25 THINGS

This meme has been floating through facebook, and I eventually got tagged. So I'll post it here as well. The assignment is simply to post 25 random facts about yourself. Well, ok...

1. I am perhaps the pickiest eater in the world. Everyone knows this. At my funeral, someone will ask whoever I leave behind, “did he ever start eating more stuff?” And the answer will be, “sort of.”

2. I am the only one of my siblings not born in Rochester, NY. I was born in San Jose, CA.

3. I have accepted money to go on dates with strangers three times. I never put out on any of those occasions.

4. I have a thing for airports. I like them. I think they’re cool. I also am a nerd about commercial air flight and international airlines. I actually own a book that’s like bird spotting book, but instead has pictures of planes from almost every airline in the world. When I know I’ll be flying into a major international airport, I’ll try to have the book handy so I can identify previously unseen airlines.

5. I once went through the book “1,000 Places to See Before You Die” and started adding up places. I had seen about 115 of those places.

6. Despite #1 and my extremely lowbrow eating preferences, I still have managed to become a food snob. I make perhaps the world’s best grilled cheese.

7. I’m utterly obsessed with the Faroe Islands (a small band of islands about halfway between Iceland and Norway) . Don’t ever get me started on the subject. I will never stop talking.

8. I hate sports and I hate the cold. But I love skiing. I understand this makes no sense.

9. I flunked every grade in high school.

10. I once sort-of danced with Beth Gibbons of Portishead.

11. If I could be anything in the world, I would be an International Superstar DJ. I love the idea of traveling all over the world and having people pay money to hear me play my record collection.

12. I have never in my life eaten a hamburger or tasted alcohol.

13. Ok, so there was this one time in 1987 when I stuck my tongue in a glass of champagne. But that’s it.

14. I dislike how, when you have a job, you say you “are” that thing. For instance, you work as a reporter so at social gatherings you are obliged to say, “I am a journalist.” That’s just too all encompassing. I don’t believe people are merely the sum total of what they’re paid to do.

15. I know I talk too much and I’m deeply embarrassed by it. But by the time I’m aware of it, it’s already too late.

16. I sort of have a crush on Emma Thompson.

17. I won an unemployed actress on “The Dating Game” in 1997.

18. I lived in Subaru for about two months.

19. I love watching Prime Minister’s Questions in the British House of Commons on C-SPAN.

20. I have perhaps the best batch of friends in the world who are unfortunately scattered all across the country. I miss them. A lot.

21. I am probably lactose intolerant.

22. I used to perform in a comedy troupe. We had a regular gig at the Comedy Store on the Sunset Strip. One of my recurring characters was a pompous news anchor. Three years later, I was an actual news anchor.

23. I have committed to memory the contents of almost every Monty Python’s Flying Circus episode.

24. I’m an urban planning nerd. Don’t ever visit Portland with me. I will never shut up.

25. I find lawn mowing a meditative experience.