I was inspired by a post on Sister Toldjah's blog titled, "A few things you didn’t know about your blog hostess," so I wrote my own list of facts that very few people outside of my sister Neddie are even aware of.
Someday this will make it in to the "About" section on the site, but for now...it is where it is.
1. I had an appendectomy at 26 days old. (When I was born, I had twisted intestines and the doctor decided to take the appendix while they were there. The problem was, my appendix was on the wrong side.)
2. According to my Mother, I was reading from the newspaper when I was three years old.
3. In the third grade, I was given an IQ test and scored a 135. I was also reading at an eighth grade level at that point.
4. I was once on a local kids show here in Manchester, NH which was broadcast on WMUR. It was called "The Uncle Gus Show," and was hosted by Gus Bernier who was also the station's weatherman. It was shot in a cramped studio and we watched a lot of Popeye cartoons. I was picked out of the audience to unscramble a word. The word was "about." My prize for guessing correctly? A bag of Skittles.
5. My first Red Sox game was a night game against the New York Yankees during the 1975 season. I went with a friend of the family and our seats were on the third base side. I was convinced that Jim Rice could hear me but I was nowhere near the field. I'm pretty sure the Sox lost that night, but I do remember the highlight of my evening being the Hood Sports Bar I had for dessert.
6. I've been involved in theatre in one form or another most of my life. It started when I was in the seventh grade and was talked into auditioning for a show by my school's choral director. The show was "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" and I was (type)cast in the lead.
7. My older brother John was responsible for my being a Trekkie--and it's only because we used to fight about what we watched at 6:00pm. I wanted to watch "The Six Million Dollar Man," and he wanted to watch "Star Trek." He was older than I was so he pretty much always won. I used to complain but I grew to love Trek. When "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" came out in 1979, he took me to a matinee showing and I fell asleep. I hear I'm not the only one.
8. The first 45 RPM record I ever bought with my own money was "Night Fever" by the Bee Gees. The first LP I ever bought was "Glass Houses" by Billy Joel.
9. My first car was a 1974 Ford Pinto Station Wagon with a GIANT hole in the floor on the passenger side and a faulty ignition. My Father wired the ignition through the reset switch that used to be inside the hoods of all Fords (on the right hand side) and as a result it started every single time. As far as the hole in the floor, it was usually covered with a cardboard box and had a rubber mat over it. Driving home school on rainy days, I'd downshift through a puddle and my poor little sister would get soaked. I didn't do it on purpose...the first time. ;)
10. I couldn't get a date to my prom and, in fact, I never dated while I was in high school. I went on my first real date when I was 20 years old.
11. I was always the kid who was picked on and the last kid picked in gym class because I was overweight. That didn't stop me from nailing the school jock in dodgeball, though. I paid for it after class, but...damn...it felt good to hear that "ptoiinnngggg" of the dodgeball when it hit him right in the chest.
12. German Shepherds terrify me. I was attacked by one as a young child and almost choked to death. The dog had knocked me down and had wound the lead it was on around my neck. The more I moved, the tighter it gog. The last thing I remember seeing before I blacked out was my Father jumping off the back stairs and running out to get me. The dog was given away the next day.
13. I wanted to run for the U.S. House of Representatives back when I was still idealistic and naive and thought that politics was about doing what's right and not about money. (I soon wised up.)
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com
