5 Things Meme

I don't usually do these things, but maybe I'm in the holiday spirit or something. I noticed danah recently did a 5 things list that focused on embarrassing things, so I'll try to lean in that direction.

5 Things You Probably Don't Know About Me

1. I spent nearly nine years between graduating high school and graduating college with a BS. Before finally switching to computer science I seriously entertained majoring in art, and then psychology for a couple of years. Even after picking CS I was going to minor in dance until my advisor talked me out of it. I also spent a few years not being in school mixed in there.
2. I spent one night homeless in New Orleans in 1990 and slept in the bus station until they kicked me out, and then jumped a fence in the French Quarter and slept on someone's porch until early dawn, when I moved to a park bench in Jackson Square.
3. I grew up in a rural NC house that for a long time lacked indoor plumbing and electricity. I used to read by oil lamp at night. We took showers outside under a hose, which sucks when there's snow on the ground. Even after we got the plumbing and electricity hooked up, the house was like a large well disguised shack in many respects. The only source of heat was a wood stove. I've probably chopped more wood than anyone else you know.
4. I cry at movies all the time, especially on airplanes. Sometimes I tear up when listening to patriotic songs.
5. There are videos of me and a high school friend lip syncing to Air Supply and playing a house organ and air guitar. We weren't being ironic or funny.

Wow, I'm starting to realize I could probably easily list 50 embarrassing things if I had to.

I guess this is the part where I tag other people: Mie, Thombert, Ele, Savvy, Kitten. Embarrassing or not is up to you.

Comments

[Ele]

I did not know about the potential dance minor, or the homeless night in NO. I do like the embarrasment aspect - hence the things that most people wouldn't know. Hmmm, I am going to need to think about these!

[cheesebikini]

1. I broke my foot sleepwalking. I was about 12, during a period of my life when I sleepwalked frequently. I woke up back in bed with a swollen foot, later the doctor said I had clearly broken it while walking. That's the only bone I've ever broken.

2. I can't come anywear near the growing-up-taking-freezing-hose-showers bit, but I -did- also had a homeless night in New Orleans! I went to college in Austin and one year a few friends and I decided to go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Trouble was, we decided this two days after Mardi Gras had already started. Even if we had money we wouldn't have been able to get a hotel that late, so we drove out and decided to just sleep in the car for a night or two. Then I lost my friends and couldn't get to the car, so I laid down on a patch of grass next to the railroad tracks near Jackson Square. The train woke up a few hours later; I was freezing cold and covered with dew. Not fun.

3. I invented the phrase "flash mob" which now appears in the Oxford English Dictionary.

4. I'm an Irish Citizen. And an American citizen.

5. You want embarrassing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq5uVI4DeP4

[thomas payne]

grew up with no heat and el? crazy stuff man. i'll have to come back and add my own 5 things... remind me.