Chris tagged me, fucker.

The rules of 'Blog Tagging' are simple:

First, write ten interesting facts about yourself, habits, personality traits, skills or just general oddities.

Then, at the end, choose ten people to be tagged. List their names and the reasons for tagging them.

Final rule: You cannot tag the person who tagged you!!!

1) I have played the guitar for about 13 years now, self taught. I don't even remember why I decided I wanted to play, I just one day decided I wanted one. About 2-3 weeks later my cousin sold me her beat up classical. His name was Arlo.

2) The first song I usually play when I pick up my acoustic is the intro to Plush by Stone Temple Pilots. My show off campfire song is Hot Stuff by Donna Summer, not so much for any technical prowess involved, but because I like to imagine that people think it's fun that I bothered to learn and perfect such an blatant example of a disco tune.

3) I'm really smart. Like scary smart. In third grade when they give you those placement tests, the cut off mark for being labelled gifted was 75%. I scored a 98. The child psychologist told my parents I had tremendous potential. My mom kind of laughed and said 'So what, she could be a rocket scientist if she wanted?" The lady stared at her and said 'Yes. That's exactly what I am saying."

4) I am not a rocket scientist. Nor do I have aspirations to become one. But I have spent the last three years nurturing a growing interest in sociology, and fancy myself a social constructionist (basically, I don't believe in anything) with marxist tendencies ( I DO believe in a ruling class :-P)

5) At the tender age of 11 I was involved in a go-carting incident. I got air. I had driven off before anyone could explain the concept of braking on a curve. Long story short, I crashed into the tires flying three feet into the air over the side of a three foot embankment, thus falling 6 feet through the air to the track below. I have never seen my dad run so fast in his life.

6) WHen I was 18 I got up one morning to go to the bathroom and collapsed in the doorway in pain and weakness. WHen my mother got me to the doctor it was discovered that not only did I have a ginormous blood clot in my left leg that stretched from my knee up into my abdomen, they also found that I had been bleeding from my bowels for about 4 months and that my hemoglobin count had dropped to 55, 10 point from when heart failure sets in. I was in hospital for a month, bedridden for three weeks of that time. To this day, though it still doesn't seem like a near death experience, because I never faced my mortality until after the fact when my mom told me that I was really close to dying.

7) I love road tripping. Since getting a car, I have been on two major ones, both by myself. In 2004 I travelled to Fort Frances On, going through Ontario on the way there, and coming back through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. THis summer past I went on a five day road trip, staying a night outside Ottawa at a friend of my sisters that she had met in Mexico, one night in a hostel in montreal, one night in a hotel in Quebec city, and one night at a friends in Oshawa. Each place I didn't know where I would be staying until I was there or close to there.

8) I'm prematurely grey. It started when I was nineteen, and to my chagrin I was told that my dad started at nineteen as well. He was completely grey by 35. I contemplate growing it out and rockin the Emmylou Harris look.

9) I have never bought a piece of furniture brand new. Everything in my apartment is either handed down, fire donation, or second hand/yard sale/buy and sell magazine fodder. The total cost of my furnishings is less than 500 dollars.

10) I recently took up painting. Other than one self portrait, the ideas I have had have all been inspired by books I've read or songs I know. I'd like to eventually do a series of dramatic scenes based on songs by the tragically hip.