Tagged for Random Stuff

Sandra Ruttan tagged me for a "16 Random Things" meme. Why 16? I have no idea. So anyway, here you go...16 random things about me:

1. I'm not a native Mainer. I was born in Utica, New York and didn't move to Maine until 1983.

2. I've never been no Valentino, but I had a girl who lived in Reno. She left me for a trumpet player, but it didn't get me down.

3. My parents met at a mental institution. They both worked there, but still...

4. I figured out The Usual Suspects right away, but never caught on to the fact that the kid in The Sixth Sense was dead until that ohhhhh moment.

5. I learned to play The Simpsons theme on bass to impress my kids. And it didn't.

6. Twenty-two years into the relationship and I still have no frickin' idea what my wife sees in me.

7. The smell of Ivory soap makes me gag. That's because my mother used to make me eat it as a punishment. I don't mean getting your mouth washed out with soap for saying a dirty word or talking back. I mean eating the goddamn soap. She died 32 years ago, but I still can't stand that scent.

8. I flunked my senior year of high school and got my diploma through adult ed. a year later. So I guess was inevitable that I'd get a master's degree in creative writing.

9. When I was a little kid, the only thing I wanted to be other than a writer was a marine biologist.

10. I think William Gay is the greatest living American writer.

11. I started out writing fantasy and horror stories.

12. I hate soda.

13. Instead of writing, I played in the snow with my five year-old today.

14. I hitchhiked from Madison, Maine to Herkimer, New York when I was 17.

15. I'm hooked on Doctor Who. And Freema Agyeman.

16. I'm even more boring in person. Hard to believe, I know.

Well, that's it. Sixteen tidbits about me you were wetting your pants to know. As usual, I'm not going to tag anyone. Play along on your own blog if you want, or feel free to post your list here.

Extra points to anyone who names the author of the lyrics I rippped off in #2 (and no fair looking it up on The Google).

Memified

Patti Abbott tagged me for this meme and I decided to play along. The rules are simple:

1. List authors you read during 2008 who were new to you (that is, authors you read for the first time this year).

2. Bold those who were debut authors in 2008.

3. Tag some other people.

My list (and I may have to amend this as more come to mind) is as follows:

Christa Faust
Nega Mezlekia
Harry Crews
Allan Guthrie
John McFetridge
Wallace Stroby
Tom Piccirilli
James Reasoner
Benjamin Black
Tana French
Don Winslow
Karen Dionne
Tony Black
David Goodis
Leonardo Padura

I'm not one for tagging people. If you want to post your own list, that's cool. Just let me know so I can check it out. Or feel free to just comment here with a list. I'm good either way.

Meme Break

Sandra Ruttan tagged me for this “Meme about Various Things,” and I’m taking a few minutes to do it because she’s good people.

Here’s how it works:
1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What were you doing ten years ago?
I worked in a bookstore, pretended to be a poet and spent a lot of time showing off and/or bragging about my four month-old daughter.

What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?
I only have time for one thing today: finish the long-dragged-out revision of Bitter Water Blues so that it can be e-mailed to a certain eagerly waiting agent by Tuesday afternoon. Everything else has to wait. It’s tough because there is much work to do around here, and the day is perfect. The apple trees have blossomed, I’ve got a big ol’ jug of sun tea brewing on the porch, the wild strawberries are nearly ready and the lilacs will be in full bloom in just a couple more days.

What are some snacks you enjoy?
I like: popcorn; beef jerky; almost any fresh fruit; those bagels with onion, sesame seeds, the works; and carrot sticks (no, really).

What would you do if you were a billionaire?
That’s a whole lot of zeroes. It’s hard to wrap my head around the idea of any individual needing that much money, let alone possessing it. Then again, it might be nice not living paycheck-to-paycheck for once.

I would pay off the mortgage and my student loans, buy about twenty more acres, plant a big orchard, super-size the vegetable garden, buy more animals and put away enough money for us to live comfortably and to ensure that my girls could go to the best colleges. Oh, and I’d buy myself a new desk and a more comfortable chair.

Then I would create a park in town, set up a trust fund for our public library and donate the rest to conservation, humanitarian and social justice charities.

What are five places where you have lived?
Utica, New York
Herkimer, New York
Friendship, Maine
Hollywood, California
Madison, Maine

What are five jobs you have had?
Factory laborer, bookstore manager, freelance reporter, editorial assistant, shoe salesman.

What were the last five books you read?
Acacia by David Anthony Durham (currently reading)
A Hell of a Woman edited by Megan Abbott
Dark Passage by David Goodis
The Discoverers by Daniel J. Boorstin
The River Congo by Peter Forbath

What are five web sites you visit daily (in no particular order)?
Crimespot (and from there to several crime-writerly blogs), The Howling Curmudgeons, Obama for America, John Scalzi’s blog and the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association

Tag 5 People
This is the hard part. I don’t know many people well enough to feel comfortable tagging them, and I hate to keep tagging the same ones over and over. So I’m going to break the rules and not tag anyone this time. If you read this meme and feel like doing it yourself, cool. If not, that’s cool too. Just let me know if you post one.

Back to work.