You've been meme'd!

Putting the 'me' in meme, this exercise in social 'tag-you're-it'-ing

I guess it was inevitable that I would be fingered by a fellow librarian from the biblio-blogosphere to participate in the latest virtual parlor game, Five Things You May Not Know About Me. Fortunately for me the tagger was Jenny Levine, and she is such a new (and most welcomed) friend that there's a good chance she might not know these things about me. This post's for you!

I had half a mind to phrase it entirely in the negative, as in "Isn't double-jointed, can't touch his elbow with his tongue, nor engage in any similar amusing party tricks." Or perhaps I could weigh in on the "boxers vs. briefs" controversy. (Where's the novelty in a 50-50 proposition?)

Anyone who knows me even a teeny bit already knows w-a-a-a-a-y more than they need or care to know about me, so forthcoming am I with autobiographical factoids at the drop of a hat. There'll be no revelations in this for my long-suffering coworkers.

1. Surely the least unknown thing about me is that I collect automobile license plates -- lots of them, about 1,600 at last 'count'. Trust me, this exemplifies 'selectivity'. This puts me squarely in the dilettante category among my fellow collectors in ALPCA, the corresponding hobbyists' club. This, and I share a one-bedroom apartment. And I don't own a car. Please don't ask ... !
2. When I moved with my parents from suburban California to New York City between seventh and eighth grades, they let me pick the college prep I would attend. I promptly selected one near my father's office, that had carpeted classrooms (this evidently impressed me), and quite by chance was single-sex and would remain so until my senior year. Okay, so I was like twelve. This might explain why nowadays I deliberate so long when I have to make a choice, even on a restaurant menu.
3. I have outlived most of the schools I've ever attended. This may also be true of a lot of baby boomers. My kindergarten folded, my elementary school was plowed under for subdivision, my high school went bankrupt, and my library school -- dear old Columbia SLIS -- was strangled by its parents. My junior high closed briefly in the 'eighties for lack of students, but has since reopened. And my undergraduate alma mater is going strong and still makes alumni appeals.
4. Throws, bats, writes, eats and sleeps: Left. Left-handedness is a non-issue, unless you're left handed.
5. I'm the fourth James Day in the last five generations, each of whom was given a different middle name. That's why I'm Ross. I'm also clearly the last of the James Days, unless I choose to name a pet James. I've never had nor have I sought a nickname: Ross just doesn't nick and nothing else has stuck. (Mike the Janitor from grade school tried Rusty, since my red hair looked as if it had rusted, but the moniker never took -- thank goodness.) I'd be jealous if it weren't for all the nickname horror stories out there and unwanted shortened forms of names.

I am beginning to worry about the poor individual who ends up the last to be asked her/his five lesser known things. In what might be an illuminating sign, many of my library pals don't feel yet any calling to blog. If they do blog, they're also steadfastly fad-resistant. Fortunately Jennifer "Don't Call Me Jenny" Macaulay (see 5 above), who has weighed in with her five things before I could tag her, has in her valedictory comment left me a perfectly gracious way not to worry:

6. "I never pass along chain letters, chain emails, pleas for help or money, etc."

Comments

[Ross Day]

Just on a whim I plugged ("5 things","five things") into liszen to get a read on just how many posts were generated on this th(m)eme. I'm still counting:

44 in liszen's Individual Blogs category
22 in Special Libraries
44 in Academic Libraries (see above: a coincidence?)
4 in School Libraries

This is only a crude analysis untainted by science. Maybe someone wants to trace the tags (and untagged) posts.