2/5/09
Oh fer chrissake, okay. I'm helpless against the meme onslaught. Personally, I can't believe my "26/52 Address Book meme™ didn't take off like frickin' wildfire - that should be spreading around the nation like a stomach virus. Ah well. Here goes:
1. I started violin at six because my dad (a symphony conductor) said that there are only one or two clarinet players or trombonists in an orchestra, and violinists always get work.
2. Every part of this sentence is true: I erected a baffle on our suet feeder, and got a Hairy Woodpecker. Insert quotation marks wherever you like.
3. Learned drums in 2006 so I could play "Day Tripper" at the Jartacular, which still hasn't happened.
4. In 1981, made my longest ham radio contact - Cedar Rapids, IA to Central America - with a 40m dipole antenna of my own construction.
5. In 1988, became the social chairman at my fraternity and mixed with the Chi O's, the Kappas, the Pi Phis, the KDs, the ADPi's and the Tri-Delts. Take THAT, 1981!
6. Played my Rickenbacker bass for the recording session over Thanksgiving (the same one we used, Schultz!)
7. At my second week at Carolina, got lost en route from Lewis Dorm to Hinton James, and ended up in the forest behind the old Tin Can.
8. Was on then-President Clinton's executive book list for 1994 with "Next: Young American Writer's on the New Generation" - with an article about why we hate Baby Boomers.
9. Worked as an intern on the film "Pump Up the Volume" in 1990, and got so drunk at the release party that I was dumped unconscious in a parking lot in Pasadena.
10. Was once up 16-0 on Chip Chapman during one of our epic one-on-one hoops battles - and still managed to lose. Used the misery of that defeat to practice so hard for the next ten years that I almost never lost again. That and Chip ate too many Hardee's Sausage Biscuits on his commute to work.
11. Met my future wife when she was a freshman at Carolina; she showed up to a book salon, having just won the fake Dating Game in front of 500 undergrads at Granville Towers.
12. My favorite islands:
with more than 50 million people: The United Kingdom
with more than 5 million people: Long Island
with more than 50,000 people: Prince Edward Island
with more than 50 people: Monhegan Island
13. Favorite Carolina player: Rasheed Wallace and Tyler Hansbrough (tie)
14. Been to every home Dook game since the first game played in the Dean Dome in 1986. All goes as planned, this March will be my 24th game in a row.
15. During the height of the "Wednesday's Child" mania at Carolina, a guy at Molly McGuire's told me that I was "known as being really fun to meet the first time, but ultimately disappointing after that." Spent every year since that moment working to make that not true.
16. Have a daughter named Lucy, who apparently sang the "My name is Stegosaurus, I'm a funny-looking dinosaur" song in front of her whole preschool this morning, and just the thought of it makes me cry.
17. My family gets the croup. Those who have had it know what that means.
18. Was born two weeks early, commonly referred to as "the last time I was early for something"
19. Have had to basically eradicate three things from my diet that I love: coffee, oatmeal and granola.
20. Was accidentally booked as a "motivational speaker" during a book tour for "13th-GEN" and decided, well, fuck it, and gave a motivational speech to a packed auditorium. Actually got a standing ovation. Been unmotivated to speak on the subject again
21. Despised golf until taken golfing by Jamie Block in 2004 - chipped in a 35-foot wedge shot, and have been chasing that elusive high ever since
22. Written 882 entries on these pages, and as of today, have 18,784 comments.
23. Visited a remote Kikuyu village in Kenya when I was 16, and the children had never seen red hair before. They pretty much thought I was the most unpleasantly bizarre thing they'd ever seen.
24. Came in 3rd at the Rubik's Cube Solving Contest, Military Circle Mall, June 1981.
25. Actual text of the first email I ever sent:
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 1993 00:10:38 +0501 (EDT)
From: Ian Williams (ecstasy@gibbs.oit.unc.edu)
Subject: jellyfish sandwiches
To: T. Long (budster@gibbs.oit.unc.edu)
For the Budster, I would recommend a strong "chemical diet" of various pharmaceutical products designed to keep him feeling "happy" and "silently curious."
My fee will be in the mail.
-Dr. Dickie Goodster, M.D.
Bud, what the hell were we doing?
***
As for the rest of you, you're off the hook. You need only provide THREE things about you, in the comments below!
Posted by Ian Williams at February 5, 2009 11:12 PMCompletely off-topic, but I just read this. I'm sure it's soon to be passed around ad nauseum via e-mail (Lord knows I'll be doing just that in a minute!), but I thought this crowd might particularly appreciate it:
After Ben & Jerry's concocted an ice cream flavor in honor of Barack Obama — it was called Yes, Pecan — someone wanted to come up with a flavor to honor George W. Bush. Here are some of the suggestions...
* Grape Depression
* Abu Grape
* Cluster Fudge
* Nut'n Accomplished
* Iraqi Road
* Chock 'n Awe
* WireTapioca
* Impeach Cobbler
* Guantanmallow
* Impeachmint
* Melon Head
* Good Riddance, You Lousy M***erf***er
* Heck of a Job, Brownie
* Neocon Politan
* Rocky Road to Fascism
* The Reese's-cession
* Cookie D'oh
* The Housing Crunch
* Nougalar Proliferation
* Death by Chocolate
* Death by Torture
* Credit Crunch
* Country Pumpkin
* Chunky Monkey in Chief
* George Bush Doesn't Care about Dark Chocolate
* WMDelicious
* Chocolate Chimp
* Bloody Sundae
* Caramel Preemptive Stripe
* Pretzel Choker
* I Broke the Law and Am Responsible For the Deaths of Thousands...With Nuts
1. My first guitar was a 1974 Rickenbacher 4001, Red sunburst finish. I paid $350 for it used at the Music Loft in Raleigh when I was 16 - it took an entire summer to save up the money. I had to sell it my senior year in HS to pay the school back for textbooks that had been stolen. I still haven't learned to play the bass, but I still miss that guitar.
2. I attended NCSSM - our mascot ws a unicorn. *sigh* Prior to meeting my wife, it was the greatest experience of my life.
3. I was once arrested for public drunkenness - in Russia.
1. I didn't become a pothead until I moved into Hagerstown Hall at the University of Maryland on the Honors Student unit.
2. I didn't become a hockey fan until my sister took me to a game, where I was instantly hooked. Now I own season tickets.
3. I didn't know that I'd accepted my husband's marriage proposal at first -- I thought he was just being sweet -- but I was happy when I realized it.
1. My first electric guitar was a 1974 Fender Strat (3 tone sunburst) purchased from Reznick's Music Store in W-S. I saved a long time for that guitar and eventually performed several operations that resulted in a Frankenstrat. Yes- locking tremelo, EMG pickups, etc. I dont' miss that guitar because it had a shitty neck.
2. When I asked my future father in law for permission to marry his daughter- he said "I'll get back to you". Weeks later he finally did.
3. JR Reid was on my team at UNC basketball camp.
1 - Favorite Tar Heel - Hubert Davis for getting the most out of his skills
2 - In a bonehead move, I mentioned in a job interview with the US General Accounting Office (they work for Congress) how much I enjoyed voting against Jesse Helms - I got the job anyway, I found out later that I got the offer after a former Wake cheerleader who was a recent Duke MBA grad had turned it down (sometimes it is better to be lucky than good)
3 - I was once called the most "conservative liberal" they had ever met, I prefer to think of myself as consistent (mostly) in my beliefs
1. I was the first person to ever get Michael Jordan's autograph. And I still have it!
2. In a job interview, I was told that my UNC grades weren't good enough to work for this company. I told them that if they knew how stoned I was all through college, they'd think I did pretty well. (I STILL didn't get the job!)
3. I was riding my moped down Franklin St in college in a skirt (I was probably stoned) and it got caught in the chain and the whole thing ripped off. Some XO's stopped to gawk and I jumped in the back seat of their car and made them drive me home.
I came back about half an hour later to get my moped and a homeless guy was trying to get the skirt out so he could steal it. He explained to me that his shirt was caught in there and asked if I could help him. ha!
1. I need to see a video of #16
2. #16 makes my ovaries ache
3. I admire the fact that #16 touches you so
I can handle three!
1. Four years ago, I got up at 5 a.m. and took the bus into New York City so I could be in the same room with all of the actors and actresses who played the Von Trapp children, as well as Julie Andrews herself.
2. At lunchtime during my jr year of high school, I didn't want to eat in the cafeteria, so I smuggled granola bars into the library and hid in a carrel the whole period and wrote short stories.
3. I once drove in Tipper Gore's motorcade.Y'know...I loved Pump Up the Volume (sorry, I'm losing credibility here)...and I recently saw "Empire Records" by the same writer/director and thought it sucked. What happened to him?!?!? Oh well.
1. I was told as a senior in college that my being from out of state hurt me in my chances for working for a NC bank b/c they all thought I would want to go back home to VA. Little do all of those very narrow-minded people realize that all of my jobs post graduation have been with NC banks who bought a VA bank.
2. I wish I still had all those job rejection (and a UNC rejection from law school on top of that--shameful I could have stayed another 3 years!!!), but my roommate and I took up He's Not Here and brought them all in for free beer.
3. My favorite b-ball player is also Hubert, and I spent several hours in The Pit (during late February) with a blue square with a black 3, so that I could get in a picture with him (and like 1,000 others) for a magazine layout.
#2 was supposed to read job rejection letters. :)
1. I wish that everyone would leave my boyfriend Michael Phelps alone.
2. I am so disturbed by the CA octuplet mother! A uterus is not a clown car! I always thought that the Duggar Family bordered on child neglect, but this woman is mentally ill. She is like an animal hoarder, but instead of kitty cats, she is collecting children.
3. I am finding myself developing a strange fascination with Rahm Emanuel.
I already did the 25 for FB, but I picked my favorite 3 or so:
3. I finally figured out how to ski the bumps on a trip to Aspen in 1994. It happened the last day or two that week. I didn't ski out west again for 10 years, and it was gone.
12. I still have a loop of the net from the 1989 ACC Basketball Tournament on my keychain.
20. I can't eat just one of anything.
22. I look forward to the NCAA basketball tournament more than Christmas.
1) In 1989, I bought my first guitar, a Rickenbacker 620, with money earmarked for rent. I believed I'd earn enough delivering pizzas before rent was due -- turned out I was wrong; I ended up getting evicted. I still have the guitar.
2) In August 1993, I moved from Chapel Hill to Kansas City, MO on a motorcycle. What didn't fit on the bike, I sold, gave away or burned.
3) Favorite Carolina basketball player: Tyler Hansbrough.
TJ - excellent thread-jack!
Ian - mainly, we were playing darts, eating cookie dough and checking out the Kate Bush fan page on Gopher, if I recall correctly. Impressive that you still have that email!
LFMD - you made me laugh.
By the way, my #2 went for my entire junior year, not just one day...I didn't have that many friends. Come to think of it, maybe it was senior year too. ;)
I haven't done this yet for FB, so I guess this will be a warm up.
1) My best stories from UNC all begin with "My friend Erica and I ..."
2)Although I'm a girl, I have the very male trait of immediately offering solutions to peoples' problems instead of just letting them talk. I attribute it to being a busy person (job, 2 kids, husband, etc.) I'm here to solve issues and move on.
3)I'm the daughter of a basketball coach, and I love to watch games -- UNC, but others as well. I believe the first days of the ACC tourny should be state holidays in NC. It basically used to be before the league got so big and we had to add that Thursday stuff.
4)(I'm on a roll) Favorite UNC player -- probably Ty Lawson. His inconsistency on defense makes me crazy, but his fast breaks are a thing of beauty.
Thanks for the shout out Sharon! Sadly there is little opportunity in my current life that would even hint at my earlier audacity!
1. I don't have wisdom teeth - not that I had them removed, just was born without them.
2. I hate cantaloupe. I think it smells like ripe feet.
3. I waited on Andre the Giant while working at the Angus Barn. We had to drag in a bench from the lobby because he couldn't fit in the regular chairs.okay...we did say random...right?
And to the new Obama flavor - that really only works if you pronounce it "pee-can". I say "peh-cahn" and it took me a couple of tries to get it.
1. Favorite Tar Heel is George Lynch. Was an advisor for him in school and tried to set him up with my sister one time, but she was not having it. I could have killed her for that--especially after he got drafted by my favorite team and I had sugar plum visions of me and Jack sitting courtside at The Forum. Lynch gave me and a friend tickets to a Hawks game when he was in town the night after the '05 National Championship and posed with me for a picture after pre-game warm-ups while I was still proudly wearing a Sean May jersey. The perfect epilogue to a magical weekend.
2. Danny Green is my favorite current player and the best all-around talent we have on the court at any time. When he plays really well, I shout out that he reminds me of Lynch. High praise, indeed. I also helped coin the nickname that only the folks in Atlanta ever use (and even then, only about three or four of us): "Baby Capers" since he looks like Jason "CA"pel and Julius Pep"PERS" had a baby together. And I wonder why that nickname never caught on.
3. Favorite Carolina on-the-court moment, dancing and gyrating on the Dean Dome court in front of Rat Bastard's wife with DFB's & T's after Carolina beat dook in the game where Chrissy Laettner bloodied Montross's cheek my senior year in the spring of 1992. Dean and I don't have a lick of rhythm between us, but we were one beautiful sight that day, gyrating and gesticulating in unison in front of the Rat's wife. I'd do it again this year, too, if I can get my old ass down to the court.
1. I was on my high school quiz bowl team.
2. I volunteer too much. I need to learn to say no. (As I stress over the Daisy dance tomorrow, and just said I'd be the baseball team Mom...)
3. My children are my raison d'etre. I sometimes wish I'd had one more.
My favorite phrase from this page: "A uterus is not a clown car"
I see a t-shirt.
CM - I bet we would have been friends in high school. You make me laugh! And I like your books. And we both like beagles!
Just as an aside, I don't understand the whole Facebook phenomenon. Can anyone explain to me why it is so popular? So many people tell me "You GOTTA GET ON FACEBOOK!" Personally, I don't want to be tracked down that easily. And I don't have that much free time to spend on it. I think that it satisfies a certain voyeuristic interest that we all have, but really. . . what is the appeal?
Laurie, you nailed it. It's the voyeurism! I just did it about a month ago, and it's been an interesting experience. When I ask someone to be my "friend" I send a personal note, and when they respond, I write them again to say hello. It's amazing how many people do nothing. So they send me a request, no note, I accept, and then nothing. Huh? Did they really just want to see my pictures, or is there some unwritten competition for the number of friends, and I am just helping them make their goal?
Plus, you are opening yourself up to people that you really have no desire to be in touch with after 20 something years. We weren't friends in high school, so why should we be friends now? But then you feel bad, so you accept and hope that they don't post all kinds of weird comments.
I have enjoyed reconnecting with a few people, and my little social group of Mom's use it a lot, but I have a lot of "friends" I don't give a shit about.
1. I may be the only other person you have met who can visualize a DX-pedition to long wire Chinese longwave stations while sipping Lowlands whisky and, even so, that still kinda creeps me out.
2. I was saved from the white sex slave trade according to 1960s speculating Mexican authorities;
3. I have 12 years of university and enough credit to do it but I still don't have the Hagstrom Swede electric guitar that I have lusted after ever since my high school pal bought one for dope money and then a few years later sold it for exactly the same amount of dope money.
Gold: "I waited on Andre the Giant while working at the Angus Barn"
I did my 25 on FB, then felt like all my friends knew that stuff anyway and did a second set of 25. Here are three:
15) Oleg Cassini, Jackie Kennedy's couturier, once complimented me on an outfit I was wearing as a teenager. If he could see me now in my "mommy uniform," he'd roll over in his grave!
13) Connor and Graham are the names of dorms at Carolina, but we didn't name the boys after them. I admit I got the idea for Connor because of a certain Tar Heel football player who made a 42-yard game-winning field goal as time expired against No. 4 Miami - Connor's first game in utero! Graham's middle name is my Grandmother's maiden name.
20) I am a terrible cook. I once made box brownies with a full cup of Pam cooking spray because I didn't have vegetable oil in the house. I took them to a company picnic and everyone ate them. I told them the secret ingredient afterwards...and was switched to plates/cups/napkins after that.
FB is my current addiction. I don't care so much about reconnecting with people from the past, though I do - it's just a fun way to keep up with and plan stuff with my existing friends (especially my fellow SAHMs). I'm always updating my status or writing on friends' walls and checking their statuses.
1. Favorite Carolina player: Scott Williams.
2. It's December 1999, I'm wearing my Fetzer Gym sweatshirt at a farmers' market in Tasmania, and this smokin' hot Australian babe approaches me and says, "Did you go to Chapel Hill?"
3. My first guitar was a Glen Campbell signature gold-festooned Ovation acoustic, a gift from my Dad, who bought it new at the WBTV Boys Town Auction in Charlotte in 1970.
Bonus-- I got weepy when I watched Coach Smith's retirement press conference. Same when I read that Ric Flair was retiring.
I didn't know what the hell you were even talking about in half of these, but #20 made me laugh outloud for about 10 seconds.
So are you coming to SXSW or what?
jesus facebook really did reach the tipping point, didn't it? $8 billion valuation indeed, mr. thiel.
anyway LFMD, your list was great and i will give you my whole long-ass take on facebook which i literally just told to my friend about an hour ago on the phone when i was bitching at her to get a page up so i can talk to her properly:
on facebook you get a page that represents "you" and you add connections to people by asking them to be "friends" with you and if they accept then you can see each other's pages.
you don't HAVE to be friends with people if you don't want to be. but if you do, you'll see each page is a lot like the ian comment zone where you can just pop in and have a conversation with people from time to time. or every freakin minute like crack.
it's like a message board where the only people on it are the ones that interest you. so let's say there were some, oh, i don't know, maybe right wing shitheads posting a bunch of crap messages - you can just not be friends with them and thus they don't ever enter your little facebook world.
it's very fast, easy to post pictures and music and videos, and virtually foolproof. but not as fast as twitter which sometimes makes me get a head rush, especially that congress twitter thing.
oh and plus it's not just your side of the conversation like a blog - imagine if you had a blog and nobody every came to read it, that would suck. so if you're friends with someone then you can see their conversation and chime in. like if you go to my fb page maybe i am talking about these gold platform sandals i am thinking about wearing tomorrow and you can pop over and be like 'oh i have those same ones!'
HOWEVER - one downside warning is that you might want to be friends with someone and join their bantery conversations but that person may not accept your friend request or they might "de-friend" you, but that's cool, you know, people have lots of different rules about who they do and don't allow in their friend group, so like if you are friends with a club promoter or dj they may have like 5000 *friends* whereas other people might limit to just people who they know really well.
oh and it's possible your old boyfriends might stalk you.
thought everyone would appreciate the grey lady's snarktastic take on this particular meme: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/07/25-random-tips-for-the-busy-facebook-user/?hp
Oh, one comment for the anti-facebook people who fear people finding them. You know it is possible to set up your account privacy settings so that people cannot look you up or find you or even see you unless you invite them. This is perfect if you just want to friend people but don't want others to search for you. You can also make it so that people cannot view your photo or see who your other friends are. So just by joining, you are not throwing all of your secrecy away, necessarily.
1. When I was 10 years old I asked my Grandmother Suber to take me to an office supply store to have Business Cards printed, I put myself on a list at Morris Costume (& magic shop) and I started charging people $50.00 to perform Magic shows. (parties,fairs, & one kids TV thingy)I was truly, not good. The year, 1977. The suit, Three Piece White.
2. My High School football Coach lied about my weight on the Game Program & Roster. He thought a 125lb defensive end would just be too good for the other teams pre-game morale.
3. As a teen, my Dad was stopped from entering a "White's" only movie theater in Myrtle Beach South Carolina. It was HS Football camp and the beach had tanned his olive skin (middle eastern ancestry)a bit too dark for local tastes.
4. I have a 3lb river rock in my dresser drawer. It was Bear's (my Dog) rock. He pulled it out of the New River. Sometimes he would just walk up with that rock, like all dogs had a rock. I just pack that damn rock every time I move. It's too late now. The rock stays.
5. I still remember the Moh's Scale of Hardness from the Rocks & Minerals Club with Heath Hart, Billy,Harrison,Mike, and Rufus in 4th grade. Sometimes I choke at Orthoclase.
5.I only liked the word "meme", the first time I heard it.
xuxE, Rebecca and Kmeelyon: You almost have me sold on Facebook. . . I think that I would be completely voyeuristic about it, which may not be a good thing.
I have to admit that I have found a way to google "Someone's name, Facebook" and then view photos and photos of some of that person's friends. So many of my classmates from high school are on FB. I enjoy seeing who is bald, what the kids look like, etc. As much as I enjoy being a voyeur, I don't want the tables turned on me, though. I have a feeling that any high school "friends" would just be interested in seeing what "LFMD the class valedictorian" is doing (how am I measuring up to my valedictorian-ness?), rather than being interested in re-connecting. It would be like high school competitiveness and social alienation all over again! All I need is to be de-friended by my high school crush and the cool kids. . . and it will be 1986 all over again. F that noise!
The biggest reason I don't want to get on Facebook? I don't want anyone to see the 60 lbs. I have gained since high school. No joke. Aren't I ridiculous? Now, if I could slim down like Ian has. . . maybe I will join! OR, I could just post some pre-parenthood photos from the 1990's when I was dating my husband and still making an effort to look cute. . . hmmmmm.... Unfortunately, my 30's have been spent in a "Working Frumpy Mama Clinging to Her Tenuous Sanity" phase, which has not been very photogenic. Perhaps some Photoshopping is in order. . .
If I join, will you all promise to be my friends? : ) You are all much cooler than the people I went to high school with!
LFMD, if you don't want anyone to see the 60lbs you have gained since high school, then don't upload a photo of 60+ lb you!
However, you are in danger of people uploading goofy pix of you in other stages of your life. This is one of my favorite and least favorite parts of facebook. People will upload photos of you and if you are linked to them, they will tag you. BUT, you can always remove the tag if you don't want the link to you.
4. My parents are both "rocket scientists" aka astrophysicists aka nerds, and I love them almost more than anything.
12. I rarely watch TV, but I made the distinct mistake of becoming hopelessly addicted to LOST and even participated in a costume end of season party with Elana, John, and Gemma dressed as Naomi in a makeshift parachute from an IKEA shopping bag and a bike helmet.
15. I scammed my way into a Vanilla Ice concert with my friend, Meredith, when I was a freshman in high school, dressed as a French business woman, and talked my way backstage, into interviews, and got a photo to prove it.
(the photo is up on facebook)...really.
1. I learned today, or perhaps just admitted it, that I am often motivated by a need for approval. In other words, I really hope you think my other two items are funny, clever or interesting.
2. Recently at dinner, I could just feel that the table was not lined up properly with the adjacent window. As soon as I straightened it, I was able to continue eating.
3. Wednesday I took my wife to the Andrew Bird concert in Atlanta, our first concert in over a year. It was outstanding.
1) Saw the Grateful Dead 50 times
2) Favorite Carolina player: Mike Pepper
3) Born in Orange County, Florida; spent most of my life in Orange County, North Carolina; lived for one year in Orange County, California
of course i'll be friends with you on fb, LFMD, fuck the 60 pounds, who gives a shit. people can go ahead and yoga till their asses are fucking concave, old age still catches up with everyone eventually no matter what, it's just a matter of time ;).
i am down to friend-up with all the blog posse commie pinko brethren and sistren of any poundage. xuxE at scarycow dot com.
Salem -- did you by any chance go to Gus Purcell's Day Camp when you were little? I think I was one of your counselors in my very first summer job. If that was you, you had gorgeous white-blond hair that I did not see again until my own son had the same color of hair, many years later. Small world, huh?
okay two thing that make me......me.
1....always wanting to nurture.(need to see footage... unavailable ,apart from in my mind.....to subscribe please enter)
2...inability to nurture (wow sooooo much stuff to take on board) a feeling of confusion.........who told me I was wrong.....who would ever tell me I was right