25 Things - Not Just For Facebook Any More…
1. At last count, I have had 24 paying jobs since I started working for my father when I was 14 years old. The most jobs I have had in a single year is six (2005). Excluding two or three one-off street marketing gigs that I took in college, my most short-lived job, which required me to hand out dinner flyers while wearing a cooking apron and a child sized three-cornered hat with a plush lobster doll sewn into the top, lasted five days. Sadly, that was not the worst job I have ever had. The job that I have kept the longest is at Rumblefish, where I have worked for nearly three years. I have never been fired.
2. I have no desire to ever own a car that is not a station wagon and doesn’t have a stick shift. I have questioned whether or not I could marry an able-bodied person who requires an automatic transmission. Shallow, yes, and certainly not one of my finer traits.
3. I have never been a sports-fan, nor have I enjoyed participating in sports. I once got a C in high school gym and the only reason I have ever watched sports in my adult-life was to drink beer with my friends.
4. Despite the fact that I am, historically, not a person of athletic tendencies, I ran a half marathon last month with my college roommate. Due to a mix-up during registration the officials tacked on an extra hour to our finishing times. On paper, we came in dead last and second to dead last. A sixty year old blind woman beat us. No shit.
5. I once spent a day recording demos with J. Geils producing the session. He smelled like gin and we had very different ideas about what a snare drum should sound like. He ultimately decided not to continue working with the band and we all sighed in relief.
6. The most interesting show I have ever played was a collegiate burrito eating contest sponsored by Qdoba at Axis in Boston. We played for twenty minutes and were paid in beer and full access to a burrito buffet. I had my picture taken with the Red Sox World Series trophy and saw a girl from Harvard eat her own burrito-vomit. She had a lot of heart.
7. I am hopelessly out of touch with current events, popular music and all things celebrity but cannot explain why.
8. I think having an ironic mustache is on par with wearing two collared shirts.
9. When I was a teenager I was open to the possibility that I might be gay someday. This was not because I had thoughts or feelings for men, I was just trying to keep an open mind in case the day came where I woke up and had suddenly matured into a gay man overnight. I have learned since that this isn’t quite how it works.
10. The first bar I called mine was the Linwood Bar and Grill at 69 Kilmarnock Streets in Boston. Neil, the bartender, was a true Bostonian and must have been close to 70 years old. He is the only person to have called me “Danno” without it pissing me off and his wife brought wings in on Monday nights. It was under that roof that I celebrated my 20th birthday, had my first “Oh. Shit.” moment with a member of the trans-gender community, learned to drink whiskey, bought my first drink for a random girl and shot pool with Jordan Knight (on more than one occasion). Despite the fact that it was bought and spit-shined into a hipster rock club, it will forever be my favorite bar in the world.
11. I have recently come to the conclusion that I suffer from an allergic reaction to beans that causes my throat to feel as if it is swelling shut. This has put a serious damper on my burrito and chili consumption and may be my life’s great tragedy.
12. I have been known to exaggerate in order to make a point or tell a more entertaining story. I often do this without realizing that I am actually doing it. I once told a group of friends that over one hundred Swedes attended my sister’s wedding when in fact there were only eight Swedes and less than ninety attendees all together. Luckily, Megan was present and corrected my miscalculation.
13. I love whiskey. Specifically, I love bourbon. I am by no means a bourbon connoisseur, I just know that I love it. Maker’s Mark is my drink of choice. I have it on the rocks amongst friends. A Manhattan when I am feeling like a fancy-pants and with ginger-ale and a lemon wedge on sunny days.
14. I have been playing music for twenty years. My first instrument was the piano. Unfortunately, I stopped playing piano when I picked up the drums in 6th grade. I am learning to play the guitar and plan on getting back to the piano this year.
15. When I think about what life will be like when my parents are dead and gone I am deeply troubled by the idea that someone else will move into their home, the house that I lived in for 19 years. Despite the fact that I have no desire to ever move back to Mifflinburg, PA, I would like to buy the house from them some day so that no one can touch it.
16. I worked at a Lutheran church camp for two summers. I was a camper there for nine summers. I never identified with the religious activities, I just really like being at camp.
17. I have watched more moonwalking instructional videos on YouTube than I would like to admit. I have yet to moonwalk myself but hope to one day.
18. My parents had a rather intense attitude towards punishment. Examples: 1) If I didn’t clean my room my mother would trash it and make me clean the whole thing. 2) They stole my new bicycle from me because I refused to put away at night. When I learned that they stole it and confronted them, they made me buy it back at full retail. 3) The first time that I was caught playing with fire in our house I had to write a 10 page report that recapped true stories about families who burned alive in their own homes. I had to read that report to my entire family after dinner one night. I cried the entire way through it.
19. I went to pre-school. For three years. Fuck you.
20. I was obsessed with firearms when I was in middle school. I took the hunter safety course in 6th grade and passed the test with flying colors. My dad bought a shotgun so we could shoot clay pigeons at the sportsman’s club. Today, weapons scare the shit out of me and I want nothing to do with them.
21. I vacillate between being fully committed to my career and wanting to quit everything and live the gypsy life for a few years. My biggest hang-up is letting go of my financial security.
22. I want a puggle. Real, real bad. However, I cannot keep a plant alive and will not allow myself to get a dog.
23. I have an addictive personality. Because of this, I have only allowed myself to gamble once. I lost $60 in ten minutes at the tables at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. I traveled to Las Vegas for work last spring. It is quite possibly my least favorite place in the world. It is in a dead heat with Florida.
24. I rarely finish anything that I start.
