OK, this is making the rounds, so I guess it’s my turn. Here are twenty-five things you may or may not know about me!

1. I started wearing glasses when I was four years old.
2. Counting moves to dorm rooms, I have moved 31 times in my life. I’ve lived in St. Louis, Chicago, Connecticut, South Carolina, New Orleans, the Washington D.C. area, Virginia, and North Carolina, and now we’re back in Chicago.
3. I have received two speeding tickets in my life, one when I was in high school in Anderson, SC and one when I was working in Springfield, VA and was clocked doing 35 in a 25 through an office park.
4. I have worked as a DJ at three different radio stations: WTUL-FM in New Orleans, WSBF-FM in Clemson, SC, and Radio 74 in St. Julien-en-Genevois, France. At WTUL I hosted the weekly Global Folk Show; at WSBF I was co-host of a weekly Celtic/bluegrass show called Banjos & Bagpipes and also served as the Jazz Director and hosted a drive-time jazz show. At Radio 74, I mainly swapped reel to reel tapes around, cued ads, flipped the switch on the BBC World news feeds, and read the weather forecast.
5. While I was at Radio 74 I worked as a recording engineer for a weekly interview show. As a part of that job I got a pass into the United Nations headquarters in Geneva and got to meet the American ambassador to Switzerland at the time.
6. I can tell you the best American expatriate bar in Geneva (Lord Nelson Pub), and I even have a lovely etched-glass mug that I appropriated from there.
7. I have stood in the middle of the field of the Superdome in New Orleans, operating a camera to film the Beach Boys in concert.
8. The night before we were to film a discussion between Hunter S. Thompson and Fred Barnes (it wasn’t that interesting – Thompson came on stage with a bottle of whiskey and was completely smashed and barely coherent), I and 6 or 7 others staged a raid on a nearby Toys R Us and bought a bunch of toy pellet guns then proceeded over to McAllister Auditorium at Tulane University. We then played “Assassin” until the wee hours of the morning, shooting those little yellow pellets all from the balconies to the green rooms to the lighting scaffolding. Those damn pellets are still probably turning up there.
9. I have driven the entire length of Switzerland and back in one day, and had the stamp in my passport from Lichtenstein to prove it (until I lost my passport…).
10. I was an active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism from 1991 through 1998. I met many good people there and still count many of them dear friends. I drifted away because I saw a little too much of how the sausage was made, and also was tired of dealing with an entrenched culture of homophobia. I’d like to think the latter has gone away by now.
11. I’m well-traveled: I have visited London, Paris, Geneva, and Amsterdam, as well as parts of Mexico, Canada, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, and France. I’ve been skiing in the Alps (though I never left the bunny hill) and driven on the Autobahn. Sadly, I haven’t a chance to travel internationally since 1997.
12. Clutter drives me nuts. Not that you’d know by my desk at work, of course. But certainly around the house, I’ll reach a certain point and just snap – things need to be cleaned NOW!
13. I’m not fond of clowns – something about being dragged into their little game of make-believe whether I want to or not. Most times it’s not a big deal, but if I’m not in the mood it will really irritate me. The corollary to this, of course, is that I feel the same way about fursuiters 🙂
14. Dan and I have been together for ten years this month. I have never regretted one second of that time, and I hope he can put up with me for many years to come!
15. I love cooking, and I’d like to think I’m a pretty good cook (though not a chef – no delusions of grandeur here!). My favorite cuisines are French and Italian, but I’ll attempt pretty much anything!
16. Some people knit for a hobby, some people go fishing. Me? I organize stuff. I was a baronial seneschal and ran a couple of events in the SCA, I ran Registration for Midwest FurFest for seven years, I have run Artists Alley at Anthrocon for four years, and am in my second year as chairman of Midwest FurFest. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it!
17. I will try any food once, even the most scary-sounding stuff you can think of. And while I have come across a few things I’d prefer not to taste again, there is only one thing that I cannot eat at all, ever, and makes me nauseous just to taste: pickled beets.
18. I’m a bit of an adrenaline junkie – I love roller coasters (though not standing in line for them) and have even taken hang gliding lessons.
19. I have GERD, and have for about a decade. I’ve learned from hard experience that the surest routes to reflux for me are tomato sauces and Scotch. Since I loves me some single malt Scotch, this makes me sad, but hey – a few Rolaids can take care of things.
20. My left nipple is pierced. Hey, there wasn’t much feeling there before I had it pierced, and there’s not a lot there now. I like how it looks, though. Also, it’s a reminder under my clothes that I may look like your everyday corporate drone, but there’s more to me than that.
21. When I was a teenager, I was an altar boy in the Catholic Church and sang in the church folk group. Around the age of 14, when I was attending Catholic school, I became very disillusioned with organized religion and to this day I consider myself an agnostic. That year of Catholic school was impressive – I was suspended for fighting, and received the only F of my academic career…in Religion.
22. As I was growing up I sprained my ankle occasionally. And then more often. By the time I was 26, I would sprain my ankle just walking on a flat surface with no provocation. I decided to go in for reconstructive ankle surgery where a part of a tendon in from foot was grafted onto my ankle. Things went well, and now I’m left with a nasty-looking scar on my right ankle but I haven’t sprained my ankle since.
23. I am a very light sleeper, and I cannot sleep with anyone touching me. I also snore. Not a lot, but enough that if I don’t sleep with earplugs in I wake myself up every five minutes or so.
24. I suck at strategy games. I never have the patience to figure them out, and I usually just get bored.
25. I am not usually a fan of memes, since most of them are trite and silly. This one is pretty fun, and I enjoyed filling it out. I’d never require anyone else to do it, though!