I hope everybody made it through Independence Day with their original factory-issued number of digits, limbs, and accessories. Had a pleasant Fourth myself, but my Fifth… whoo, boy. I’m wondering tonight if a middle-of-the-week holiday is even worth bothering with; all my various accounts at work tried to push a schload (that’s a technical term, don’t ya know) through the mill the day before the holiday, and now comes the day after the holiday and everyone is trying to catch up. Which means there’s been another schload crossing my desk. Which makes for a lack of blog-time and a very stressed-out (and grumpy) proofreader.

I did manage to check in on a couple of my usual reads, though, and I learned that I’ve been tagged by Jaquandor to participate in the latest meme floating around the ‘net. I’m a sucker for these things, of course — curse you, Jaquandor, you’ve discovered my secret weakness! — so my responses follow the cut:

Okay, we’ll begin with the instructions, copied verbatim from Jaquandor:

INSTRUCTIONS: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so.

1. The Urban Recluse
2. No Smoking in the Skull Cave
3. Electronic Cerebrectomy
4. Byzantium’s Shores: The Occasional Meditations of an Overalls-clad Hippie
5. Simple Tricks and Nonsense

(I’m with Jaquandor on this step; it strikes me as a little too close to chain-letter territory for comfort. But it seems harmless…)

Next, select five people to tag.

(This one was tough — I don’t know of five bloggers that I know well enough to tag, and who might actually be willing to participate in this. I managed to think of four, at least…)

1. Jen Broschinsky
2. Her hubby Steve, who’s long overdue for a blogging update anyhow.
3. Our newest blogger, Chenopup
4. Our ‘net friend in the New York/New Jersey area, Brian Greenberg

And now for the questions!

What were you doing ten years ago?

Looking for a job, most likely.

What were you doing one year ago?

Pretty much the same thing I’m doing now: slaving away in the Comma Mines and grousing about not having enough time to blog.

Five snacks you enjoy.

1. Doritos (the fifth food group)
2. Chocolate chip cookies (the sixth food group)
3. Watermelon
4. Peanut M&Ms
5. Movie-theater popcorn, with all the nasty butter and salt

(Hey, you always wanted to know how I got this totally awesome physique, right?)

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics.

1. “Come Monday” by Jimmy Buffett (which just happens to be playing on Radio Margaritaville as I’m typing this)
2. “Love Somebody” by Rick Springfield (“Jessie’s Girl” was too obvious.)
3. “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield
4. “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin (I suppose this is a no-brainer; doesn’t everyone know this one?)
5. “Glory Days” by Bruce Springsteen (I relate to the lyrics more than I’d like, I’m afraid.)

Five things you would do if you were a billionaire.

1. Pay off all my parents’ debts. And all of The Girlfriend’s, and The Girlfriend’s parents’, too.
2. Buy a really awesome house or three. And some nice cars. Like a Duesenberg, for example.
3. Take five or ten years off and do a modern-day version of The Grand Tour
4. Book a flight on Virgin Galactic and a stay on Bigelow‘s orbital hotel.
5. Make a big-time donation toward curing Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Five bad habits.

1. I procrastinate.
2. I swear.
3. I eat too much junk food.
4. I worry too damn much.
5. I tend to do mundane tasks Scalzi classifies as “vacuuming the cat” instead of things that are actually productive.

Five things you like doing.

1. Blogging.
2. Organizing my stuff — weird as it sounds, I really enjoy sorting through crap, cleaning it up and preparing it for storage, and then packing it away.
3. Driving with the top down.
4. Watching movies.
5. Staring pensively out across city skylines and/or wide open spaces, like the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Five things you would never wear again.

(Another tough one — once upon a time, I would’ve railed against the horrors of wearing a suit and tie, but I realized a few years ago that there are worse things than that, and I actually look pretty damn good in a suit, even if they’re not my first choice of attire.)

1. Plastic suspenders. Chenopup and a few of my other readers will know what I mean.
2. Parachute pants. Loved my pair of black, zipper-covered nylon pants in in tenth grade, still have ’em, but no way I could get away with wearing them these days. Assuming they still made them, and in my size. Which they don’t.
3. Aqua socks. No, I don’t want to explain. Let’s just say I made a very poor fashion choice one summer and have been regretting it ever since.
4. Boxers. Just not my cuppa. So to speak.
5. Surgical scrubs as an everyday shirt. Another poor fashion choice. I’ve had a lot of problems with those over the years…

And there you have it, kids, more tidbits of useless info about yours truly. Promise me you’ll only use it for good!