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Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Posted by philgomes 6:33 PM
Eight Things For 2008Found out through Shel Israel and Maggie Fox that there's a tag-meme going on: Eight things readers might not know.
I wasn't tagged, but I thought I'd crash the party anyway.
Here goes:
1. My wedding took place at an art gallery in Oakland, Calif. When we showed up the Saturday beforehand, we observed an eight-foot-tall hermaphroditic statue carved out of a single piece of wood. It had a gold-painted bosom and male plumbing. During the wedding, it was hidden in the gallery owner's office. No pictures of "Bullion Betty" have ended up on the Internet, but the cameraphone pics that some of my friends managed to sneak are quite entertaining.
2. I performed a water rescue when I was 12 years old while visiting a ranch a la the movie City Slickers.
3. I briefly played lead guitar in a band called Innominate with a college buddy (bass) and two of his friends. I think it was about 1994 or so. Turned out to be Christian metal in the Slayer vein, which still strikes me as kind of funny. I played on three out of the four songs and even share writing credit on one (the insertion of a half-time groove toward the end of a quite pit-worthy song). I was heavily influenced back then by George Lynch (still am) and Kirk Hammett. The tape is currently in storage somewhere, but I'll try to MP3 it one of these days.
4. I had longish hair back then. Actually, if it were possible for a guy to have the Jennifer Aniston "Rachel" haircut, that would've been mine.
5. I had the chance to see Ray Charles for my birthday when I was in Portugal with my parents and aunt. However, the Estoril casino was charging about US$250 per ticket. Quite steep. I ended up getting my first guitar — a metal-flake-purple Korean knockoff of a Gibson Explorer — for less than half of that amount. My Dad bought it for me from a guy who was selling gear in the basement of an athletic shoe store in his hometown. Since the guitar is pretty much falling apart at this point, I've mothballed it. The guitar had an incredibly warm tone, though. I always suspected it was the millimeter of rust growing on the neck-position pickup. (Epilogue: Ended up seeing Ray about fourteen years later at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, Calif. Price: US$30.)
6. I stopped pursuing a highly promising PR and development position at a research institute to work at Edelman. Considering my decision netted me a great job, a ton of wide-ranging professional experience, a move to Chicago, and the opportunity to meet a wonderful woman who would eventually become my wife, I have no regrets whatsoever.
7. I am of Portuguese/Italian descent. In high school, a guidance counselor told me a number of times that claiming to be Hispanic with a name like "Gomes" was a good way to distinguish myself on college applications. (As if a 3.7 GPA, editorship of the school paper, and concurrent participation in the school's jazz, rally, and symphonic bands wouldn't do the trick.) It was even suggested to me that I write "Gomez" on the forms as my surname. Both this early experience, and related incidents since, have formed my opinions about affirmative action. (Epilogue: Had no problems with gaining acceptance into the colleges of my choice.)
8. To satisfy my foreign language requirement during undergrad, I took three semesters of ancient Greek (Attic dialect). One of my finals involved translating the first chapter of the Gospel of John and defending it in front of my classmates and professor. The fact that the language was ancient Greek was incidental — a deep appreciation for the nature of language can only be attained by immersing students in a language that none of them would have studied in high school. Without that baggage, a richer learning experience presented itself.
Since I was rude enough to crash the party, I'll hold off on tagging others.
Best in 2008!
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