Tag Teamed

Last week when I bestowed the vaunted “Kreativ Blogger” award on my pal Hoody, she, in turn, installed me into her “Royal Court.”  While I immensely appreciated the honor, my thought was that this was a “ceremonial” title at best.  I did not know that there would be homework.

So her post yesterday, she was “Tagged” and assigned some questions to answer.  She then reassigned the questions to we in her Royal Court.

As I’m new there, I do not want to fumble my first assignment so now that “I’m ‘It’” (by proxy) here are my answers to the “Tag, You’re It” questions.

1. Book or movie, and why?

I go with a combination of both.  When there’s a book/movie combination out there, my preference is to see the movie first and then read the book.  It’s common knowledge that the book is almost always better.  If I read the book first, I love the book and am then disappointed by the movie (once you notice all the things from the book that don’t make the cut.)  By seeing the movie first, I enjoy the movie and then enjoy the book even more, as it adds detail and fleshes things out.  Win/Win.

I did this most recently with “The Hunger Games.”  Just saw it last weekend, then immediately bought and read the book.  Of course, I bought the other two books of the trilogy as well and will read them first, despite my preference not to do so.  It’s even less appealing to wait another five years for them to make two more movies, just to see how things turn out

2. Real book or E-book?

Real book.  I don’t have an E-reader.  I might, someday, as real books go the way of LP records and cassettes (and CDs) but for the time being, I like the physical nature of a paper book.

3. Funniest thing you’ve done in the last 15 years?

Probably writing this blog, although granted, it’s kind of hit-or-miss.  But I’m more of a funny writer than a funny doer.  To me the funniest thing I’ve been involved with lately was writing the “seeing Hairy Harry marry Merry Mary Cherry Darrybarry” post from Tuesday.  I giggled my ass off at every mental run-through.

As for actual “doing?”  I’d have to go outside the 15-year parameter and cull through the stupid stunts of my youth… like falling down the steps at the Bowling Green Armory while trying to help carry out a keg, or showing up at the airport with my buddies to pick up a friend, while we were dressed in 3-piece suits and shorts in December, or dressing up in cowboy garb and riding a stick horse off a plane, when we went to visit that same buddy.

Closer to the 15-year frame, would probably be my speech to my record retailer’s RMs and DMs, where I bucked the order to keep is short and delivered all the funny shit I had planned.  But even so, that’s still pretty much about writing.

Of course, it just occurred to me that I actually have post titled “The Funniest Story Ever Written (by me).”  Perhaps that will suffice.  Long-time readers know this one.  You should too.

4. Do you put yourself in the books you read or movies you watch?

Not really, although sometimes I will allow myself the fantasy of “What if I went to Hogwarts,” or “What if I got to kiss Sandra Bullock while speeding away from a burning bus on an improvised skateboard?”  And like Hoody, sometimes I end up in the movies by way of dreams.  I’m sure the book would have been much better though.

5. How would your best friend describe you?

Wow.  Depends on the friend.  Like my buddy Rick (Chairman of Fuck Off) would describe me as desperately unfunny, because it’s been his mission since high school to never laugh at anything I say or do.  But for the most part, I think my friends would say that I’m there for them, (even if I live in another state).  When one of us sounds the alarm, the rest of us come running.

6. Favorite kind of car, and why?

I’m not really a “car guy” so I don’t have much of a basis to compare.  I haven’t driven all that many types, nor do I really worry about it.  I just want something comfy and reliable, with a good stereo.

7. Would your choice of party be a catered meal or a barbeque out back?

A catered meal of barbeque, out back.  I prefer the informality, love grilled food and if it’s catered, neither me nor my friends and family have to cook or clean up.

8. What is your favorite season and why?

Fall, hands down.  Love the colors, football and hockey start, and my birthday!

9. What important lessons have you learned?  Spiritual, educational and occupational?

Spiritual: You needn’t rely on church or religion to feel a sense of spirituality.  Each denomination fights for its own market share, often bypassing the message behind why they’re supposed to be there.  If there is a God, I prefer to reach him without a “middleman.”

Educational: Honors freshman courses in college, covering values and judgment.  They taught me how to think for myself and pick apart faulty arguments.  And of course, English Lit as a high school junior put me in the room with the best teacher I ever had, who taught me the value of non-conformity and (again) thinking for one’s self rather than running with the herd.  Life got much, much easier once I stopped giving a shit about what others thought of me.  It was there that I came up with one of my Book of Bluz lessons: “In trying to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one, least of all, yourself.”

Occupational: Never answer an email when angry or upset.  Write it then delete it.  Take a breath.  Let someone else read it first.  Unfortunately, I unleashed too many a flaming email that ended up burning my own ass, before I accepted this lesson.

10. Besides writing, what’s your favorite thing to do when you get some extra time?

That’s tough, because my life is built around nothing but extra time.  No kids to attend, no house to fix, just work and come home.  Writing this and reading your blogs is my life’s blood.  But eventually, I get all caught up and then I have to do something…

So I’d have to say, watching movies, going to ballgames and taking nature pictures.  There.

11. What’s the one place you can be found at least one time every week?

The deli and liquor store in my neighborhood, picking up the weekend’s libations for Pinky and me.  Mine is not a glamorous life.

So that’s that.  Hoody said that the rules are that she had to pass this on to 11 people, but she doesn’t follow the rules.  (And thus assigned it instead to the 28 members of her Royal Court.)  I don’t follow the rules either.  So feel free to answer these yourself, if you want.  Otherwise, don’t. 

Or you can simply put the idea in your vault until later… it’s an easy way to bang out a post when you need one…