Blog Tag + 5 things U didn't know about Dave

a game!  my kingdom for a game!

well, looks like todd 'oilman' friesen just included me in a game of blog tag :)

the basic idea of this game is to tell people 5 things about yourself that they didn't likely know, then tag 5 other people (or in this case, 5 bloggers) and see how far the meme progresses.

5 Things U Didn't Know About the Master of 500 Hats

1. i had a terrific crush on my 1st grade teacher, and wrote her a letter almost every day at lunchtime.  apparently my steadfast puppy love paid off: more than thirty years & thousands of kids later, i went back home to speak at her retirement party... where she maintained i had always been her favorite student.  i swear, there were witnesses.
2. when i was ten, i won a donut-eating contest held in my hometown (i'm king of the world!).  however while attempting to defend my title the following year, i threw up onstage in front of family & friends, and lost horribly to the smug, pudgy-cheeked mountain of a boy sitting next to me.  i cried like a baby.  it was devastating.
3. altho i was 'gifted' (translation: geek) i never graduated from high school.  in college, i was placed on academic probation a few times.  one semester i managed to "hit for the cycle": i got one A, one B, one C, one D, & one F.  i got the F for (among other things) sleeping thru a final exam.  the A was actually an A+ in Pascal, a programming class which i enjoyed tremendously.  in fact, i felt so confident about my programming skillz i took the final exam completely stoned... and aced it.  after getting my shit somewhat together, i did manage to make the dean's list before i graduated from JHU.  whew.
   
4. once on a dare, i tried to get several hundred people to get up & start dancing at a Neville Brothers concert in Vegas (my wife Saya was playing backup keyboards with them at the time).  after failing miserably to get someone to join me, i said WTF and decided to dance all by myself at the front of the stage.  security almost tried to remove me, however the crowd cheered me on, and by the end of the song they gave both me & the Nevilles a standing ovation.  To this day, the Neville Brothers refer to me as Dancin' Dave McClure. 
5. a few weeks ago in San Francisco City Hall, i was able to get ~500 people to do the "wave"... three times, no less.  completely spontaneous and unrehearsed.  i swear, there were witnesses.

okay, now i'm tagging 5 other bloggers:

• Shripriya Mahesh
• Ian Kennedy
• Mark Fletcher
• Noah Kagan
• Josh Kopelman

you're it.  now tell us your story!

Comments

[sohbet]

thanks

[Alan]

Totally LOL. You are a crazy man and that's why we love you

[sohbet]

go mets go :)

[Erik]

That is hands-down the number one coolest love letter I have ever seen in my life. I am using all those lines from now on!

-Erik

[Damon Billian]

Hmmmm...the five things you don't know about me are probably illegal;-)

Things I will admit to:
1. I got busted for looking up my first grade teacher's dress. Your teacher should consider herself lukcy;-)

2. I snapped a kid's headgear (for braces) back into his face in 5th grade. He recognized me 15 years later...

3. I was kicked out of the cafeteria in 5th grade for starting a food fight.

4. I was kicked out of Spanish class in 11th grade (I think?) for starting a fire in the class (it WAS an accident). En fuego...

5. I, like you, also didn't complete college. My GPA when I did go probably hovered around a 1.6, largely because I thought going to the beach was more important. I did, however, do much better the second time I went to college here (I got a 3.8).

Positive things:
1. I like reading.
2. I speak a fair amount of Thai. I also speak a little Mandarin and German.
3. My favorite hobby is photography.
4. The two people I love the most are my fiancee and my daughter (they put up with me).
5. My secret desire is/was to be a rockstar.

I won't comment on how many times I was stoned in college;-) Those years are well behind me now...

[Ryan]

I love "the cycle," with the stoned handicap in the Pascal class. I remember getting so frustrated with one of my econ finals that I broke out the Jagermeister from my backpack, which I had intended to drink afterwards, halfway through it.

I was also hitting on... I mean speaking with... a freshly-minted elementary school teacher last night who was talking about having received a love note from a student and not knowing how to react. I am going to share the link to yours.

[Trish Irwin]

This is your first grade teacher, Mrs. Trish Irwin. I just want to tell the world how brilliant you are. When David was 6 years old, he was so beyond first grade reading material, that I went to the English Department at WVU and got the suggested reading material for incoming freshmen. The first book David read for me was Mary Shelly's FRANKENSTEIN. The second book was DRACULA. He liked monsters.

At Christmas, David gave me a two carrot cuibic zirconia ring. At Easter, he gave me a nightgown. I called him and asked if we were engaged.

He wanted to spend more money for my gifts than on his own mother. He argued with her that he spent x amount of time a day with her and x plus amount of time with me, therefore he should spend more money on me than on his own mom. Maria didn't go for that logic. She was smart too.

He was and is the most fascinating and wonderful student of my 35 year teaching carreer. David not only was outstanding in his intellectual ability, but in personality.

He was sensitive, kind, funny, and had perfect pitch. He hated my singing.

I was so privileged to be his teacher and it is a good thing I didn't have him in second grade. I barely kept up with him in first.

It makes me so happy to now call him friend.

Thanks, Dave, for distinguishing my teaching carrer and enriching my life.

Love,

Trish

[noah kagan]

Dave,

Thanks for the shot out. Here are my 5:

1- i do 100 pushups a night. started 4 years ago
2- i collect shot glasses everywhere i travel to and where my friends go. have 150+
3- i have a brother who is doctor that loves to bodybuild.
4- i super glued my eyes when i was 7 because i thought it was visine when i was at my dad's office.
5- i just learned about the difference of than vs. then. yea i know i missed out=)

cheers,
noah

[Susan Wu]

what a fun meme! so i share 80% of one of those 5 things with you. ;>