8 Random Facts

By Gaz under Ramblings

I’m always game for spreading around a little link love, and participating in a fun meme. I was tagged by fellow Brit blogger Ian Hedges 10 days ago, just about when my schedule went to hell in a hand basket in the frantic 2 day packing window between the end of Download 2007 and my flight from the Green Unpleasant Land.

There is an link to a nice pdf somewhere in my 8 facts if you click in the right place…

The Rules

• Leave a link back to the 8 Random Facts post from the blogger who tagged you.
• Quote these rules in your post.
• Reveal 8 random facts about yourself.
• Tag 8 other bloggers to take part, and notify them they have been tagged.

The Facts

1. I have never played bass guitar. I have no musical training, and since college I’ve given up on my daily regimen of 3 hours of electric guitar practice, so I am currently the proud owner of very little actual musical talent. Despite that, I’ve been in several bands over the years: I played drums in my first band, Hemlock; lead guitar in my second band Alien Fuck Beast; I was lead singer in the first line-up of D-Fex, before being relegated to rhythm guitar chops; I’ve not been able to hold a band together since I hit the road, so I bought a keyboard to compose electronic music, and to remix some of my earlier music under the moniker of very own Ill Will project. Check out an eclectic selection of my tracks and remixes on myspace, if you dare! (Bass by Jon Green, lyrics and vocals by Jammer Jackson.)
2. The first time my technical writing was published in England was from an email interview for a leading British Linux magazine who didn’t even pay me for it! A couple of articles (and several months) later, I realised that it required effort to get a cheque out of them than was involved in actually writing the articles, so I had to double my hourly rates to cover it, and they could no longer afford me
3. My second book was half written when O’Reilly pulled the plug on it, in the wake of 9/11. After reworking it some, it was accepted by APress for almost a month before they pulled the plug on it. I decided to give up on the whole thing, and come up with a totally new concept for my next book (which does have a publisher… at the moment).
4. On average, it takes somewhere between 3 and 5 years to earn a black belt, depending on what martial art you study. Despite practicing martial arts since I was 14 years old, I didn’t actually earn a black belt until I was 30, although I became moderately proficient in 3 other styles before settling on Tae Kwon-Do long enough to actually earn my black belt. If I hadn’t become a voluntary nomad for the last 12 months, which makes attending classes in Droitwich Spa rather impractical, I’d be eligible to take my 4th Dan early next year.
5. By at least one convention the land masses on Earth can be classified into 5 continents. I have lived on 3 of those continents in my life (Africa, Europe, and America) and plan to live on the others over the next 2 years (Asia and Australia).
6. In the 10 years since I got my driver’s license, I’ve owned 10 cars and 7 motorbikes. You might think I have a short attention span, but the real reason is because each vehicle I bought went somewhat faster than everything I’d owned previously… at least until I left England to ride Route 66 in October last year; Harley’s aren’t reknowned for their blazing speed. I still have one car and 3 motorbikes. Anyone looking to buy?
7. I haven’t owned a Windows license since Windows 3.11 for Workgroups (about 14 years ago); I haven’t owned a Windows machine since Windows 98 SE (about 8 years now); I haven’t touched a Windows installation since Windows XP SP1 (about 2 years ago); and that makes me very happy
8. I have a conspiracy theory of my own: All conspiracy theories are untrue.

The Tags

I pass the baton to Frank Pohlmann, James Urquhart, Simon Barker, Bill Toome, Mark Shead, Alex Shalman, David Seah and Maia Jose.