Me Me MEME

I shudder at these things, but Junkie’s Wife has tagged me with a meme and out of respect, and guilt, I am finally getting around to complying with her request. I always think I’m an open book, that coming up with things that people don’t know will be difficult, but I guess there are things that are curious about my experience in life that make good fodder for amusement. So here goes:

The Rules:
1. Each player must post these rules first.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Here’s my list:

1. I used to be a member of the now defunct Screen Extras Guild. Being an extra used to be a union gig and I worked a lot and made pretty good money in my teens and 20’s. The most recognized bit I ever did was in the film Pretty in Pink where I threw Ducky (Jon Cryer) in the girl’s bathroom. If you happen to pull the movie off your shelf I’m the strawberry blond who follows Ducky out of the school and puts my hand on his shoulder to drag him back into the school.
2. In the same profession I worked for years on Knot’s Landing. The only time my picture was in People Magazine it was while working on that show.
3. I love Sunset Blvd. more than any other movie and can (and DO) quote it extensively. (‘Nonsense, there’s a room over the garage. I’ll have Max make it up for you.  Max?!’)
4. I rarely wear them but I love neckties. Like in an unhealthy way. I collect them. I usually sell the Hermes ones I come across. Apparently there are Hermes collectors out there who pay through the nose for vintage specimens. Even so I’ve hung on to over 100 ties, gorgeous ties. I love men in ties. I love ties as restraints. I have no idea how I got this fetish but that’s what it is. A fetish. Shoes are a close second. But nothing turns me on more than a great smelling guy in a beautiful suit and spectacular tie and beautiful shoes. It makes me forget my name.
5. I married a woman who my boyfriend had introduced me to. It was a catastrophe. I’ll explain in #7.
6. We owned a florist shop in West Hollywood, making me the only heterosexually married florist in West Hollywood.
7. My wife and I found out that we were pregnant and that she was HIV positive on the same day. Doctors recommended an abortion, and we took their advice. The burden of her illness and the grief I felt, not only about the abortion but of being HIV- was overwhelming. Two of my greatest regrets are the abortion and having freaked out and leaving her before her death. I often wonder how different my life would have been had I had the strength to see that through or if I had fathered a child; if I had even fallen into addiction. Active addiction for me began at that point in my life and I think it was fueled by grief.
8. I am a high school drop out. My stepfather threw me out of the house at the beginning of my senior year and I just couldn’t support myself and attend school. Most of my trying to be brilliant is just an effort to compensate for my insecurity about not finishing high school.

That might have been cooler if I were cooler but I’m afraid I’m a bit of a dork. Now finding people to pass this on too is going to be a bit tricky. I don’t imagine that many of us has the time to do this and I’m afraid our little circle is a bit incestuous. I think Junky’s Wife and Wayward Son may have already tagged everyone I know. But let’s try.

Synaptic Blue Which is not only well written and timely but has been very supportive to me.

Slice of Pink which I always find a cheerful break from grey.

Steel-eyed Vampires of Love provides me with a refreshing (liberal) look at my own region.

F-Words another local look at local liberal politics, food and feminism.

Over-the-Wall a dude in recovery who obviously ‘gets it.’

Brain Dead Genius who is well grounded in 12 step recovery. I want to be like him when I grow up.

Hemodynamics who I’m secretly crushing on because I want to take my shoes off and wade through his vast and shimmering mind.

And finally:

Miss Wishful who has written vociferously about crystal meth and it’s evils. She IS a good Samaritan.