Well, not everyone likes it, and I won’t be tagging anyone else – not so much on sympathy with Dennis, but for two other reasons: first, as harmless as the exercise is, I have a strong antipathy to anything that smells like chain mail, and to me this does. Second; I’m usually tagged so late that most of the names I’d pick have already participated!
That said, Jazz tagged me, and since she’s a lovely lady (and thinks she wants to know more about me – there’s a growing list of people who would try and dissuade her!), I’ll try not to disappoint:
- I was quite religious when I was younger … like a lot of youthful unrealities, that too withered on the vine; and I now describe myself as agnostic. I have no problem with individual faith in whatever god(s) you choose, but the religious collective leaves me cold
- I (still) play volleyball – both daughters took it up in junior school, and I got sick of just watching, so took up a (reasonably serious) social game when I was 43. Neither daughter plays now, but (despite a couple of injuries that take way too long to heal) I’m still going. I also spent a few years helping administer a local state league club
- I’m now about the only person left in the company who still wears a suit and tie to work every day – I make up for that by looking like a complete dag most of the weekend (Redmonk and gapingvoid t-shirts notwithstanding)
- I’ve lived in the same house for the last 25 years (almost) – it is of course completely different from its starting point (in the same time my brother-in-law has lived in 10 different places – we average out about right!)
- I had 13 gap years between secondary and tertiary education – then spent the next thirteen years studying part-time! And this was the guy who considered his first ten years of school an unwelcome interruption to his education …
- I play guitar – very badly. Now have a Washburn steel-string acoustic; very foolishly sold the 1968 Fender Telecaster in what I try and tell myself must have been an alien abduction or similar … no I can’t explain it, yes I regret it, can we talk about something else now …
- In what infuriates colleagues in Sydney and Melbourne, my commute to work can take as little as 6 minutes by car, with NO traffic lights (despite crossing 3 arterial roads) … unfortunately this will change later this year when we shift office; I may have to re-learn traffic lights
- I’m not a tradesman’s bootlace, have a pathological fear/hatred of power tools and would rather wash and iron than do ‘handyman’ stuff – but have somehow managed to (relatively successfully) accomplish something from almost every trade – bricklaying, fixing plasterboard and cornices, electrical and plumbing (don’t tell the authorities), carpentry and cabinet-making … and more house painting than is good for anyone. I have to say that while I’ve been happy with a lot of the results, I dislike the handyman schtick intensely – I’d rather be doing this!
There you go – 8 things. Make of them what you will …
