The 7 things meme hit me (courtesy of Steve Song) – how silly, isn’t it? At least that’s what I thought, and then found myself thinking more, typing, re-reading, re-typing, removing, adding – turns out, it’s a lot of fun to write about things that people might or might not know about you, and that might or might not be entirely true. Ok, I made up that last bit. It’s all true of course. I am passing it on to 7 others -> see below for the rules and links to their blogs.

• I am feeling lucky! 7 Things about me? Number one: 7 is my lucky number. I was born in 73, grew up in a house with the number 3*7=21, once won 77 Marks in the German Lottery, and have 7 fingers on my left hand. No, I don’t. And actually 21 is my lucky number. And 8. And also 3.1415. I don’t believe in lucky numbers, or superstition! That’s the truth, knock on wood.
• I get really nervous sometimes! In 7th(!!!) grade, I won the municipal stage of a reading competition with a piece from Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. I was so nervous to screw up, that I told my mother she wasn’t allowed to listen and had to wait outside, and I am still nervous to screw up every time I have to speak in public. I subsequently lost the regional heat to a very cute brunette. Yes, I am implying that it wasn’t just her reading that did me in. And she also never called me back.

• I gambled it all away, and then won it back. Well, almost. When I was 16, I went to the The Wall concert in Berlin with my friend Micha. We hitch-hiked (against strict instructions from our parents) to save the train money, arrived too late to call Micha’s mother’s friend and camped outside in the city center for the first night, gambled away all of our money in a sidewalk scam, had to sell our tickets to a guy from the US, attempted to scale about 15 fences to still get into the concert without tickets, got stuck, got rescued by the police, who told us that the gates had been opened for people without tickets. Realised that good friends, and good times, are the most important things in life.

• I am obsessed with The New Yorker! If I could only have one, either “The Interweb” or the “New Yorker“, it would be a difficult decision for me. Do I hear a collective (are the 3 people who read this blog enough to say collective) gasp? Yes, I mean it. I am officially crazy – I even read the concert schedule for shows that happen 10,000 miles away. Most of my conversations start with “I recently read something …” By the way, has anyone read the article about making knifes in the Food Issue – it’s incredible!
• I speak with my hands! I always wanted to learn sign-language, and finally took a course a few years ago. I completed SLED Stage 1 of South African Sign Language. When I found out that there was not just “one” sign language, for the whole world, but that even UK and US English were different from each other, I immediately signed “How crazy is that?!?” in South African Sign Language.
• I like to argue. My first published article was a critique of the German band Kraftwerk (published in a two part series in an obscure hand-copied publication for creators of bizarre electronic music). The band is often cited as one of the inspirations for Techno music. I felt it was important to strongly disagree with that opinion – which, in retrospect, might have been the first indicator that I would one day end up in Academia. And maybe one day I will.
• I make the best Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (e Peperoncino) in the world. Apologies to all Italian grandmothers, but it’s the truth. And not a big deal, everyone is the best at something.

Passing it on to:

Stian – Because he has already told me so many incredible stories about his life that it’s hard to imagine what amazing stuff he’ll come up with for this.

Mac – Because he’ll think this is a really dumb idea.

Dirx – Because he’ll think this is a dumb idea, but enjoy it anyway. And this way they’ll compete with each others lists on their shared blog.

Eve Gray – Because this list needs a real lady.

Steve Carson – Because he looks more serious than he is.

Piet Waechtler – Because the picture is nice, but where is your blog my friend?

Joy Olivier – Because, I’d like to know her 7 things more than anyone else’s.

Here are the rules:

• Link to your original tagger(s) and list these rules in your post.
• Share seven facts about yourself in the post.
• Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they’ve been tagged.

Posted on January 16, 2009