Meme Clearing

I haven’t been as interested in playing meme games lately, but hey, here’s a weird coincidence: Rowan from Ireland and my friend Geo from New York both tagged me at the same time *and* they both consider themselves insultants instead of consultants. When two strong coincidences coincide, I guess I have to play along!
Share a Defining Moment
Geo’s challenge was to share a defining moment. One such moment came in 5th Grade, which was when I first realized that I didn’t have to blindly follow along with whatever the teacher told me to do. This led me to realize that I was in control of my own life. Boy, what crappy knowledge to give an 11-year-old boy. I suddenly went into a scholastic tailspin that took a lot of conversations with my parents, teachers, and school administrators to correct. And yet, I realized that I was driving my destiny from that moment onward.
The teacher’s name was something like Mrs. Birch. She got mad at me all the time, because I’d say really weird things in my workbooks, and on reports.
8 Random Things
This is evidently a larger version of Jeff Pulver’s 5 things meme from this past December (or whenever that was started). Rowan wants to know 8 random things about me.

1. I prefer craft beers (especially locals) most of the year, but drink hefeweizen all summer.
2. I’m not really great at sitting still. This proves rough for all the conferences I attend and the ones I put on.
3. I have an unlikely appreciation for little silly-looking dogs in those “Funniest Home Videos” shows. Little dogs.
4. I’ve always wanted to be a superhero. Favorite power: flying.
5. Before we had kids, I was really squeamish. Now, I’m only a little squeamish.
6. Scariest movie of all time: JAWS (saw it when I was 6).
7. When asked what I do for work, I often answer, “I’m a combat helicopter pilot.”
8. For a guy with almost 1200 Twitter friends, I have a severe lack of real-life proximal friends.

Here endeth the memes. In the spirit of tagging people, here’s what I’ve got:
Geo’s Defining Moment Meme: I tag Julien, Chris, and Bryan.
Rowan’s 8 Things Meme: I tag Jonathan, Becky, Jon, and Zadi.