meme-o to Geoff

A few weeks (!) ago, Geoff invited me to Play Along with the Yes, it’s the “Five Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About Me, But Were Afraid To Ask” meme. So, I added it my drafts and skillfully shuffled it from one draft folder to another, figuring I'd finish it during one of my nights battling insomnia. That time has now arrived: huzzah.

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1. the shortest job I ever had was at Northup in Torrance, California - I lasted all of six weeks. I found myself in a tightly-knit group who hadn't had a new member in many years. It was obvious that I would forever be considered The Outsider .. so (after two weeks) I phoned the headhunter recruiter and advised him to Keep Looking. A few days later, I scored an interview with a better fit, so after the workday was over, I went to see my boss to say goodbye. He had left early; I left him a note atop his desk, offering my resignation. Apparently he Never Got The Memo as I received an official letter from the company a month later, saying that I'd been terminated for failing to come to work. Indeed.


2. I was sacked as a disc jockey at a country music station in 1978. While working the evening shift one night, I accidentally left the microphone open while I took a phone call. When the second line began ringing, I ignored it .. turns out it was my boss who happened to be listening to what I thought was a private conversation (not that it wasn't tame .. it just wasn't meant for broadcast). Alas, I didn't enjoy the job anyway, and it led to a better gig a few miles away (being a news reporter for a radio station just off a major US military base, where the young soldiers frequently got into trouble with the civilians and made for entertaining local news).


3. I was a late-in-life child, my mother giving birth at age 43. Always assuming I was an only child, I was a bit stunned years later, whilst doing some genealogy, to discover that I would have had a brother, had he not been stillborn (full term). He's buried somewhere in my hometown - I have no idea what cemetary.


4. I have some mini-collections of obscure things. One is a Spam collection which began with a 7 ounce container sporting an "Intel Inside" sticker .. up to an 11.5 ounce container of what I call "Hindu spam" (several friends have located obscure cans of "Spam-like potted meat" to add to my collection). Another collection is a set of Betty Boop figurines.


5. My father liked to name our family dogs "Butch". Although we never had more than one dog at a time, we had at least three different dogs, each a different breed (beagle, cocker spaniel, mutt) named Butch. Each of them ran away, until we got a miniature English brindel bull terrier (pre-)named Willie, which broke the Butch cycle. My father also built a fence around the backyard, which Willie eventually learned to climb. At those locations where he'd learned to escape, my father installed fence extensions which canted inward. I suspect it was a challenge between the two of them. Eventually, the dog outlived my father, who died at age 68.

Okay, my job is now done. In theory, I am now to "tag" others to Play Along, but I can't even imagine Who Will Be Next (the bulk of my blogging friends fall into two categories - tell all, or tell none), so I've leave that casting call open.