25 Things About Chip
This was originally one of those Facebook notes that people pass around. This one I put on facebook on Feb. 12, 2009, and I figured I should copy it here!
It took me forever to write this, mostly because I'm trying to spend less time online so I can focus on getting my house and myself back in order, but here it is!
1. I only really remember applying to one job. I didn't get it. Every other job I've held just seemed like a natural progression from where I've been at the time, brought about through friends or referrals, rather than something I sought out.
2. I have a book inscribed to me from one of my college math teachers which reads: "To Chip -- Maybe you'll make something of yourself someday, and maybe you won't". I think this is how most of my teachers thought of me.
3. My high school senior prom date was a girl I'd known since before I can remember -- we'd met through our Grandparents who lived down the street from one another. I didn't KNOW it was her, though, until just a few days after a friend had set us up before prom! (thanks Ferf!) There's a picture from that night somewhere on facebook -- great night. :-)
4. I auditioned to play the piano in a big band on a whim once. I was unprepared, so I sight read some music, poorly. The guy gave me 10 minutes to learn the piece, during which I sat and stared at the music while flirting with another girl in the room. When the guy came back, I played the song again and he was very impressed, but I couldn't tell much of a difference from how I played it the first time. I basically defined my musical limits by this experience.
5. Most of the time, my favorite movie is "What's Up Doc?", starting Barbara Streisand. I have a long list of almost-favorites, though, the most recent addition being "Firefly".
6. I'm an information junkie. Not facts or trivia -- I like heaping piles of raw data, even if I never do anything with it. This is basically my job.
7. I have become less and less patient -- something I used to consider one of my stongest virtues. There's so much more to be impatient about these days! But I'm working on it.
8. I have a terrible memory for names. Ito doesn't matter who you are, or how long or well I know you, at some point we will be talking face to face and at that moment I'll have no idea what your name is. Don't take this personally. At times it feels like it's a real disorder.
9. I was raised Catholic, and didn't particularly mind until my parents forced me to go through the sacriment of Confirmation, which completely misses the point. (Confirmation, for anyone who doesn't know, is basically a personal acceptance of your religious faith -- while baptism, for example, can be done in infancy, confirmation isn't something that's imposed, it's something that should be accepted). I've had a fairly bad relationship with religion ever since.
10. Even so, I have two god-daughters. It's a very special relationship, and they are very dear to me. I hope I'm doing a good enough job as a god-parent, but I think I could do better.
11. I moved high-schools after my sophomore year, having been annoyed by the school -- the principal at the time told me that I didn't pay enough attention to detail. I left college under equally unfortunate circumstances, but the advice our dean gave me was that I got cought up in details and didn't pay enough attention to the bigger picture. *sigh*
12. I collect a very specific stuffed monkey named "Chip", made by Rushton. He was the son of some ancillary characters on the Howdy Doody Show, but I met him because he was my first favorite stuffed animal, a gift from my aunt. The "original" I kept with me until I was about 21 -- yep, every night. He was retired to a display case, and I now have about 20 stunt-double ChipMonkeys. In like 10 years on eBay I've won all but four (I think) ChipMonkey auctions.
13. I studied French, Russian, Spanish, and Chinese in school, at least briefly, but only a very little French really stuck with me.
14. I've had many pets, including my current African Grey Parrot "Romeo", who happens to be a girl. I've had a pet Skunk, a chinchilla, short-tailed possums, various rodents, cats, and birds, and very briefly a pet tarantula.
15. My car rocks. It's a little Subaru station wagon that I got in 2001. I drove it 37,000 miles the first year I had it, and progressively less each year -- I only put 9300 miles on it last year.
16. I hold a Top Secret security clearance. Getting it involved men in black trench coats scaring quite a few of my friends. My drug use is now a matter of government record. Spooky.
17. My bones don't seem to break -- too much milk I guess, although there have been a few times that I don't know how they stayed in one piece. I've had hundreds of stitches, though, the majority of which were putting my face back together after I planted it in a creek bed flying off of my bike at the bottom of a hill in grade school.
18. I still have plenty of friends that I've kept up with since grade school (outside of facebook, I mean), including some of the most important friends I have. I didn't realize how unusual this was until pretty recently, relatively. I think it's actually pretty common where I grew up.
19. I went to Europe with my brother in 2001. We showed up at our parent's hotel room in Italy without telling them we were leaving the country. We ended up at the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona. We ran, and had some very close encounters with angry hamburger.
20. My brother has a big bump on his forehead from when we were playing in our basement as kids... I tied him up and tickled him until he fell off a bed smacking his head onto the slab concrete floor. Oops. Sorry dude. He'll show it off to you if you ask nice.
21. I have lived in Cincinnati, Dayton, Akron, Washington DC, San Francisco, and a few other places, but I've always considered Louisville, KY to be home. I still own a house there, but I'm not sure I'm going to be able to keep it much longer.
22. Everyone I've ever dated for more than like a week is friends with me on facebook, although we haven't necessarily kept in touch outside of that. At least none of them completely hate me. Yet. (Hi! Say nice things.)
23. I've left a couple of jobs because my employers tried to promote me into a position that I really didn't enjoy. This cycle is apparently repeating itself -- I've been moved into a position I'm not enjoying and there's a promotion with it. I'm thinking of turning it down, and I need to decide soon. Any advice? Don't tell the people I work for. :-P
24. I don't watch the news on TV, and I don't read newspapers. I scan online headlines, and try to avoid spending time reading many or the articles. Not that I don't think it's important, but even trying to avoid it I still feel that I spend more mental time on "news" than on more personal ambitions.
25. I type too fast for my own good, and I rarely go back and re-edit, which is why this is so long, and which is why I'm so wordy. You'd think this would make it easier to finish a NanoWrimo, but in three (four?) years of trying, I still haven't.