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May 12, 2004
100 Partially Interesting Self-Indulgent Things
I think I'm a pretty interesting person, but that my public personna is so reserved that most people don't think so. I also express a kind of over the top enthusiasm which can quickly morph into self-possessed detatchment. So I believe that I am rather difficult to get to know. I also have a penchant for glib truth-telling and peasant English. I don't think I know many people who know me well so this is an interesting experiment. It's embarrassing in a way because I feel like I should do it, even though it's all about me. I suppose I can excuse that, being a writer, so here goes...
1. I think this is one of the most self-indulgent posts I've ever done.
2. I owe the Federal Government over 40 thousand dollars in back taxes.
3. My IQ is 136.
4. I do not have a degree in Computer Science.
5. I learned how to program a computer when I was 13.
6. I have had sex with fewer than 50 women.
7. Cobb is my second middle name.
8. I have owned 13 automobiles.
9. My favorite drink is a margarita straight up with no salt.
10. I wear size 10.5 shoes.
11. I can juggle three.
12. I have bowled a 173.
13. When I was a kid I socked somebody so hard I gave him two black eyes with one blow.
14. I have saved two people with the Heimlich Maneuver.
15. I have saved one child from drowning as a lifeguard.
16. I have saved one hiker from falling off the cliff at Mt. Lowe.
17. I hate crowds.
18. I was confirmed with the Episcopal Church by the Archbishop of Los Angeles
19. I was a camp counselor.
20. I've soloed in a gospel choir at the LA Cathedral.
21. I was present at the first Kwanzaa.
22. I am a classic Gemini.
23. I have extraordinary dreams. In many I compose classical piano music or play great basketball.
24. I used to identify with Judd Hirsch.
25. I voted for John Anderson illegally.
26. I used to own a Xerox 6085.
27. I have been detained by police about 30 times.
28. I have a perfectly clean criminal record.
29. I have horrible credit. (See #2)
30. There are 6 computers in my house.
31. I have lived in NYC, Boston, Atlanta, Houston and Los Angeles.
32. I'm the guy in the bar who stopped the fight.
33. I'm the guy in the movie who told the asshole to shutup.
34. I'm the guy at the seminar who asked the tangential question.
35. I marched with William Kunstler after the LA Riots.
36. I helped Philip Morris sell more cigarettes.
37. I had a japanese girlfriend who spoke almost no English.
38. I went on a blind date with someone who turned out to be a man.
39. I flew a plane over the White Mountains in Vermont.
40. My primary email address is named after a Toni Morrison character.
41. An epic novel of mine exists in pieces somewhere on this PC.
42. I have composed over 30 songs.
43. I have written over 500 comic strips.
44. The most difficult dive I ever did was an inward 2 1/2 off the three meter board.
45. I did a failed dive (score 0) at the prestigious Jack Kramer Club.
46. I didn't apply to Stanford because I heard the chicks were ugly.
47. I turned down a 4 year scholarship to FAMU.
48. I get jealous of black men with cleaner bald heads than mine.
49. I climbed Mt. Whitney via the Horseshoe Meadow Trail.
50. I danced with Rosie Perez on top of speakers at a Beverly Hills nightclub.
51. Maxine Waters spoke at my brother's funeral.
52. I got married in a Mediterranean Restaurant by my grandfather in Soho.
53. I have visited 43 of the top 50 American cities.
54. I have about 7800 MP3s, 22 XBox Titles, 50 Disney Kids VHS Titles and 40 DVD movies.
55. I expect people to inspect my bookshelves when they come to my house.
56. I don't like cats, but kittens are OK.
57. Batman was my first hero, then Muhammed Ali.
58. I am a goofy footed snowboarder.
59. I am an ISTJ except when I play sports.
60. I am rather difficult to embarrass, yet very well-mannered.
61. I've had exactly one good math teacher in my entire life.
62. There's an interesting story behind every one of these factoids, but I wanted to keep it brief.
63. My best friend in highschool went deaf and then later regained his hearing.
64. I am allergic to penicillin.
65. I had every childhood disease (Measles, Mumps, Chicken Pox and Rubella). Rubella was the worst. Our house was quarantined.
66. I had a job shoveling toxic waste.
67. I used to race motorcycles.
68. I never ask for Italian food.
69. I was elected twice to be National Finance Officer of NSBE.
70. I've been to Milan, Sydney, London, Paris, San Juan PR, Mexico City, Birmingham & Puerto Vallarta, but not Milwaukee.
71. I've never had sex with a white woman.
72. If I was a white man, I'd want to look like a jarhead or a cowboy.
73. I cook a mean BBQ Chicken.
74. I used to smoke Mild Seven, japanese cigarettes.
75. I've been bitten in the face by a German Shepherd.
76. I don't have casual discussions face to face, this is a reason I blog.
77. I no longer worry about nuclear war.
78. I've had sex on top of a jumbo washer in a public laundromat.
79. I used to love quirky foreign films, now I hate them.
80. I like ironing.
81. I love obscure documents with small print.
82. I only use fine point pens and never with blue ink.
83. I obsess over my fingernails.
84. OK now this is getting difficult.
85. If I could be any person in history I'd probably choose Napoleon.
86. The thing I most admire about America is the spirit of its children.
87. The thing that frightens me most is drowning in clear, deep water.
88. The worst thing that could happen to me is losing my mind.
89. If you threatened my family I would cave in. If you hurt my family I would kill you.
90. I cry at the mushy part.
91. I'm a very inner directed kind of person; you are probably wasting my time.
92. I take bad news very well.
93. I think I'm a better decision maker than anyone.
94. The only thing I've never had enough of in life is money.
95. I have a crush on Zadie Smith.
96. I hate talking about race. I used to do it all the time.
97. I always make the best of a bad situation. I'm the cynic who wants to take charge. Get out of my way, idiot.
98. I don't understand dainty people.
99. I believe psychoanalyisis is relativistic.
100. I'm glad this is over.
Posted by mbowen at May 12, 2004 10:42 AM
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Comments
32. I'm the guy in the bar who stopped the fight.
33. I'm the guy in the movie who told the asshole to shutup.
34. I'm the guy at the seminar who asked the tangential question.
We should hang out sometime. We'll find a fistfight before the evening is over.
Posted by: Lauren at May 13, 2004 07:19 PM
I think I'm a better decision maker than anyone.
This is one of the greatest sayings. Ha ha.
What does this have to do with my internet search "I kissed a black man"?
Posted by: Alanna at May 14, 2004 03:59 PM