7 random things

I rarely write personal blogs, choosing to focus instead on technology and whatever pet project I’m working on. (Which reminds me — I have a ton of things to blog about but haven’t had the time lately. keep your eyes open!)

Anyway, I’ve been ‘tagged’ by the Duce (who was in turn tagged by Mr. Bacon Silvers) and must meet my obligations. The task? “Share seven facts about yourself in the post – some random, some weird.” I know this is usually a Facebook/MySpace kind of thing, but hey, it might be fun and I could use a break from work. So here goes:

Seven random things

1. My first-ever job was Burger King when I was 14 and 9 months (legal age to work in Hawaii at the time). Hated it. To this day, whenever things aren’t so hot at work, I look back at BK and remind myself where I’ve been. I’ve also worked in a famous Honolulu bakery (Leonard’s), which caused me to avoid bakeries for quite some time.

2. I’m not a vegetarian, but I don’t eat mammals. Haven’t eaten beef/pork since 1992. I love (fresh) fish and tolerate chicken. Oh, and to make things more complicated, I don’t particularly like salads, either. (I’m not the only picky one in my family: My brother doesn’t eat vegetables and my mom doesn’t eat rice, pasta or cheese — ever.)

3. I’ve been playing guitar since 1987. I’m mostly self-taught, which means after almost 22 years of playing, I still have trouble reading sheet music.

4. My biggest pet peeves are smokers who throw cigarette butts on the ground and drivers who don’t use turn signals.

5. Books. I prefer historical non-fiction, but my favorite fiction works are To Kill a Mockingbird and Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha. I was forced to read them in high school and wound up really liking them. I’ve also read almost all of Tom Clancy’s ‘Jack Ryan’ books.

6. I love riding 2-wheeled vehicles (bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles), but don’t seem to have good luck with them. Over the course of 20 years I’ve had at least 3 bicycles stolen, 1 moped stolen, 1 moped stripped for parts, and totalled my only motorcycle (have no memory of the accident, either). That reminds me — my bicycle downstairs has a flat. *sigh*

7. When I was 17 (1991?), I was in a band that opened for Public Enemy (Fear of a Black Planet tour) and then the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Mother’s Milk tour).

I’m not a big rap guy, but I have the utmost respect for Chuck D. He was gracious and supportive, and actually went out of his way to compliment me on our performance (which probably wasn’t worth his compliment). May not sound like much, but it was a packed club, he was surrounded by hangers-on, and I looked completely out of place (a skinny little white geek at a rap concert). He had every opportunity to act like I didn’t exist, but still talked to me and did it respectfully. Mad props. On the other hand, Flava Flav was exactly what you see on TV: a total nutjob. He drove into the club on a moped. I asked him where he bought his clocks and he said Woolworth’s.

The guys in the Red Hot Chili Peppers were also really cool. My strongest memory from that show? I bought a brand new Epiphone Les Paul just a few days before the show — my first real electric guitar. Then, on the first night (we did 2 nights), my guitar broke. John and Flea were nice enough to have their techs take a look at it, and Flea’s tech fixed the problem with shavings from Chad Smith’s old drumstick and a little crazy glue. I kid you not.

Ok, so there’s my seven factoids. Time to pass the torch. I tag:

1. Carly
2. Raph
3. Matt Perkins
4. Ani
5. Amy
6. Vivian
7. Carlos

The Rules:

• Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
• Share seven facts about yourself in the post – some random, some weird.
• Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

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