Thursday, June 21, 2007

Eight Random Things


Okay, it's the second-to-last day here at the charter school, and virtually no kids showed up, so I have time to catch up on my tags. Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein tagged me with the "Eight Random Things" meme. Here it is:

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. (You’re not the boss of me!)
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.


Okay, here goes:

1. I love the Beach Boys' music. Ya got a problem with that?

2. I have very, very bad handwriting. In First Grade, my teacher, Mrs. Griffith, was exasperated with it. Even as I got to fourth grade, I was being given penmanship books meant for younger kids, to no avail. I took to typing all my correspondance many, many years ago. Even I have trouble reading my writing.

My high school friend Lisa Fox suggested that I may be left-handed, and that nobody had figured it out at some point. She may have been correct, but by high school, it was to late to relearn writing.

3. I can recite the alphabet backwards. When I was about 10 or 11 years old, a friend told me that his mother, who was dyslexic, learned the alphabet backwards as part of therapy. I decided to see if I could do it. I did, and can do it to this day. This has not been a skill I thought would ever come to use, but about five years ago, it got me out of a lot of trouble and infuriated Charleston, Illinois' answer to Barney Fife. I will post about it soon.

4. I was at the last Replacements show on July 4, 1991, in Grant Park in downtown Chicago. So were nearly all my friends, along with something like 75,000 other Chicagoans.

I know-- I'm special.

5. I love anchovies. When I roomed with my old buddy Garrett when he moved back to the US from Europe, we used to order double anchovy pizzas. The pizza place always called back just to make sure it wasn't a prank.


6. I once saw a guy get his eye knocked out of the socket in a bar fight. I blogged about it here. It's one of the reason I avoid such unnecessary physical confrontations. Well, most of them.




7. I love broccoli. I eat it nearly every day of my life. Tomatoes, too. Usually with olive oil or hot sauce on them.

And it turns out that all of those things-- along with coffee, tea and red wine-- are among things I love that are turning out to be good for me.

Oh, and naps, too.

8. I inherited a tendency to look a lot younger than I am from my mother. Up until a couple of years ago, I was still getting carded to buy wine and beer. I'm 46 years old.

When I got a traffic ticket at the age of sixteen, I tried to do an end run around my parents-- I knew my father would get furious. I went to court and was told by the judge to bring a parent the next time. I told my mother, who also thought it would be a good idea to hide it from my father. When we went to court for the ticket, I got another tongue-wagging from the judge, who told me he'd told me to bring a parent, not my older sister. My mother, who was about 35 at that point, did look like she was about 25.

And yes, she's still getting mileage out of that story, thirty years later.

I tag anyone who wants to do the meme.

13 comments:

Pezda's Ghost said...

1. There's nothing wrong with a little fluff now and again.
2. I'm working on my sons writing skills currently. He likes to make up letters and claim they are actual letters.
3. That same son taught me my alphabet backwards when he was 2.5 years old. No, really.
5. Gah. Ack.
7. The world would be a better place if more people took naps.

kim said...

Nice to see you are over the lack of self-confidence, my darling sixteen year old husband. Good God!
Don't be bringin' anchovies near me, Mr. Yen.

Moderator said...

You know, come to think of it, I was at that Replacements show, too. But I had forgotten it until now.

The Elk said...

I'll bite (and Yes I do bite on occasion....)
http://misanthropicwapiti.blogspot.com/2007/06/eight-random-things.html

Alasdair said...

I got the same business from my first-grade teacher about penmanship. Her dark scheme was to have me write the alphabet 26 times on the board up to her idea of par, but I moved, so she didn't get the chance.

I'm allegedly right-handed, but I do a bunch of things left-handed (swing a bat or golf club, use chopsticks, that kind of thing). Every so often, I practice writing left-handed, you know, just in case. It is kind of fun...

Andi said...

Ahhh, the Beach Boys. I was in love with Mike Love (coincidence?) for a number of my younger years.

Anonymous said...

you're still in school? Shit, I've already gone TWICE to get my paperwork in order for my new district AND we had our kids' orientation to Princeton tonite!!

lulu said...

I was at that Replacements show too.

BeckEye said...

I don't have a problem with your love of the Beach Boys, but your love of anchovies is disturbing.

Barbara Bruederlin said...

Hmm, I'll be Beckeye's alter-ego, in that I have no problem with your love of anchovies, but find your love of the Beach Boys disturbing.

Johnny Yen said...

Pezda-
I'm a firm believer in naps. They make life much better.

Kim-
No problem. That'll leave more for me...

Grant-
It was weird-- not only was everybody I know there, but I ran into them in that huge crowd. It was a really fun day.

Elk-
Yes, you do bite-- Mike Kauchek knows all too well.

Alasdair-
I noticed a few years ago that I tend to hold coffee cups, etc. with my left hand.

You probably already know this, that the scientific term for left-handedness is "sinister" (I learned this in Organic Chemistry in high school). Teachers in parochial schools used to force left-handed students to write right-handed-- left-handedness was thought to be a sign of the devil.

Andi-
It was funny-- they were all good-looking guys-- except for Brian Wilson, the guy who wrote all the songs.

Big Orange-
Yeah, we started late-- long story-- the school was originally supposed to close last year. I'll be done in a few hours-- for two weeks, then four weeks of summer school.

Lulu-
Wasn't it weird-- I remember watching the band hand their instruments to the 'xrt people and walk off without explanation.

I did manage to see them one other time-- at the Metro in '85 or '86. They were great.

Bob Stinson tried to pick up one of my old girlfriends at Batteries Not Included, one of the clubs I'll be posting about in my "clubs that are gone" post. He was a sad guy-- I mean, how do you get kicked out of The Replacements for being a drunk? What, being an even worse drunk than the rest of them?

Beckeye-
Ah, they're definitely an acquired taste, aren't they? I also like sardines and pickled herring. I must have a Scandanavian ancestor hidden in my lineage.

Barbara-
But I like the Ramones too-- doesn't that make up for it?

GETkristiLOVE said...

I saw the Replacements at Red Rocks.

I just wanted to rub in the fact that I go to concerts at Red Rocks.

Doc said...

My Dad and I used to split a can of sardines in mustard sauce. Are sardines and anchovies the same thing? The concept of a nap or siesta built into the workday is one of the most civilized things I've ever heard of. Well that and putting gravy on french fries. I like the Beach Boys. I love broccoli and I am much older than I look. I'll be thirty-six this year and I still get carded for smokes.

Doc