100 things about me

Initially drafted in August 2002 to be part of the Yankee Blogger’s “100 things about 100 bloggers in 100 days” project.

Updated May 2004

1. My name is Luca and, before you ask, I do not live on the second floor.
2. I have two middle names: Luigi and… Maria.
3. As a child, I was convinced the stork delivered me to the wrong country.
4. I only had surgery once (tonsillectomy, aged 4).
5. I was taken to hospital three times in my life, after being hit by a car, bitten by a stray dog, and having my eyes burned by a suntan lamp.
   UPDATE: unfortunately, I visited a couple more establishments in December 2003 after blanking out/collapsing/fainting at work due to physical and psychological exhaustion.
6. I am afraid of heights but enjoy flying immensely.
7. I get a kick out of finding bargains in second-hand clothes shops.
8. I own far too many clothes and am unable to throw them away.
9. Cluttered rooms suffocate me.
10. I travelled outside Europe for the first time last summer.
11. I flew back from Newark airport on Sept. 10th, 2001 (and actually did think that security was a bit slack).
12. I have moved 18 times across three countries in the past 18 years.
13. I cannot sit still.
14. I used to rush home from kindergarten to watch an English language course on TV.
15. My father’s family emigrated from Italy to… Italy – the region they lived in was lost over to Yugoslavia during WW2.
16. I was stopped for speeding only once, but was let go on counts of “good behaviour” when the Italian policeman noticed I was wearing a seatbelt (apparently a rare sight in that country in the early nineties).
17. I have been held in custody at police stations a few times for taking part in unauthorized demonstrations.
18. I am a recovering idealist.
19. I indulge shamelessly in daydreaming.
20. Hot weather drives me crazy.
21. My favourite season is winter.
22. A hard plastic elephant was my favourite “cuddly” toy.
23. I have shaken hands and exchanged a few words with prince Charles.
24. I cannot grasp the legitimacy of being allowed to rule one country just because you happen to be the first born in a particular family.
25. I am a republican.
26. I often use too many superfluous words to enunciate a single concept.
27. I have a fair, beauty-spot-sparkled skin that burns and peels and burns again before eventually tanning – but by that time the summer is usually over.
28. I have dyed my hair blonde, black, red and silvery-grey.
29. I am going bald and give myself a #1 crop once or twice a week.
30. I hate shaving.
31. I’ve had a goatee for the past 10 years.
32. I was pierced three times: left earlobe (not used for over 10 years, probably sealed shut now), left earlobe again (but removed after a couple of hours because the hole was not perfectly aligned with the existing one) and navel (in place for the past 6 years).
    UPDATE: and left nipple, February 2003.
33. I have no tattoos.
34. I always do crosswords in pencil.
35. I could read at the age of 4.
36. I can knit.
37. Had I been a girl, my name would have been Elena.
38. At the age of 5 I buried a hairpin, a discarded lipstick and a Barbie doll head in the garden because I felt ashamed of playing with them.
39. I have never dressed in drag.
    UPDATE: I took part in a schoolgirls’ birthday party during my holidays in Gran Canaria in November 2004. It was a fun night, and yet I could tell I was not enjoying being in drag as much as some of my friends did (we were a group of ten). My wig kept bothering me a lot, I felt like I had an octopus on top of my head.
40. I once stole a gay porn magazine from the newsagent in front of my parents’ house – only to re-seal it in plastic wrap to put it back on the shelf a few wanks later.
41. The first time I had sex was with a British man I’d just met in the showers of a youth hostel in Vienna.
42. Shortly afterwards I got myself a girlfriend and had straight sex for a year.
43. I left her for one of her best (male) friends and never looked back.
44. I was top of my class all the way to university.
45. I am currently unemployed.
    UPDATE: I have been working regularly for a while now. However, long-term employment prospects are still hard to come by and by the time you read this I might be unemployed once again.
46. I have a problem accepting that I am not the best at something.
47. I have never had my IQ tested.
48. I can’t remember ever feeling bored.
49. I have a very vivid and wild imagination that I sometimes get lost into.
50. I never find enough time to do all I want to do.
51. I never had any nicknames.
52. I am trilingual and can understand/make myself understood in a few more other languages.
53. I find it hard to say no – in any language.
54. I want everyone to love me.
55. I am often tempted to lie in order to win people’s approval.
56. My weblog is a lie-free zone.
57. And so is this list.
58. I am afflicted by severe procrastination.
59. It took me 10 days to finally get down and write this list.
60. I have a big problem taking orders from unjustified authority.
61. I was brought up a Catholic, questioned its values from the very start, then ditched it altogether as soon as I could.
62. My brother is a priest, my mother practically a nun since my father’s death.
63. I have a very musical ear and can play almost anything on the piano after hearing it just a couple of times.
64. My idea of the perfect night out would be going out with Björk on a fierce drinking spree.
65. I have not got a favourite record / movie / book – it changes all the time. At the moment it’s: Angie Stone – Black Diamond / Amélie / 101 Reykjavík.
66. I am very fickle.
67. I thoroughly enjoy doing the washing up.
68. I hate ironing with all my guts.
69. I avoid wearing shirts if I can.
70. I generally go for quantity over quality, and always regret doing so.
71. I am addicted to Tetris.
    UPDATE: and Klax. Damn.
72. I am addicted to Marmite.
73. I love eating chips dipped in vanilla ice cream.
74. I am a good, experimental, imaginative chef but can seldom be bothered to cook at all.
75. I rarely sit down for meals.
76. I have not kept the same weight for more than three months.
77. I drink lots of coffee and tea (very strong, very white, no sugar) and several gallons of *caffeine-laden soft drinks* every day.
78. I tend to fall asleep for 5 to 10 minutes in the middle of most movies / concerts / plays.
79. Goldfish have a longer attention span than I have.
80. I am the grumpiest, moodiest, angriest and hungriest person on earth when I wake up from an unplanned, accidental nap.
81. I hate going to bed, and I spring out of it as soon as I wake up.
82. I toss and turn and snore and kick around and talk in my sleep.
83. I am currently single.
    UPDATE: partnered with Dr B. since February 2003.
84. I have had dreams with opening and/or closing credits, black and white dreams, dreams in colour, multi-language dreams, subtitled dreams, dreams with ad breaks, dreams where celebrities were starring as myself and my friends.
85. My recurrent nightmare as a child was being sucked up into a TV set by a large, hairy, knotty hand.
86. I have watched far too much TV for my own good for most of my life. I now hardly ever switch the evil thing on.
87. I have never watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
88. Making long-term projects does not come natural to me.
89. I do not fear growing old.
90. I am terrified of turning into a sad, old, isolated, lonely gay man.
91. I give absolutely no importance to my age, to the point that I have to quickly calculate “2002 minus 1967″ whenever I’m asked how old I am.
    UPDATE: of course, replace “2002″ with current year. Although the idea of being 35 forever is somewhat appealing. Good year, that one.
92. I can never remember figures, except for prices.
93. I sometimes toy with the idea of having a sugar daddy.
94. I never paid for sex.
95. I flew to Italy to start my military service, but was sent back to London after just one week.
96. Touching cotton wool gives me the creeps.
97. The idea of doing something specific in order to relax (laying in a hot bath, lighting scented candles, listening to music) makes me go incredibly nervous.
98. I am a very, very bad loser. Really. Don’t play with me, or if you do, you better lose intentionally.
99. I am most productive when under pressure and/or working against the clock.
100. I finally got round to finish this list after much nagging from the Yankee Blogger, and only because the project is closing in a few hours.