A bit of viral fun swept through my batch of Facebook friends this week: You’d write a note entitled “16 Random Things About Me,” in which you’d list, you know, 16 random things about yourself. And you’d “tag” 16 friends in the note, and they were supposed to write a note of their own.
I was tagged, so I complied. And I took it quite seriously. And then another person wrote a list… and another person… and another… and so on. I learned an awful lot about my friends: funny things, sad things, interesting things. Fears, regrets, passions.
So then I wrote a second list, which I now present to you.
1. At age 11, I decided to switch from being right-handed to being left-handed.
2. I am allergic to my own skin, requiring me to be covered in baby lotion at all times.
3. I was born on the International Date Line, so each year when my birthday arrives, it is already over.
4. I met my first wife, Katerina, by calling an international date line.
5. I love, love, love donuts, but I absolutely cannot stand doughnuts.
6. As a little kid, I desperately wanted an iguana. Each year at the holidays I’d say, “All I want is an iguana.” Each time my mom or dad came home from the store holding a bag, I’d ask, “Is there an iguana in there? Because that is the only thing I ever wanted.” And finally, finally, finally, as a gift, I was given… an iguana. I looked at it—the green skin, the long tail, the beady eyes–and realized that all along, I’d been thinking about a Rubik’s Cube.
7. I have used the same piece of dental floss since junior high.
8. On a business trip to Tucson in the late 90s, I killed a drifter with my bare hands and did not report it to the authorities.
9. In college, my junior year, some colleagues and I were in the lab, literally moments away from finalizing a cure for lupus, when somebody suggested heading out to the Quad and kicking around a hackysack instead.
10. My middle name is Cheech.
11. I have not once typed the word… you know what, I still can’t do it, it’s just too painful.
12. At age 15, I made it to the state fencing championship, but was disqualified for competing pantsless.
13. For six years while a full-time magazine editor, I’d sit at my office desk and make telemarketing calls for the Police Athletic League.
14. I’d been going to the movies all my life but it wasn’t until age 32 that I realized, if you go around that first corner, there are rows and rows of seats, and a really big screen.
15. My first car was a 2002 Chevy Blazer, which I bought in 1996.
16. Before I die, I want to climb Kilimanjaro, swim the Channel, dance with pygmies, develop cataracts, experience hearing loss, resent young people, and ask if there’s a draft in here.
Jack Silbert, curator