12 random things you may or may not know about me

I was never one to follow the rules (I was supposed to list ten items) so here are 12 random things you may or may not know about me. If you “like” this post I will give you a number and then you can make your own list and post it on your Facebook wall.

1. I don’t actively cheer for any one sports team – I cheer against specific teams. Ottawa, Vancouver, Portugal, and others.

2. I have the world’s largest collection of promotional material from the Die Hard films. I do not know exactly how much money I’ve spent on this over the past 25 years but it’s probably more than $3,500 CDN. The collection is uninsurable as there is only one person on planet earth to whom it is worth anything.

3. I’m happiest when I’m traveling and I’m second happiest when I’m building, designing, or writing something. I’m actually happiest when I’m doing all of these things at the same time while enjoying a beer.

4. When I was 24 I wrote a full-length movie screenplay that I recently reread and found to be terrible but I remember the 24-year-old me was really pleased with it.

5. Back in high school some friends and I were going to play pool one night and there was no space in the car so I went in the trunk and on the way there we got pulled over by the cops.

6. I rarely shave my face with a razor and when I do it’s never lip or chin. I’ve shaved my entire face with a razor exactly four times in the past 15 years and I know the exact dates of each of these four times.

7. When I enter or leave any building that has a foyer and the weather is extreme (very hot or very cold) I wait until both the interior and exterior doors are closed before proceeding so that the heat or cold does not escape.

8. I’m competing with my brother to see who can go longer without owning a car. He’s winning but only because he’s older than I am. He’s not aware of the existence of this competition.

9. I’m a bit dyslexic (self diagnosed) and this condition has given me the power to see both sides of an argument or situation.

10. I once solved a 1000-piece Ravensburger jigsaw puzzle in just under six hours. I did not take any breaks for food or bathroom or internet.

11. I once built a portable, life-size 13-foot (4-metre) crucifix that was taken to Europe in a ski bag and used to mock-crucify a lesbian vampire on a beach in Cannes France to promote a movie during the film festival. The wood I used was pressure treated and (at the time) was illegal to export outside of Canada. I never told this to my friend who transported it.

12. When I was in grade school I saved up the proofs-of-purchase from all my GI Joe toys and mail-ordered a not-available-in-stores working parachute kit for the figurines. I took it to school strapped to Snake Eyes and the first time I threw them in the air it worked as advertised but it landed on the roof of one of the portable classrooms. It’s probably still there. I never saw Snake Eyes again.