5 Things About Myself That Others Find Lame

I was tagged by Ms. Laaw-yuhr at Adventures in Self Loathing to reveal five things about myself that I take pride in, but others may find lame.

I personally find it rather improbable that any aspect of myself could be judged as anything but nigh-perfect, but I'll indulge the whims of the lovely lady from DC.

1. I love facts and information. I love learning facts and information. I really enjoy sharing facts and information. Imagine dinner parties with me. "Didja know that they call Beaujolais 'Poor Man's Burgundy'?" or "After the fourth member of Wire left, they renamed themselves 'Wir'!" Perhaps this isn't lame, just annoying. I'll try again.

2. One of my favorite movies is Return of the Killer Tomatoes. Not because it's bad, but because I think it is brilliantly post-modern. A decent chunk of my sense of my humor comes from this movie (which stars a pre-Facts of Life George Clooney, and apparently contains a cameo from Gary Condit, presumably before he killed Chandra Levy). As far as I'm concerned, no movie can be considered bad if a mad scientist (played by John Astin, aka Gomez from the Adaams Family, utters this line, "I'm not mad, I'm just very angry!"

3. Instead of purchasing a couple of dress shirts for work today (which I needed), instead I bought two cigars, a bottle of Pernod, a bottle of Bulleit bourbon, and a six pack of PBR. I'm not expecting company, I'm not planning on drinking or smoking any cigars tonight, I just felt that today was the day to stock up.

4. I used to have my tongue pierced. I didn't do it for any reason in particular, and I took it out for even less of a reason. Many things in my life occur this way. My vegetarianism, for one. I just decided one day to do it, and I did. Reasons are for suckers, I think.

5. The front wheel on my bike was stolen last week. I found this hilarious for two reasons. First, the bike is 40 years old. Second, the wheel was bent to the extent that it needed to be replaced. So someone stole my ancient messed up front wheel. I find that really funny. What are they going to do with it?

I'm going to do a no-obligation tag for the following five people: Katrocket, McGone (even though he must be stopped), Splotchy, The Ambiguous Blob, and The Guv'ner. No one is required by law to follow through.

My new bike

This isn't my actual bike, just a pic of the same model/color. I've got a generator on mine with lights that work! Very excited about this.

I got it from Working Bikes, a co-op in Chicago. Here's the deal. Show up Wednesday or Saturday at noon. Better yet, get there at 11:45. If you are later than noon, there's only going to be girl's bikes left. When I went there with my friend, there was about ten or twelve people besides us waiting for the doors to open. Once they did, everyone ran in the place and started grabbing. It reminded me of being a kid, and going with my parent's to get a Cabbage Patch doll. Madness. I stepped inside the door, and it took me no more than ten seconds to find the one I wanted.

The bikes are refurbished older models, fixed up with parts from other, donated bikes. Got an old one sitting in your basement? Even one that's busted up? Bring it down. I was given a bike a couple of weeks ago by a friend that wasn't worth fixing up, according to the guys at the bike shop (who were being honest), but the guy at Working Bikes was pleased with it ("We can totally use this," he said).

It's down on Roosevelt and Western. Get there early, because all of the good ones go in twenty minutes.