Eight Random Facts Meme, Take 2

Paul, Danica and Daveawayfromhome recently tagged me with the Eight Random Facts Meme, although I have already done it before, so let me try to come up with Random Facts Nine Through Sixteen.

9. I used to sing karaoke every Tuesday while in grad school (well, everyone goes crazy in grad school), always singing the most unlikely songs, e.g., country, the sappiest oldies and the songs by female vocalists. I do a mean "I Will Survive"- even DJs crack up.

10. I got fired once - I was 14 or 15 at the time. So, instead of mucking out horse stalls, I spent some time clipping hedges and mowing lawns - not much of a difference, really. But I learned a lesson.

11. I was in exactly two fistfights in my life: once with a Romanian over a horse and once with a Hungarian over a woman. I won both fights (I do have a black belt in karate after all). In retrospect, neither the horse nor the woman were worth the exertion. But it was good practice.

12. I can draw horses really well. I cannot draw anything else.

13. Noticing the calluses on my stiff, tired fingers, my piano teacher asked me to choose: piano or riding horses. I told her I'd choose horses every time. I was a teenager. I had a huge crush on her. She laughed. Both my skill with horses and skill with the piano helped me at one point or another in my life.

14. I am a good tipper. You have to be absolutely awful to get less than 20% from me at a restaurant.

15. I am a lousy pipetter. It has nothing to do with nimbleness of my fingers as I can do a fine surgery on a bird brain, or fix a broken radiotransmitter. I don't know why this is.

16. I cannot write fiction. Or poetry. I tried many times, with disastrous results. I shall stick to blogging instead.

And I will quit tagging - I already tagged eight poor souls last time, it would be a sin to do it again.