Five things at which you can snicker

The “Five Things People Don’t Know About Me” meme has been making its way steadily around the blogosphere, so I’ve been learning interesting facts about the bloggers I read regularly. Last week, Lydia of The Perfect Pantry, who is one of my favorite food bloggers, tagged me to participate.

I auto-delete any chain letters that come in to my inbox, but this blog-based chain is one I’d been secretly hoping would come my way. So, without further ado, here are some random-yet-slightly-embarrassing facts the world can now use against me. Rock on.

1. My first rock concert was to see Eddie Money on his Can’t Hold Back tour. Our local pop radio station held a contest for someone to come on stage and sing the Ronnie Spector “Be my little baby” part in “Take Me Home Tonight,” and I swear…I dialed and dialed and dialed trying to get through to audition and never got past the busy signal. But my Dad took me and my friend Sheryl to see the show at Constitution Hall in Washington D.C., and we sang along with the contest winner…and with Eddie. Dad wore earplugs. Sheryl and I did not.

2. My first official stage role was when I was five or six (I can’t remember the exact year), and I played one of the two Sad Little Girls in Bye Bye Birdie. My Mom was the music director at Bonn American High School in Bonn, Germany, and I think she had a little bit of influence in the casting. Need I mention how thrilled I was by my felt poodle skirt and my saddle shoes?

3. On the August 6, 1998, the day Monica Lewinsky testified to the grand jury about her relationship with President Bill Clinton, he wore a tie that she had given him to a Rose Garden ceremony. I attended that Rose Garden ceremony as a representative of the think tank where I was working at the time.

4. When Taco Bell opened in Staunton, Virginia, which is the town where I went to college, I skipped class so I could be the person who spent the first dollar in the new restaurant. My taste in Mexican food is way better, but cut me a little slack…I was a college student, and at the time, you could get ten tacos for five dollars and free refills on soda. It was like they were paying me and my friends to eat there! We were huge fans.

5. I used to play rec league softball with a group of my high school friends in the summer during high school and college. My nickname? Tree. Because I never, ever jumped for balls hit over my head.

So, as you see, I grew roots long before I started gardening.

Now…it’s my turn to pass it along. Here are the five bloggers I’ll tag to take this meme forward, although feel free to participate in the comments or on your own blog!

Kelli at Sugar Creek Farm
Megan at Chez Megane
Trey at The Blogging Nurseryman
Kathy at Cold Climate Gardening
Cole at Blah Blah Blah