Here’s my response to “Pistachio’s” post, published yesterday, challenging us all to a game of “meme tag.”

The instructions for this blogging exercise are...

● Republish these rules.
● Link to your original tagger(s) and list these rules in your post.
● Share seven (preferably not-well-known) facts about yourself in the post.
● Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
● Let them know they’ve been tagged.

The problem for me in playing this game is that I’m not sure what I could possibly disclose here that would be more revealing than stuff I’ve already written about. Plus, I’m pretty reluctant to actually “tag” somebody at the end. But, here goes anyway...

1. I had blond hair for the first few years of my life. I think I really was meant to be a California surfer dude, but things just never turned out that way since I was born in the Midwest. I moved to the Golden State way too late.

2. My first job was as a paperboy for the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram (I had a route in Rice Lake, Wisconsin). I absolutely hated the job during the dark, sub-zero mornings of northern Wisconsin winters. My second job was as a shelf-stocker and box-boy at a local grocery store. I still have the box cutter I was issued at that job.

3. My first “publication” was in the same Leader-Telegram, a letter to the editor, appearing on May 4, 1970...the same day as the massacre of four students at Kent State University. It was written to express my outrage over President Nixon’s decision to expand the Vietnam war with the invasion of Cambodia. Before graduating later that month, I boycotted classes and was part of the largest demonstration in the college’s (University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire) history. I wore an arm-band over my graduation gown in protest of the war.

4. I was married for ten years, in my twenties. We didn’t have kids, just two Siamese cats named “Jude” and “Jo-Jo.” I haven’t seen or talked to her in over 25 years.

5. I went to parties for a living for several years of my life...back in the late 70s and early 80s. Well, really, I was called an “event photographer,” but that just meant I went to fraternity and sorority functions all the time: sometimes every day of the week. Looking back, it was a pretty bizarre life (and lifestyle). In the end, I just never made it as a “starving artist.”

6. At age 37, I lived with a 23-year-old woman for about three months. The relationship fell apart quickly. At one point I mentioned “Woodstock.” She thought I was talking about a pizza joint.

7. A married woman half my age who lives in another state calls me her soul-mate. And vice versa. (No, it’s not Pistachio.)

8. While having breakfast at Noah’s Bagels this morning, I heard “Bubbly” by Colbie Caillat playing in the background. I just love this song. I almost always am on the verge of tears when I hear it. It’s just one of those emotional kind of tunes for me.

(Ooops! That makes eight!) Anyway: The End. (I’m not going to single out any other blogger(s) for this challenge. But, please, if you take me up on it because you’ve read this post, let me know!)

Soundtrack Suggestion

I’ve been awake for a while now
you’ve got me feelin like a child now
cause every time I see your bubbly face
I get the tinglies in a silly place

It starts in my toes
and I crinkle my nose
where ever it goes I always know
that you make me smile
please stay for a while now
just take your time
where ever you go

Where ever, where ever, where ever you go
Where ever, where ever, where ever you go
Where ever you go, I’ll always know
Cause you make me smile here, just for a while

(“Bubbly” – Colbie Caillat)