greatbear | Sometimes it's all about Me(me)

I thought I would do something a bit different in this posting. Call it a meme if you want, but at the same time it's a way for me to let my LJ friends and readers know a bit more about me (or even more than thay might have wanted to know). Instead of a prepackaged cut-and-paste form, this is entirely freeform and without structure. It's also intended to be fun, embarrassing (for you or me), egotistical, shameful, but without a doubt informative.

Let the fun begin:

I have a terrible time remembering people's names until I get to know them for a while. Even then I will slip up, especially if I got to know them via an online nickname or 'handle'.

I have perfect pitch, but a difficult time carrying a tune. I can tell you when your guitar or other instrument is out of tune, of if a song is being played at the wrong pitch.

My name is Phil, and I was born on Groundhog Day. It is only coincidence that my name matches the famous woodchuck of winter weather-predicting fame from Punxsatawney.

I have an uncanny ability to spot spelling errors. Give me a newspaper, flyer, book, or anything with large amounts of text. I can casually leaf through the newspaper without spending more than 5-10 seconds between pages, just glancing over the text and not really reading anything. Quite often I will pause, back up a page or two, and put my finger on a misspelled word, even if it's buried in the core of the body text. Anywhere on the page. I feel I should be walking around mumbling "Two-hundred forty-seven. K Mart sucks. Gotta watch Wapner...".

I built the house I am living in, and the PC I am writing this on. Electrical, plumbing, framing, roofing, finish work, concrete, even the design of structures and additions. All of the work I do is praised by professionals as first rate, and often beyond what some of them are capable of. I have no formal training in any of this either. The same goes with automotive work, electronics and wood/metalworking. I save myself countless thousands of dollars in being the ultimate do-it-yourselfer.

I never use a spellchecker (see above), but I am a lousy typist.

I have a 22 inch neck. I also never wear ties for this reason.

I was once hit by lightning (this could explain some of the above!).

I can not be grossed out easily, if at all. I could eat a five course meal while viewing autopsies of mutilated corpses, the sight of blood or gore does not bother me in the least.

I can endure extremes of temperatures, especially cold. I have no trouble working outside in temperatures far below freezing. I only have problems when idle in the cold, especially when windy.

I have lifted small cars in the days before my severe injuries in an auto accident.

I will never eat Honeycomb cereal in any way other than by the handful, right from the box.

I don't like peanut butter.

I was only 6 pounds 2 ounces when born (Prematurely. And I don't recall if I saw my shadow or not.).

I am forgetful of names and dates, a bit better with numbers, an endless resource of trivia and I can disassemble just about anything even if I never did so before and can reassemble it a month later. No parts remaining, and it will work (even if it may not have previously.).

I have a grip strong enough to break another man's hand, but I can do very fine work like watch and meter movement repair. (The two guys' hands I crushed was a buddy in technical school and my one ex. I felt awful both times.)

I have never been on television, though my truck was. (DC Gay Pride, 2001. I was pulling a float for the Chesapeake Bay Bears.)

I demand perfection in the tasks that I do, yet dont expect it from others.

That's all I can think of right now, I might do a redux of this later on. I hope this lets people know a bit more about me. My wish? That others take this idea and run with it so I can get to know them better as well.

Cheers!