I got tagged again and now I have to remove this spray paint from my shoes.

I got tagged again so I have to come up with 7 more things you don't know about me necessarily.

1)  I once got spanked for throwing an imaginary football.  My sister and I were playing in our room, she being a fan in the stands cheering me on as I was the quarterback for the football team.  (I was probably 6 at the time, my sister 5 or 4.)  I turned and threw her the "football" and she backed up to catch it... right through our bedroom window.  And it was closed.  And she hit the ground outside.  I think I was punished more because my dad was mad than for throwing the invisible, intangible and perfectly safe imaginary football.

2)  When I was 7, my family went to visit my mom's sister, my Aunt Ruth, up in Reno.  I still don't know that side of the family very well, but got to know my cousin Kyle some.  He got a brand new bike for Christmas and I got his old one for Christmas.  It was fantastic.  It was blue, sparkly, and I loved it.  I rode that thing for years as I did jumps off of curves, rode fast, and had a blast.

3)  Before I got that blue bike, I was over at my cousin's house (Sal -- from Dad's side of the family) and he and a couple of our cousins decided to go to the local liquor store to get some candy.  They left without me riding bikes, but I decided after a while I wanted to join them.  Of course, I didn't ride a bike but brought one anyways because having a bike would be faster.  So after my dad went wild trying to find me (he did find me right up the road from the liquor store -- talk about a different world) my cousin decided it was time to teach me to ride a bike.

4)  While learning to ride a bike, I crashed a lot.  One time, I crashed into a telephone pole, flew over the handle bars, missed the pole somehow and did a 'Pete Rose' slide (Headfirst) under a parked car.  I got up and wanted to do it again.

5)  When I was 9 years old, I played Little League Baseball in the Minors.  I was on second base when my teammate hit to the outfield.  I rounded third base and headed home and saw the catcher catch the ball and sit down on the plate waiting for me to show up.  Having nothing else to do, I slid.  While sliding, I lifted my leg and kicked the catcher in the chest, knocking him back a good 5 or 6 feet, where he dropped the baseball.  I was called safe.  The guy who hit me in was on second where the next batter hit pretty much the same ball.  The catcher caught the ball and sat down on the plate again.  The guy who hit me in did a drop kick into the catcher.  The catcher flew back a good 5 - 6 feet and dropped the ball.  The runner was called out and kicked out of the game for excessive violence.  The moral of the story:  If you are going to kick the catcher in the chest, be slick.

6)  I tried out for my high school baseball team when I was a freshman.  I was such a geek (still am.)  I wore my cleats during the track running and didn't do very well.  I really didn't have the talent to make the team (although I had heart.)  The coach offered me the chance to be the team score keeper (basically, the laundry kid) and get a letter.  Not the way I wanted to get a letter, so I declined and that was the end of my high school sports career.  I hit the books instead... ok, I cruised through High School.

7)  My second deployment in the Navy was a WesPac (Western Pacific Tour.)  Part of a WesPac was the Middle East/Persian Gulf.  I met up with my ship while it was in the Persian Gulf.  Not knowing much of anyone, I spent our first port call in Dubai, UAE, walking around town in my American clothes, being hot because it was hot outside, and wandering around a deserted mall because they close for siesta time (I'm not sure what that is called in Arabic, but it was pretty much a siesta.)  I look back now and wonder how I didn't end up on a terrorist video talking about the greatness of Saddam Hussien and the evils of Bill Clinton (This was back in 1994.)

Ok, I didn't tag anyone last time, but I will tag... no one this time either.  And there are no tag backs.