1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. In the Search box, type your birth month and day (but not year).
3. List three events that happened on your birthday.
4. List two important birthdays and one interesting death.
5. Post it.

My birthday is 27 September.

Three events:

• 1821 – Mexico gains its independence from Spain.
• 1822 – Jean-François Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta stone.
• 1998 – Google is first established

Two important births:

• 1840 – Thomas Nast, German-born political cartoonist (d. 1902)
• 1934 – Wilford Brimley, American actor (heh)

One interesting death:

• 1917 – Edgar Degas, French painter (b. 1834)

I ain’t taggin’ anyone, so tag yourself.

[image currently broken, but my result was “Encouraging Creator”]

Roll over the different colors in the bar to see some more details about me, or click the link to read even more.

(source: PersonalDNA)

Ten movies you’d watch over and over:

• Garden State
• Napoleon Dynamite
• Donnie Darko
• O Brother, Where Art Thou?
• My Neighbor Totoro
• The Hudsucker Proxy
• Amelie
• A Mighty Wind
• Grave of the Fireflies
• Ghost World

Nine people you enjoy the company of:

• Kevin (natch)
• My brother Brendon
• My Mom and Dad (is it fair to count them as one?)
• My dear friend Toni
• Toni’s husband, Brian
• My niece, Maddie
• My friend Michelle (a.ka. Batgirl)
• My friend Andy
• My friend Asa
• Sparx the cat (hey, cats are people too)

Eight things you’re wearing:

• Maroon Blazer that I inherited from my Aunt Lydia
• Dark Old Navy Jeans that I bought this week
• Black high-top Chucks that I got from Crossroads
• Black girly-T with a little bird saying “Let’s Jam!” printed on it in pink
• a whole bunch of black jelly bracelets
• Mini buttons on my lapel of Oogie Boogie and Bumperpup
• Studded belt
• Silvery hoop earrings

Seven things on your mind:

• What to eat for lunch
• If I should have a cup of coffee
• Does my car need gas today?
• My sinuses are ticking me off.
• I think I have an overdue library book (or two) in my posession.
• My teeth are fuzzy.
• I need to go outside.

Six objects you touch every day:

• The quilt on the bed
• My hair
• Sparx the cat
• my keyboard
• my keys
• my handbag

Five things you do every day:

• Brush my teeth
• Drink copious amounts of water
• Take my allergy meds
• Check my email and RSS feeds
• Sleep

Four bands (etc) that you couldn’t live without:

• They Might Be Giants
• Death Cab for Cutie
• The Beatles
• Moxy Früvous

Three of your favorite songs at this moment:

• Title and Registration – Death Cab for Cutie
• The Killing Moon – Echo and the Bunnymen
• The District Sleeps Alone – The Postal Service

Two people who have influenced your life the most:

• Mom and Dad (again, I lump them into one entity)
• Kevin

One person who you love more than anyone in the world:

• I guess it’s most fair to say myself. Or rather, I should love myself more than anyone else in the world.

There you have it. I’ve succumbed to a meme for the first time in a while. Now I can go back to some real content.

Tom (unintentionally?) started a new meme, in which we name five blogs we think everyone should read, and five songs everyone should hear. I’ll bite, since it’ll provide you, dear reader, with some diversions when entries here are light.

Five blogs I think you should be reading:

• Angry Asian Man: He’s an Angry Asian Man with a lot to say on politics, pop culture and more with humor and satirism. His unique view on the world is something to be witnessed. That’s Racist!
• Toshikomi: I went to high school with the author of this blog, and he recently found me floating in the blogiverse. Small world. He’s an excellent photographer, writer, and aquarist.
• My Private Tokyo: a photoblog by an Australian photographer in Tokyo. I know my interest in this blog is personal (since I so totally dig Tokyo), but there are a lot of great photos to be found here.
• The Dullest Weblog in the World: And you thought your blog was boring.
• head-trip.net: because he’s my brother. Not just that, he’s a really cool brotha.

Five songs I think you should hear: (iTunes Music Store enabled links):

• The Laws Have Changed by the New Pornographers: I immediately fell in love with the music of The New Pornographers for their diverse powerpop sound when I first heard them. This is one of their top tracks.
• El Scorcho by Weezer: the best underrated Weezer track ever.
• Ars Moriendi by Mr. Bungle: A poker night classic. Mr. Bungle is teh rawk.
• Close to Me by the Get Up Kids: A decent cover of an old favorite by The Cure. Check out their cover of New Order’s Regret, too.
• The End of the Tour by They Might Be Giants: of course, no music list by me is complete without a TMBG mention. This song is one of the saddest songs I have ever heard… it still makes me teary sometimes, yet it is disguised in a strangely upbeat melody and beat. Bonus: watch the documentary movie Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns and see Michael McKean deliver a moving rendition of the lyrics.

Hmm, it was a bit hard to work within the constraints of the iTMS… there is so much good music out there that I think you should hear, but alas, cannot be found on iTMS. I guess it makes sense that I recommend songs that you could at least sample. I’ll save those for another entry.

1. What is unique about a hoont as compared to most other dogs? Any quirks to share?
2. Do you feel like you exercise your creativity enough? Does your interest in photography and cinema from college still ring true today?
3. In your opinion, what makes the Transformers toys that Takara manufactures so much better than the rest? Feel free to rant about the poor quality of “toys these days”.
4. What is your biggest current gripe about Apple and/or Macintoshes?
5. What is one of your guiltiest pleasures?

The next set of questions are for Miss Ealasaid, one of the original four South Bay Blog Meetup-ians. She’s a writer, a tutor, web designer, substitute teacher, and all around supreme geek girl.

I’ll be seeing Ealasaid and a bunch of other bloggers at the Blog Meetup tonight! You other South Bay Bloggers better show up!

1. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

2. Do you consider yourself a cat person or a dog person? Your reasons?
3. What is the best non-fiction book you’ve read this year?
4. Do you have a particular story planned for the next NaNoWriMo yet? Care to share?
5. Where is the next place you would like to travel? Would you go to see landmarks, see the great outdoors, eat the food, or just mingle with people?

Next up on our interview list is Raf, whose blog is a new one to me, but definitely one to watch. Besides, any caffeine-addicted geeky Filipino can’t be all that bad.

Raf‘s Five Questions follow below.

1. How long have you been blogging for, and what made you start blogging?
2. In your opinion, what is the most significant cultural difference between the Philippines and the U.S.?
3. What is the best feature about TypePad, as opposed to your previous publishing system?
4. Do you grind your own (coffee) beans, or buy pre-ground? What is your favorite blend?
5. Do you eat the skin of mangoes? (I sometimes do. -cp)

Here are my Five Questions for KB:

1. What inspired you to create your own unique meme like b12? Are you pleased with how it’s taken off?
2. How do you take your coffee?
3. What was the convincing factor that made you want to make an Apple product your next computer?
4. What are your opinions on today’s cartoons? I’m sure you’re exposed to plenty with your kids around.
5. What is your one-sentence motto about parenting (maybe something you might want to tell a new parent)?

1. What is your favorite comic series of all time, and why?

2. What is your fondest memory about living in Malaysia? Do you miss it?
3. You mention planning the wedding of your dreams. What would it entail?
4. What do you plan on doing after earning your M.A. in communication?
5. What is your favorite dish to cook?

UPDATE: Nicole’s answers are posted!

1. If you want to participate, leave a comment saying “interview me.”
2. I will respond by asking you five questions – each person’s will be different.
3. You will update your journal with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
6. You do not talk about Fight Club.

(okay, so I added the last one in, but it’s fun to think it’s part of the rules)

My Questions and Answers follow below.

1. How does your new iBook stack up against than the PowerBook you had before?
   Well, for one, it’s actually a new PowerBook… the 12″ model. I guess I haven’t really blogged much about it since I bought it. It’s a dream. I love its smaller size, yet it’s much more powerful and a lot faster than its 400mhz predecessor! It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.
2. If you had to live in the same place for the rest of your life, where would you go?
   I’m pretty happy staying in California, although not necessarily in the South Bay. I would love to stay near the ocean as well as the forests… which I suppose would narrow it down to Marin, Santa Cruz or Monterey.
3. The Internet has been turned off for major repairs and upgrades for a month. What do you do while you’re offline?
   It’s probably a blessing in disguise. I would geocache and hike more, spend time with close friends and family. Try new foods, visit museums, see movies, spend a few days at the new MLK Library.
4. What in the world is a “Perky Goth”?
   You can see a pretty good representation of one in the comic strip Dork Tower. It’s all about revelling in the goth culture, but not succumbing to the dark moodiness that goes along with it. Yes, I realize that this is an oxymoron. I was a teenager, for peet’s sake!
5. What’s your take on the efforts to recall Gray Davis?
   Oh gosh. I hardly ever talk about politics on this blog, consider this a first. I think the whole recall idea is wasting a lot of people’s time. If there is a financial problem in the state, I think there are a lot of other factors to blame besides the governor. Times have been tough, economy is at an all time low all over the country. I think people are grasping at straws. Although, I will admit that this race has been the most entertaining one I’ve witnessed. I just want it to be over. Can I go home now?

that’s all she wrote. g’nite everybody!