25 Random Things About Me

Ok, so if you’re on Facebook at all lately, you’ve probably seen these notes floating around.  The whole premise is, you get “tagged” by someone writing their 25 random things, then you gotta respond in kind with 25 of your own things, then tag 25 other people… so on and so forth.

I figured, in addition to posting them on FB, I’d also post them here on my blog, since I never seem to write much here anymore (something I’m trying to work on… but can’t promise anything at this moment).  I will say this will probably be a little (a lot) more verbose than a lot of the notes you read.  I can’t help that.  Just how it is.

Edit:  I wrote like 3500 words.  So sue me.  You don’t gotta read it…

So, here goes… 25 Random Things About Me.

1. I’m ambidextrous – meaning I write and eat with my left hand but I throw and play sports and everything else with my right hand.  I never really thought much of it as a kid until 1st grade when mom, bless her heart, bought me left-handed scissors to go in my pencil box.  Unfortunately, neither of us knew that I cut things with my right hand.  It took a long time of me feeling like a retard before figuring out the reason I couldn’t work the scissors was due to the scissors themselves, not me.  “Check marks” were something that threw me as well… the ones that go left just look goofy to me, so I make mine go right.  Despite the fact that it not the natural motion for a check mark.  Nowadays, it’s pretty cool that I can write and use a mouse at the same time.  FYI, our new lord and master Prez Obama writes with his left hand too…

2. I love to write.  Have since forever.  Which, of course, is why I started the blog.  In fact, I’ve had more than one person from high school tell me they still have a box of notes that I had written for them during class.  I believe I was quite the prolific note writer… probably giving out 8 or 10 for every one I got back.  Kept me occupied I suppose.  Of course, the modern extension of that would be a blog.  I wish I wrote a little more recently, as my posts have dropped off.  I directly blame Facebook for this.  Having that “status” updated regularly allows me to get out simple ideas that should probably be saved for full on blog posts.  I really gotta work better on that.

I use the ellipse “…” WAAAAAAAAAYY  too much.  My apologies.

In college, my paper writing style was as follows:  think about the topic, let it marinate in my brain until the night before it is due.  Once I’d get home from work at 11 or midnight, I would turn on some classical music and just core dump.  No outline.  No rough draft.  Just write.  Get finished maybe 3 or 4 in the morning.  Print.  Turn it in the next day.  That was it.  Never got less than a B on a paper ever.  There was one time in my senior year of college that the notoriously tough professor spent the day after a paper was turned in ripping the entire class about how bad the papers were.  I was sweating, because I didn’t love my paper I turned in.  I mean, this guy was brutal.  On and on about how we were seniors and it was an embarrassment to read these papers, so on and so forth.  I was prepared for the worst by the time he hands them back.  Only got a 98 on it.  The people sitting around me were pulling down 65’s and 71’s.  Too funny.

3. When I was a kid, I was always bummed that there were no famous people with the name “Jason”.  Except Jason Robards, who wasn’t exactly in a kid’s wheelhouse.  I was somewhat mollified by the fact that my name was in the dictionary… of “Jason and the Golden Fleece” fame.  Not a lot of my friends could say the same thing.  By the time more “Jason’s” hit the scene, I was pretty much over it.

I will say, it’s still kinda a bummer that there are no famous “Habermans”, really.  No sports figures.  No politicians.  No actors.  In that same vein, it kinda sucks that when I put my name into a sports video game, the play by play doesn’t have a sample of my name.  If I was “Adams” or “Smith” or “Jones” or any other of about 150 common names, they’d have it.  I’m not holding out hope they’ll throw a “Haberman” in there…   However, with the advent of the internet, I have found a number of other “Jason Haberman’s” out there which completely bakes my noodle.  I’ve never met a single Haberman that I wasn’t directly related too.  But to find multiple people with my exact name was crazy!

4. I love technology and gadgets.  Love them.  Spend a lot of time reading about them.  Covet having them.  The funny thing is, as much as I love it, I don’t buy much of it.  Yes, I do have an iPhone which is one of my favorite things ever.  But, that’s the exception.   Most of the time, I will research them endlessly.  Over and over and over.  Fantasize about them.  Think about what I’d do with them.  For months and months sometimes before I ever pull the trigger.  Often times, that trigger never gets pulled.   I’ve never owned a laptop.  I’ve never owned an iPod (until the iPhone).  Maybe I’m just cheap.  I dunno.

5. I hate moving residences.  Hate it.  It is officially probably my least favorite thing to do ever.  That being said, I’ve moved 10 separate times since I moved out of my parent’s house at 19.  TEN times!  More than that, I’ve never actually left the Boise area.  It boggles my mind to think about.  If I never see another moving box in my life, it’ll be too soon.

6. I don’t believe in the the time aspect of food.  Follow me here.  I can eat anything at any time.  I can eat a cheeseburger at 7 in the morning.  I can have link sausage at dinner.  Food is food to me.  When John and I would go camping, we’d eat hot dogs and nacho cheese Doritos for every meal.  Didn’t bother me a bit.  Cold pizza is the most perfect breakfast.  I think a lot of this stems from the fact that I hate eggs.  HATE them.  Thus, that vastly limits my breakfast options out there.  So, I’ll eat anything in the AM.

7. I really like to cook.  I think I’m kinda good at it.  However, I grew up and in many ways still am a picky eater.  This is a very difficult situation to be in sometimes.  There are a lot of things I just don’t like.  Thus, my cooking skills have gigantic gaps.  Ask me to scramble an egg and I’ll probably stand there looking at you with a dumb look on my face.  Dang.

8. In that vein, if I could have three wishes, they would be as followed.  a.) Fabulously wealthy, yet anonymous… fame is for suckers.  b.) Perfect health until the day I die for myself and my family.  and c.) I wish I liked every single food on the planet.  I would love to eat everything.  I really really want to, but I’ll try these things and I just can’t choke them down.  I don’t know why.  It sucks.

9. I’ve never tried a single illicit drug.  Not a one.  More than that, I’ve never smoked a single cigarette nor tried a single dip of chew.  I don’t consider myself a goodie-goodie or anything, its just that none of it ever interested me.  I have smoked a few cigars in my time.  I have had a LOT of booze (including that night of 17 shots of tequila in Mexico but that’s a story for another time)… so, pick your poison I suppose.  I do love me some cold beer or a vodka tonic.

10. I’m an introvert.  I love being alone and absolutely need that recharge time.  I never fully understood that fact until I was about 32, but it made perfect sense once I did.  In fact, I would be willing to bet that introversion and it’s missunderstandings (on both sides) cost me my first marriage.  Now that I’m aware of it, I make sure to do what I need to do to have the energy I need.  Life is so much better now.

In that same vein, I love to entertain, but can’t really relax when people are in my house.  I’m much better with activities than just sitting around.  I’m odd.

11. My idea of hell would be a gigantic cocktail party where I know absolutely no one and would be forced to make small talk for the rest of eternity.  Oh, that gives me the shivers just thinking about it.  I cannot describe how much I hate small talk.  I’d rather set my hair on fire than make small talk with a group of people I don’t know.  I think I suck at it, but maybe that’s just because I hate it so much.  I’ve been told I’m not bad at it, but it feels like I am.  I don’t even like it with people I know fairly well, like my co-workers.  I’ll bump into someone in the kitchen, and can never think of anything to say.  Mind goes absolutely blank, so I just keep my piehole shut.  If someone talks to me first, I’m fine.  I can hold a conversation.  But starting conversations is like needles in my face.  I really would like to be that wild, outgoing, Vince Vaughn type but it’s just not me.

12. I hate the songs “Old Time Rock and Roll” by Bob Seger and “She Shook Me All Night Long” by AC/DC.  I’d rather shove shards of glass covered with fire ants in my ears than listen to either of them again.

13. This one is something maybe only the guys will understand.  I take a weird sort of pride in being able to stride right up to a urinal and start peeing immediately.  Like, when you got some old guy who probably has a prostate the size of a grapefruit standing there struggling to get anything out, and I just pop right in next to him and go.  Even worse are the guys who get “stage fright” and just can’t go.  Poor bastards.  I get a small grin on my face when I walk up next to someone who’s been standing there since before I get there… I pee, shake, zip and go and he’s still standing there, praying for a drop.  God I’m weird.

14. If something becomes too popular, I am immediately turned off by it.  (see #12 above) TV shows, movies, music, popular fads, whatever.  If everyone is raving about it, I’m probably not going to watch/listen/partake.  Just the way I’m wired.  For example, I’ve never watched any of the Lord of the Rings movies.  No interest.  I’ve never seen a single episode of Lost, or Survivor, or 24 or Heroes.  It has nothing to do with the quality of said items at all.  I don’t know… I guess I just like being contrarian.   The only caveat to this rule is if I was on to something before it blew up.  Then it’s more of a case of the world finally recognizing how right I am.

15. I’m a huge animal, mainly dog, lover.  No… not that way, sicko…   I just love dogs.  I’m the guy when going to someone’s house who has one of those dogs that isn’t the friendliest to strange people, by the end of the evening, that dog will be letting me pet it.  “I’m amazed… he usually doesn’t like anyone!” they’ll exclaim.  Happens all the time.  Dogs just get me and I get them.  Of course, I can be the bad influence too.  If I’m at someone’s house who has a super friendly dog, I’ll just invite that 70 lb. Lab up into my lap.  I know he’s not allowed up there, but I just don’t care.

16. I’m really big on textures.  Textures really do have big influences on me.  I think perhaps a lot of my food dislikes are due more to the texture of the food in my mouth than the actual taste.  And yes… I shall now admit my deep dark secret here in this most public of forums.  I don’t care who knows any more.

It started when I was a little little kid.  On my blanket, mom would sew a little happy face or something using french knots.  I’m sure the first one was simply by fate.  Anyway, as I would sit there sucking my thumb on one hand, I would rub those little knobby knots with the other.  Don’t know how it started.  It just did.  Anyway, after the blanket and thumb went away it was years before there was another break through… this was an embroidered pillow case that mom put on my bed.  Just had a few flowers near the mouth of it.  Well, as I would fall asleep, I would rub those things.  It was just calming to me.  I always slept better when I had that pillow case on my bed.

Finally, Mom got smart (and grew tired of seeing the embroidery rubbed off the pillow case) and made me a high tech texture device.  This device is simply called “The Rubbie”.  No, I’m not proud of this.  But, it is what it is.  And what it is is roughly a square foot of material covered in french knots.  Simple in it’s design, specialized in it’s purpose,  effective in it’s results.  It helps calm me down.  It really helps me fall asleep.  Can’t explain why.  There have been years where I did not have one, but I long ago stopped trying to fight it.  Just embrace your weirdness and go with it.  In fact, I recently received a new one from Mom because the old one was way threadbare… like mostly holes I’d rubbed clean through the fabric.  The new one is great.  Works like a charm.

And I don’t care what you think about it.

17. I am fascinated by World War II.  It never ceases to interest me.  I love learning more about it.  I love pondering what might have happened if certain battles or events had gone the other way.  It’s easy for people today to look back and think, “oh… WWII isn’t important, we won it… move on.”  But, when you stop and think about the time when the war was very much in doubt… it blows my mind.   I love that I can always learn new things and hear new stories that I’ve never heard before.  I can’t wait until I travel to Europe and get to visit places like Normandy, Bastogne, and Berchtesgaden.

In fact, I’m a gigantic history buff in general.  Ever since my Western Civ class my Sophomore year of high school.  The teacher was awesome and really nourished the need for me to learn more about the history of people, places and things.  Love it.  And yes, it would anger me when the putzes in class would whine, “Do we have to know the dates??”… Yes you moron!  History is about dates!  Sheesh.

18. I really like science, but I hate math.  I was tutoring people in geometry, but algebra made exactly zero sense to me.  Calculus may as well be in Swahili.  On those standardized tests as a kid, I scored in like the 98th percentile on science, but 54th percentile in math.  Ugh.

19. I love all kinds of music, but have zero musical skills.  I took a few months of guitar lessons as a kid, but it just didn’t click for me.  I didn’t get it.  I would love to be a drummer and “air drum” when I’m listening to Motley Crue.   I get to live out some of these musician fantasies via Guitar Hero and Rock Band.  I have exceptionally broad musical tastes.  Everything…  pop, rock, rap, soul, reggae, opera, classical, disco, country, jazz, big band, marching band, R&B, alternative, 90’s, 80’s, 70’s 60’s.

20. I think I have a really good, yet undeveloped eye for photography.  I am admittedly a novice photographer, but I seem to see the world in terms of interesting photographs.  It’s difficult to explain.  I just see them everywhere.  Never had a single ounce of instruction.  I don’t know all the technical aspects of photography.  I just know I like to take pictures.  Especially beyond the ordinary family snapshots.  I really need to work on developing my talent here.  I might really have something.

21. Here’s a fun story from my childhood.  When I was about 10, we were having one of our innumerable kool-aid stands.  Such grand plans we had, but living where we did, we had exactly zero traffic in front of our house.  No matter… while the little sisters manned the stand (folding card table with 2 pitchers of kool-aid), the neighbor Scott and I jumpped on our bmx bikes to see if we could rustle up any business around the neighborhood.  Having not found any, we headed back to the stand.  Blazing along on our bikes, we got back home.  My plan was to ride close and slam on my breaks next to the stand, you know, freak out my little sister.  Unfortunately, things did not go according to plan.  As I rode up onto the sidewalk, my foot slipped off the pedal.  Anyone who had the old school bike will tell you, no feet on the pedals equals no brakes.  As such, I barreled full speed into the folding card table.  It was epic.  Great fountains of red kool-aid splashing into the air like  gysers.  Ever have one of those moments when you wish you could see a video of yourself?  This would be one of those times.  To add injury to insult, the front wheel was thrown to the side, which in turn swung the handlebars sharply towards me.  I came off of the seat, the momentum carrying me forward.  I’m sure you’re familiar with where the end of the handlebars point when the front wheel pointing due east… straight at… well, you know.  As the end of the grip burried deeply into my crotch, some… things… got pinched and… um… cut open.  Not horribly, but enough to scare the hell out of a 10 year old kid.  I’m sure I was quite a sight, heading into the house, stained pink head to toe and both hands grabbing my package.  I spent the rest of that afternoon on the couch with a bag of ice in my lap.

22. Some places I really really want to travel to (by no means a comphrensive list): Boston (Fenway), New York City, Washington DC (I need 3 weeks to soak in all the history here… Jess, bring some comfortable shoes), Chicago, Austin, Alaska, SEC football game, Dublin, London, Paris, Rome, Bavaria.

23. I have a mind that locks onto, absorbs, and maintains trivia.  I love trivia.  I love being asked questions.  I love playing trivial pursuit.  I remember some of the smallest tidbits I hear.  I can’t explain why.  Of course, I don’t think my recall is as sharp as it once was… age is starting to show it’s ugly face I think.   I use that same ability to memorize my favorite lines from movies and TV shows spout them frequently.  The funny thing is, at this point, I have distilled a lot of those lines down to their very essence… to the point where nobody recoginizes that they are even from a movie.  Often times, I forget where I picked up these lines until I end up seeing the movie again.

24. I will watch how absolutely anything is made.  It doesn’t matter.  You show me a show where they are making something, and I’m hooked.  Pencils.  Lawn Mowers.  Light bulbs.  Snickers bars.  Anything.  I think this dates back to watching Mr. Rogers as a kid when they would go to the magic screen and show how they make something.

Also, show me anything in super slow motion, and I’m watching.  God, I’m so simple.

25. I am absolutely in love with my life right now.  I can’t imagine it being any better.  I love my wife to death.  We’re living in our dream house.  My job kicks major ass and I love the people I work with.  Everyone is healthy and we’re financially stable (fingers crossed).  We have a tremendous group of old and new friends and lots of family and see them all often.  I think I am happier now than I have been my entire life.  Life is most definitely good.