Eight Random Things

[posted by Callimachus]

Dave S. has kindly tagged me with an "eight things you didn't know about me" meme. I'm not one of those bloggers who's going to feign dismay at this or treat it as a chore. I love to talk about me and welcome the opportunity.

I compliled a list that eschews things I've revealed here, which the regular readers already will know, such as I don't watch TV and used to work on an assembly line; I drive a Prius and live in a ghetto; I went to college with Rosie O'Donnell and once lived in West Berlin; I have a weakness for good weed, obscure German beer, and pretty, crazy women, except my wife, who is beautiful but not crazy. When I think about that I realize how much I give away for someone who is, theoretically, anonymous.

So here's eight among the rest:

• I used to play left-handed rhythm guitar in jazz and rock ensembles; I can play Hendrix-style, too, but not so well.
  
  
• I once was picked up by Philadelphia police in a house of ill-fame.
  
  
• I've worked 24 years in a career for which I never had a day in my life of classroom education.
  
  
• I once won an ice hockey shooting accuracy contest sponsored by an NHL team. No contract was offered, however. Just a free set of new tires.
  
  
• I can recite "The Gettysburg Address" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in Anglo-Saxon, in exchange for beer.
  
  
• I once was a subscriber to "The Catholic Worker."
  
  
• One of the most enjoyable interviews I ever did was a very long chat early in my career with an unknown young actress named Sharon Stone.
  
  
• In the '80s, I once partied backstage in a club with Air Supply.