…the way I hate cheap beer. In the right setting, nothing beats a cold PBR in a can. Plus, I was tagged.
First the housekeeping. The rules of this meme are:
1. Let others know who tagged you.
2. Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
3. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
4. Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.And now, eight things:
1) My MOS in the Army was 63B1P, which means I was a light wheel vehicle mechanic/paratrooper, which means I jumped out of airplanes that weren’t in any danger of crashing for an extra $110/month in my paycheck. I jumped a total of 17 times (including 5 times in airborne school) during my 2.5 years on active duty.
2) I spent the majority of my last year on active duty working as a parts clerk without officially reclassiying my MOS because I hated getting dirty. When I decided not to reenlist at the last minute, I was “punished” by being sent back to the motor pool floor to fix trucks.
3) English was consistently one of my worst subjects in high school, along with Social Studies. Math and Spanish were my best. Go figure.
4) Pretty much everything I’m “good” at is self-taught, including writing, marketing and being a father.
5) I’ve gone to three different colleges — Miami-Dade Community College, Jersey City State College and Empire State University (online) — between 1990 and 2005, dropping out mid-semester from two of them, and only have 40-something credits to show for it, all of which are from my second attempt. While it’s not a priority, I still hope to one day get my degree.
6) I was in line for a scholarship to School of Visual Arts (for filmmaking) when I was a senior in high school, but passed it up to focus on being a Jehovah’s Witness.
7) The only time I’ve been sure I was going to die was the night of my 28th birthday (1998), when I went a little overboard celebrating, left a club because I was unable to catch my breath, puked my guts out on Houston Street, and spent the long train ride home (to the Bronx, where I’d just moved back after an 18-year absence) desperately trying to stay awake so I could die in my bed. By the time I got there, I was ready to go, convinced that was how it was supposed to happen and that it made perfect sense.
8) The only time a Ouija Board ever worked for me — in 1991, while in the Army — it reluctantly described in graphic detail the end of the world (quoting scriptures from Revelations that neither of us on the board knew by heart), said it would happen in 2014 and that I wouldn’t live to see it but my kids would.
Tag: I’m not even sure who reads this blog so if you’ve gotten this far, consider yourself tagged!
