Okay, eons ago, blackwingedboy tagged me in this particular journal entry to write ten random facts about myself. Like him, I've perceived this to be less about 'random' and more about 'interesting or quirky or unusual' things, or things that people don't already know about me.

Now, I'm at a slight disadvantage here, because half the people who read this already know pretty much everything there is to know about me (I'm not shy about talking about myself it seems), and the other half really don't know me at all. So I'm going to have to find a balance here, of "well duh" stuff that some might not yet know, and stuff that even people who know me well, might not know.

With, without further ado or senseless rambling, here goes (and like blackwingedboy, I don't know how to stop at ten either):

1. I love black pepper. Freshly ground black pepper. I put it on everything. Salads, soups, pastas, meats, vegetables, bread and butter, french fries, ... and the more the better. Waiters who bring the pepper grinder hate me, as I make them stand there grinding until their arm gets sore.



2. I currently (and consistently) have at least five different flavors of toothpaste in my bathroom. Different flavors or varieties for different occasions. The Crest "Lemon Ice" toothpaste is refreshingly summery, while the Vanilla Mint is soothing, and the Colgate Complete is minty fresh. There's also the AquaFresh "Extreme Clean" with its foamy citrus-ness, and Crest Pro-Health for that "just back from the dentist" clean feeling and taste. Some call it quirky. I just call it decadent :-)



3. I figured out I was probably gay at ten years of age, and realized it "wasn't just a phase" by a year later, at age eleven. I stayed firmly in the closet, deathly afraid someone would discover my horrible secret, until I graduated from High School, at age 18.



4. I watched a bat swim in a lake in upper Michigan in the daylight. I never knew bats could swim. The guy was a champ.



5. Just ten years ago, I rode a bicycle 575 miles in 7 days, from Austin, through Houston, to Dallas, as part of the first Texas AIDS Ride. I raised over five thousand dollars in pledges. After a week of being in the most accepting, helpful, and wonderful community of riders, isolated from the larger world, my welcome back to civilization -- the first thing I woke up to after the ride was over -- was the news of Matthew Shepard's death. Talk about a rapid come-down and slap in the face with reality.



6. In college, I had a flat-top haircut, that was blond on the tips, with an eight inch long blond rat-tail. Yes, I was into Depeche Mode, and probably looked a little like Dave Gahan in glasses



7. Also ten years ago, I had LASIK surgery on my eyes. I'd worn glasses most of my life until then. To this day, it's probably the best thing I've ever done for myself. I went from 20/400 in one eye to 20/20, and from 20/200 in the other, to 20/15. Alas, old age is starting to kick in, and I'll probably need reading glasses in a few years. Still, it's the best thing I ever did. I only wish they'd come out with that sooner.



8. I lost my virginity just two months shy of my 22nd birthday. It was the same night I got my first 'real' kiss. And while it wasn't immediately official, we were pretty much living together from that night on. It lasted almost three years. We still keep in touch and remain friends. That means that by my 25th year, I had only ever 'been with' one other person.



9. I loathe mushrooms with a passion that is white hot. They are vile and ruin anything they're in. It's taken me years to not get sick just from the sight or smell of them. As a child, if my parents sauteed mushrooms for their dinner, the smell of it would leave me physically ill, retching and gagging, even from two rooms away. I had to leave the house. It is the only food I can think of that I have this strong and visceral a reaction to. My parents used to joke I had an 'ultra-sonic mushroom detector' because they'd try to sneak them past me, disguised, and I'd instantly know, and spit the food out. I've decided that I'm a 'super-taster' for whatever is in mushrooms, because it's just so intensely strong to me.



10. Each year at Christmas, since moving away from home, my parents give me two "stockings"... the usual good stocking, full of candies and little toys or presents, and a 'bad' stocking, which we've come to refer to as "The Stocking of Horrors". The reasoning, my Dad says, is that since they're not around to watch me, they have no idea if I'm being good or bad, so they cover both bases just to be safe. Yes, I've gotten lumps of real coal before. I also get some mushroom item in there every year (the worst was a jar of mushroom chutney). One year, I got Sean Hannity's book. Talk about a horrifying discovery!



11. I've only ever shop-lifted once in my life. And it was a Playgirl magazine. On my 16th birthday. My parents took me to Westland Mall in Columbus (used to be an outdoor mall) and left me to browse in Walden Books while they got some shopping done. I shoved it up under my parka (it was February in Columbus after all), and managed to keep it 'hidden' when they fetched me, and all through the ride home, and into the house (I ran to my room without taking my coat off). I have many fond memories of that magazine, but I never ever shop-lifted anything ever again.



12. I once drove from Columbus to Chicago, with my cousin Lanora, on a complete whim, for "Lunch". We wanted to get pizza at Gino's East. So we did. It's a six hour drive, for those that don't know. We didn't tell anyone we were going. Ah, youth.

I would tag someone else, but I think everyone else has already been tagged. Oh, wait... how about you, markdascot!! You're it! TAG!