Within days of my "life list meme" post, where I mentioned that I had never been 'tagged' by anyone to do one, Kyle from the As the Mind Wanders blog tagged me with this interesting one.
Full rules are below, but the jist is that you tell six random things about yourself. Neat way to learn about your fellow bloggers. I've been giving it some thought for a few days, and I've not really come up with anything terribly interesting, so I decided that I would just start and see what comes out. So, here are Six Random Things about me:
1. Born and raised in Poughkeepsie, NY, in the house that my father was closing on when my mother went into labor to have me. I was a big baby (in the neighborhood of 10lbs), nicknamed "Bruiser" by the nurses in the maternity ward. I'm going back to that house in about a week to celebrate Christmas.
2. I share the same exact name as the brother of a famous female musician, who just wrote a tell-all book about her. Which is the main reason I don't use my full name on my blog, pBase page, or any social networking sites. I simply get inundated with mail that is not for me (and have received some unbelievably rude and crude comments by those that did think I was him)
3. Attended university in Buffalo, NY - before I got into birding (think of all the gulls I missed, and the easy visits to the Lab of O. I could have made!) While going to school, I also worked full time in a pro photo lab, and have been connected with the industry ever since.
4. I'm a pretty adept juggler. Started a lifetime ago in High School (the ceiling in my old bedroom can attest to that!) and once you learn, it's not something you really lose. At this point, as long as I can pick something up and throw it in the air, I can juggle it. (Yes, that includes, torches, axes, small rodents, and once even a chainsaw for a few throws (not at the same time as the rodent)
5. I've played a variety of sports over the years, but never really excelled at any. Most time was spent playing baseball. The first ball that was pitched to me in an organized league when I was 5, I closed my eyes, swung the bat, and hit a home run! 11 years of playing in various leagues after that, I never hit another one. (I have hit a few since playing in our local softball league, but that's more based in putting my weight behind the swing, and that I have no desire to run, so my plan is to hit the ball so far that I don't have to.)
6. Other than birding, I am also very interested in 19th century history and literature (mostly British and American). An armchair victorian, I enjoy authors like Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Anthony Trollope, as well as almost any historical items from art (from the impressionists to the likes of Martin Johnson Heade) to exploration (I love the tales of travel into the unknown world at the time), music and drama (Gilbert & Sullivan operas), all aspects of daily life, and especially the murky underworld of the time. I think one reason I wound up in New England is the immense amount of 19th century history that surrounds everything here.
Here are the rules for Six Random Things:
- Link to the person who tagged you.
- Post the rules on your blog.
- Write six random things about yourself.
- Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
- Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
- Let the tagger know when your entry is up.
1. Patrick from the Hawk Owl's Nest (because he said himself that he loves meme's - hopefully he's not done this one yet...)
2. Quintus from the Owl Box Blog
3. N8 from the Drinking Bird
4. Corey from 10,000 Birds
(OK those first four might be obvious as they are my teammate for the upcomming Superbowl of Birding, and this is an interesting way to find out more about the guys that will be stuck in a car together birding for 12 hours!)
And to bring this international...
5. Amila from Gallicissa, a birder in an endemic hotspot
6. Tom from the Bird Snapping blog
I apologize if any of you have already done this already - just link back with the one you did previously. And if you don't have the time or inclination, hey - no big deal! Life's to short to feel like you have to oblige something like this! But I have to say, as difficult as it was for me to try to think of 6 random interesting things about myself (and I'm not saying I succeeded!) it was fun!
