One more, because I’m just in that kind of mood. This one is courtesy of Samurai Frog.

First Job: Projectionist at a little single-screen neighborhood theater called The Cameo. I was 15 or 16, I believe.

First Real Job: Well, if we define “real” as a job where I was paid via check and actually contributed my fair share to the state and federal budgets (as opposed to the Cameo situation, where the boss lady simply slipped me five bucks cash under the concessions counter at the end of each evening’s show), that would have been my gig as an usher at Cinemark Sandy Movies 7 (later called Movies 9 after two more houses were added on). I was 19 when I started, and I stayed there in one position or another just under five years.

First Favorite Politician: Bill Clinton. I started becoming politically aware during the Reagan years, and even though I didn’t have much grasp of the issues at that point, I instinctively distrusted and disliked the man. His B-movie bravado unnerved me, to be honest. It was all too easy for a teenager in the mid-80s to believe that we were on the brink of World War III (thanks to practically everything in pop culture at that time having an apocalyptic subtext, from “99 Red Balloons” to The Day After and The Terminator), and that Ronnie Ray-gun’s gnarled finger would be the one pushing the “launch” button. George H.W. Bush was a little better — the Cold War was over so no more worries about nuclear winter, I didn’t dislike him personally, and I believed he at least wanted to do the right things for the country — but I disagreed with his policy decisions and his conservative philosophy. Clinton was the first presidential candidate I experienced who talked about regular working people like my dad as if he actually knew some of them, and who made an effort to reach out to younger voters. Looking back, Clinton disappointed me in a number of ways (although not nearly as much as his petulant enemies and the sensationalistic media who worked together to bog down the nation in years of petty bitchiness, pointless investigations, and sleazy bullshit), but I have no regrets about voting for the man in both his campaigns.

First Car: That question is kind of tricky. My dad always had a lot of cars sitting around, and when I was first learning to drive and later when I got my license, I’d just take whatever vehicle he told me to. The first car I thought of as mine (even though I wouldn’t actually have my name on a title until I was in my 20s) was a 1970 Ford Thunderbird. The first car I actually bought myself was a 1989 Ford Bronco II.

First Record/CD: Well, the very first record of any kind that I owned was probably a 45 of “Rubber Duckie” by Ernie of Sesame Street fame. The first grown-up record I owned was a 45 of “Jessie’s Girl” by Rick Springfield.

First Sport Played: Dodge ball, probably. I was never into sports…

First Concert: Rick Springfield on his Working Class Dog tour way back in 1981.

First Foreign Country Visited: England. I spent a month at Cambridge University as part of the International Summer School program there. One of the best months of my life.

First Favorite TV Show: Samurai Frog had Sesame Street as his answer for this one, and I also loved that one (so much that I was still asking for Sesame toys at an age when I should’ve been obsessed with GI Joes or something, much to my dad’s discomfort), but honestly I think I’d probably started watching Star Trek around the same time, and if you’ve been hanging around here at all the last couple of weeks, you know how I feel about that show.

First Favorite Actor: Lee Majors from The Six Million Dollar Man, or William Shatner in Star Trek.

First Favorite Actress: Hm. Tough one. Nichelle Nichols on Star Trek comes to mind, or Lindsay Wagner of The Bionic Woman. But really the first I recall thinking about as distinct from her character was Carrie Fisher.

First Girlfriend/Boyfriend: I dated and/or lusted after a number of girls throughout high school, but the first girl I really think of as a girlfriend was a gal named Angela Mecham. She was something else. I could write a book about her… and someday, I might.

First Encounter with a Famous Person: I went to my first Star Trek convention during my freshman year of college, spring of 1988, where the guest of honor was Nichelle Nichols (Uhura). I remember thinking that the hardcore fans were even weirder than me (a great comfort at that insecure point of my life, believe me), that Nichelle was beautiful and gracious, and that I couldn’t believe I stood only inches away from an honest-to-God TV star.

First Brush With Death: Senior year of high school, driving that Thunderbird I mentioned earlier with that girl I mentioned earlier in the passenger seat and a mutual friend of ours in the back. I was briefly distracted by the radio or something, and when I looked up, there was a flat-bed truck stopped in front of me. I stood on the brakes and threw my right arm out to try and restrain Angela — this was before mandatory seatbelt laws, kids — and we skidded to a halt only inches from the truck. My T-bird was pretty low to the ground and I could see that if I hadn’t managed to stop, the nose would’ve gone right under the truck’s bed. The nose of that old ‘bird was really long, so chances are the cabin wouldn’t have come anywhere near the bed before the car stopped moving, but in my adrenaline-charged imagination, I could see the five-inch-thick steel edge of that bed zooming up over the hood and coming right through the windshield. Oddly, I didn’t think of myself getting hurt, but the image of my pretty little gal getting decapitated haunted me for days afterward.

First House/Condo Owned: I’ve never owned my own home.

First Film Seen: I have a vague memory of seeing The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams with my mom and great-grandmother at The Murray, an old single-screen theater near Grandma’s house that’s now a live music venue, and an even vaguer memory of seeing The Sting with my parents (although I sometimes wonder if I imagined that one). But the first movie that made a really big impression on me was, no surprise, Star Wars.

First Favorite Recording Artist: Rick Springfield, of course.

First Favorite Radio Station: I think it was called “K-96 FM.” Your basic early-’80s top-40 station. Later, when my tastes hardened up a bit, I switched to Rock 103 (home of the block party weekend!) and KBER 101. K-96 vanished eons ago, and Rock 103 is now an Arrow franchise that sounds basically like it did when I was a teenager; K-Bear is still around, but I no longer enjoy it much.

First Book I Remember Reading: I had (still have, actually) this little kid’s storybook that’s all about visiting the doctor’s office. It’s illustrated with photos of little puppet-like figures who are examining a teddy bear, very kid-friendly and non-scary. I found it endlessly fascinating when I was little.

First Meme You Answered on Your Blog: I suspect I probably did something resembling a meme very early in my blogging career, but the earliest one turned up with a search was this one from February 2005.