jonaha:(via jona):thephenthouse:truthordare:sincewhendoessheblog:itsamazing:

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 16 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

16 facts about Christopher Jonathan Pazen Zagorski:

1. The recipe, in life, for my happiness boils down mostly to the following*:
music, sunshine, nature, and freedom.   I’m a bit of a wanderer, and I tend to walk everywhere I can, time permitting, so long as the sun is shining and I have my iPod.

[* along with some incorporated mixture of Pat Hughes, Ron Santo, Wrigley Field, and the Chicago Cubs.]

2. I’m currently trying to expand my brain (in capacity, if not in size) through a series of observation, memory, and critical thinking exercises and experiments.  My goal is to end up as smart as Charlie was at the halfway point of the book “Flowers for Algernon”.

3. I love “Flowers for Algernon”, and I will reference it at any chance that I get.

4. I’m 26 years old, and I’ve never done a single drug or smoked a single thing in my life. I rarely even drink alcohol, and was completely alcohol-free on NYE, right up until about 11:57p when someone handed me a full bottle of Champagne, and I figured that I’d look rather foolish if I was still holding it, still full, at 12:09a.

5. I like diagramming things for people to illustrate whatever it is I’m talking about.

(even if my artistic talents are lacking and the drawings I do typically stink on ice.)

6. I have ridiculously large pupils, which people are usually either alarmed, or captivated by (or made to assume that I lied about #4). I once had a job interview where the woman who was interviewing me stopped halfway through, stared at me for a good 28 seconds, and then remarked, “Your pupils are as big as basketballs.”

7. Two of my favorite things in life are chatting with folks and meeting new people. However — because of a strong aversion that I have to being trapped in bad conversations* — I go through many of my days saying very little, and letting an endless number of potentially enjoyable interactions pass me by. You should know that I’m trying to work on this.

[*other things I have a strong dislike of being trapped in include: coal mines, (fictional) carbonite, and KFC Bathrooms, etc.]

8. I was once trapped in a KFC Bathroom as a child. I can’t remember which one it was, but it was on the North Side of Chicago, and for whatever reason — the bathroom door was ridiculously thick, dense and heavy. I’m not sure how I got in, but I sure as hell couldn’t get out; and for a good minute or two, I was certain that my family was going to leave me, and I’d be forced to live out the rest of my life as a bathroom attendant working inside a Kentucky Fried Chicken. As you may imagine, to a 4-yr old — this was a truly horrifying thought.

9. Whenever I have a cold and/or am congested (which can be quite often), I tend to blow my nose in a way that is apparently louder and more forceful than the way in which most people do it. I’m not sure how or from where I adopted this method, but it has become sort of a trademark of mine, and is affectionately referred to by friends and family as “trumpets”. It also once caused a woman in a Burger King to turn to me and hiss “I wish you’d stop blowing your godt-damn nose!*”

[*this was then followed by laughter and snickering from a nearby table of teenagers.]

10. (speaking of honkers,) I know the geese involved in Thursday’s incident, as they all frequent the area right around my bus stop. These geese are assholes. I’m not surprised they did this.

11. I may be the most laid-back, serene, surprisingly optimistic and caring person that any of you will ever come across.  Arguably.   Also, I rarely lock the door to my apartment, which I believe is fairly rare in NYC.

12. And — if you like door-facts –– you should know that I try to always be aware of my surroundings enough to remember to hold doors open for people.

And I lose respect very quickly for those that don’t.

13. I currently work for Major League Baseball, and spend most of my year watching truckloads of baseball games for money, occasionally taking a phone call or two from an umpire.

14. I love spinach and I love peanut butter, but it’s watermelon that owns my heart.

15. I think that Marco and David should collect all of these “16 Things” essays (or at least all the good ones), and make them into a book, which will be available in bookstores everywhere right next to “Garfield Minus Garfield”, “Stuff White People Like”, and all the “PostSecret” books. They’ve already got permission to use my entry.

16. I myself am working on a project that will make all our lives much more interesting (and fulfilling), hopefully beginning very soon.

—

I’m only going to tag my sister, because I think it’ll be interesting to see what she can come up with that I don’t already know about her.

Oh, and I’ll also tag Marco, because I figure it might give him time to come around to my book idea while he’s trying to think of 16 things.