Whee! I've been tagged in a tell-us-about-yourself meme by Anne Helmond. Not exactly an arduous task for a shameless egomaniac like myself.

Here are "the rules" of the meme:

• We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
• Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
• People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
• Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

8 things about me:

1. According to this version of the Jungian personality test, I'm an INFP. The INFP personality generally fits me, but have some qualms about the "introvert" label. When I'm around other people (especially at work), I tend to play the part of an extrovert—and I usually enjoy it, but I get burnt out quickly and need time to myself to recover. And I definitely don't seek out social situations. I think I'm actually an antisocial extrovert.

Crif Dogs "eat me" sign, as photographed by flickr user urbanblitz

2. Although I grew up in Florida, I'm proud to report that my family has roots here in NYC. My paternal grandfather was born in Manhattan, not in a hospital, but in the back of a candy store that his parents ran at 115 St. Marks Place, now the site of a clothing boutique.

You might get a better idea of where it's located if I mention that it's right next door to Crif Dogs, of the famous "eat me" sign. When I took my dad here a few years back, he caught sight of the sign as we approached. "Of course," he shouted, assuming this must be the indicator of his father's birth site, "It says 'eat me'! That's perfect."

3. Googling "lauren sperber" turns up people who are not me. I actually have the gall to find this somewhat inappropriate.

4. My favorite poem is "Poems of Our Climate" by Wallace Stevens. It goes like this:

I.
Clear water in a brilliant bowl,
Pink and white carnations. The light
In the room more like a snowy air,
Reflecting snow. A newly-fallen snow
At the end of winter when afternoons return.
Pink and white carnations—one desires
So much more than that. The day itself
Is simplified: a bowl of white,
Cold, a cold porcelain, low and round,
With nothing more than the carnations there.

II.
Say even that this complete simplicity
Stripped one of all one's torments, concealed
The evilly compounded, vital I
And made it fresh in a world of white,
A world of clear water, brilliant-edged
Still one would want more, one would need more
More than a world of white and snowy scents.

III.
There would still remain the never-resting mind,
So that one would want to escape, come back
To what had been so long composed.
The imperfect is our paradise.
Note that, in this bitterness, delight,
Since the imperfect is so hot in us,
Lies in flawed words and stubborn sounds.

5. The fact that my flickr badge, badger badge, and embedded video code keep my xhtml from validating makes me feel sad inside.

6. I used to dye my hair incessantly. First it was My So-Called Life purplish-red, then auburn, then strawberry blonde, then strawberry blonde with highlights, then blonde, then blonder, then make-your-mother-cry magenta (which obliged me to straighten my very curly hair daily), then bleach blonde, then strawberry blonde, then auburn for quite awhile.

I finally dyed it a few shades too dark of a brown about a year and a half ago and haven't touched it since. It's mellowed to a medium brownish that I like to fancy has some reddish highlights. This is probably not the case.

7. Re Anne's #7: I have been struggling to remember the last time I went more than 24 hours—or even a full 24 hours!—without the internet, and, although it terrifies me to type this, I literally can't remember when that was. I think I need a vacation.

8. I have a million witty t-shirt ideas, but no clue what to do with them. CaféPress and Spreadshirt have crazy markups cost more than I, personally, would like to pay for a t-shirt (thanks, Jana!), but I don't exactly have time to make them myself. Solutions, anyone?

tagged: Sean, wordart, Lorna, Britta, that nondescript cat, Patrick, kbam, Grey