Glendon, of The Flying Trilobite, was kind enough to invite me to play a little game of tag. Believing that we should play as many games as possible, I’m going to play. But I’ll follow the rules only by half. I am too lazy to ever follow rules exactly.

So, here are the rules, as I read them.

1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Before I begin, I have to call to mind a quote which seems terribly relevant:

We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld

And now, eight things. About my childhood and the animals we had.

1. I am a twin. A fraternal twin. My twin sister is named Julie. No, we do not look the same. Yes we are the same age. I am one minute older, at least according to all I’ve been told.
2. In the seventh grade I bought a budgie. His name was Petey. He died this past year, and I have to admit to a degree of neglect in his care. We were never very close.
3. When I was five, my guinea pig died. Because there were a number of other kids in the room when I discovered this fact, my mother told me that he was just sleeping. For better or worse, believing her made it harder when I learned the truth.
4. In the third grade, I was (de)pan(t)sed (PS: what a strange word…). An older kid told me that he could make me feel like I was flying if I closed my eyes and stuck out my arms. I believed him. And found my pants at my ankles.
5. We had a turtle once. A red-eared slider. Named Michaelangelo. After the Ninja Turtle, not the painter. We didn’t really care for him well so my parents gave him to some family friends who seemed to be more interested in him.
6. I lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan for one year. While I was in first grade. I had glasses for as long as we were there. No one I knew then knows that I don’t wear glasses. No one in my hometown ever knew I wore them.
7. We used to have a rather large bird. He was bigger than a budgie, but I’ve forgotten what the species was called. He was green. He used to like the Beach Boys’ song, “Barbara Anne,” or was we knew it “bob bobber an.” He’d pump his head up and down whenever we played it for him. So would we.
8. We used to have goldfish. Every year, we’d go to the school’s fair and get new ones. And every year, there was one big fish. And he’d always seem to last longer than the new ones. We suspected he intimidated them, maybe even attacked them. When he died we didn’t get any more fish.