful, brilliant sons with prettier blue eyes than mine (one's blueberry-eyed, the other, slate).

living arrangements: Two-bedroom apartment in a Chicago brownstone that was a hotel in the 1920s and looks it -- has a classy art deco feel to it.

most admired trait: Physical? Hmmm, my height (6'3") and broad shoulders and my kind blue eyes; Social? Sense of humor, for sure -- I can make anybody laugh.

number of sexual partners: I'm a gentleman scoundrel; I'll never kiss and tell!

overnight hospital stays: Two that I can remember; one for tonsils, one for hernia -- both in the mid 1970s.

phobia: Fear of flying; used to love flying, wanted to be a pilot when I was a kid; in 1998, I got phobic. Very odd, but there you have it. I think it's a fear of being a passenger, being at the mercy of somebody else, honestly. Rollercoasters get me that way, too -- just being strapped in and a passenger gives me the willies. I'm a driver, not a passenger.

quotes: "I’ve got no name. I’ve got no rank. I’ve got no serial number. And you can go to hell." --Humphrey Bogart. That says it all to me; I keep that one in my wallet.

religion: None.

siblings: No full-blooded; two older stepsisters, two younger half-sisters from father.

time I usually wake up: 4:16 a.m. No alarm clock. I just wake up. Instantly. And I never nap.

unusual talent: Able to piss anybody off without trying; also, can instigate things without people even realizing I'm the one who first yelled "fire" in the crowded theater -- I am a clear and present danger, though I try to instigate for good, like get folks motivated.

vegetables I refuse to eat: None; I love vegetables; probably wouldn't eat boiled nettles, though.

worst habit: Self-hatred. Very good at it, almost qualifies as an unusual talent.

x-rays: I've had my share; who keeps count? I don't glow in the dark, and only broke my middle finger, and never got that x-rayed or set or anything.

yummy foods I make: Anything Italian; grew up in an Italian stepfamily, and I cook serious-ass good, unpretentious Italian food. Try me. My biscotti alone would melt your soul, but my sauces are tops, all homemade, natch.

zodiac sign: Aries all the way; you read about the Aries Male, and it's totally me, totally, for better and worse.