First, THE RULES:
1. All right, here are the rules.
2. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
3. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
4. People who are tagged write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
5. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
I got tagged by the cool bstewart, so who am I to say no to doing a meme? Since I've already done a list of 50 along the same lines, I'll try to come up with 8 different facts/habits.
1. I Don't Like The Drugs And They Don't Like Me. My Taurusean nature kicks in when people try to make me do something I really don't want to do. Like, oh, let's say, drugs for instance. While my attitude towards pot is rather mediated in comparison, I absolutely hate drugs. I don't like being around them, I find them destructive, and well, they're expensive. I can totally understand the desire to escape, to temporarily flee from one's problems, but the idea of paying out buckets and buckets of cash for something that's ultimately quite destructive makes me nauseous. Given my distate for needles, I could never imagine injecting anything into one of my veins for "recreational" uses. So, no heroin for me, thanks. And with the episodic asthma, I really don't enjoy smoking or the concept of snorting anything. Couple that with just the sheer expense and the practical nature of my mind overrules any meager morbid interest in drugs. Now, if you wanna smoke marijuana at home, knock yourself out. Or take E or LSD or whatever. I really, really don't want to be around it, and I'll turn into a huge asshole if I am. Oh, and after being around a good deal of stoners in college, I'll pass on the marijuana. I can be pretentious and boring all on my own, thank you.
2. My Personal Philosophy: Forward Movement. If you believe in an afterlife or not, one thing you can agree on is you have one go-around in this life, so you should make the best of it. Ever since college, I've become convinced that in order to move on in life, you have to keep moving. To me, life is about trying to better one's self. Always growing, always challenging yourself, always trying something new, always trying to expand one's horizons. Being an actor means I've been subjected to A LOT of rejection. I've gotten used to it, and there are times where it really gets to me. But one thing I've found is that strength -- true strength -- is when you pick yourself up after being knocked down. It's easy to not move, to sit in a place of bitterness and judgement, and castigate everyone around you for what they're doing. I've never, ever wanted to be that big fish in a small pond -- the person who's so great in such a small environment that he gets scared of really putting himself out there. Hell, I even wrote a sketch about this very subject when I was at the Training Center of Second City. I may get knocked down, I may get off track, but I will always eventually pick up and keep moving.
3. I Forgive But Don't Forget. Maybe it's the Irish heritage, but I hold grudges. Not for everyone, mind you, but my grudge-holding comes out of a sense of self-respect. I tend to be a forgiving person. If someone has wronged me and apologizes, I'll accept it and then we can move on. But an apology only holds water if the behavior in question changes. If not, then the "I'm sorry" doesn't hold water. Let's face it: talk is cheap, and it's a person's actions who define who they are. So, if the person keeps wronging me for the same type of behavior and keeps apologizing but they don't change the behavior, then I lose my patience. Once this happens, I'm out. I cut myself off from that person and I don't ever want to deal with them again. Sure, I'm curious as to how they are, but that's about it. I don't see the point of revisiting a friendship with someone who has demonstrated a huge lack of respect to me by continually wronging me and not honoring an apology. (I will elaborate on this in a later post) And, for the record, I do my damnest to hold myself to same standard.
4. Heights don't bother me. I really don't have a problem with heights. Ladders, stairs, roller coasters, elevators, no problem. I kinda dig being high up, to be personally honest.
5. Kate Over Tori. I'll take Kate Bush over Tori Amos any day of the week. Both are very talented musicians, who've come up with great music during their careers. Both have tendencies to go way out there. The difference between the two, in my mind, is that I kind find a throughline in Kate's albums and I can't in Tori's. To date, I have never been able to finish listening to a Tori Amos album all the way through. I have, however, with Kate. Not all of them, mind you, but most of them.
6. Me and Leslie Gore. I'm a generally upbeat and positive person. I'm apparently so cheerful that Tom's said my theme song is "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows". I'd never even heard of the song until it was featured on an episode of The Simpsons, but after a couple listens, it stuck in my head like glue. So, I guess it is a theme song of mine. Well, that and opening credits of Knight Rider.
7. Citrus. I like citrus: limes, lemons, oranges, grapefruit, you name it. I love putting a squeeze of lemon or lime into my Diet Cokes... or into seltzer water. It's refreshing.
8. Harvey Korman Is To Blame. Some actors will cite performances from Brando in "Streetcar Named Desire" or Pacino in "The Godfather" as inspiration for them to join the rank of thespians. (Hee!) But for me, I was 9 years old, watching Blazing Saddles on cable. Once Harvey Korman entered the screen as Hedly Lamarr, I was transfixed. It's an amazing performance: funny, extravagant, nuanced, specific and just plain old awesome. I watched Harvey Korman rip into each scene and thought "I want to do that. I want to do that for the rest of my life." And here we are.
All right, I'm supposed to tag 8 people, but frankly, I'll only tag a couple. Participation is, of course, voluntary. Do or don't, it's all good to me:
Great Hera!
Katie Doyle
Eclectica
Glitter
Punctuation Fetish
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