Four Jobs I've Held:

1. Making fried chicken and coleslaw at Col. Sander's Kentucky Fried Chicken. Now they call this place KFC. This was my first job, at age 16, at this terrible place, and it made my hair smell like rancid grease that no shampoo could remove. I had to wear a white nurse's uniform that I made sure was very short, so I wouldn't look like a nurse. To make the coleslaw, you poured cabbage into a big garbage can, and added tons of sugar, and mixed it with your gloved hands. It was disgusting. I got fired from this job because the manager was stealing from the till and continually blamed the girls who worked there. Dad, knowing that I wouldn't steal, challenged the manager (much to my embarrassment - remember, I was only 16), and as a result, the manager was fired. The good thing that came from this is that I have never eaten there again.

2. Waitressing at the "Breakfast Cookbook", a greasy spoon in Oswego, NY. This was a job I had during college. See, I did learn something in college: never to be a waitress. I had the late night shift and had to serve drunk people. They hardly ever gave me a tip. I worked there for a month or so before the place burned down from a grease fire. No one got their last paycheck, but I couldn't have been happier.

3. Teaching English conversation in Japan. I got this job instead of going to Rwanda with the Peace Corps. I think it worked out for the best, since they started massacring people in Rwanda around that time. I had no idea at the time how to teach English, but since I am pretty good at carrying on a conversation, it worked out. The best part of this job was that the students enjoyed taking me out to great sushi restaurants and drinking a lot of beer. The karaoke that I had to endure was worth it.

4. Printing things on a laser printer. When I started my own business in 1989 as a database designer and desktop publisher, very few people or businesses owned laser printers. Everyone had those rattling, noisy printers that printed on green-striped roller paper in Courier. I borrowed money ($1500) to buy an Apple Laserwriter. This instantly provided a lot of work, as I could charge $5 a page for just printing stuff with a variety of fonts, and graphics, too!

Four Films I Could Watch Over and Over:

1. The Wizard of Oz. I like when she opens the door and the black and white scene turns to color, and I like being able to recite the dialog and sing along with the actors.

2. Field of Dreams. This one always makes me cry, and I don't even like baseball. I guess I like to cry.

3. The Matrix. The original one.

4. Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I love Richard Dreyfuss, and the mother ship scene.

Four Places I Have Lived:

1. LeRoy, New York - the home of JELL-O.

2. Caen, France - in Normandy. Home of William the Conqueror, and a disgusting dish called Tripe a la mode de Caen.

3. Hamamatsu, Japan - home of Yamaha and Suzuki motorcycles, and a great place to eat eels, which are tastier by far than tripe.

4. San Francisco, California. I lived in the Haight-Ashbury, the Sunset and Noe Valley neighborhoods. Now, I live in Marin County but I work in the country's only urban National Park, the Presidio.

Four TV Series I Like:

1. The Sopranos. This is Shakespearian. I have to close my eyes during the violent parts.

2. Survivor. I don't know why I keep on watching this series. Watching Jeff Probst is like picking a scab.

3. Martha Stewart. I love the sound of her voice and I find it lulling to watch her in the kitchen.

4. I can't think of another one. With Tivo, we can just keep watching those three over and over. I used to like the Pet Psychic, but I haven't seen it on the list for quite a while.

Four Places I've Been on Vacation:

1. New York City. Love Broadway. Love the U.N. Love Ellis Island. I heart NY.

2. St John, U.S. Virgin Islands. We went here in the 60s when I was 12, and then again in the 80s. The first time, the reefs (why isn't it "reeves"?) were teeming with fish. The second time, many of the reefs were brown and dead. More sea turtles, though.

3. Hawai'i. Mostly we have been to Kaua'i, but also to Maui and Oahu. Most memorable moment - swimming to Kalalau Beach after having been dropped off there by a zodiac boat.

4. New Zealand - our latest vacation. Wins for best mountains, least inhabited, most Maori art, most breathtaking scenary.

Four Foods I Love:

1. Pie. Apple or lemon meringue. Or whatever you have.

2. Baked potato with plain yogurt on it. Yes, I eat the skin, too.

3. Sushi. Any kind.

4. Chowder. As long as it has corn in it.

Four Websites I Visit Daily

1. My chorus' website: www.pacificempire.org, which I maintain.

2. Zippy the Pinhead (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/comics/Zippy_the_Pinhead_Color.dtl). Our newspaper cancelled this surreal comic, yet still puts it online. I go there so that the counters will register that I support having it there.

3. Google.com. There is always something I need to know.

4. Bloglines - my RSS feeder. I have 55 feeds, and hardly ever read them all in a day. Why does seeing things marked "unread" cause me stress?

Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:

1. Anywhere where most of the people are speaking another language besides English. Love the foreign languages.

2. Brazil.

3. On a beach with snorkel gear handy.

4. Outside in the sun.