25 Things

I was tagged by Mer over on Facebook, and I figured I'd post the list here as well. So without much fanfare, here's twenty-five random things about me.

1) I'm left handed, just like the President, but I have a clear memory of my Grandmother telling my Mom she should break my left hand so I would become right handed.

2) Speaking of the President, I see by an ad to the right (on facebook) that his IQ is 130 (I think I'd want to see some proof of that, because it appears higher to me). And here I was hoping for a President with an IQ higher than mine (let's just say Mensa membership isn't a problem, but I need another time obligation like I need a... a... wait, I have a simile...)

3) At Confusion there was a table discussion about how we are like we were in high school. I didn't participate because I'm very not like how I was in high school. There's been too many epiphanies (some of them very hard ones to deal with) since then.

4) I sometimes feel so incredibly happy with all the cool friends I have that I'm speechless (no, this isn't a suck-up either, if you catch me smiling like an idiot while hanging around with friends it's a 50/50 as to if I've just cracked a mental joke with myself or I'm reveling in this feeling).

5) I sometimes have delusions of grandeur about my writing. These last just long enough until I reread something I wrote a year ago and remember I felt the same way about that piece of crap.

6) I used to play guitar. I still have my classical and hollow-body electric although I don't play them hardly at all. I've forgotten more songs than I remember. I'd like to take lessons again, but only with an instructor who can teach me how to play like Stevie Ray Vaughn or Leo Kottke.

7) I over think purchases more than $20 (except for necessary items like groceries). The more expensive the item the more research I do on it. When I purchased my last car I had a stack of papers about an inch thick (before the brochures). With the water tank it was at least a half inch.

8) I love weather. I once stood beneath a funnel cloud looking into the middle of the swirl (the funnel wasn't on the ground, obviously). It's still one of my favorite memories.

9) I miss living by the ocean (grew up in Jersey). There's a small part of me that feels its swell and call.

10) I wish I was more adventurous. I mean I do things that take me out of my comfort zone, but I'm not one to sell everything and move to the South of France. Sometimes I wish I was that way,

11) Inside, secretly, I'm still 18 years old. No, really, I had gray hair back then too (not as much). But sometimes when I look in the mirror I wonder who this old guy is staring back at me.

12) I have arguments with myself. Okay, well, I have them with other people who just don't happen to be with me at the time (and with good reason).

13) I wish I could listen to more current music. And it kills me a little to know that the music I went dancing to is now "classic rock." It was new then.

14) I really wish I had taken fencing in college instead of archery which was an easy A.

15) I know how to dance the hustle (and the macarena).

16) I once defended playing the lottery as an investment strategy using all those good business terms I learned working in management consulting (started off with "low entry, extremely high risk, ultra high yield"). And yes, it impressed the guy who was spouting about how the lottery was just a tax on people who didn't understand statistics. Then I made fun of two investments he made and how he had lost more than I had played on the lottery since coming to my new job (this was for an office pool). Yeah, don't piss on my parade if you don't want me using all those IQ points against you.

17) I've been so close to death so many times it doesn't bother me anymore (although I don't do stupid things). I once passed out from dehydration and my last though as my muscles went rigid and I lost control of everything was, "Huhn, so this is what it's like."

18) Music can make me cry.

19) The best food in the world is Wendy's fries, dead, after 3am, dipped in dead chilli. (dead meaning past the time we can sell it).

20) Speaking of Wendy's (my first paycheck job when I was 16). Best. Interview. Evar! Summer of my freshman year in college I interviewed for a summer job (the old store I was working at didn't have an opening) at a new Wendy's (would open in July). The store manager was someone whom I worked with at the old place. There were 300 applications for grillman (it was another recession). When I walked in, Greg, the store manager, looked up and then looked at the other two managers doing the interviews and said, "We have our dayshift grillman." The only question was when I could start. then we spend 15 minutes (interview time) catching up.

21) I don't really understand much of the SPAM headlines I get. The Russian viagra ones for instance. Some of them seem, I don't know, painful. I don't know about you, but I don't want sex like that.

22) Slasher movies don't affect me. They're actually boring and predictable. I sometimes wonder what that says about me.

23) I once interviewed to be a designer at Victoria Secrets (the Limited in Columbus, Ohio). You'll never look at fashion the same way after an experience like that (didn't get the job, BTW).

24) My taste in wine is greater than my budget. I once had hundred year old port (as a "make good" at a partner event). Amazing. Also had some very good Pinot Noir ($60+ bottles - family friend with more money than I'll ever see). Delicious. Can't afford either (the port went for $200 a very small glass).

25) I yell at the TV. Especially if I've turned it to Fox News for some reason.