I really hate the word “meme.” It’s so abstract and academic that you would think it couldn’t be any fun at all. But this is the term that’s used to describe these amusing games of tag that go around among bloggers where you answer questions about yourself and then choose others to do the same.

Ann Handley of the Marketing Profs Daily Fix blog (if you haven’t checked it out yet, you really should – it’s a great community of marketers) tagged me for the latest blogger meme, in which I must share five things you didn’t know about me. I usually balk at sharing these kinds of things (there’s a REASON I have kept them hidden), but since she gave me such a nice compliment, here goes:

1. I can touch my tongue to my nose. Not a very useful talent, but my mom’s cousin is the only other person I’ve met who can do it too.
2. My Daddy wrestled alligators as a boy growing up in Miami, raced cars and boats, and worked in the Dolphinarium assisting the vets with the sea mammals. My great great grand uncle (or something like that) on his side was Jim Younger of the Younger Brothers, who rode in Jesse James’ gang.
3. I sued the Girl Scouts (and won) when I was about 8. It’s a long story, but basically had to do with negligence on their part when I got third degree burns covering my leg at a Girl Scout overnight camp. I had the same burn doctor as Richard Pryor. Got the payout when I turned 18, went on a nice trip to Europe and bought a car. Amazingly, they did not put me on their blacklist for life and let my daughter sign up to be a Brownie.
4. I wanted to be a doctor all throughout high school and was pre-med in college (until I discovered that with public health I could reach more people and prevent medical problems from starting in the first place). When I was 16, I spent the summer with my uncle and aunt in Atlanta and worked at a medical clinic where my uncle’s friend was a doctor. An ER doc there took me under his wing and taught me all kinds of things like how EKGs work, how to stitch up a cut, how to take a blood pressure, and he let me try drawing blood on him (he was amazingly brave, especially when I accidentally squirted him with his own blood from the syringe).
5. I have a very strange range of musical tastes. Though the first record I ever bought with my own money was “Donny and Marie’s Greatest Hits,” once I discovered Rush and Pink Floyd I became a closet rocker (none of my friends at the time listened to anything but top 40 and new wave). But my music collection includes everything from Air Supply to Judas Priest to Beethoven (the second movement of the 7th symphony makes me cry every time!) to Ella Fitzgerald to Hank Williams Jr. to Duran Duran to the Bobs to Pearl Jam to Beck and pretty much everything in between.

So there you have it. I have opened the vault. Now it’s time to pass on the fun. I am tagging:

1. Beth Kanter – because she shares so much knowledge, but I don’t know that much about her
2. Katya Andresen – because her blog is fun to read, and she seems to have done a lot of interesting things in the past
3. John Anderton – because I keep learning fascinating tidbits about him, and I’m sure he has much more he hasn’t revealed (besides, he’s just getting his new blog off the ground and needs a little push to post)
4. Toby Bloomberg – because I would like to get to know her better
5. Craig Lefebvre – because he’s the one who got me started in blogging

Tag – you’re it!

photo credit: Margie Mueller
(Isn’t this a great picture? I love the negative space between the two shadows – it looks like an upside-down woman throwing her head back laughing.)

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