One Score and Five Random Things
Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.
(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)
Since my college buddy Julie O started my list for me…
1. From when I was 15 until I was 30 I wore tennis shoes with one red lace and one blue lace. I concocted many lofty and philosophical explanations for this after the fact, but the main reason was that I couldn’t make up my mind. I put one color on each shoe for comparison, and then just left them that way. By the turn of the century, I had trouble finding red and blue shoelaces, and started wearing hiking boots I bought for a trip to Ireland, so the habit faded away.
2. I reportedly had a “hilarious” (Julie’s word) midlife-style crisis upon turning 19. I only remember this vaguely, but it centered around not deriving any benefits from turning 19: You don’t earn the right to drink, or vote, or drive, or run for the senate, or anything. You just get older, and it represents the waning of one’s teen years. I really enjoyed my teen years and was sad to see them go, but it was all a tempest in a teacup because I enjoyed my 20’s and 30’s just as much.
3. I have a very selective memory. I don’t know if it’s any more or less selective than anyone else, but it feels disproportionately selective to me. Anything beyond a year or so old is a vague, fuzzy impression more than a memory, except for a few events that are as clear as an IMAX film. The upside to this is that I can usually re-read books and be just as surprised at the ending the second time.
4. I love “Joe Vs. The Volcano”, and if you don’t, I believe it’s because you just don’t get it. Or you were expecting another “Big”. My favorite line is Meg Ryan’s, responding to Tom Hanks’ fretting that they’re stuck in the middle of an ocean on a raft made out of suitcases: “It’s always gonna be something with you, isn’t it, Joe?” If I were to do my own cut of the film, it would end right there.
5. I have officiated 2 marriages, though only one of them was technically legal. The other was amidst llamas, which gives it an entirely different sort of validation in my mind.
6. I am the only member of my household who eats peanut butter. Though, to own the truth, one of the members has not yet had the opportunity to form an opinion.
7. I love the expression “to own the truth”.
8. I like soccer, basketball and hockey to watch, when invited, though I don’t on average initiate attending or tuning in a game on my own. Football and baseball are acceptable excuses to get out in the fresh air, eat soft pretzels and have conversations during the boring parts.
9. I really, really don’t understand the appeal of the J.R.R. Tolkien.
10. I like my job 90% of the time, which is an A in some schools.
11. Several years ago, I spent a lot of time researching and writing a business plan for a new type of fitness gym. I abandoned it after I couldn’t make the numbers work. When, in the coming years, I see someone else do it, I shall be very, very angry.
12. The first home I owned was 634 square feet. I miss that minimalism.
13. My wife thought I was gay when she first met me. She was wrong. I just had good hair, which is similar, but different.
14. I was an insignificant, unrecognizable extra in “The Babe” starring John Goodman. I have not seen it, though.
15. I have been paid to disassemble a department store, pull orders for wedding cake supplies, box frozen food in a freezer, assist in the making of television commercials, perform improv comedy, unload insulation from delivery trucks, write articles for the Department of Energy, administrate a computer network, make burgers and fries, design movie theater sound equipment, teach theater to high school students, watch television, and sit on a bag of horse feed.
16. My first aspiration was to be a stunt man, next a waiter.
17. In 8th grade, I won a national Apple-sponsored programming contest, which only goes to show how weak the competition was.
18. In low light, my pupils dilate to different sizes, just like David Bowie’s. He got it from a fist fight, I was just born that way. I enjoy the nervous, frightened look that optometrists get when they notice that.
19. I am extremely uncomfortable talking to people on the phone because I can’t see their face, but I <3 Instant Messaging. 20. I am extremely uncomfortable wearing anything other than jeans. My current job is the first one where I could not wear jeans every day, and that is one of the largest drawbacks in my mind. 21. I can waterski really well, but my brother is better. 22. My 8th grade math teacher told me I wouldn't be able to handle college-track math in high school. Four years later, I was one of five seniors (out of more than 600) to receive the math award, and today I am an engineer who lives and breathes numbers. Never let anyone tell you you can't do something. Granted, they may be right, but you should at least try. 23. My best friend in fourth grade once tried to convince me that we should go to comedy clubs, get up on stage, and just make up funny stuff off the top of our heads. I told him that was a stupid idea, and impossible besides. 2009 is my 22nd year of doing improv comedy. Never tell anyone they can't do something. Granted, you may be right, but they should at least try. 24. I attended the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting in Omaha, NE last year. I am that much of a geek. 25. Quiero aprender hablar español con soltura, y entonces viajaríamos a españa.