I was wondering how long it would take before some one pulled me into the latest meme making it's way across the blogosphere... and Phil finally tagged me, so I guess now it's my turn.

1. I almost died at birth.

I know this is supposed to be a fun trip down memory lane and not some morbid tale from the crypt... but you'll notice I said almost. According to my mom, there were some complications with my birth and I was deprived of oxygen in the last few minutes before I... um... came out. She says that I was so blue I looked like a little smurf.

The doctors said I'd never fully recover and I'd likely suffered drain bamage - I mean brain damage. But not to worry, despite what they said I think I've turned out a pretty well-rounded guy... complete with a near-genius IQ. Doctors - what the hell do they know anyhow!

 2. I come from a large family.

Well, I suppose you might already know that if you're a member of said family... or you grew up with me. But I'll assume this to be news to the rest of you. The term "large family" is relative (ha!), so I've come prepared with some numbers.

My mom has 4 brothers and 7 sisters - making a total of 12 kids - plus her parents. Each of her siblings are married and have an average of 2.417 kids. Yes, I did the math. Some of my cousins are now married and have kids of their own (3 spouses + 3 kids). If you were keeping a running total that's upwards of 60 people... on my mom's side alone. Needless to say, the Holidays are a real Fuster Cluck. But we do have some good times.

My dad is from a much smaller, more atomic family. He has 2 brothers (both married) and they have a total of 5 kids. And we can't forget G'pa and G'ma Harman!

That pushes the size of my most immediate family to just over 70. In my book, that qualifies as a large family.

3. I waited in line all night for tickets to a Bush concert.

Yeah... what the hell was I thinking? Well, I was only 16 years old and Bush was a pretty hot band at the time, but that's no excuse.

For the record, I'm not saying it was a poor decision because Bush makes bad music... I actually found myself listening to a couple of their whacks recently and I rather enjoyed them. I'm saying it was a horrible idea because despite going to the box office we still ended up with shitty over priced tickets. We'd have been much better off playing GoldenEye 007 all night and then buying online. Lesson learned.

4. I've taken (and failed) a Polygraph.

First off, its not as bad as it sounds. I took the polygraph as part of a interview/background check for a college internship I was applying for with a certain government agency. I could tell you which one, but I'd have to kill you.

As anyone who's ever taken a real polygraph can attest, it is NOTHING like the movies. There are no long, drawn out answers. No bright lights shining down in your face. And they don't end with a confession to some grotesque act.

In real life all questions are discussed (at length) in advance so that your answers are limited to a simple yes or no. For example, a question might be something like, "Other than what we talked about, have you ever smuggled illegal weapons?" And in real life, they hook you up to a computer, not some machine with bouncing needles feverishly scribbling lines across a piece of paper.

However, the entire process is just as nerve racking and intimidating as it is in the movies. Actually, that is why I failed my first polygraph. The guy giving me the exam (a member of the agency) was about 6'6", 240lbs and scared the be-jesus out of me. I was so intimidated by him I think I might have confessed to being the second gunman on the Grassy Knoll.

5. I want to live on a lake.

Admittedly this is a dream of mine... and probably of a lot of other folks, but it still qualifies as something about me that you didn't know.

I've long been a huge fan of water sports. I don't even remember learning to water ski - it's just been one of those things that I have always done. I had one of the original wake boards when they first came out and wakeboarding is still my favorite thing to do on the water. I love to get a few early morning rides in, and then spend the afternoon drinking ice cold beers near the dock.

So my real dream would be to live on a lake (some of those big deep ones in Tennessee are nice) with my own dock and wakeboard boat - a MasterCraft X-Star to be exact. I'd love it even more if I could make a living on the water, but I would certainly settle for working from my lake side home.

You're it, no tag-backs!

Now comes the part where I get to tag five other people to who will tell us five things we don't know about them, and tag five more people to do the same... repeat ad nauseum. And the big winners are (in no particular order):

1. Robb Allen
2. Simone Chiaretta
3. Micah Dylan (has Hell frozen over yet?)
4. Cliff Snyder
5. Carli Sekella