Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Tagged!

Fellow blogger Doug from "I Get That A Lot" (find his blog on the left) 'tagged' me with the challenge to complete this meme. For the record, a meme is a cultural unit (an idea or value or pattern of behavior) that is passed from one person to another by non-genetic means (as by imitation). You could say that memes are the cultural counterpart of genes. Okay, I looked it up in the dictionary; I'm not really that smart.

So, here we go...

The 10 Things Meme
1. When you were born, how much did you weigh?

9 pounds 8 ounces. Yeah, you read it right, I was quite a bruiser; a Fatty Boombalatty if you will. I imagine my mother screamed like crazy trying to push me out. She'd never say that though, as she's much too proper.

2. What's your sugar poison?
I'd like to submit two answers, Alex. During my youth and early 20s Twinkies were my sugar poison. I ate one nearly every day, and occasionally had more than one in a day. But as I got older and my tastes refined, I came to appreciate the spongy sweetness of Circus Peanuts. (Be sure to squeeze them in the package to make sure they're fresh before you buy them.) Sugar? Oh you betcha! Poison? Um, probably. What ARE those things made of, anyway?

3. If you had to choose between meat and cheese for the rest of your life, which would you choose? Then be specific.
This is easy. Cheese. I love cheese. I also enjoy meat, but not to the extent that I enjoy cheese. If asked to give up meat for some medical reason, I could do so it rather painlessly. Not so with cheese. I have tried many, many different types and have loved them all. Pepper jack, muenster, sharp cheddar, goat, asiago... you get the picture.

4. What, in your opinion, is the worst song ever?
Ah, this is a hard one, as there are so many horrible songs out there. But here's one that puzzles me: "Don't Know Why I Didn't Come". Although the musical accompaniment isn't that bad, the lyrics of this song make absolutely no sense whatsoever. "I waited by the house of fun. Don't know why I didn't come." Huh? Perhaps the real quandary is 'don't know why I wrote this song'. Idiotic!

5. Who was your favorite teacher growing up and why?
Miss Cunningham. She was my 4th grade English teacher. She had great hair, in a sort of Jacklyn Smith of 'Charlie's Angels' kind of way. She wore skirts that went all the way down to the floor. I once thought it might be because she had a wooden leg and didn't want anyone to see it. She liked me, I could tell, and she knew that I could tell. I excelled in English. My class was right before lunch, so she would give me 50 cents and send me to the teacher's lounge to get her a Coke from the Coke machine while the other students finished their assignments, because I was always done before them.

6. What personal activity, when performed in public, bothers you the most?
Cleaning one's nose without the benefit of a tissue. I mean, come on! If you want to pick your nose, do it in private. Trust me - nobody else wants to see that out in public! What, were you raised by wolves?

7. Ok, there's a $50 bill lying on the ground. You pick it up. Dumbfounded by your incredible luck, what do you selfishly purchase?
I'd probably buy CDs. I'm such a bargain hunter that I don't normally buy things that aren't at least on sale, if not on clearance. But with this $50. windfall I might just rush into Best Buy and pay full price for a few treasured CDs I've had my eye on.

8. Do you have a recurring nightmare? If so, explain.
Yes. I'll try to explain without writing a book. I grew up in the Jehovah's Witness religion, which requires its member to "spread the good news" by visiting people at their homes (ie: knocking on people's doors and waking them up on a Saturday morning). I left that religion almost 15 years ago. My recurring nightmare is that I find myself standing on someone's front porch, having just rung their doorbell, and I have little memory of what I'm supposed to say. Its current day, so I have not been in this position for almost 15 years. I assume there are Watchtower and Awake magazines in my bag to show them, but I have no clue what the topics of the magazines are. I'm usually able to force myself awake before the home owner comes to the door.

9. Name one place on Earth you've never been, but vow to visit at least once.
Greece. Photos and TV specials show it to be a spectacularly beautiful place. I simply must go there before I die.

10. You notice that question #9 wasn't really a question. You feel smart for catching such a small detail. What else can you do really well that reminds you how smart you are?
Actually, I did not catch that #9 wasn't a question. I simply assumed it to be a statement equivalent to a question. But something I do that makes me feel (somewhat) smart is that I arrange songs to be sung by a cappella jazz singers. I perceive this to require more than the average smarts because jazz chords often have dissonant, tight harmonies, and the bass singer often does not have the root of the chord, as in traditional choral music. But I don't have a clue about my IQ. How does one find out their IQ, Doug?

So there you have it! Now, I'm tagging Tornwordo and Catty Bitch. Are they up for the challenge? I hope so.

Drag Queen name of the day: Connie Sewer

5 comments:

Java said...

Well, I like it. Most informative without being TMI. But Circus Peanuts??? Is that the best you can do?
And I'm impressed with the a cappella jazz arrangments. I can barely halfway read music at all.

Doug said...

OMG, Mark:
I detest circus peanuts! Ewwww! When I was a kid, we called them circus penises!

I didn't know you were a musical person. I'm so impressed that you do jazz arrangements... I guess your email should have been a clue (duh!). We must talk more, as I'm a composer / singer / pianist!

I found out my i.q. from my counselor in high school and then paid to take a test in college through the psych department, out of curiosity to see if it was really true. You can probably take them online now.

Gregory said...

I'm on it.

RAD said...

What is a Citrus Peanut? I love cheese too!! but it also depends on the MEAT...If its attached to say James Marsden well...goodbye cheese....

tornwordo said...

Fun answers. I didn't catch #9 either. Mmmmm Circus Peanuts.