Nov. 23

Writer's block. It's not pretty.

The coffee mug with scrappy terrier is one of my most beloved possessions. It was the very first item I bought for myself when I moved into my first apt. I was living alone, working at my first 'real' job in Tokyo, and high on the rush of having my very own space to decorate in whatever whimsical fashion took my fancy.
The mug is older and a little tea-stained now, but it still makes me think of beginnings and first experiences.

And so, because I'm in a list sort of mood today, a compilation of 'firsts':

• first memory: standing on a hill, licking a push-up popsicle which I pushed-up too far so it fell off into the grass. I cried.
• first friend: a tiny wisp of a blond girl with great big blue eyes, also named Elizabeth
• first country I fell in love with: Ireland; my love for green began early -- I can't believe I've still never been
• first favorite meal: wienerschnitzel und apfelsaft; my European childhood ruined my palate for American treats once I returned stateside. I would recoil in horror when friends' moms would offer PB&J or fluorescent orange mac&cheese.
• first album purchase: Faith No More's The Real Thing (1989)
• first rock concert: U2
• first novel: Jane Eyre, ergo...
• first fictional crush: Edward Fairfax Rochester (still haven't quite got over this one)
• first written work of fiction: Nancy Drew and the Crystal Unicorn, in which Nancy encounters a crystal unicorn, then wakes up to find it was all a dream
• first TV appearance: on a Japanese variety show, where they were interviewing foreigners for their opinions on 'sighing' -- they dubbed my answer and completely changed what I said!
• first spiritual moment: my first trip to Yosemite, standing in a field gazing up at Half Dome and El Capitan and thinking, "that is too beautiful to be an accident"
• first celebrity encounter: sitting behind Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon at a classical music concert
• first vacation (that I was old enough to remember): Paris, springtime, I wore a frilly pink dress, gorged myself on nan at an Indian restaurant, and rode the carousel in front of the Eiffel Tower

A lifetime of firsts, I could go on forever. But just one more for today...

• first prize won: a disguise-the-turkey drawing contest, for which I drew a turkey dressed up with peacock feathers; I think the prize was a book voucher