25 Random Things

There's a viral note going around Facebook that asks you to write down 25 random things about yourself. Then you tag 25 of your friends and they write down 25 random things about themselves and tag their friends. And so on. Of course, most people don't do it, but I did. And I think it could be turned into a writing exercise of sorts. How do you convey your personality in this list? How can you be creative? Maybe we should make these random lists about the characters in our novels and screenplays? Herewith, my list:

25 Random Things About Me

1. I love random things. I score very high on the random side of random vs. sequential.
2. I am a cat and dog person. I even think opossums are cute.
3. I have an extra vertebra.
4. By the time I get to the last stanza of "Fern Hill" by Dylan Thomas, I'm all choked up.
5. I get choked up easily.
6. I feel happiest and most at home in the waves at Bellows Beach, Oahu.
7. When I'm irritable, I get clumsy.
8. I keep snacks on hand so my blood sugar doesn't drop and I don't get irritable and clumsy.
9. My favorite movie is "The Searchers."
10. I think hot tubs, illegal drugs, and Girl Scout cookies are overrated.
11. Single malt scotch is my favorite alcoholic drink, but it takes me about two years to get through a bottle.
12. I love stationery stores. All that blank paper gives me a weird happy high.
13. I often get impatient reading "great" books, so of course I was an English major.
14. But Shakespeare is my favorite writer. After him it's probably David Simon of "The Wire."
15. I once disproved Einstein's Theory of Relativity, using a sneaky Socratic method.
16. I think Socrates was full of it.
17. I once fooled a Frenchman into thinking I was French.
18. Best food I ever had was in Bologna, Italy.
19. My dentist stories are worse than yours.
20. I've worn the ring my mother gave me on the same finger since high school.
21. I'm starting to feel self conscious about writing this list. Am I revealing horrible overly narcissistic tendancies to the world?
22. I like to howl at the moon.
23. For a long time I wanted to be an Egyptolgist.
24. I can count to 29 in Turkish. If I knew the Turkish word for "thirty" I could get up to 39.
25. Currently, my favorite word is "pulchritudinous."