Chain Tagged: 5 things you didnt know about me

December 31, 2006

My friend Mark at toshuo.com tagged me with a chain blog. This is my first time getting one of these, so for now I’ll go along with it. And considering this blog’s readership, it will be easy to find 5 things “you” dont know. Come to think of it, some of the most interesting things I can’t really publish here…

1. I was a child actor.
I have a small speaking part in the movie “Anne of Green Gables”, starring Megan Follows, Colleen Dewhurst and Richard Farnsworth. I was in an “educational” movie which is still shown in many grade 11 or 12 sociology classes (in Canada) about a teenager who wants to drop out of school to pursue his dream of being a musician.

2. I was a frugal traveler
My summer hitchiking trip after uni started with 40 dollars, a bag of trail mix and 4 ounces of hash hidden the case of my flute (to finance the trip). 2 weeks later, the finances had gone up in smoke, so to speak. 14 months later, I was in Paris with $5.23, a cast on my left arm–and no “finances” in my flute case. It would be 9 years before I returned to Montreal.

3. I nearly auto-circumcised myself
I was 8 years old, and was performing some daring acrobatics on my grandma’s exercise bicycle. My foot slid off the pedal and my crotch got caught between the big wheel and the small metal wheel (used for increasing the pedaling tension). When I walked into the kitchen with my pants down to my ankles spitting blood from my nether region, grandma dropped her mixing bowl. God bless her.

4. I once worked for the C.I.A.
Well, not really. But when I was 9, and living in Mexico city, I was hired to play Mickey Mouse at an event organized by the U.S. Bureau of Tourism (I think it was). The suit was rented special from Disney and everything. I may even have a photo. The director of said organization happened to be the husband of my grade 5 and 6 teacher, which is how I got the job. Years later , I learned from a fairly reliable source–a lawyer who had been a lover to one of the director’s sons– that this was his “cover”, that he actually had been head of operations for the region at the time. For obvious reasons, I wont mention his name. Is it true? It certainly makes me feel better about having worn a Mickey Mouse suit.

5. I shoulda been a singa…or somethin’.
The moments in my life that have brought me the most rapture have been singing in choirs, singing on stage and playing the flute in a wind ensemble. All of this stopped by the time I was 15 or so, but the memory is indelible. I of course no longer have any kind of singing voice, and though I still have a flute with me, I no longer practice. When I am feeling morose, I occasionally try to play pieces I could play fairly well as a young teenager but can no longer do them justice. It makes me feel worse about myself every time. Thankfully, I’ve been quite happy this year so have not needed to resort to this self-flagellation in a long time.