41. The first concert I ever went to was The Chieftains. The second was Bob Dylan. I can probably count the number of actual concerts I’ve attended in my life on one hand.
42. When I was a baby, my parents refused my grandfather’s request to have me baptized. My mom’s response was great: “I wouldn’t want my child to be baptized into a religion that thinks a baby belongs in hell just because nobody poured water over its head.”
43. I have two major “adventure” aspirations: sail around Cape Horn on the barque Europa and compete in the Mongol Derby horse race across Mongolia. Neither of them are completely outside my ability, but both would be an extreme stretch of said abilities, which is why both appeal to me.
44. I wanted to play rugby in college, but since Hampshire had no sports to speak of, the only team available to me at the time was Smith’s all-girls team. I was so completely over being mistaken for a lesbian at that point that I couldn’t deal with being part of what was essentially a team of them.
45. I used to have a unicycle. They’re way, way harder than they look.
46. When we lived in Austin, my mother used to share a darkroom with Richard Linklater, the filmmaker. She also used to share an apartment with Thomas Schlamme, one of the writers of The West Wing, before I was born.
47. I used to be in theatre in high school, and I almost always chose Chekhov scenes for my audition monologues. I’ve always enjoyed his writing. I was decidedly not a “theatre kid”, as I discovered.
48. My thesis was originally going to be a film that I made during my dad and I’s solo single-engine flight from Texas to the Arctic Circle and back. I filmed the whole thing, including interviews throughout the process, every landing and take-off, etc. I had it all storyboarded out, but I ended up being unable to bring myself to actually watch and edit the footage.
49. When I’m really concentrating on something I’m holding in my mind’s eye, I grit my teeth and clench my fists, subconsciously. I’ve done this so strongly in the past that I’ve chipped my teeth. If you ever see me seem to set my jaw, it’s because I’m really focused on something you can’t see.
50. Most of what I know about making art I learned by experience and by osmosis from having grown up with professional artists for parents. I learned design from watching my dad work in Quark, and I learned photography from being my mother’s assistant in her studio and on shoots.
I came across this blog recently and LOVED it. I would however, like to point out the irony of a blog called “nothingbyhalves” completing 50/100 facts on a month-plus window. The irony is palpable.