Eight Random Things

Psychomamma has tagged me with a deal where you're supposed to tell 8 random things about yourself.
As if I needed a reason. For many of us, the whole blogging deal is just the actualization of our theory that what the world needs is more of Meeee....

So, anyway, eight things:

1) Chris Cope's wife said about him something like "He's happiest when he's pleasing people and being the center of attention." She could have been talking about me. On the positive side, I love making connection with strangers; on the other hand, I've only comparatively recently begun to free myself from a debilitating need to be liked by everyone.

2) I loved american football as a kid. I hit puberty too late to ever play, but I loved the sport so much I would stay after school just to watch the team practice. My brother and I made our own pads out of cardboard and foam rubber and tackled each other in the back yard. To this day, the sounds of the sport excite and inspire me: the quarterback barking the count, the lines crashing together, with the grunts of the players and the click and smack of helmets and pads...

3) I used to be devoutly religious, impatient with things that smelled like psychobabble or moral relativism, convinced of the existence of moral certainty, and a stickler for good grammar. Now I'm not any of those things. Maybe it's connected.

4) I used to think mullets were cool. Also, if I could wear whatever I wanted without fear of social ostracism, I would dress like Zorro (this one -- or even this one -- but not this one), or possibly a pirate, altho Jack Sparrow can be a bit swishy for my taste.

5) I majored in computer science because I was shy -- I wanted a job where I wouldn't have to deal with other people much. Then I found out I actually liked people, but by then I was in the middle of a degree and it was too late to change to psychology or linguistics. Plus, I wanted to make money and at the time CSCI seemed the easiest route. It's way easier than engineering, and the pay is comparable...

6) I wore a lot of hand-me-downs and clothes from garage sales as a young child. Later, my parents had more money, but to this day I feel guilty when I buy new clothes.

7) I wanted to have long hair all during my childhood (1970 - present) but wasn’t allowed to when I lived at home. Later, when I finally could, I found out I don’t look that great with long hair. Now I have a flat-top again for the first time in 20 yrs…
8) I really really really like pie.


Oops. Almost forgot you're spozed to tag other ppl. Not sure how they could possibly be as interesting as me, but for the sake of playing along...

Chris Cope, because he's got loads of free time and insufficient outlets for self-expression.
Erik, because of reasons which I'm sure will come to me in a moment.
Crystal, because she's insane.
Andi, because she's not, and because what she's about right now is so much more meaningful and authentic and articulate than anything I've ever experienced or written.