Monday, May 12, 2008 | by nathan

Things You Can Bring Up In Conversation, Should Ever We Meet

Helena has tagged me. I’d like to be all cool and say that I hate memes - and really, I do, the idea of them. But dammit, they’re fun and Helena’s so cool that I was kinda giddy to be tagged by her.

Helena herself posted, before tagging me, about the strange and often-irritating nature of memes, and chain letters, and the superstitions surrounding them that are completely ridiculous. So while I’m not worried that my junk will turn black and fall off, I am in the midst of a major allergy attack and my energy is limited to pretty much the amount it takes to type and to answer questions. So, in the spirit of pooping on superstition, I give you THIRTEEN (THIRTEEN!) random facts about me:

1. Sometimes at the gym, when I’m done working out and my shirt is all sweaty, I find it really hard to get my shirt up over my head because it’s constantly sticking to me. This wouldn’t be so bad except my head inevitably gets caught in there, I start to feel claustrophobic, and panicky. If you catch me on a really bad day you’ll see me jumping around the locker room, my shirt at some weird angle up over my head, my trapped arms flailing about, crying, "Get it off! Get it off!" But not usually.

2. (A follow-up to Helena’s fact about cereal). My favorite cereal is and always has been Rice Krispies, though I realize as I write that that I haven’t had Rice Krispies in probably over a decade. My favorite way to eat them is with a banana cut up in the bowl, though when I was a kid I thought of this as something reserved for special occasions, and so the only time I ever had them that way was when we’d go stay with my grandparents.

3. On July 15 of this year I’ll be exactly the same age my mom was when she had me.

4. I have the phone number of the Public Information Office of the U.S. Supreme Court on a post-it on my computer at work.

5. Like many people, I have very little desire to have children if I can’t be a stay-at-home dad.

6. Riffing on the children theme for a minute - if I ever do have children, I’m going to be THAT parent: it’s highly likely we won’t have cable in our house, though we will watch a fair bit of PBS and The Simpsons, and we’ll do lots of crafts.

7. My phone number doesn’t spell ANYTHING, according to phonespell.org.

8. I can sing the entire Animaniacs "Nations of the World" song right off the top of my head, though I tend to slow way down when I get into Africa toward the end; I always have to think about it:

9. I like Hootie and the Blowfish, and I absolutely DO NOT care who knows that.

10. This morning on the way in to work I was thinking about who I was going to invite to our Christmas party this year.

11. When I was in the 4th grade we all had to write letters to President Bush. I was the only one in the entire school who got a response - some stupid form letter and a book with pictures of Barbara Bush in various rooms in the White House. The other kids treated me like a rock star, but I thought the whole thing was incredibly dumb.

12. The older I get, the more it becomes apparent to me that I have mild dyslexia.

13. I don’t think 13 - or any number - is unlucky.

14. But just in case.

Okay, who do I want to tag? How about these people:

and Whoorl.

Whew!

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