I was tagged by Dan Myers to share 8 random things about myself — he also told me not to procrastinate and make it my next post. “Who, me?” I thought, but then I remembered that Jimi tagged me with the “5 things you don’t know about me” meme back in January and I never got around to it.
Here’s how this meme is supposed to work:
- Post these rules before you give your facts
- List 8 random facts about yourself
- At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them
- Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged.
I tried to follow Dan’s lead and draw facts from random dates using a random date generator, but I abandoned that method when I got too many dates from when I was four and could only remember footie pajamas and slot-car race tracks. Still, the dates were helpful in producing the following list.
Here are my eight:
1. I have an extra vertebra. The doctor told me that if everyone got an MRI we’d learn that all of us are abnormal. Or did he say “freaks”?
2. My first memory, probably a composite of two separate events, is watching a Reagan-Carter debate on television from the top of the basement steps just before my younger sister closed the door on me, causing me to tumble down the stairs. (You should probably weigh in on this, Mom and Dad.)
3. I was the Iowa City West High School homecoming king in 1994, in what can only be called a band nerd coup d’état. To top it off, the queen was a girl I had had a crush on from the first day of kindergarten all the way through junior high.
4. I used to borrow and then beat so many of my friend’s Nintendo games that he called me “the Wizard” after the 1989 Fred Savage commercial for Super Mario Brothers 3 movie.
5. I helped start a ska band in college called Runforyerlife (I played trombone). We played some classic Chicago joints like the Metro and the Fireside Bowl (each about three times, I recall), went on a two-week tour that gave me my first taste of New York City, Montreal, and D.C., and opened for bands including the Skatalites, Less Than Jake, and Spring Heeled Jack. We also recorded a CD for Jump Up! Records that sells for $1.25 on Amazon these days.
6. The most embarrassing moment in my life happened on Christmas day, 1998, in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem. I used my beginner’s Arabic to mistakenly ask a young storekeeper where I could buy some female genitalia.* To make matters worse, the term I used was what the dictionaries categorize as “vulgar slang.”
7. I try my best to avoid caffeine because it’s the most consistent trigger of my ocular migraines. Sorry, Dan. I’m a supporter of your site, but Monster scares me.
8. I once had the role of Kermit the Frog in an Easter Sunday play. It had nothing to do with plagues.
Here are the eight people I’m tagging:
Ezster, because it’s not a meme until she says it is.
Jeremy, for our Iowa connection.
Anomie, because we share the same birthday.
Styleygeek, because she always seems up for a good meme.
Karen, because she was in Jerusalem during my fateful shopping trip.
Laura, because she’s the sister that didn’t knock me down the stairs and she also seems to share Dan’s taste in music.
Kieran, for our shared Wallace 129 roots.
JT, because I haven’t seen many comments over there yet.
*UPDATE: I’ll send a free bootleg Runforyerlife CD to the first person who guesses what I was really looking for. If you know a few of the basic Arabic swears you should be good to go.
17 comments ↓
I had no idea about the extra vertebrae, although I do know you no longer have an appendix.
As for the “stair incident”….from where the tv was (living room) in relation to the top of the basement stairs (kitchen)…you couldn’t have been watching the tv from the top of the basement stairs. However, since the Reagan-Carter debate was October, 1980, and the accused sister “K” would have been almost 2 years old…your memory of what was occurring at the time could be pretty accurate.
**Note: Ask Jim WHY we think he was pushed down the stairs..!! Innocent victim or recipient of revenge?? Hmmmmm…..****
As for #6…what WERE you asking for???
i wish i had an extra vertebra. then i could say “that’s my procrastination bone!”
For the record, I have a copy of that CD. While I’ve discovered I’m not necessarily a huge fan of ska, I like pointing to your picture and saying to people, “That’s my cousin!”
@Laura: I should say that the vertebra isn’t a full-sized additional vertebra, but it is a separate bone.
Thanks for the details on the basement stairs incident. I know there’s been some kind of processing of this memory b/c I can’t think why a 3 year old would remember Reagan-Carter.
As for #6, I’d like to see if anyone out there can guess what I was shopping for (Karen, you’re excluded from this). I think if you know a little street Arabic you can figure it out.
@yli: Well, maybe you should get an MRI. Who knows?
@Mark: For the record, you’re in good company on not necessarily being a huge fan of ska. I think about half the band (4 people) didn’t care for it much and I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have listened to other ska bands in their free time.
Thanks! But I already did it back when it was 10 weird things
(here).
I had no idea people could be in bands that play music that isn’t their favorite!
C’mon, Mark, haven’t you ever been to a wedding?
Nice job Jim! I have a similar meshed memory of an interaction with a sibling and Nixon’s resignation that doesn’t exactly make sense. Strange how things get concatenated in your mind.
Thanks, Dan. I wonder if there’s some political component inherent to sibling rivalry?
Ha!
Hmm, just a guess, but I’m wondering if you’re still lookin’ for some couscous in all the wrong places (haha)
@yli: Well, maybe you should get an MRI. Who knows?
perhaps i should! but what if i found out i didn’t — then i’d really have no excuse… or perhaps i would start looking for my procrastination cowlick, etc…
You got it, Redpeace!
I’m going to upload a .zip file of our CD for you using yousendit.com - it’s completely up to you if you’d like to give it a listen.
I look forward to giving it a listen. Anything to give me a break from the pile of poli sci lit i’ve gotta get through.
If you’ve read political science, you know the suffering…your band can’t be that bad 
I kid, I kid!
By the way, I know Arabic, but that word wasn’t on the vocab list. You might find it interesting that I picked it up from Hebrew speakers while I was in Jerusalem
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