absent.canadian

Last April (yes, almost 7 months ago), Ginny From The Blog tagged me.  I’m somewhat belated in my response … but better late than never.  And with a nod of respect to the Plaid Toaster, I’ll do this as a bullet list.

So … as tagged, here are ten random things about me that you may not know (and may not need to know – but it’s still fun, right?)

• I have been on the Internet “proper” for over 15 years now.  And I used electronic bulletin-boards for almost a decade prior.  I’m not sure what’s worse – having been “online” for a quarter-century, or having spent virtually all of my conscious life with a computer as my primary mode of communication.
• I once tripped and fell and broke my clavicle.  It was during a high school dance.  I did my driving test with my arm in a sling, and passed on the first try.
• I have owned seven cars.  Six of them were roadworthy.  Five of them were Volkswagens.  I experienced flat tires in four of them. Three of them needed a lot of work when I bought them.  Two of them were bought new.  I rebuilt the engine in one of them.
• My family had one of the first Sony D-50 Discman CD players back in 1983.  I know this because one of our first CD’s was Tina Turner’s “1984″, and I thought it was so cool to play a song called “1984″ in 1983.  I still have that Discman, and that CD.
• The coolest tape I had to listen to during our high school ski trips was Billy Idol’s “Vital Idol”.  I would play it over and over when I was skiing, imaging myself on stage rocking out with Billy.
• I had my first car accident in 1995.  I had my second car accident in 1995.  I have not had a car accident since.
• My first cell phone was a Nokia 100 that I bought in 1995.  It’s still at my parents’ house in the basement – possibly in its original box.
• When I was visiting my parents two years ago, I visited my old dorm room at Trent University.  In 1993 I signed the back of the mirror in my wardrobe with a black magic marker.  That same mirror is still there with my signature (and many others) on it.
• There’s nothing that infuriates me more than gum chewing.  It makes me physically ill to listen to someone smack gum.  Cracking gum edges me dangerously close to violence.
• I have never used a drug, nor have I ever smoked.  Ever.

I just found out that my old Trent University student pub, The Commoner, was town down last October.

I rummaged through some of my old slides (taken a month before the 9/11 tragedy), and found a few good shots of The Commoner. (since they are slides, I will bring them to work and scan them tomorrow). I also found some shots I took in the cockpit of the jumbo-jet I flew back home to Calgary … back when the pilot was happy to have visitors in the cockpit. I guess we don’t get many of those photographic opportunities anymore.