I was looking through the Notes app on my phone for some old piece of info and came across this, which I apparently wrote in February 2014. I forget why but I think it was one of those Facebook things: “share seven things that no one knows about you” or some other similar kind of nonsense.¹

Although I guess it wasn’t complete nonsense since I went through the trouble of typing these out. And on my phone, no less.

I’m not sure why I thought these facts were noteworthy or interesting but here they are as originally written:²

1. Once, when I was six or seven and spending the night at my friend Joe’s house, I woke up in the middle of the night.³ The way the light was coming through the blinds in his room and the resulting striped shadows they created on the wall behind him made me think he had been turned into a mummy. Which, of course, scared the shit out of me. So I got up and ran back down the street to my own house in the middle of the night.
2. I occasionally tell people that the first concert I ever saw was Billy Idol, who I did see in 1986 (with my friend Peter). But the truth is that the first concert I actually went to was The Monkees Reunion Tour with Weird Al Yankovic as the opening act, also in 1986.
3. Speaking of Billy Idol, he was the first celebrity I ever met (backstage at the aforementioned concert). I’ve also met Billie Dee Williams and a host of sports figures like Dick Vitale, Dean Smith and Pat Summitt.
4. I’m far from the stereotypical Widespread Panic fan (if only because I have a job and shower on a regular basis) but they are probably my favorite band and I’ve seen them in concert at least 25 times.
5. Even though I’ve already been five or six times, if I won the lottery tomorrow, the first place I would go is London.
6. I’ve had a lot of good days in my life, probably more than my fair share, but if you ask me to name the single best day of my life, I’d pick Dec. 16, 2006. It’s when I got to see an Arsenal game, live and in person, for the very first time.⁴
7. Over the last 10 or so years, I’ve developed a complete inability to keep my eyes open during pictures, especially when it’s dark.

1 – Although maybe it was “share 10 things…” and I didn’t finish, which is why it was just sitting, unused, in my Notes app.

2 – Well, mostly as originally written. I did edit and tweak a few things here and there but it’s substantively the same as when I wrote it three-plus years ago.

3 – Coincidentally, I’m writing/posting this on Joe’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Joe!

4 – I left this the way I originally wrote it back in 2014 but that day, while still a great day, has been pushed down the list by a few other more recent entries: the day I wised up and realized my girlfriend was the best thing to ever happen to me; the day my girlfriend became my wife; the day our son George was born.