Friday, January 16, 2009

I was challenged by Kris Johnson to provide you with sixteen random tidbits about myself. I had to do it quickly in the short span of time permitted by my schedule, so this is what you get:

  1. When I went off to university, I was convinced that I didn't want to study for a career in computers, because I didn't want to ruin my hobby.
  2. I dropped out after a year, having run out of funding. I thought it was unwise to bury myself in debt without any real conviction about what I should attempt to learn. The irony is that I've paid enough in credit card interest during my adult life to have paid off student loans.
  3. In 1995, I was involved in two automobile accidents and received one absurd traffic citation in the span of four months. The resulting insurance premiums (for three years) were higher than either of my car payments at the time.
  4. I never fought back, having been teased and bullied as a child. I had foolishly bought into the "turn the other cheek" nonsense I'd learned. Instead, I punched a massive partition dividing our junior high school gym during class one day rather than the child who was teasing me, knocking it off its track. That event seems to have been a turning point; after that I was mostly left alone.
  5. I have never so much as tried a cigarette, but I will have a very occasional cigar.
  6. I get absolutely freaked the hell out when I encounter a person taller than myself. At six-foot-five, it's a rare occurrence, though.
  7. Despite my knowledge of the odds and any jokes about it being a tax on people who are bad at math, I play the big jackpot lottery a few times a month. I'm acutely aware that the odds of winning are vanishingly small, but they're the best chance I've got at doing many of the things I want to do in this life. I refuse to be enough of a dick to get rich the old-fashioned way.
  8. I have made great strides, but I still conduct myself as a very poor loser in tests of skill. I do not mean to do so; I'm genuinely pleased for the player or team who beat me. It's never the losing that bothers me, it's the performing below my personal standards that does. I seem to be unusually inconsistent at most things.
  9. I do not make New Year's resolutions, but I am trying to tackle my weight again in 2009. I lost 55 pounds in 2005, but gained it all back in 2007 having reverted to old, bad habits during my convalescence from rupturing my achilles tendon.
  10. I am a Formula One racing fan. I consider myself primarily a Ferrari fan because Enzo used to sell road cars in order to finance his racing team, rather than racing to sell cars like most of his competitors. This is, sadly, not still true, but you've gotta respect the tradition. They do make it hard to support them, though, sometimes conducting themselves in an unsportsmanlike manner.
  11. Despite my size, I prefer small cars. I don't need a machine to do big and strong. I need one to do quick and nimble.
  12. I really need to learn to say, "No," more often.
  13. I am making myself late working on this. This will not ensure domestic tranquility.
  14. I'm thirty-seven years old and I still essentially live paycheck-to-paycheck. It's astonishing how well my expenses have always managed to grow to fit my salary.
  15. I have a phobia of scorpions. I assume this is due to Clash of the Titans, since I've never encountered one in the wild.
  16. I don't seem to have "favorite" things any more. I can no longer point to a favorite band, song, color, or food. I don't know if this makes me strange, noncommittal, or if it's just part of getting older.

Whew, it's done.

I'm going to leave off the tagging portion. It may be bad form, but I literally don't know anyone well enough that KJ hasn't already tagged.

Comment by Kris Johnson
1-18-2009

I don't recall including a time restraint when I tagged you, but it was wholly unnecessary that you delay your departure from work to complete this list.

That said...mu-hahahahahahahahaha!

Comment by blob
1-19-2009

@Kris While you did not make an explicit time restraint, my own nature created an implicit one. It was either do it then and there, or forget or get busy with something else and never have it done.

Comment by Bunny
1-24-2009

Scorpions freak me out too! No clue why, but that's the first thing I thought of when we went geocaching and disc golfing in Texas.

Oh, and I need to learn to say "No" more often too.

Good post! :)

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