Looks Like I'm It

*sigh*

I hope I don't hurt anyone's feelings. That is not my intent, ever. Everything I'm about to say is the result of my own hangups, which others had no way of knowing. Please don't take anything personally.

I have in the past expressed my views on being "tagged". It basically leaves me with two choices: 1) play along, or 2) take a chance on being viewed as some sort of humorless or aloof wallflower who doesn't know how to have a good time. There's also the fact that on those occasions that I've tried to write posts just to write them, when I wasn't particularly inspired, I've been very unsatisfied with the results. I've written several that you've never seen. Oh yeah, the crap that you read here from time to time is the "good stuff". Sometimes I can't believe it either.

While I very much appreciate the fact that someone (or in this case two people) thought enough of me to tag me for this latest meme, my hippie tendencies balk at this sort of (perhaps self-imposed) coercion. Please believe that I have nothing but respect for the two people who tagged me, the vivacious and always readable Green Canary, and one of my latest finds, Fiona (aka Rodger (that's an inside joke)), who can compress many laughs into short, insightful posts and/or comments.

Here are the rules of "The Rule of 7":
1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Now given my waffling nature about this whole thing, one might imagine that I'd be hard pressed to say that I have some personal issues with this and then go tag 7 other people. Thanks to my pal and sometimes philosophical foe Bilbo, I will not be the first one to say that I'll play, but really don't know of 7 other bloggers that I can tag. Lacochran, Fiona, and Canary have taken pretty much all the bloggers I follow. I didn't realize that our circle was so tight until I realized that so many had already been tagged, leaving me with few options. Again, maybe it's my own limitations that I have to blame.

In that spirit, I will try to come up with 7 things about myself that won't bore you to tears, but I'll leave the tagging up to others. In the end, my own narcissism wins out.

7 Facts About Gilahi:

1. In 1975, I was the #2-ranked epee fencer in the southeastern U.S. I took this distinction at the Southeastern Sectional Championship held at Florida State University. I haven't held a blade in many years.

2. I am an ordained person. That's right, despite my currrent feelings about any organized religion and my extreme liberal tendencies, there once was a time when I was heavily into the church. I studied long and hard before being elected by my then congregation and ordained as a Presbyterian elder. I believe that an ordination like this is for life, so despite the fact that I haven't been inside a church since 1988, I'm still registered somewhere as a spiritual leader. Yes, you do have every right to be afraid.

3. I have equinophobia (or hippophobia), a fear of horses (sorry, Fiona). I think they're beautiful creatures and nothing is more graceful than a horse galloping in the wind, as long as I can see it from a distance. When I was a child, the area that I lived in was still rural enough that people could own some livestock. I was playing baseball in a field one day when everyone started yelling at me to watch out. I looked up just in time to see that one of my neighbors had lost control of her horse and it was bearing down on me at a full gallop. My instinct was to lash out and smack said horse on the snout with my baseball glove. This had two effects. First, it startled the horse to the point that my neighbor was able to get it back under control. Second, it left me with a lifelong fear of those huge, uncontrollable, sharp-hooved, vicious, man-eating animals.

4. As a teenager in the early '70s, I met and chatted with Mark David Chapman who, in 1980, shot and killed John Lennon. I had no idea. Honest.

5. I've never been to Spain, but I kinda like the music. I've never been to Heaven, but I've been to Oklahoma. Should that count as two?

6. I like dill pickles and french fries. Together. Don't ask me why, but if I have fries and a pickle on the plate, I will save the pickle for last and enjoy it with any fries that are left after the main course has been devoured.

7. I am an artist that has sold many pieces, had work put on T-shirts (which sold very well), and have even had work exhibited in The Torpedo Factory in Alexandria on a few occasions. Much of the work that decorates my home is my own.

At this point, I quote Bilbo:

I won't tag anyone else for this, but if you're reading and want to take a stab at it, be my guest. Just let me know so I can see what you said.

Thanks for your time. Thanks for reading my blog. And, honestly, Canary and Fiona, thanks for tagging me.