5 things you didn't know about me
Three months into blogging and I’ve been tagged – and by one of my favorite bloggers Scott Henson (Grits for Breakfast is in my top five most read on my RSS reader). I don’t usually participate in memes, but this one struck me. You’re supposed to come up with 5 things folks who know you might be surprised to hear, so…
1) I only have one kidney. Apparently, it’s not that unusual. It wasn’t congenital, the other one was removed at birth. I’m told I was bright blue when I arrived, and the doctor said “cut that boy open, there’s something wrong with him”. A kidney had burst during childbirth and it was immediately removed. I don’t remember any details – I was kind of young at the time.
2) I have a small family. There were only four other people in my family at the time I was born. One older sister, mother, father, and maternal grandmother. My parents were only children, so no aunts, no uncles, no cousins, etc. No living siblings of my only grandparent so no second cousins, or second uncles, or once-removeds, or whatever.
3) I hate meatloaf. I know it’s a staple of American food, and literally everybody loves it. I have tried many different versions (because people always say, “You have to try my mother’s meatloaf!”) My mom is a fantastic cook, and she always used to say, “You like hamburger, it’s just like hamburger.” So I’d say please make me a hamburger. I like everything else though. Everything. That’s what makes it so odd.
4) Odd jobs. It was fun to remember some of these. One of my first was being one of those annoying 13 year olds that comes around to apartments and tries to convince folks that if they sign up to get the local paper, they’ll more than make up for the subscription costs just by clipping the Sunday coupons. Don’t hold it against me, I was thirteen – I didn’t know any better. Other jobs I’ve held: short order cook, construction worker, delivery driver, gas station attendant, substitute teacher, art gallery guard…if I racked my brain, I’d probably come up with several others.
5) I lived in Section Eight housing. I wasn’t on government assistance; this one actually ties into number four. I was a primary care attendant for a guy in a wheelchair for a few years while I worked my way through undergrad. Basically that means I got him up, cooked meals, drove him to the grocery store, helped him shop etc. He lived in Section 8, and one of the perks of the job was living in the spare bedroom for free.
I backtracked Scott’s tag and found the chain going backwards was: Infamy or Praise, Human Law, Freedom to Differ, The House of Commons and TechnoLlama. I’ll attempt to move it forward by tagging Blame the Drug War, Doors of Deception, LeftIndependent, LawNut, and The Adventures of Steanso.
