25 random things about Judd Bagley

I started this blog in 2005 and kept at it for around a year, until circumstances (primarily an acute lack of time coupled with a webhost meltdown) conspired to put Trailerpark Rave on hold until…today.

Prior to that unceremonious hiatus, one of my final posts was a list of random facts about me. A couple of months ago, in response to the then-popular “25 random things about me” Facebook meme, I published my own such list, building largely from a few updated elements taken from that blog post.

And so, hoping to bring it all full-circle, today I re-launch Trailerpark Rave with this new-and-improved list of me-centric randomness:

1. I own six laptop computers, but probably only need three of them.
2. I have the great American novel in progress, with chapters saved across the various hard drives of my six laptop computers.
3. I am a passive advocate of conversion to the metric system.
4. When remodeling my basement a few years ago, I special-ordered my tape measure from Canada (because it was in metric units).
5. I spent a year studying Latin on my own. At the time it just seemed like the right thing to do, but looking back, I think it was really because I was feeling very insecure about my public education.
6. I feel apostrophes should be taken seriously but wonder at times if I’m the only one.
7. I might have written the longest pun in the English language. But I have no idea where to go for verification. I seriously think I more than doubled the theoretical pun barrier.
8. I suspect you think that last one is not true, but it is.
9. There is literally no human on this earth that I trust more than my wife, Kristen.
10. It’s been 17 years since I returned from my two year church mission in Chile, but I still frequently dream in Spanish, and when I do, I’m often delighted to hear Kristen speaking perfect Spanish, as well.
11. In addition to Chile, I’ve lived for extended periods of time in Utah, Florida, and Alaska. I’ve never set foot in either of the Dakotas, but wouldn’t object to it.
12. People tell me I’m the funniest person they know. I tell them I’m the funniest person I know as well, and then usually lie and say they’re the second funniest.
13. I’m 37 years old, but I still refer to those I knew in high school as “kids.”
14. Except for my lungs, I would give one of any organ that I have two of in order to write like JD Salinger.
15. A few years ago, I heard about plans to shoot a film based on Salinger’s novel Catcher in the Rye. I immediately decided to do whatever necessary to at least audition for the role of Holden Caulfield, because I really understand and relate to him. Then I remembered: I was 34.
16. All three of my children are left-handed.
17. Things I was taught while young I tend to do with my right hand, but things I learned — on my own — later in life I often do with my left. As it turns out, in roller-hockey I’m a mean weak-side shooter, and I’m convinced I’d be a better golfer had I learned on left-handed clubs.
18. When I was single, the list of things I’d gladly die for was fairly long. Now, that list is quite short, while the list of hardships I’d gladly endure for my family keeps getting longer.
19. Ironically, the darkest period of my professional career was working as a wacky side-kick on a FM radio morning show. My primary responsibility was to laugh at everything the host said. That was the last time I dreaded going to work some days.
20. A couple of years ago, I realized I had entirely lost my sense of smell. I keep waiting for one of my other four senses to compensate by becoming super keen, but so far, nothing.
21. When I find a new song I love, I’ll often play it 300 times in a row before feeling I can move on, and when I do, I may never listen to it again.
22. Just like some people think food tastes better served on fine china, I think music sounds better played live by a talented and hungry indie band nobody has ever heard of.
23. Everybody talks about the musical genius of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and John Coltrane, but I just don’t get it.
24. A few years ago I discovered that my destiny was not to accomplish something important, but to help someone else accomplish something really important. That was a little tough to accept at first, but now I’m more than fine with it, especially since I now think I know what that thing is.
25. In high school, I was once mistaken for somebody on America’s Most Wanted.  I talked to the FBI and everything. It seriously wasn’t me. (It was this guy):