I got tagged by my friend Melanie on Facebook with the 25 Things meme. I’m posting it here too because, well, dammit, I like my blog more.
For those who may not know, the meme rules state you should write 25 random things about yourself and then tag 25 people. I won’t tag anyone here. Just the 25 things…
1. The only time my parents let one of us (kids) name a family pet was when I named the canary Thomas. I recently asked my mom why we all lost naming privileges after that, and she told me it was because the bird’s full name was Saint Thomas Episcopal Church. We changed his name to Thomasina when he laid an egg.
2. I write a lot more poetry than anything else and I share very little of it. I’m going to change that this year.
3. My favorite place in the world is the high desert country of northern Arizona and New Mexico. The landscapes, the ruins, the mountains, rock, the cacti all just speak to me.
4. The longest I ever worked for one organization is six years. That was my old school district. I quit to go work for The Man in 2005. I took some tests did some career counseling only to learn that I am best suited to being a writer or a teacher. Go figure. I went back to teaching after 6 months.
5. I listen to the Grateful Dead more than anything else. I even drove from Austin to DC to see them at RFK Stadium because I was certain Jerry was going to die. He died two months later. They closed with “Black Muddy River.” It was beautiful.
6. I can spend hours happily playing feedback and noise on my electric guitar, peeling the paint from the walls and creating howling storms of noise, drone and dissonance. It’s good that I enjoy this so well since I can barely play what the humans refer to as music.
7. I grew up on Winnie-the-Pooh. He was my hero, inspiration and friend. I still have my Pooh-bear, living safely on a shelf in my closet where I see him every day (and where the dogs can’t see him).
8. Chile rellenos, mole enchiladas, Kim Phung’s tofu-lemongrass-vermicelli, waffles, cupcakes, and very hoppy ales could be my basic diet. I wouldn’t live long, but it would be a short happy life.
9. I much prefer the journey. That’s one reason I really don’t like flying. You get cheated out of the journey. Give me long highways in the middle of the desert or twisty roads through the mountains every time.
10. My first concert was Verbal Assault, Fugazi (on their first tour), Operation Ivy and G.O.D. (Guaranteed Overnight Delivery) at The Rocket in Providence, Rhode Island. I think my ears are still ringing.
11. Despite having gone to film school twice and worked on film sets for 4 years, I really don’t like movies that much. They’re okay, but very low on my list of priorities, interests and things to do.
12. I couldn’t care less about celebrities. I don’t even know who they are.
13. My favorite books are Don Quixote, One Hundred Years of Solitude, VALIS, Blue Highways, Lord of the Rings, The Sibley Guide to Birds, and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
14. I never yell. Rachel says she’s never heard me yell in 14 years. The only time I can remember yelling (as an adult) is the time I yelled at my students during my first year of teaching. It’s the most unprofessional thing I’ve ever done.
15. I tend to obsess over things including things I enjoy doing. I have to keep that in mind and make an effort not to obsess. The things I obsess over never last. This is why I am very hesitant to set goals related to things I enjoy.
16. I love cycling. I do it more for meditation than exercise, but I love a good 20 miles or so to just clear things out. I’ve done 2 MS 150s and they were both enlightening. Sometimes I like to try to see how many bird species I can ID without stopping. 20 in 20 miles is my record. I don’t do this often. See #15.
17. I woke up in an emergency room in Colorado once. My friends who were there tell me I had been skiing. I suppose I believe them because I don’t know how else I could have gotten there.
18. Many years ago, I was on a train between Chicago and Austin. Watching the industrial wastelands of the Midwest roll by, I wanted to capture it somehow. I couldn’t afford film so I started writing. I never stopped.
19. Our cat, Simon, has decided he is my cat. I’ve never had a cat choose me before. I feel a little bad about this since Rachel is the one who found him.
20. Two of my teeth are perfectly reversed. First molar and incisor on the left side. I bite my lip a lot because of the this. Whenever I see a new dental tech, they always comment and one even took a picture once. I doubt this mutation will get me a spot with the X-Men, but my application hasn’t been denied yet.
21. I typically have to see something to believe it. This makes religion complicated. Doubting Thomas was always my favorite saint.
22. I’ve read The Bible, Tao te Ching, Bhagavad Gita and a bunch of others. There is wisdom to be found in all of them.
23. I pretty much hated vegetables until shortly after marrying Rachel. Now, I eat a mostly vegetarian diet. I really don’t like eating meat that much anymore, and when I do, I refuse to throw any of it away.
24. I knocked my front teeth out as a young kid and so had no front teeth for many years. This made corn on the cob a drag and so I hated corn until I was a married adult. See #24.
25. I love spicy foods. I can even eat raw habaneros. It’s not that it isn’t painful; it’s that I like the pain.
Bonus:
26. I am liberal because of my upbringing. I grew up in the socialist utopia that is overseas military bases; I grew up in churches that focused on the lessons of the Sermon on the Mount rather than the nonsense in Leviticus about homosexuals, witches and shellfish; and I was in Boy Scouts most of my life which taught me to respect and want to preserve the natural world and keep it wild.
27. The smartest thing I ever did was ask Rachel to marry me.
So. That’s that. I’m not tagging anyone in the blogsphere, but feel free to play along if you like.
Way back in May, when the world was cool and the grass was green, Heather tagged me. At long last, I respond.
Here are the rules:
A) The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
B) Each player answers the questions about himself or herself.
C) At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
1) Ten years ago I was…
Just married, getting used to being a homeowner, trying to decide where to hang my newly acquired master’s degree, running a mailroom in downtown Austin, and starting on the first draft of A Place Without a Postcard, which <shameless plug> you should purchase if you haven’t </shameless plug>.
2) Five things on today’s to-do list:
I actually had one for today: pick up replacement ipod at the Apple store, get passports out of safe deposit box, drop off old light fixtures at Habitat for Humanity Re-Store, get mealworms for the wrens and titmice, get a new journal at Book People.
3) Things I’d do if I were a billionaire:
Purchase an island in the south Pacific and build a network of research stations to better understand and harness its unusual magnetic properties.
4) Three bad habits:
Candy, cookies, cake.
5) Five places I’ve lived:
Portsmouth, Rhode Island; Springfield, Virginia; Subic Bay, The Philippines; Naples, Italy, Austin, Texas
6) Six jobs I’ve had in my life:
Teacher, Project Manager, Mailroom Supervisor, Migrant Film Worker, Pizza Cook, Busboy.
I tag nobody specific, but feel free to use this meme if you’re reading it and feeling like listing.
I’m off to London. I’ll put up pictures when I return.
I found this great little writing exercise on Danigirl’s blog. It seems to originate as a professional development project based on George Ella Lyon’s work. I thought it made for a cool post, but the next day one of my fellow teachers suddenly started talking about the heretofore unknown (to me) poet Lyon at an in-service meeting. Well, thought I, that’s some synchronicity for me.
Anyway, It seemed like a cool project to do with my kids, and being the good teacher that I am (and also the kind of person who enjoys these kinds of writing exercises) I figured I should test drive it first…
Where I’m From, an exercise in identity…
I am from maps, from National Geographic and surplus bombing charts of Vietnam used as tarps below our tents.
I am from green soccer fields, orange slices sucked through teeth at halftime and 2..4..6..8…who do we appreciate.
I am from the lonely buoy bell clanging in the bay on open-window summer nights. I am from old forests with forgotten headstones hidden in the undergrowth.
I am from the Smithsonian, concrete bunkers overgrown by jungle, that old monastery on the hill. From birdless gray Octobers and the golden light of northern summer, a fox curled up on the lawn.
I am from the scrub oak, juniper and palms, summer tomato plants and morning glory growing thick on a wire fence. I am from bluebonnets and prickly pear embedded in my palm.
I am from tacos and tamales on Christmas Eve. From Trivial Pursuit and gentleness, from Brushes, Griffins, Tomlinsons and Trouts. From the parrot we birdsat, who never learned to talk, but in our house, learned to laugh.
I am from meals with talk instead of TV, from books and magazines and a telescope pointed at Saturn’s rings.
From books are our friends and may the force be with you.
I am from the King James Bible, New England churches surrounded by three hundred year old graves. From Doubting Thomas and endless questions.
I’m from the cold Narragansett, “King” Arthur’s Illinois basketball court, both sides of the Revolution, and the Valley of the Sun, from home-baked cookies kept in the freezer, tortillas in the ‘fridge.
From Grace who said nothing of her past, from Dorothy who told everything, from Jim whose cursing made me laugh (my parents cringed) and Cecil whose tales I never got to hear.
I am from cluttered closet time capsules, vinyl photo albums, instamatic shots and slide shows of the sea, from treasure boxes and neat ordered files of school projects, drawings, homemade cards.
I am from the Colonial coast, the edge of jungle, the ring of fire, the ruins of Rome, the settled Comanche hills I now call home.
* * *
As a side project, I followed the links from Danigirl back along the trail of meme to see where it began, all the while enjoying the various takes along the way. It goes: Daysgoby to Spanglish to Lolabola to a staff development website.
Here’s the page that explains how to put it together. Give it a whirl.
George has memed me.
The Rules:
- I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
- Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
- People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
- 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!)
- Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
The Eight Facts:
- Five years ago, I painted the entire interior of our old house (including trim) and even hung crown moulding. I’m painting the interior of the new house now. It hurts more this time.
- I’m 113 pages into my next novel. It’s been called Right of Way and also A Short Time to Be There. I plan to have it finished by early July. It feels about a third of the way done.
- I was born in Newport, Rhode Island. I did my first three years of high school there. Despite that, I really don’t care much for lobster. Of course, I don’t like cockroaches either. But I do like crabs despite the fact that I don’t like spiders. Go figure.
- I’m not psychic, but one night in May 1995, I was listening to a Dead Hour and I knew Jerry Garcia wasn’t going to be around much longer. I convinced my girlfriend (now my wife) and two friends (who chickened out) to drive from Austin to Washington, DC to see the Dead at RFK Stadium that June. We went. It was awesome. Jerry died two months later.
- I have a bachelor’s degree in film production and an MA in screenwriting. Despite that, I rarely watch movies anymore. Maybe it’s because for the life of me I can’t figure out why anyone still makes movies now that Lord of the Rings has been made. Perfection was achieved. Let’s move on.
- The first rock concert I ever saw was a Cheap Trick show in Naples, Italy. I had no idea who they were, and I still don’t.
- For the past three weeks U2′s Unforgettable Fire has been in my car. I’ve had it for years, I’ve always liked it, but for some reason all of a sudden, it’s all I want to listen to. Over and over again. I’ll do that until it gets old again.
- My favorite snack is a tortilla with cheese melted on it (in the microwave) with some Vietnamese Túóng Ót Sriracha sauce (red sauce with a rooster on the bottle) slathered all over it. Side of peanuts and a glass of cold water.
The Eight Victims:
- Heather
- Jessica
- Iowa Greyhound
- Ironicus
- Panthergirl
- Mark
- Danigirl
- Anyone who reads this post
Nyah-nyah-nayh
It’s high time I caught up with this little homework assignment George left me last week. It is the biggest meme I’ve ever seen…
FOODOLOGY
Q. What is your salad dressing of choice?
A. Olive oil and vinegar
Q. What is your favorite fast food restaurant?
A. Thundercloud
Q. What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
A. Right now? Fonda San Miguel
Q. On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant?
A. 20%, 21%, whatever it takes
Q. What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick off of?
A. Bread. I would make a model prisoner since bread and water are two of my favorite things
Q. What is your favorite type of gum?
A. I was required to renounce all gum when I became a teacher
TECHNOLOGY
Q. What is your wallpaper on your computer?
A. At home: this
At work, this view from our hotel last summer:
Q. How many televisions are in your house?
A. Two
BIOLOGY
Q. What’s your best feature?
A. I never directed a feature, only a few shorts.
Q. Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
A. Wisdom teeth and some front teeth when I was a kid
Q. Which of your five senses do you think is keenest?
A. Maybe I have a sixth sense that’s good for something
Q. When was the last time you had a cavity?
A. A few years ago
Q. What is the heaviest item you lifted last?
A. Forty pounds of toxic dog food
Q. Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
A. Yes. I’m told I went skiing in Colorado in 1991. There is, however, no proof of this.
BULLSHITOLOGY
Q. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
A. Only if I could do something about it
Q. Is love for real?
A. Yes. Can I get a witness over here?
Q. If you could change your first name, what would you change it to?
A. Heironymous or Wolfgang, I go back and forth
Q. What color do you think looks best on you?
A. Blue
Q. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake?
A. By mistake, no. In fact, I swallowed an ibuprofen just this morning
Q. Have you ever saved someone’s life?
A. I’m told I have.
Q. Has someone ever saved yours?
A. I don’t know.
DAREOLOGY
Q. Would you walk naked for a half mile down a public street for $100,000?
A. Perhaps out in the country
Q. Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100?
A. Prostitution isn’t my thing
Q. Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000?
A. No
Q. Would you never blog again for $50,000?
A. No, but someday I might never blog again for free
Q. Would you pose nude in a magazine for $250,000?
A. No.
Q. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1,000?
A. Hell, I might do that just for the bottle of hot sauce
Q. Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000?
A. Never
Q. Would you give up watching television for a year for $25,000?
A. Can I download episodes of Lost and watch them on an iPod?
Q. Give up MySpace forever for $30,000?
A. Yup
DUMBOLOGY
Q: What is in your left pocket?
A. iPod, memory stick, chapstick, contact lens solution
Q: Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie?
A. I liked it.
Q: Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house?
A. No
Q: Do you sit or stand in the shower?
A. Stand
Q: Could you live with roommates?
A. Not anymore
Q: How many pairs of flip-flops do you own?
A. None since I blew out the last pair, stepped on a pop top, and had to cruise on back home…
Q: Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
A. I run into them all the time at work
Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A. This
LASTOLOGY
Q: Friend you talked to?
A. One of the other teachers at school
Q: Last person you called?
A. The vet
RANDOMOLOGY
Q: First place you went this morning?
A. The vet
Q: What can you not wait to do?
A. Finish my next novel
Q: What’s the last movie you saw?
A. Clue
Q: Are you a friendly person?
A. I try
Now that this towering meme is finished I tag (with humble apologies masking mischievous glee) my wife, Chris, and Danigirl.
Update: Keeping the meme alive – Danigirl and Chris.
I’ve never attempted a thematic playlist on iTunes, but today I wondered what the history of the world would sound like coming from my iPod. What emerged is actually kind of a cool playlist. Here it is…
“Circa 1762″ – Pavement
“1916″ – Nucleus
“1916 (Battle of Boogaloo)” – Nucleus
“Easter 1916″ – Nucleus
“Paris 1919″ – John Cale & Alejandro Escovedo
“Cadillac 1959″ – Bill Frisell
“1962″ – Michael Fracasso with Patty Griffin
“1963″ – New Order
“’64 Aka Go” – Lemonjelly
“1968″ – Bill Frisell
“Winter ’68″ – The Black Angels
“Summer ’68″ – Pink Floyd
“’68 Aka Only Time” – Lemonjelly
“Death Valley ’69″ – Sonic Youth
“October 1970″ – Mushroom
“1972 Bronze Medalist” – The Bad Plus
“’75 Aka Stay With You” – Lemonjelly
“’76 Aka The Slow Train” – Lemonjelly
“1979″ – Smashing Pumpkins
“1979 Semi-Finalist” – The Bad Plus
“’79 Aka The Shouty Track” – Lemonjelly
“1983…(A Merman I Should Turn To Be)” – The Jimi Hendrix Experience
“The World in 1984″ – Shearwater
“’88 Aka Come Down On Me” – Lemonjelly
“’90 Aka A Man Like Me” – Lemonjelly
“The Summer of ’91″ – …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
“Food Gathering In Post-Industrial America, 1992″ – Frank Zappa
“’93 Aka Don’t Stop Me Now” – Lemonjelly
“’95 Aka Make Things Right” – Lemonjelly
“Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997″ – Beck
“2001 Spliff Odyssey” – Thievery Corporation
Maybe it’s time for school to start again?
Anyways, feel free to steal this meme-like. I won’t tag anyone, though.
by James Brush on September 20th, 2006 | 5 Comments
George at I’m Not One to Blog, But… has tagged me with the fresh meme he busted: Songs that make you cry.
I have a hard time trying to determine if a song has ever made me cry. Using bloggetic license, however, I am replacing ‘cry’ with ‘so moving they inspire a sudden bought of quiet and thoughtful contemplation’ (but not like the guy who had to stop everything for “Desperado” on that episode of Seinfeld).
Here we go…
“This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)” by Talking Heads
I said this in the comments on George’s blog: “‘This Must Be the Place’ would probably be the first and maybe only one on that list. It was our song at our wedding. It just makes me stop when I hear it. Actually ‘it hits me on the head, ahh ohhhh…..’”
But then I remembered that the wedding DJ lost that track so it wasn’t played, still my wife and I consider it our song anyway. It has an innocent simplicity to it that captures the magic of falling in love better than any song I’ve ever heard.
When I first heard it on Speaking in Tongues, I wondered if falling in love was really like that and I hoped that it would be.
Home – is where i want to be
But i guess i’m already there
I come home – - she lifted up her wings
Guess that this must be the place
I know now that it is, which makes me love this song all the more. (I even used it as the title for a post once because it so perfectly captured the depth of feeling about the subject).
“Hard Times in Babylon” by Eliza Gilkyson
This meditation on the loss of a dear friend is heartwrenching. “Gotta hang together when the air’s too thin / Pass out the masks for the oxygen.” Indeed.
“Psalm” by John Coltrane
I could pick any track off Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, but this one is so understated, so quiet, and yet the perfectly chosen notes flowing from his saxophone speak so eloquently of yearning, anguish, heartbreak, hardwon wisdom and hope. It’s all there.
Coltrane wrote a prayer and then blew it into his saxophone.
“City of New Orleans” by Willie Nelson
I remember hearing “City of New Orleans” a lot when I was a kid. It made me think of wide open possibilities and yet there’s something dark there too. Something closed off and lost in those “freight yards full of old black men and the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.”
I know Willie didn’t write it, but it’s his version that moves me. He played it at ACL Fest on Saturday and it was like everything stopped happening around me for just the duration of that song.
“Nightswimming” by R.E.M.
This sends chills down my spine:
The photograph on the dashboard, taken years ago,
Turned around backwards so the windshield shows.
Every streetlight reveals the picture in reverse.
Still, its so much clearer.
Looking back at those reckless good times of youth and knowing that you can’t (and shouldn’t) go there again because you can’t be young again, because everything changes is captured beautifully in this song. You miss those times, those people as they were then, but it’s all memories, all gone forever. “Nightswimming” nails that melancholy feeling perfectly.
So There you have it.
I now tag Chris of Lenwood, Heather In all of Her Strangeness, Fred in the marbled halls of Ironicus Maximus (even though his blog doesn’t really cater to this kind of thing), and Jessica at 4 zillion. No pressure, folks. Except that George promised to “throw a hysterical bawling fit” if the meme dies.
by James Brush on February 21st, 2006 | 4 Comments
I’ve been tagged. Lenwood has tagged me with the popular Four Things tag. I’ve never done a meme or tag post before, so I figured why not?
Jobs (teachers do)
- Animal tamer
- Police officer
- Bureaucratic functionary
- Judge
Movies (I worked on)
TV Shows (I worked on)
Lived
Vacations
Web Sites
- Attics
- Old piles of wood
- Gardens
- Basements
Food
- Green chiles
- Red chiles
- Chipolte chiles
- Habanero chiles
Rather Be
- Aquaman
- Batman
- Spiderman
- Green Lantern
Tagging (Since Gypsy Scholar has already tagged everybody in the whole world, I must look beyond…)
