Tagged, again

I've been tagged with this exercise - 25 Things You Don't Know About Me - five times over on Facebook. It was a cathartic enterprise, I must admit.

And something I'm willing to share here as well:

25. As I’ve aged, my taste in music has grown more hardcore; oh, I like music across a wide sweep of genre’s, but I’ve not found anything that makes me more happy than 70s and 80s punk. And when I’m writing, I need to be listening to my iPod or stereo.

24. I’ve started to question spirituality, as it swirls around my life, in a large way. Growing up Catholic, I consider myself Catholic, but with questions. Guess I’ll keep searching, questioning. Karma certainly fits in there, some Eastern thought. I am open to a higher power and try and be quiet and meditate (pray, whatever) daily.

23. I’m a coffee snob. I fresh-grind Nicaraguan free-trade French roast I spend $12 a pound for and every morning brew it in a French press. If I could justify/afford it, I’d buy a $1,000 steam-driven Italian espresso machine (made of titanium).

22. Yes, I’ve a fixation for all things titanium. Earrings, Leatherman multi-tool, eyeglass frames (Oakley), sunglasses (Oakley) and my wedding band (which I now wear on my thumb), all titanium. Someday, my shattered knee will be made of titanium parts, which actually lessens the sting of having such a screwed up knee.

21. I’m somewhat OCD (I don’t need to touch light switches a number of times or avoid cracks in the concrete), and as I get older, those tendencies are seeming to fade.

20. I never, ever, make my bed. Well, it’s made once a week, when I change sheets.

19. I have clinodactyly; it’s the medical term describing a hereditary bend or curvature of the fifth fingers (the "pinkies") toward the adjacent fourth fingers. A hand surgeon diagnosed it while I was a medical photographer for Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. He had me take pictures of my hands, which are included in one of his textbooks.

18. On my lower jaw, underneath my tongue, I have a exostose; a thickening of the bone that’s called a tori or torus. Been there all my life; used to hide my gum under it in school. It’s a thickening of the bone. My new dentist said it occurs more often in women than men. Then she had all her hygienists in to take a look.

17. I used to be fearful of losing a limb, but after watching my dad go through his life without a foot, I think I could handle it. My new greatest fear is to wake up and not remember how to write.

16. I used to be really malevolent; my motto was “Don’t get mad, get even.” People actually sought my counsel to get back at people. I’ve totally lost my taste for it (except for one person, who if I ever had the chance, would punk good, since he’s a little bitch).

15. I’ve worn the same Saint Christopher medal since I was 14; it’s been off my body less than 30 times in that span. It is my most powerful talisman and I would be crushed if I ever lost it.

14. I tend to look at life through lenses that see it in black-and-white. But I’m learning to see it for the shadows and have begun to believe in the layers.

13. I am fiercely loyal and once allowed in my circle, would do anything and everything for you.

12. I prefer having the stereo on, rather than the television.

11. I’ve always have known what I wanted to do in life, and that’s be a reporter. Seems like it has lost its luster of late, but it’s such a noble profession, filled with the most talented, funny, creative and neurotic people I’ve ever met.

10. If I had to pick something else, I’d go to culinary school and try my hand at being a chef.

9. I’ve had the mumps, twice, along with pleurisy (a lung ailment that usually inflicts the elderly).

8. Worst decision I’ve ever made? Being talked into getting a vasectomy by my ex-wife. I can’t father a child, but I live with the decision in an even-keeled manner.

7. I’m the one guy you want around when the shit hits the fan. I am a champ in a crisis. Any crisis, anywhere. I am “Cool.”

6. There’s at least one novel in me. I have no clue how to coax it out, however.

5. I am a fan of bracelets and have worn something on my wrists since I was 8. Currently, it’s two LIVEStrong bracelets on my right wrist to honor my mother and uncle who died of cancer and a chunky silver rope bracelet on my left wrist. It’s a talisman thing as well.

4. I don’t wear underwear. Haven’t since I was 13 or so. No, it is not gross. It just is.

3. I have had, on a few occasions, strong thoughts of suicide. But I would never carry it out, no matter how bad things got, because (1.) leaving a mess for someone to clean up is just wrong; (2.) who would take care of the girls?; and (3.) I can’t fathom the pain vs. just sucking it up and fighting though the hurt.

2. My grandmother on my mom’s side was the one who started spelling my first name Thom; I wasn’t allowed to spell it that way in Catholic grade school; I picked it up when I moved to public school, in junior high.

1. I’m the only one in my large family who pronounces my last name differently, the (correct) way or the Polish way. I don’t know what they think about it, nor do I care. When I moved to Cali, I picked it up. In Italy, people all said it correctly, which doesn’t prove my point, just strengthens it.

Comments

Hal Johnson said…
Yikes! Twenty-five things? I've been tagged for the Eight Things, but twenty-five. Sheesh, I ain't that interesting, and just the thought of trying to come up with twenty-five things gives me a headache.

But then, maybe with a few beers. . .
Anonymous said…
Whoa, Thom, you’re a new, clinodactyly exostose species of the titanium variety! Very cool. So this means you have no fears, you need nothing, and you are already everything—a non-Catholic, very Eastern spiritual concept for you there : )
Anonymous said…
Whoa, Thom, you’re a new, clinodactyly exostose species of the titanium variety! Very cool. So this means you have no fears, you need nothing, and you are already everything—a non-Catholic, very Eastern spiritual concept for you there : )
Miss Alister said…
Sorry about the double-tap, man. Perfect for the Del key.

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