A brand new fan of my books, who lives in the UK and received both my books for Christmas, has been reading my blog over the past couple weeks, beginning with my very first post and working her way to the present. Every day or so, she recommends that I re-publish one of my earlier posts that new readers may have missed but would enjoy.
While I have been humbled by her willingness to read hundreds of old posts that I have long since forgotten, I have thus far rejected all of her re-publishing suggestions. Even though social media experts often suggest re-publishing your best posts from previous years for the benefit of new readers, I usually have plenty to say without digging into the archives for material.
But I thought that today’s suggestion was a good one.
Back in early 2009, a meme known as 25 Things spread throughout the Internet (primarily on Facebook) which asked participants to post 25 things about themselves that their friends might find surprising.
My new fan found my list intriguing and thought it worth republishing.
I agreed.
She is also working on her own 25 Things list, which I am looking forward to reading when she is finished. The meme was widely criticized in 2009 as being self-serving and pointless, but I recall learning a great deal about my friends that I would have otherwise never known.
Hopefully this will do the same for you.
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From January 25, 2009
My friend, Kate, sent me a note entitled 25 Things via Facebook. Included was a list of 25 random facts pertaining to her with a request for me to reciprocate.
I did, and I thought I’d post the list here as well. It occurs to me that some of these items would make for a good story someday.
1. I once owned a pet raccoon.
2. I haven’t thrown up since 1983 on the Music Express at the now-defunct Rocky Point Amusement Park.
3. I once lived in my car before being taken in by a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses and their pet goat (an indoor goat).
4. My favorite author is Kurt Vonnegut.
5. I cannot touch cotton balls without getting the heebie-jeebies.
6. I was once unknowingly fed my pet rabbit by a girlfriend’s father.
7. I started writing my first novel while on vacation in Boca Raton, Florida.
8. I have died twice before being revived both times by paramedics. No white light either time.
9. Despite my many injuries, I have never bruised.
10. I asked my wife to marry me at the top of the staircase in Grand Central with more than two dozen friends and family secretly looking on.
11. I’m left-handed but play many sports right-handed or with both hands.
12. I grew up outside of Boston but am a Yankees fan because I hated my brother, who was a diehard Sox fan.
13. I am a wedding DJ and non-religious minister who marries couples and performs baby naming ceremonies.
14. I have entered four lip sync contests in my life and have placed first, second, third, and last.
15. As a member of my high school’s championship marching band, I marched in the Rose Bowl and Macy’s Day Thanksgiving Parade.
16. I was a state champion pole vaulter in high school.
17. I was once lost in the White Mountains of New Hampshire for almost two days.
18. I am terrified of hypodermic needles.
19. I grew up on a horse farm until my parents divorced.
20. My favorite food is ice cream cake, followed closely by hot dogs.
21. I was robbed at gunpoint and knife point.
22. I worked as a McDonald’s manager throughout high school and college.
23. My wife and I teach in the same elementary school, two doors down from one another.
24. Field of Dreams still makes me cry.
25. I was once suspended from school for “inciting riot upon myself.”
