25 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.)
1. I'm fully aware that I probably share too much personal information for a public board, especially about my Dad. I'm intentionally forcing myself to open up to the public because I eventually want to write for a living. I can't see writing anything meaningful without sharing something deeply personal, so I want to get used to the feeling. Also, I doubt that many people read it anyway.
2. I didn't really like football too much when I was a little kid. It wasn't until much later that I became the obsessive drooling fanatic that I am now.
3. I was an only child and I was spoiled rotten. I was painfully shy in elementary and middle school.
4. Yes I know my hair looks funny long and that I have a terrible bald spot. My wife likes it like this and in the end, she's the one who has to look at me every day. I wish it would all just fall off. I hate this halfway crap but shaving would be a real pain in the ass.
5. When I was eight years old, I very nearly choked to death on a roast beef sandwich at the Columbia Mall food court. I was dying and everyone was watching and doing nothing and my Dad gave me the heimlich and saved my life. Within 30 seconds of me getting saved, someone came up to us and asked us if we were done using our table.
6. When I was five, I was with my Mom at the park across the street and I came across a hornet's nest on the ground. I thought it was a soccer ball and kicked it. My Mom tore the hornets off me and shielded me from them. So both my Mom and my Dad have saved my life. What can I say? I got into a lot of trouble.
7. Despite #5 and 6, I've never had a broken bone. Aside from having my tonsils removed, I've never had surgery. Aside from stabbing myself earlier this year by accident, I never had a serious enough wound that needed stitches. Despite the fact that I've been to the hospital hundreds of times, the number of times I was there for my own health can be counted on one hand. That which does not kill us...
8. Four of the five grandparents I had (one by a second marriage) were dead before I could remember anything. We never had any living extended family that we were close to except for that fifth grandparent, who died when I was 14. The idea of having close family beyond a mother and father is kind of a foreign concept to me.
9. I'm terrible at keeping in touch via phone and snail mail. I also suck at birthdays and christmas presents. I suspect this is because of #8 above. Despite this, I check and respond to email ten times a day.
10. Nobody ever taught me how to dance. When I got to high school, I just sort of made it up as I went along. To this day, I really have no clue what I'm doing on a dance floor. Well, I suppose I KNOW what I'm doing; I'm flailing my limbs around wildly and mimicking an epileptic seizure. But I have no clue what I'm SUPPOSED to be doing.
11. I'm a devious, machiavellian bastard. But I'm too damn nice and too damn lazy to do anything with it.
12. I grew my beard largely out of laziness and a desire not to have to shave every day. I had a full beard when I was 15. It used to scare the crap out of people we played against in Junior High sports.
13. I'm not a casual fan. I rarely dabble. If I start getting into a hobby, I want to read everything that's written and to collect everything there is to collect. In the era of Magic the Gathering (aka "Crack for kids") and collectible games, this has been a very expensive trait.
14. Including the computer I bought last week, I have now purchased a grand total of two (2) computers in my lifetime.
15. I was born a month early, and my parents had me very late in life. They had trouble conceiving me. Both my parents are short to average height so I have no idea how I got as big as I did.
16. My Dad had great direction sense, but my Mom's direction sense is so abysmal that mine ended up averaging out at "slightly bad."
17. I enjoy lying to people, but only when I immediately confess the deception afterwords. I do it mostly when I'm asked questions I couldn't possibly know the answer to. I figure that since it's unrealistic for them to expect me to give an accurate answer, why not make something up? This has led to interesting "facts" about average lifespans of birds and other bizarre fake-trivia. It's no fun if you don't let them know about it though. What can I say? I'm weird.
18. I'm a total sucker for reality television, including Survivor. I also watch Judge Judy and the People's Court. The latter I'll claim is only because my wife watches them. To be honest I kind of like them too.
19. When I was a kid, I totally used to think Paula Abdul was hot. I was into Debbie Gibson and Tiffany too. What was I thinking?!?
20. I was a member of the Columbia Record and Tape club, and got 20 tapes for 1 penny.
21. I've been carded twice in my life. I've been buying booze since I was sixteen. Kids used to beg me to buy booze for them. One time I got mad at someone because they wanted me to buy beer for a party that I wasn't actually invited to.
22. In college I was always drinking and partying. These days I rarely drink much at all. I think my body finally caught on to what's going on; now when I start drinking my body just sort of says "Hey! Cut that shit out!" before I can even get started.
23. My Dad's living will left me in charge of deciding when to pull the plug. He said he didn't want my Mom to have to worry about dealing with that. I didn't just have to make the decision though. They needed to shut off his internal defibrillator so that it wouldn't revive him. I know it was the right thing to do because there was no hope and it's what he wanted and the defib would have just shocked him constantly and given him extra pain and misery. But having to actively make phone calls and look through my dad's wallet to try to find out what model Defibrillator he had so they could destroy this lifesaving device made me feel like I had an active part in killing him.
24. I hate old black and white movies. I don't know why but I have yet to find a movie I enjoy that was made before the 80's. I used to tell my Mom that they gave me headaches, but the truth is I just didn't like them.
25. My high school had a dress code so I had to wear a suit and tie every day of the week. I've worn a suit and tie maybe ten times since then. I don't miss it.