Yes, several of you have tagged me with the Facebook viral activity du jour, where you’re supposed to list 25 things (or goals or whatever) about you. No, I am not going to go digging through my friends list and tag them, because they’ve all already been tagged. But I’ll write this in my blog because it automatically gets posted on Facebook and, hey, I’m lazy.
(BTW, for those of you reading this on Facebook, my blog is at http://hokum.randylilleston.com .)
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1. I could read before I went to kindergarten because my sisters taught me.
2. I’m a pathetic classic animation geek, although my knowledge of all things Tex Avery and Carl Stalling has faded in recent years.
3. I’m an electronics gearhead. This is what got me into computers, classic tube guitar amps and machines that go ‘ping.’ I like to tear them apart and put them back together. I build all of my own computers from parts.
4. I am mildly color blind and generally don’t wear anything in shades of green or purple because I can’t always tell the color.
5. I’m *not* a mechanical gearhead. A car is mostly just a mode of transportation to me. Sure, I can change the fluids and plugs and maybe yank out an alternator or starter, but in my home town, even some of the lawyers know how to do a brake job.
6. I listened almost exclusively to Top 40 music until I was 24. I’ve almost never listened to it since then.
7. I once was a voracious book reader. Now, I only read a handful of books a year and I’m worse off for it.
8. I’d never been more than 500 miles away from my home until I was 20; I never got on an airplane until I was 25; by the time I was 33, I definitely had made up for lost time on both fronts.
9. My grandfather on my dad’s side was a gambler and general ne’er-do-well, and he taught me to play poker when I was 4.
10. I have been online since 1983. Really.
11. I was a fairly picky eater as a kid, but now I’ll shove pretty much anything in my face.
12. My first memory is of driving my tricycle off the wall in front of our house at age 3 and breaking my nose. It’s still crooked.
13. I’m a beer geek and was a homebrewer for years until we moved into our current house, which lacks space for a brewery. I know the difference between a real hefeweisen and an American wheat beer; I love IPAs; I’m also a sucker for English ales.
14. The only U.S. states I have not visited are Montana, North Dakota and Alaska.
15. I moved away from Memphis 18 years ago and still miss it.
16. I am a craps and blackjack fiend but I think Atlantic City is one of the saddest places in America.
17. For several years in my 20s, I ran about 20 miles a week.
18. I also was a gym rat as a young man and once was a deadly jump shooter. Every once in a while I’ll still get out a basketball and heave up some bricks to the embarrassment of all.
19. I have a small collection of wind-up toys. My wife and I put out wind-up toys at our wedding as party favors for the guests.
20. I think that if you’re good at something. you don’t have to brag about it.
21. Regrets? I’ve had a few. Most have involved women.
22. I’m definitely an introvert — I’m a clear INTJ on the Myers-Briggs personality assessment, which is a result assigned to only 1 percent of the population — but I’m completely relaxed about singing in front of people.
23. I’m a sucker for county and state fairs, and roadside carnivals.
24. I’ve met and/or interviewed four presidents but was much more nervous about meeting Ray Charles.
25. I’m from a family of seven kids, and most of them are smarter than me, but I’m more stubborn.
