Monday, August 06, 2007

Tagged

I have been tagged by Nate to come up with eight things about myself. So here goes:

1. I had a pet turtle for twenty-years. Well, it started as my brother’s turtle, and I sort of inherited it (not that my brother died, he just moved into an apartment that was too drafty for proper reptile care). It was an Asian box turtle (sometimes referred to as Malaysian Box Turtle). I loved that turtle.
2. I once worked for a syndicated court TV show (like Judge Judy, only less successful). My job was to read the dockets of local small claims courts, searching for cases that would make good television. I am not proud of this, but it did help me get through graduate school, at least for the few months that it lasted. I also learned something about the power of television through this job. For the most part the judges I encountered during this job hated me, something about ruining the sanctity of the judicial process, but the clerks and other people I encountered were utterly fascinated; they saw me as link to the glowing world of television.
3. I am somewhat obsessed with monkeys, and I consider the day I spent watching howler monkeys in the jungles of Guatemala to be one of my fondest memories.
4. I have a brother who is an artist and a musician. I do not know what horrible karmic wrong my parents did to get a philosophy professor and an artist/musician for sons, but they have dealt with it well. (I should link to my brother’s band or art site here, but it would violate my commitment to anonymity, sorry about that.)
5. I am quite fond of the peanut, in all of its forms, peanut butter, peanut sauce, peanut butter cups, etc.
6. (as a belated response to Steven Shaviro) Aside from the brilliant teachers I have had, my pedagogical role model is Rupert Giles, simultaneously bookish and cool.
7. I once killed a man just for snoring too loud.
8. One of these is not true.

I am also supposed to tag others, and promise them good luck if they comply. Well I am less comfortable about this part. I do not want to threaten anyone with bad luck, or dabble in mystic forces that I do not comprehend (see #6), but I will say that if you are a frequent or occasional visitor to this site, you should consider coming up with your own eight things.

3 comments:

Steven Shaviro said...

I don't do memes.

But yes, I pretty much go for Rupert Giles too.

I was born 42 days after Anthony Stewart Head, and 4 days before Jackie Chan. So being between the two of them is how I define my place in the world.

Nate said...

What was the turtle's name? I understand if you don't want to answer for reasons of anonymity.

What's your favorite kind of primate? I like the big ones. An ape at Lincoln Park Zoo punched the glass by my face on two different occasions, which was scary. Last time I was at the zoo I saw a clear example of younger sibling pestering older sibling. It was the organgutans (sp?), one has hiding under a broken plastic kiddie pool and trying to make the other play too.

Have you see the Buffy Season 8 comic?

unemployed negativity said...

The turtle's name was Toby. It started as my brother's turtle. I had originally named my turtle (which died after a few years) Mac, after the anarchist turtle from Dr. Seuss's "Yertle the Turtle."

I like all of the great apes, but I have never met a primate I did not like (except some humans).

Yes, I have seen the comic, which is quite good.