When Someone Asks Me to Post, How Can I Refuse?

So Tera tagged me on her blog.



In case you don't want to read the picture, here are the rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.

3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.

4. Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

At first, I did not know what to say. So much about me is completely normal, sane, and unremarkable in every way. But, you know, I was TAGGED with an internet thing, so I might as well give it the ol' college try.

1. In my notebook, I have about two pages of Facebook statuses I plan on using to entertain my Facebook friends. Examples of statuses I have used include, "M. Robert would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling kids," and "M. Robert is sponsored by viewers like you."

2. When I was younger, I thought skin color/race could be transferred from person to person. It wasn't until after I started kindergarten that I realized I would not eventually get to be a cute little African-American kid. And, yes, I was sad about this.

3. I have a Texas accent that comes out when I drink or when I pronounce the word "nuclear." And yes, I do pronounce it the same way W. does. I have worked on this, but to no avail. I totally recognize this makes me sound like an idiot.

4. I memorized every line of The Muppet Movie when I was younger and my brother and I would perform huge chunks of the film for anyone's amusement with each of us acting out all the parts. I could probably still do the Doc Hopper French Fried Frog Legs jingle if you asked me to do so now.

5. I have never worked in the food service industry. I have done just about everything else, including retail sales, janitorial services, professional writing, hospital work, crude Flash animation, training videos, and house painting, but not food service.

6. The first professional author I ever met was William H. Armstrong, the man who wrote Sounder. He signed my copy of Sounder and wrote a nice little note in it for me. I was in second grade and did not appreciate the experience until I was much older.

7. Whenever I get tagged or sent something I have to perpetuate, I break the chain. And, yes, I have done this to poor Tera before.

Six Things Best Left Unsaid

If you read the comments of my last post, you will see that Tera tagged me with this blog meme thing where I'm supposed to tell six unspectacular things about myself. I don't do stuff like this, but Tera has been nice about commenting on the blog and appreciative of the comments I made on her blog, so why not?

Here are the rules:
1. link the person who tagged you.
2. mention the rules in your blog…
3. tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. tag 6 following bloggers by linking them. leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged

1. I am terrible with names. It is very difficult for me to remember someone's name when they tell it to me. Ironically, I am very good with the secret nicknames I give people, because "Mr. Mullet," "ABBA Love Child," and "Flunkybutt" are much easier for me to remember.

2. I took one year of German and switched to Latin (for two years) because I wanted to take a foreign language where I didn't have to actually speak the language in front of other people. I compulsively translate college mottoes from Latin whenever I see them.

3. I have a personal scale of "how much I've had to drink" based on stupid things I do. I know I've reached my limit when I start doing my Fat Albert impersonation, and I know I've had way too much when I want to karaoke (I am particularly fond of the song "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison). I know I am near an alcohol coma when I try to sing karaoke Ace of Base in my Fat Albert voice ("I saw the sign, hey hey hey!"). Once my mother told me she would like to get me drunk because that is the only time I really open up and talk.

4. I wouldn't really use the term afraid, but I am... uneasy about visiting the dentist. I am also... uneasy about visiting the barber. Something about sharp or pointy things near my head irritates me, I guess. I also got anxious/nervous and accidentally bit my dentist during my last visit and think she is secretly harboring a grudge against me.

5. When losing a game of chess, I have been known to yell "Earthquake!" and shake the board so all of the pieces get repositioned or fall over. I have also secretly wanted the Franklin Mint's Civil War Chess Set ever since I was a kid.

6. I love breaking chain letters and chain blog things just to see if anything bad really happens.