Uncertain Principles

The slow-motion "meme" of the moment is this "eight things about yourself" list. Doctor Pion tagged me a while back, but I've been bad about actually responding, because I'm lazy. This seems like a good weekend topic, though, so here are some random facts about me (I'll try not to repeat any from previous versions of this sort of thing:

• I have horrible eyesight, and wear Coke-bottle glasses when I'm not wearing contact lenses (as I am in the picture at left). Once, in college, a guy I played rugby with looked through my glasses and exclaimed "What, did your parents lose a bet with God?"
• I never played organized American football, at any level. This surprises a lot of people, because I'm a big guy, and I'm an American, but I played soccer in high school, and rugby in college. The only football I played was of the pick-up variety, usually in the snow.
• I'm OK at a lot of sports, but I'm pretty terrible at any game that requires you to hit a ball with a stick. Golf, pool, tennis, etc. I'm absolutely hopeless at baseball and variants thereof.
• You've heard of the "freshman 15?" My first year in college, I went from 190 lbs to about 240 lbs-- a "freshman fifty," if you will. There are pictures of me in high school at my parents' house, and Kate starts giggling every time she sees them.
• In high school, I was a big fan of Pink Floyd (post Syd Barrett) and mid-period Genesis (roughly from the departure of Peter Gabriel through the puzzle pieces album). I don't listen to that stuff much any more, but I still like a lot of those songs. I have virtually no indie cred.
• I'm a terrible dancer, awkward and ungainly and self-conscious, unless I've had a lot to drink, in which case I'm awkward and ungainly and drunk enough not to care. I think this is partly genetic, from my father's side of the family.
• I have never worked a service industry job, unless you count occasional school fundraisers. When I was in high school, I occasionally did odd jobs-- I spent a couple of weeks helping fix up some slum apartments owned by my mother's boss, and helped some friends bring hay in-- but all the regular jobs (with a set salary and taxes withheld) I've had have been in academic physics.
• I am thoroughly baffled by the fact that Bjork has a career in music. Honestly, I can't for the life of me see the appeal of any of her songs. (One of her songs was just on the cable music channel, and I'm desperate for material, here).

There, that's eight things. I'm supposed to pass this on to eight other people at this point, but I'm not a big fan of that sort of thing. So let's just say that if you're one of the eight people reading this blog on a Saturday morning, consider yourself tagged.