Six Things . . . .

I was tagged by Heidi! Here is my response to give some items that some or few or none know about me. These are six things that just came tumbling into my head. Nothing brilliant here. Nothing glamorous. Nothing nefarious. Nothing very exciting. Nothing too spooky.

1. I once met one of my political heroes William F.Buckley Jr. back in 1973-74. I had read a number of his books and watched him with enthusiasm as he appeared weekly on TV on his own broadcast and as a guest on all of the talk shows. He was staying at the Rodeway Inn in Salt Lake City (where I was working as Bell Captain.) He was residing in the suite above the office and had called down for someone to bring something up to his room. I was Johnny-on-the-spot and was up there with his request in no time. We exchanged niceties and I told him how much that I had admired his writings and asked for an autograph. He was gracious and obliged with more than just his usual WFB. My touch with greatness…. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_F._Buckley,_Jr.

2. Then President (of the Twelve) Ezra Taft Benson asked me to write a Gospel Doctrine Manual. (I regret that I didn’t follow up with his request.)

3. I hate liver. I hate it with a passion. Even in disguise. I don’t think you can disguise it. And liver by any other name is still disgusting. I once had liver noodles in Germany (Leberspaetzele) and it was only tolerable—barely. My utter repugnance can be summarized in the lyric from Wicked:
What is this feeling? Fervid as a flame, Does it have a name? Yes! Loathing. Unadulterated loathing.
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With simple utter loathing There's a strange exhilaration. In such total detestation. It's so pure and strong! Though I do admit it came on fast. Still I do believe that it can last. And I will be loathing, Loathing you, liver, My whole life long!

4. At one time I had a decent command for reading the Gothic language. (The only document that still exists from the ancient language contains parts of the New Testament Gospels.) I gave it up because I didn’t like how I had to dress (All-black wasn’t slimming enough for me! And there were too few with whom I could converse.)

5. I once had a secret desire to get two tattoos—one on each cheek! The first would have been the Tabernacle and the second would have been the Supernacle. What prevented me was I had wanted to keep the same aspect ratio for both and the one would have extended way beyond the desired area—or I needed to put on an extra 300 lbs. I didn’t want to make that compromise. Maybe I’ll get a stick-on pirate one of these days.

6. I convinced a mission companion in the MTC (then it was the LTM) that one could get cancer from eating white watermelon seeds. Even with every minute of our time being micro-managed, we still had the time to do some really stupid things.