25 Things That Are About Me
dudes, in the words of bret michaels: whassagoinon?
it has, as usual, been awhile. but, this time, in lieu of recapping the last couple weeks of awesome, i shall get my blogspiration from the roughly 65 people on facebook that have tagged me for the 'tell us 25 things about you' meme, and do just that ...
1. if i could eat only one meal every day for the rest of my life, it'd be steak frites with a caesar salad. the downside would be cost; the upside would be that i could go about three years eating steak fried in butter, fried potatoes and salad dressing before doing the ol' mortal-coil shuffle, so it wouldn't be *that* spendy.
2. if i could incorporate prosciutto into that meal without it being more or less instantly artery-hardening, i would.
3. likewise, if i had to drink but one cocktail ever again, it'd be straight-up lagavulin 16-year scotch, with a bourbon manhattan a close second.
4. that said, i have an affinity for jack daniel's; this, along with my accompanying affinity for the color orange, comes directly from wanting to be more like frank sinatra.
5. i used to be an almost-professional-quality trumpet player, before years of bad technique caused by playing in ska bands and marching bands caught up with me and wrecked my trumpet-playing muscles. i miss playing, but find trying to pick it back up kind of frustrating since i can't do what i used to.
6. appearing on jeopardy remains one of my chief life goals.
7. so does driving the nurburgring, but i suspect i'll have to practice a hell of a lot more first.
8. i have stumbled into nearly every job i've ever had by some combination of accident, luck and being a comparative peon in the right places at the right times. i recommend the strategy.
9. i was adopted as a newborn, and pretty much struck it as lucky as possible on the parental jackpot; this makes me a pretty fascinating nature-vs-nurture case study, too.
10. my first airplane ride took place just after said adoption, and then i didn't take another one for 15 years.
11. i am far too competitive for my own good, even, and perhaps especially, at things i'm terrible at.
12. for this reason, i'm a huge fan of bar trivia/pub quizzes, as they indulge my loves of competition, whiskey, and pulling random facts out of the farthest corners of my ass all at once.
13. [halftime break. please sing your favorite springsteen song quietly to yourself for twelve minutes.]
14. i am hugely and possibly alarmingly obsessed with the minnesota twins and with minnesota gophers hockey.
15. i am less obsessed, but still kind of obsessed, with gophers basketball, the minnesota timberwolves, the minnesota wild, arsenal soccer football, mid-major ncaa basketball teams, the entire culture of college football, and a dozen or so nba players who are stylish and intriguing enough to watch that i kind of forget that i never used to like the nba.
16. for a massive sports fan, i was a lousy athlete. seriously. aside from a marginal amount of defensive skill in baseball and a little bit of tennis prowess, i was more hapless on more fields than a tractor with no steering.
17. i did, however, pick up a deep appreciation for the aesthetics of sports, in terms of both on-field style and uniform design. if uni watch didn't already exist, i'd start it, and if every third dude my age on the internet didn't already have a sports blog, i'd try that, too.
18. my age, incidentally, is a month from 30. this would freak me out more if i hadn't started balding at like 24.
19. chicks totally dig balding guys. i think. or they totally dig awesome guys.
20. either way, there is one out there who seems to like me a great deal, which is good, because i'm pretty much crazy in love with her.
21. and, as an antidote to the foregoing schmoopiness, you should know that i am a proud and unswerving ass man.
22. i have owned four cars in my life; three, through no real fault of my own, have been pontiacs. their names, in chronological order: the swankmobile, willis, malibu stacy, and anna conda.
23. at the time the swankmobile was named, i was watching swingers at least twice a week. i'm down to maybe once a month, now.
24. despite having pretty ridiculously broad tastes in music and being a big hip-hop fan, i will never quite like any music as much as the ska and pop-punk of the mid-1990s. mr. t experience, i've got your back.
25. i've read infinite jest three times, met the president for academic-achievement-related reasons when i was in high school, spoke at my graduation and placed in the national geography bee ... and yet i still watch rock of love religiously.
holy crap, that was long. i tag any of the six people on the internet who haven't yet done this.
it has, as usual, been awhile. but, this time, in lieu of recapping the last couple weeks of awesome, i shall get my blogspiration from the roughly 65 people on facebook that have tagged me for the 'tell us 25 things about you' meme, and do just that ...
1. if i could eat only one meal every day for the rest of my life, it'd be steak frites with a caesar salad. the downside would be cost; the upside would be that i could go about three years eating steak fried in butter, fried potatoes and salad dressing before doing the ol' mortal-coil shuffle, so it wouldn't be *that* spendy.
2. if i could incorporate prosciutto into that meal without it being more or less instantly artery-hardening, i would.
3. likewise, if i had to drink but one cocktail ever again, it'd be straight-up lagavulin 16-year scotch, with a bourbon manhattan a close second.
4. that said, i have an affinity for jack daniel's; this, along with my accompanying affinity for the color orange, comes directly from wanting to be more like frank sinatra.
5. i used to be an almost-professional-quality trumpet player, before years of bad technique caused by playing in ska bands and marching bands caught up with me and wrecked my trumpet-playing muscles. i miss playing, but find trying to pick it back up kind of frustrating since i can't do what i used to.
6. appearing on jeopardy remains one of my chief life goals.
7. so does driving the nurburgring, but i suspect i'll have to practice a hell of a lot more first.
8. i have stumbled into nearly every job i've ever had by some combination of accident, luck and being a comparative peon in the right places at the right times. i recommend the strategy.
9. i was adopted as a newborn, and pretty much struck it as lucky as possible on the parental jackpot; this makes me a pretty fascinating nature-vs-nurture case study, too.
10. my first airplane ride took place just after said adoption, and then i didn't take another one for 15 years.
11. i am far too competitive for my own good, even, and perhaps especially, at things i'm terrible at.
12. for this reason, i'm a huge fan of bar trivia/pub quizzes, as they indulge my loves of competition, whiskey, and pulling random facts out of the farthest corners of my ass all at once.
13. [halftime break. please sing your favorite springsteen song quietly to yourself for twelve minutes.]
14. i am hugely and possibly alarmingly obsessed with the minnesota twins and with minnesota gophers hockey.
15. i am less obsessed, but still kind of obsessed, with gophers basketball, the minnesota timberwolves, the minnesota wild, arsenal soccer football, mid-major ncaa basketball teams, the entire culture of college football, and a dozen or so nba players who are stylish and intriguing enough to watch that i kind of forget that i never used to like the nba.
16. for a massive sports fan, i was a lousy athlete. seriously. aside from a marginal amount of defensive skill in baseball and a little bit of tennis prowess, i was more hapless on more fields than a tractor with no steering.
17. i did, however, pick up a deep appreciation for the aesthetics of sports, in terms of both on-field style and uniform design. if uni watch didn't already exist, i'd start it, and if every third dude my age on the internet didn't already have a sports blog, i'd try that, too.
18. my age, incidentally, is a month from 30. this would freak me out more if i hadn't started balding at like 24.
19. chicks totally dig balding guys. i think. or they totally dig awesome guys.
20. either way, there is one out there who seems to like me a great deal, which is good, because i'm pretty much crazy in love with her.
21. and, as an antidote to the foregoing schmoopiness, you should know that i am a proud and unswerving ass man.
22. i have owned four cars in my life; three, through no real fault of my own, have been pontiacs. their names, in chronological order: the swankmobile, willis, malibu stacy, and anna conda.
23. at the time the swankmobile was named, i was watching swingers at least twice a week. i'm down to maybe once a month, now.
24. despite having pretty ridiculously broad tastes in music and being a big hip-hop fan, i will never quite like any music as much as the ska and pop-punk of the mid-1990s. mr. t experience, i've got your back.
25. i've read infinite jest three times, met the president for academic-achievement-related reasons when i was in high school, spoke at my graduation and placed in the national geography bee ... and yet i still watch rock of love religiously.
holy crap, that was long. i tag any of the six people on the internet who haven't yet done this.