3 posts tagged “meme”

{meme in which one takes the first line of the first post from each month and looks at it as a summary of the year. and is a little stunned at the results. NOTE: This blog didn't start until March so the first two months are from Comic Book Commentary.}

January: In the most glaring sign yet of how much my tastes have changed over the 3.5 years since I started reading comics again, compare my Best of 2004 choices to this year's stellar roundup (below).

February: I have a love-hate relationship with Black History Month, simultaneously appreciating the thought behind it while despising its continued necessity.

March: The need to express oneself in such a public manner is a peculiar trait, indeed.

April: It's somewhat fitting that the Don Imus fiasco blew up this week, but if the heightened awareness of the pervasive sexism and racism in this country is allowed to fade simply because MSNBC and CBS caved to the pressure and fired him -- not because it was the right thing to do, but because it was the fiscally prudent thing to do -- then it'd be akin to Jackie Robinson being the only black baseball player.

May: A 4BR detached house somewhere in the Bronx that my wife would be willing to live for at least another 5 years. (from an "If money were no object" wish list meme.)

June: The only thing cooler than handing out obligatory trophies to a group of kids who actually earned them, is having your son be one of those kids!

July: Keith Olbermann on Bush, Cheney: "Which is the ventriloquist and which is the dummy is now irrelevant."

August: It's somewhat ironic that on the same night I read a new poem entitled "On the 89th Day, I Quit", I end up drinking way more than usual.

September: Even though I've not been to work since Friday, August 24th, my vacation pretty much ended the minute we landed at JFK last Wednesday evening.

October: We trekked up to Lawrence Farms Orchards again on Saturday to have an apple-picking/pumpkin-picking/picnic party for India's 5th birthday and the unseasonably warm October weather was absolutely perfect for it!

November: It's Spindle's penultimate update before the official launch in January and it's the most eclectic mix of poetry, fiction, non-fiction and photography yet, including the debut of our first column, Mahogany Browne's Coffee & Brooklyn (C&B), and the latest Notable New Yorker interview, Ivan Brandon: Crime Comics Czar.

December: I refuse to become as emotionally invested in the presidential race this time around, largely because none of the candidates speak to me as strongly as Kucinich did back in 2004 when he represented an admittedly longshot at legitimate change. 

Let's make a meme-ory! If I had to choose 10 books to recommend to someone as representatives of my personal favorite reads, it'd look a little something like this (today, at least):

Fool on the Hill by Matt Ruff
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
La Perdida by Jessica Abel
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning by Jonathan Mahler
Men of Tomorrow by Gerard Jones
Pet Sematary by Stephen King
Unsettling America by Maria Mazziotti Gillan (editor)
When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago
When the Sacred Ginmill Closes by Lawrence Block
Where a Nickel Costs a Dime by Willie Perdomo

A little something for every taste there, from crime fiction, horror and [kinda literary] fantasy to autobiography and history (fictional and real, in both cases) to poetry and comics. Funny enough, though it's purposefully in alphabetical order, the list begins and ends with poetry, a metaphor for something, perhaps? (ETA: What's the metaphor for dropping the main title for one of the books you consider among your absolute favorites? D'oh!)

What are your Top 10 Must-Reads?

...the way I hate cheap beer. In the right setting, nothing beats a cold PBR in a can. Plus, I was tagged.

First the housekeeping. The rules of this meme are:
1. Let others know who tagged you.
2. Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
3. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
4. Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

And now, eight things:

1) My MOS in the Army was 63B1P, which means I was a light wheel vehicle mechanic/paratrooper, which means I jumped out of airplanes that weren't in any danger of crashing for an extra $110/month in my paycheck. I jumped a total of 17 times (including 5 times in airborne school) during my 2.5 years on active duty.

2) I spent the majority of my last year on active duty working as a parts clerk without officially reclassiying my MOS because I hated getting dirty. When I decided not to reenlist at the last minute, I was "punished" by being sent back to the motor pool floor to fix trucks.

3) English was consistently one of my worst subjects in high school, along with Social Studies. Math and Spanish were my best. Go figure.

4) Pretty much everything I'm "good" at is self-taught, including writing, marketing and being a father.

5) I've gone to three different colleges -- Miami-Dade Community College, Jersey City State College and Empire State University (online) -- between 1990 and 2005, dropping out mid-semester from two of them, and only have 40-something credits to show for it, all of which are from my second attempt. While it's not a priority, I still hope to one day get my degree.

6) I was in line for a scholarship to School of Visual Arts (for filmmaking) when I was a senior in high school, but passed it up to focus on being a Jehovah's Witness.

7) The only time I've been sure I was going to die was the night of my 28th birthday (1998), when I went a little overboard celebrating, left a club because I was unable to catch my breath, puked my guts out on Houston Street, and spent the long train ride home (to the Bronx, where I'd just moved back after an 18-year absence) desperately trying to stay awake so I could die in my bed. By the time I got there, I was ready to go, convinced that was how it was supposed to happen and that it made perfect sense.

8) The only time a Ouija Board ever worked for me -- in 1991, while in the Army -- it reluctantly described in graphic detail the end of the world (quoting scriptures from Revelations that neither of us on the board knew by heart), said it would happen in 2014 and that I wouldn't live to see it but my kids would.

Tag: I'm not even sure who reads this blog so if you've gotten this far, consider yourself tagged!