I was tagged thrice on Twitter by @mmWine, @hieronymus and @kionee with the latest meme, which evidently is blogging about six things people might not otherwise know about you. Thinking about what to write has been tougher than I would’ve thought really, since I’m not sure what might be considered interesting or funny or whatever other adjective you want to throw in there. Well, here goes…
Oh but first, the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.
1. I haven’t been sailing since I was 10. Used to like it a lot, in fact I have many fond memories of sailing with my dad as a kid during the summers and playing ball tag in my uncle’s Sunfish on the pond. All those fond memories changed to a fear of sailing when my dad bought a Catamaran. Why? Well because he had just recently begun sailing it, and apparently wasn’t aware of how it actually worked and the fact that it usually takes two to really do it well. We ended up capsizing, and I was on the highest pontoon about 10 feet above the water. Naturally I wouldn’t have actually been hurt, but being that I was fairly small and it was pretty high, I was scared to death. That was the last time I was ever on a sailboat.
2. I have been to Europe a few times. Once, when I was 10, I spent a summer in Denmark with the family of an exchange student that we’d had for the previous summer. When he went back home, his family invited me to come with him and stay there for a bit. That was very fun, and I actually learned some about their culture and language and such. I remember buying a “Berlitz Danish for Travelers” book a day or two before my flight, and stayed up all night before it to read. My mother came into my room when she saw my light still on. When she asked what I was doing up, I explained that I was trying to finish the book, and I was really concerned that I might not be able to memorize the entire thing before my trip that afternoon. 
She still tells that story to this day. I went to Spain when I was 12, spent a week in Barcelona and got to stay in and eat at (briefly) the Olympic village. This was 1992. My dad for a time was the head coach for the US Blind Cycling team for the Paralympics, which are held after the Olympics in the same venues and such. Since he was involved with the team, he got to stay at the Olympic village and my mother and I accompanied him as much as we could. That was a pretty interesting experience. I also took a trip to Italy in 1996 and visited Rome, Florence and Venice.
3. I’m a fairly quiet person, and tend to keep to myself a lot. I come from a fairly large family, have a lot of aunts, uncles and cousins. Whenever we have get-togethers it can be a little bit overwhelming to any outside guests who might attend. Despite most of my family being pretty outgoing and social folks, I don’t really think that I am so much. Once I get to know people, or one-on-one I tend to open up a bit more, but in groups I rarely find myself the center of attention, and sometimes shy away a bit if I am. That probably stems from #4.
4. I was born 13 weeks premature, and spent the first few months of my life in the hospital due to various complications. I had a bone infection in my right hip, which spread to my eyes and is the reason I now need to wear glasses (well, I say “now”, I’ve had to wear glasses since I was 1). It also caused some scarring in my left retina, so as a result I can’t see very well out of that eye. Since my hip was somewhat fragile, I wasn’t able to play any contact sports as a kid for fear that it could be dislocated or something. Thus, I was never a football jock or a hockey player or anything like that. I also couldn’t play anything with projectiles really (I’m talking team sports here) for fear of damaging my one “good” eye. So, no baseball or tennis, either. What did I do as a kid then? Well, I was heavily into bike riding, rode pretty much every day during all my summers growing up, probably put in several thousand miles overall. I was also into golf (still am), karate and bowling. Due to all this, I never got into the whole team sports socializing mentality that a lot of kids did, and because I wore glasses and all that I never really thought I fit in much, so I tended to be quieter and keep to myself a lot. I’ve gotten better with that as I’ve gotten older, though it still sometimes crops up.
5. For some reason that I’ve never really figured out, I like office supplies, pens in particular, and I could spend several hours (possibly) browsing the aisles. Not quite as much as I like browsing electronics (ie, computer and tech) stores, but it’s close. I remember using a Parker rollerball pen in 3rd grade actually, which ended up failing pretty miserably and getting ink splotches all over my papers. Not cool.
6. I’ve always liked the idea of going on a cross-country road trip. Something about the freedom of the open road and all that calls to mind. That’s naturally gotten harder to think of actually doing, especially now that I have a daughter and with the price of gas being much more than it used to be. Still though, it’s something I’d like to do at some point. Maybe I will.
So with that out of the way, I’m going to go ahead and say to @scottypboston, @dieinafire, @jimmyp23, @revmem, @jacklhasa, @l_eau… TAG!! You’re it!