25 Things About Me

So I don't generally respond to "answer questions about yourself" type memes. The whole "Tag X number of people including the person who tagged you" thing is just a little too close to chain mail and threats of dire consequences if you don't pass it on for my liking. Normally I just hit the delete key or let them slide on by.

However, there's a "Post 25 things about yourself" thing doing the rounds on Facebook right now that seems to have taken on a life of its own and has apparently, even been mentioned in USA Today. So after spending a couple of weeks intending to ignore it if anyone tagged me, then another few days wondering if anyone was going to tag me, I received 3 requests over the weekend.

So what the heck, this time I decided to join in. And if you're interested, here are 25 things about me. (For the record, it was supposed to be "25 things you don't know about me", but if you've been reading The Gunsmoke Files for any length of time, you already know more about me than most people.)

Here we go then.

1. I've walked from one coast of England to the other, and cycled from one end of Britain to the other (Land’s End to John O’Groats). I’ve also hiked the Grand Canyon from rim-to-rim in one day, but despite having been in Colorado for 7 years, have yet to manage a 14’er. This year.

2. Quit my job at age 28, sold everything I owned and set off traveling around the world to seek my fame and fortune. I’m still looking.

3. Have a passion for spicy food. Put the toilet paper in the fridge the night before, and I’m set.

4. I’m a published author

5. Love movies, but rarely like what’s popular. If I had my way, it would be against the law for ex Saturday Night Live cast members to appear in front of a camera.

6. The only time I feel completely calm is when I’m on my bike.

7. I’m always writing. It may not make it onto a page, but it’s always going on in my head.

8. I bungee jumped at Skipper Canyon in New Zealand, at the time, the highest commercial bungee site in the world.

9. I’m getting back into photography and am learning to process my own film. Yes, film.

10. Once drank warm whisky and coke out of a can with a group of Australian aborigines on a beach at sunrise while we wondered how to get their truck out of the sand.

11. I’m a cop magnet while driving and have been pulled over literally dozens of times, only occasionally for a legitimate reason. When I was younger, my friends simply accepted the fact that when I was driving, we would get stopped by the police on some pretext or another. My most recent encounter was when a cop followed me for 3 1/2 miles, before pulling me over. I pointed out that I was perfectly aware she was behind me and had been doing 2mph below the speed limit the whole time. She gave me a ticket and said if my speedometer was faulty, that was my problem. My speedometer is fine.

12. Once played in goal for a soccer team that lost a game 26-0.

13. Completed 6 marathons

14. I suspect I’m the world’s worst gambler. I lose every...single...time.

15. Have hitchhiked or cycled around most of Western Europe.

16. Strongly believe the world would be a better place without mosquitoes, clowns or country music.

17. I’m an incredibly messy eater, particularly when wearing clean clothes. I don’t need a bib, so much as a drop cloth.

18. No two people in my immediate family have the same accent. Mine is an odd hybrid of Anglo-American.

19. I have a passionate love for the outdoors. Being forced to stay inside on a sunny day is the worst kind of torture.

20. I’m only a little over halfway through the items on my lifetime “to do” list. Need to get a move on.

21. I once lost about 50c during an evening playing Connect 4 with a Thai hooker

22. I’m a prolific reader. Having to wait somewhere without a book to pass the time is almost panic-inducing. As a last resort, I’ll even read the newspaper.

23. I’m trying to remove the word “hate” from my vocabulary as I believe it to be self-destructive. However, there are a very small number of public figures whom I despise with a passion.

24. I once spent 5 hours in an Emergency Room while 3 nurses tweezed gravel out of my skin following a bicycle accident. The head nurse said it was the worst injuries she’d seen on someone who hadn’t broken a bone. 20 years on, my spine is still jacked up.

25. Coming up with this list was harder than I expected. There are a number of things I’m just not prepared to share with anyone.