It’s been a while – but it’s time for another of Red’s memes.
1.ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT?
Right above my right eye. I was two years old and standing in the back seat of the car (this was long before car seats) of a ’59 Buick when Mom slammed on the brakes. I went fliying over the passenger-side seat (this was before seats locked into place) and did a face-plant into the glove box (this was before dashboards were padded). I got a bunch of stitches. The scar’s still there. Twenty years to the day later, I had another head injury – I smacked myself in the forehead with a rifle scope because like a moron I didn’t brace the stock against my shoulder. Six more stitches.
2. WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR ROOM?
Pictures of the kids, and some hand-prints and hand-casts they made when they were little.
3. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN?
3:18PM. I think there was a snowstorm underway although – this is important – I’m getting this second-hand.
4. WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW?
A few of the typical (and not-so-typical) teenage difficulties to just abate..
5. WHAT DO YOU MISS?
Playing music I wrote in a band in front of a crowd in a bar.
6. WHAT IS YOUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSION?
Hard to choose; my guitars, or a little pocketwatch my son bought me at a flea market that says “Dad” on the case.
7. HOW TALL ARE YOU?
Just a hair shy of 6’5.
8. DO YOU GET SCARED IN THE DAY?
Not “Scared”, per se. Just anxious. I’m kinda a worrier.
9. WHAT’S YOUR WORST FEAR?
Outliving my kids.
10. WHAT KIND OF HAIR COLOR DO YOU LIKE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Red – especially the dark auburn/copper kind of thing.
11. WHAT ABOUT EYE COLOR?
Maybe this makes me an insensitive philistine, but I rarely notice eyes until I’ve known someone for a while. Except for my kids.
12. COFFEE OR ENERGY DRINK?
Please. Coffee. “Energy drinks” taste like tutti-frutti battery acid, and they all make me feel ill.
13. FAVORITE PIZZA TOPPING?
Margarita style – tomato, olive oil, basil, onion, oregano, and just a dash of really good mozzarella.
14. IF YOU COULD EAT ANYTHING RIGHT NOW, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I have a total jones for Bun Heo Nuong – Vietnamese char-grilled porkcops with rice noodles – right about now.
15. FAVORITE COLOR OF ALL TIME?
Green. It makes me relaxed and happy.
16. HAVE YOU EVER EATEN A GOLDFISH?
Nope. I couldn’t bear to do that. I empathize too much.
17. WHAT WAS THE FIRST MEANINGFUL GIFT YOU EVER RECEIVED?
I don’t know that I can pick a first. I know that my parents gave me a watch when I turned 16 that meant a lot to me.
18. DO YOU HAVE A CRUSH?
You could say that.
19. FAVORITE CLOTHING BRAND?
Dude. I’m a straight guy. I’m lucky if I remember store names, much less brands.
20. WHAT KIND OF CAR DO YOU WANT?
I’d go for a Jeep CJ5.
21. WOULD YOU FALL IN LOVE KNOWING THAT THE PERSON IS LEAVING?
I’ve fallen in love under dumber circumstances…
22. HAVE YOU BEEN OUT OF THE USA?
Yes.
23. YOUR WEAKNESSES?
Appeals to sentiment (especially from the kids). The siren song of a hot bright day and an open bike trail. A gorgeous hook. Collarbones.
24. MET ANYONE FAMOUS?
Many, many of them. It’s from having been a talk show producer 20 years ago, being a disc jockey, hanging around the Minneapolis music scene, and my blogging/talk hosting today. It’s’ turning into quite a list; just free-associating, I’ve met President Bush, Ricky Skaggs, Jean-Pierre Hallet, Janet Jackson, Prince, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Paul Westerberg, Bob and Tommy Stinson, Chris Mars, Bob Mould/Grant Hart/Greg Norton, Chris Osgood, Ingrid Chavez, Garrison Keillor, Courtney Love, Kat Bjelland, Peter Garrett, Andy Partridge, Timothy Leary, Meier Kahane, Shadoe Stevens, David Pirner, Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa, the surviving members (as of 1986) of Badfinger, Mark Brzezicki, Daryl Strawberry, Mark Farner, Wendy O. Williams, LeeLee Sobieski, Ron Wood, John Prine, John Lott, Jimmy Dean, Debbie Gibson, Emmylou Harris, Curt Sliwa, Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Jack Buck, Tommy Kramer, Jeff Osborne, Herb Brooks, Herb Carneal, Arne Carlson, and of course (duh) Laura Ingraham, Bill Bennett, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt, Rusty Humphreys, Ed Schultz, Tim Pawlenty, Jesse Ventura, Norm Coleman, and most of Minnesota’s congressional delegation. If you count phone interviews, you could add Duke Cunningham, Ann Coulter, Bob Costas, Roy Firestone, Rich Lowrey, Michael Ledeen, Mitt Romney, Ken Mehlman, Michelle Malkin, and a slew of authors, bloggers and pundits.
25. FIRST JOB?
Other than a paper route for the Jamestown Sun, it woulda been my gig at KEYJ Radio when I was 16.
26. EVER DONE A PRANK CALL?
Not with a stranger. With friends, many. Not sure, but I’m uncomfortable doing them; I always think people will make out my voice.
27. DO YOU THINK EVERYONE OUT THERE HAS A SOUL MATE?
I do not believe in soulmates. .
28. WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU FILLED THIS OUT?
Waiting for my kids to come home from the rec center.
29. HAVE YOU EVER HAD SURGERY?
Twice; an abdominal thing when I was two, and a badly-broken hand when I was 26.
30. WHAT DO YOU GET COMPLIMENTED ABOUT MOST?
My sense of humor, my skill at my day job, my blog. No, really.
31. WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY?
24 hours where nobody knows where or how to find me.
32. HOW MANY KIDS DO YOU WANT?
Right now? Two fewer than I have.
I’m a kidder. I kid.
No, two is two more than I, or anyone I ever grew up with, figured I’d ever have.
33. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Family legend has it I was named after the Mitchell (South Dakota) Corn Palace.
34. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST TURN OFF WITH THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Women who can’t hold up their end of a consversation.
35. WHAT IS ONE THING YOU MISS ABOUT GRADE SCHOOL?
The sense that the world was a big puzzle just dying to get solved.
36. WHAT KIND OF SHAMPOO DO YOU USE?
“I cried because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet”.
37. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
My handwriting is inscrutable. People think I’m writing Arabic.
38. ANY BAD HABITS?
So many. Twisting my hair. Chewing my fingernails and toenails. Drumming my fingers (in incredibly complex polyrhythms; my jazz technique is most advanced on the drumming finger). I’m like the Keith Moon or Dave Brubek Gene Krupa of finger-drumming.
39. ARE YOU A JEALOUS PERSON?
Not as a rule. If I’m jealous, something’s very wrong.
40. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Whatever my many other faults, I’m generally a good friend. Stress and overwork has led me to let some connections lapse that I regret – but I do my best.
41. DO YOU AGREE WITH FRIENDS WIH BENEFITS?
“Agree?” Well, I don’t think it works often; someone almost always gets their heart broken, eventually.
42. HOW DO YOU RELEASE ANGER?
Chopping wood. A couple hours at the range. Playing the electric guitar. Going to Karaoke nght and singing Clash and Pistols songs.
43. WHAT’S YOUR MAIN GOAL IN LIFE?
Drive my enemies before me and hear the lamentation of his women.
No, really – raise kids who aren’t too f***ed up. Hopefully. There’s a ways to go.
44. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A CHILD?
Don’t think I had one. I had a few that I enjoyed. Lincoln Logs rocked.
45. HOW MANY NUMBERS ARE IN YOUR CELL PHONE?
I counted; 87. My cell phone is also pretty much my PDA. Not that it’s like designed for that, like a Blackberry or an IPhone; it’s one of those ultra-cheepo “Marbl” phones from Virgin Mobile. But I keep every number in my life in there.
46. WERE YOU A FAN OF BARNEY AS A LITTLE KID?
I was a fan of Barney when I was 29. When Bun was a baby, her mom worked days and I worked nights and stayed home with the baby. “Barney” was two half-hours a day where I could relax, go to the bathroom, make a sandwich, whatever; Bun was always completely rapt. I used to roll my eyes at my hYpStr friends who ragged on Barney; you bobbleheads have no idea.
47. MASHED POTATOES OR MACARONI AND CHEESE?
Potatoes by a nose. With lots of garlic. (For that matter, I put garlic in my Mac and Cheez, too).
48. DO YOU HAVE ALL YOUR FINGERS AND TOES?
Close call, but…yes.
49. DO YOU HAVE A COMPUTER IN YOUR ROOM?
Nope. Gotta draw the line somewhere.
50. PLANS FOR TONIGHT?
Good question!
51. WHAT’S THE FASTEST YOU’VE EVER GONE IN A CAR?
135-140 or so. The fastest I’ve ever driven was maybe 110.
52. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO?
I have ITunes on Shuffle. Right now – “Sign O The Times”, Prince.
53. LAST THING YOU DRANK?
I had a beer or two at Flash‘s garage the other night.
54. REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT?
Center-right libertarian-conservative first and foremost. That makes me a Republican, although I’ve left the party in the past. My litmus tests are defense, taxes, government intervention, constitutional originalism, civil liberties and spending. I summed up what I believe pretty well over here.
55. DO YOU HAVE A LOW SELF ESTEEM OR A HIGH SELF ESTEEM?
Somewhere in the middle.
I have a decent sense of myself. But like a lot of people from the rural midwest, I grew up with a bit of an inferiority complex; “knowing your place” is such a big part of rural Scandinavian culture. I never subscribed to it, so I went out into the world with a huuuge chip on my shoulder about it. It’s faded a lot since I was in my twenties – getting sorta established with ones’ life and having, frankly, bigger things to worry about will do that – but there’s still a little bit of it in there still. Being from the rural great plains and going to an obscure little college to some people translates to “dumb rube”. And that impression – real or imagined – motivated me with an intensity that scares me today, looking back. I have never lost a competition that mattered – for a job, a contract, a promotion, whatever – to an Ivy Leaguer, to a New Yorker, to a person with the “right credentials”, to anyone who has ever discounted or underestimated me because of my background, my “credentials”, my alma mater or gender or anything else. Whatever I lack in “credentials” or innate intelligence, I make up for in hard work, selective callousness (I’m usually a pretty warm person, but not when this pathology is in play) and, frankly, that kind of monomania that comes from letting the chip on your shoulder turn into that sort of deep-down simmering rage that warms your tummy on cold days, and sustains you when you really need food or sleep.
But I’m better now.
56. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?
Right now, a how-to book on ocean sailing boats.
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