Random Facts Meme

So now that I've been tagged by not one, but two, different bloggers (Aspazia of Mad Melancholic Feminista and Larry Hamelin of The Barefoot Bum) , I guess I should finally participate in this meme.

First off, we have the rules:

• We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
• Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
• People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
• At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
• Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

And now my eight things:

• The first five and a half years of my academic life (Kindergarten onward) were spent in the public school system. Then, I switched to Greenwood Friends School in the middle of my fifth grade year. Now, after three and a half years at Greenwood, I am once again enrolled in the public school system, as I will be starting public high school this fall.

• I studied violin for three and a half years before quitting to focus on guitar a little more than a year ago, studying first with the string teachers at my public elementary school and then with Marcus Smolensky of Bucknell and Susquehanna Universities.
  

• I live, and have lived for my entire live, in a house without any broadcasted television. No cable, no annoying rabbit ears, nothing.

• Even though I have no cable, I actually very much enjoy several TV shows that I follow avidly through Netfilx, DVD boxed sets, iTunes subscriptions, and generous friends who tape things for me. Favorite shows include the Sopranos, the Office (BBC and NBC), Dirt, Friends, and (I'm blushing just revealing this) Grey's Anatomy. Also, my parents have a thing for bad British dramas, and they are constantly Netflix-ing shows like BallyKissAngel and Cracker.

• I have NEVER cried at a movie. Never. My friends think I'm dead inside.

• I can honestly say that there isn't any style of (secular) music I actually dislike, except maybe Country'n'Western (although Chuck Klosterman pretty much convinced me otherwise in his essay on the topic.)

• I discovered a couple of weeks ago that I seem to have a thing for charismatic, gravely-voiced folk/roots singers. I consider myself a fan of Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Daniel Lanois, and Chris Whitley, just to name a few. And Dr. John and Leo Kotke, but I'm not sure if they fall into the same category.

• And finally, today, June 27, 2007, is my fourteenth birthday.
  

Now I've got to tag people. Ughh, I hate this part...

SteveG
M. LeBlanc
Dr. Violet Socks
Jeremy dePrisco
Madman In The Marketplace
QuakerDave
Tomas Nadlehoffer

Okay, my part of the meme has been fulfilled!