A friend of my always tells people that I'm the only person he knows that can renovate the kitchen, sew new curtains, fix a diesel Mercedes, and throw a fabulous dinner party all on the same day. It's a gross exaggeration, but my interests are quite varied. I think my skills really evolved when I got my first apartment--if you want to live a "glamorous" life on no money, you need to learn how to fix that third-hand mercedes, how to sew that slipcover for the perfect-shape-but-ugh!-that-fabric! chair, how to make cool endtables, how to revive the 25-year-old dishwasher, etc. etc.
I like Barbra, Judy, and to a lesser extent, Liza, in small doses. I really like Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan, and Nancy Wilson. And Doris Day and Frank Sinatra (the younger years). And Miles Davis (pre-Bitches Brew)(well, Bitches Brew and later are cool too, but in small doses), Count Basie, and Duke Ellington. And classical music and lounge music. Oh, and Quincy Jones, too.
I used to be fairly fashion-conscious, but now I think one could sum up my wardrobe as, "not an eyesore". Nice but not fancy. And all on clearance.
Oh, and when I'm startled, I do seem to clutch at where my pearls would be if I wore them (and sometimes uncontrollably yelp like Nathan Lane when he accidentally toots the Thunderbird's horn in The Birdcage), but that probably my only dead-giveaway mannerism.
T.
