25 Random Things About Me (Part 1)

A few years ago, I responded to one of those Facebook fads that stated “once you've been tagged, you are to write 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.”

So I did it, and it was actually kind of fun. Since then, I have rejected just about every other Facebook request for games, lists, or petitions (and I haven’t regretted it). However, this original list is still pretty good.

I will post part 2 of the list next week. But here are the first dozen random facts about me, with addendums added to indicate new info since I first wrote the list.

1. On the morning of my 30th birthday, I left my apartment in Hollywood and impulsively drove to Venice Beach to get a tattoo. The only shop open that early was manned by a 300-lb guy who learned his craft in prison. He did a good job, and the tattoo looks great 

[Addendum: I have since added another tattoo].

2. If money were no object and I could live in any city in the world, I would move to London.

3. When people ask, “Do you have any siblings?” I still have to think about how best to phrase the complicated answer.

4. My wife and I met at a house party in college. I was there with my girlfriend at the time.

5. For a brief time in my late adolescence, I was fluent in Spanish. I am currently passable, at best.

6. I have no memory of ever believing in Santa Claus.

7. On two separate occasions, years apart, I tried to help a stranger who had just been hit by a car. I was of limited usefulness, but they both lived.

8. By my estimation, I have stayed up 24 hours straight about 100 times. Most of those occasions were in the first 25 years of my life.

9. I taught myself how to swim.

10. My first job out of college was in a New York publishing house. It paid $17,000 a year and required about 60 hours a week. And my boss was insane.

11. According to my wife, I have cried only once in the 19 years that she has known me. That was 7 years ago, when our cat died 

[Addendum: I have cried twice more since then, once when our other cat died, and once when our dog died].

12. I have four guitars of varying quality, but I have little time to play them. [Addendum: I am down to three guitars].