Seems I’ve been tagged by chromatic to reveal five things you didn’t know about me.

First, image a circle. Actually, you’ll see two circles, but grab a magnifying glass. No, wait. Grab a microscope. Look at the circles very, very carefully and you’ll see that it’s actually three circles which almost, but not quite, overlap. It’s a Venn diagram. The three circles can be labeled “interesting things”, “things you don’t know about me” and “things I ain’t gonna tell ya”. The latter two are almost, but not quite, congruent.

I’m often pretty open about things people want to know, but of interesting things I’m willing to share that I haven’t already shared, it’s vanishingly small.

1. When I lived in Amsterdam, my two best friends were a couple named “Ann” and “Frank” (think “diary”).
2. When I lived in Texas, paramedics were once called to attend to a little boy, me, who had been hit by a car — while dressed as a clown, makeup and all.
3. When I was homeless in Hawaii, I used to scrounge for plates in the trash cans of a fast food restaurant which offered “all you can eat French toast breakfasts”. Then I would walk to the counter and ask for a “refill” of French toast.
4. While living in Alaska, I broke a toe while running down a mountain and then dropped a huge can on it the next day. It still hurts when the weather gets cold.
5. When I lived in the UK (now), I met a brother and sister for the first time (there are actually seven of us, two dead, and I only knew one while growing up).

Well, some folks know the last one, but I think that’s a reasonable list of things I’m willing to share.

Ack! Who do I tag now? I’ve plenty of ideas, but I think I’ll break the chain here. That’s seven years of bad luck for me!

Though if I were to tag anyone, it would be Adrian Howard, Bill Odom, brian d foy, Thomas Klausner, and someone who was already caught up in the chain of tags and was thoughtful enough not to say anything embarrassing regarding me, a going away gig, and excessive quantities of spirits.