Eek, a Meme, Part One

                      1. Plomeek Soup
Spock was my first childhood crush. A crush so intense that I learned how to draw by drawing Spock. A crush so long-lasting that years later, I still cry every time I watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

                      2. Heinz Baked Beans
If there is one thing and only one thing I can do with a guitar, it is play a fierce but rather bad rendition of Pinball Wizard from Tommy. I will not, however, reenact the Ann-Margaret gushing TV scene from the movie.

                      3. Meatloaf
My first paid theater gig was as a Transylvanian in a stage production of The Rocky Horror Show. It ran for months. It ran so long that the Bag-o-Eddie-Guts I built (as props assistant) went bad and started to stink of, well, Eddie Guts. Don’t ask me what I used to make the Bag-o-Guts. Thankfully, I can’t remember.

                      4. Iron Rations
You. Yes you. The geek in the corner. Also, you, Misters Diesel and Colbert. You know what I’m talking about. That’s right, Iron Rations for a hard campaign. To go along with that plus one scimitar and that handy cleric with his Cure Light Wounds spell. Did I mention I still have a folder full of character sheets. Make that two folders.

                      5. The Number Two
Once upon a time, I was attending classes just a short stroll from a theater that was showing the Terry Gilliam masterpiece, Brazil. One fine spring day, my classmates and I decided to attend a showing after class. The next day, we did the same. And the day after that. And… well, this was back when movies were cheap so I lost count.

                      6. Suet Pie
When Chopper and I planned our wedding, we knew one thing and one thing only, right off the bat: Chopper would not be wearing a tux. We didn’t know what he’d be wearing; we only knew: no tux. And then we went to the theater and saw Master and Commander and our fate was sealed. Or rather my fate, since I had to sew the damn thing. Fortunately, our British nautical theme did not extend as far as the food.

                      7. Shameful Head Pasties
So, I get out of college and the first thing I decide to do with my utterly useless arts degree is direct Shakespeare. Something simple perhaps? Twelfth Night? Romeo and Juliet? Nah. Gimme that cannibalistic blood bath, Titus Andronicus. I should note that the theater was tiny and we came awfully close to paying the front row’s dry cleaning bills on more than one occasion. Ahhh, stage blood.

                      8. American Pie
Another college (yes, there were two of them; I was indecisive), and another odd job. This one involved photographing visiting performers for the school paper. Don McLean was one of the funniest, nicest guys ever, but I still can’t help but sing “My, my, this here Anakin guy” every time that song comes on the radio.

                      9. Herzwesten Dark
Ah, nothing like a good, well-aged dark beer to save you from invading Janissaries. I’m a sucker for great tales of historical intrigue with secret magical underpinnings, and nobody does it better than Tim Powers, one of my all-time favorite authors. I had the great pleasure of interviewing Tim for a (sadly now defunct) genre magazine, and still heed his writing advice today. Especially the bits about obsessively researching and ignoring deadlines. (I heartily embrace the ignoring of deadlines.)

                      10. Psycho Amber
Remember back, I mean waaaaay back when we first started this blog and said we were going to write about beer? Well, um. See, we’ve got this Tiny Kitchen and brewing is rather a bitch around here. Someday, we promise. Someday. Meantime, back, waaaay back before we landed in this house, we had a large kitchen and Chopper brewed a batch called Psycho Amber, and I made a label for it, and entered it in a contest, and won us a wort chiller — which we have yet to use because we’re stuck with this tiny kitchen. Come springtime? We’re taking over the living room and brewing between the comfy chair and the entertainment center.