Tag, I'm it

The very wonderful @joanmarie just tagged me in the meme craze that has been going 'round Twitter these days.

Judging from her own entry, it looks like I am supposed to name seven things you, o blog readers (if I have such a thing), don't know about me. It's an odd question in a way. Between blogging and the columns I wrote - first for Foster's Daily Democrat and then The Telegraph - I think my life is pretty much an open book. But then again, when I organized a paint-your-own pottery night last month and different corners of my world collided, it became clear that I am not as open-book as I tend to think I am.

So, apologies if you somehow already knew them, but here are the seven things you very probably don't know about me:

1. I have never actually used my degree in any job. I studied Russian in college, and Russian studies was my major. Go ahead and laugh. I didn't really bank on the Cold War ending and even though Yeltsin was already in power by the time I filed the paperwork at the registrar's office, I didn't really count out Communism completely. Even when I spent a semester in Krasnodar, it seemed that the commemoration of the October Revolution still had a number of people calling for a return to life under Stalin. And Zhirinovsky held a really successful rally in Krasnodar while I was there, passing out free beer. He had a scary type of charisma that I am glad never really gained much momentum.

I was supposed to have an internship the year I graduated college with a medical center in Pittsburgh that had a large number of Russian clients, but the funding fell through and I could not afford taking an unpaid position. I ended up looking for work in non-Russian related nonprofits - first at a youth theater and then at an organization that puts on a ginormous Celtic festival every year in Pennsylvania.

My Russian skills have gotten little attention in the last *cough* 12 *cough* years, but I can still sing a song about a giraffe who falls in love with an antelope and then leaves to live with the bison when no one understands. And it comes in handy for a handful of movies, like "The Hunt for Red October" and "So I Married an Ax Murderer." But other than that, my parents sort of cluck their tongues over what I wonder if they perceive as a waste.

I don't. I remember being terrified that the Russians were going to bomb us when I was a kid in the 1980s. And to me, the best way to defuse fear is through education. My time in Russia was magical. Every day felt like an adventure, and I loved my host family dearly.

I am still fascinated by Russian politics and history and some of my favorite authors were discovered in my Eastern European literature class. So, even though it seems useless at the surface, I have no regrets.

Besides, that smitten giraffe song is the bomb-diggity.

2. I played the sousaphone in high school. Our marching band had almost 200 kids, and I wanted to learn to play something. I picked the biggest something, of course, which also required relatively little musical talent in marching band. I called my sousaphone Bubba and was known for being a little overzealous in swinging it while we were marching. I quit band in college because they made me play the baritone, and it just wasn't the same at all. To this day, though, I think I could still play a few fight songs.

3. I was a vegetarian for much of college. Most of my now friends would probably be shocked by that, particularly because I often extol the virtues of Gauchos -- "Meat wrapped in more meat! On swords!" I tried out a lot of things in college. Vegetarianism was a big one. This ended partly because I could no longer deny how much I missed bacon and partly because in Russia, people didn't understand the concept. It made me realize that for most people on the planet, vegetarianism isn't necessarily a choice. They are vegetarians because it's what they can afford and meat is a luxury.

4. I cannot whistle. For several years in a row as a Christmas gift, my parents gave me a keychain designed for people who tend to lose their keys. You whistle, they beep and voila! Life becomes orderly and proceeds without any frantic morning ritual. I had to keep giving them away because I can't whistle. I will never be able to properly hail a cab, too. This pains me far more than it should.

5. When I was 6, I insisted my parents call me "Arliss" for a whole summer. In fairness, my parents stuck me with the most popular girl's name of most of the 1970s and well into the '80s. Of course, I met another Jennifer and of course, I wasn't happy about it. So, I picked the most original name I knew -- the name of the little boy from "Old Yeller." I got over my insistence pretty quickly, but the story is now a permanent part of O'Callaghan family lore.

6. I own three cowbells. Because four is too many.

7. Sometimes at night, I still think there are alligators under the bed. Yup. I'm 34-cough-something and still do the high-knee scamper to the bathroom in the middle of the night so they don't bite my ankles.

Hoo-boy. I don't want to tag someone who's already been tagged... I don't know who @empirebetty tagged 'cause I can't see her blog. ACK! Sorry in advance if I am re-tagging:

@grantmorris because he is hardcore enough to knock out a tooth skiing.
@sidceaser because he likes chocolate-covered bacon and "Firefly." 'Nuff said.
@msmelissamae because she wants to dive into all things Twitterific.
@DeKoning because he is dad to Max, the coolest baby to rock a disco 'fro.
@jlstevens1 because she is the queen of all things happening and hip in the Seacoast.
@tygab because anyone who uses "cranky" as part of their blog name is cool by me.
@yorkd because we've never met, but I suspect she's the shiznit.