I'm not usually one to participate in chain letters and e-mail forwards and things like that (though offering a clichéed disclaimer like this, of course, let's you know that something to the contrary is coming); however, I was recently tagged by an old friend of mine, Billy Williams (a.k.a. Chanchanchepon) -- and since I had some time to blog but otherwise nothing particularly poignant to say, I figured I'd play along and enjoy some randomnicity for a day.

The "rules" of the game are as follows:

1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Write 6 random things about yourself
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
4. If you're tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag

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So here are my six random things about myself:

1.  Believe it or not, I used to be a pretty decent trombone player; I played in elementary school, junior high school, and high school band, but also competed in regional solo and ensemble competitions.  But actually, I only switched to trombone because I was forced to do so when our family moved from Lancaster, Wisconsin (where they had a school orchestra) to Shelby, Ohio (where they only had a school band).  My original instrument was the cello.

2.  I've been thinking about changing the name of this blog from "Amsterdam Asp" to "Aspirations."  Over the summer, I was realizing that really only a small fraction of the stuff that I write here in this space is actually about Amsterdam; the blog is actually more about seeing the entire world (or at least whatever parts of the world that I may visit) through my eyes.  So I'm thinking about a name change, and I like the sound of "Aspirations" -- partly because it involves a play on words with my last name (obviously), but partly because I just like the sound of the word and its shades of meaning, and partly because of historical reasons (my Dad always used to title our annual Christmas letters "Aspirations," and for awhile he even ran a consulting business under the same name).  So I've been thinking about changing the blog's title -- but not sure how this might affect the blog's find-ability and strength in the search engines rankings and such.  I tend to be somewhat slow in making these kinds of decisions.

3.  One of my favorite things at the end of a long day is enjoying bowl of popcorn while sitting on the living room couch.  Air-popped would be most preferable; microwaved least preferable.  Typically (in the absence of an air popper), I do mine in a pot on the kitchen stove.  The trick to good popcorn is in the buttering.

4.  I very rarely remember my dreams -- at least not beyond the first few moments of wakefulness.  I always envy people who have wild stories to tell after a good night's sleep.  But for me, I seriously think that I could count all the dreams that I've remembered (throughout the course of my entire life) on my two hands (and maybe even still have a few fingers left over).

5.  My grandparens' names are George and Betty, Ezra and Marguerite.  I think these are great -- absolutely classic -- grandparent names.

6.  I really appreciate the logic and regularity of the Dutch language -- but I'm still baffled by words like zeven (pronounced more like zeuven) and tram (pronounced more like trem).  Well, "baffled" is not exactly the right word.  Maybe "bothered" is more like it.  But I really wish that I knew the reasons why these words in particular are pronounced so irregularly.  I know it's not that important in the grand scheme of things, but I'm just irked by such isolated quirkiness in a sea of relative linguistic orderliness.

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And here are the six people whom I am tagging (should they choose to accept the challenge or not):

1.  Jay Asp - My brother.  My compatriot.  My fellow striver.  An art teacher living in Texas while part-time pursuing his dream of success as a painter.  Kind of like Mr. Holland in "Mr. Holland's Opus."  Kind of like me with my writing, living in Holland.

2.  Jason Slack - My spiritual brother.  Old roommate and partner-in-crime while studying at Bowling Green State University.  Just moved to Kent, Ohio, to help start a new church for college students at Kent State University.  He's got a ridiculous philosophy that he will wait for traffic to start coming to his blog before he actually posts new content more regularly (though I suggest that he needs to invert his strategy).  Well, perhaps tagging him here will help to give him some of that traffic and provide that nudge he needs toward more frequent blogging...

3.  Krista Davis - Another old friend from Bowling Green.  Had been living in Poland for about five years, but is now studying theology at Dallas Theological Seminary, in Texas.  One of the most regular female bloggers I know (though even so, I would still like to see more of her blogging).

4.  Sahand Sahebdivani - A friend from my writing group here in Amsterdam.  His family runs this incredible little cafe / cultural center called Mezrab, in the Jordaan (which also happens to be the location where our writing group meets on every other Monday).  He's a fabulous story-teller, he's currently working as a scriptwriter, and he plays in a regionally-acclaimed band called Caspian Hat Dance.  He's a very cool guy.

5.  Marco Pauws - One of my dearest friends in Amsterdam.  He's also an amazingly gifted photographer who doesn't post on his blog nearly often enough.  He always said that he was going to start posting more once he got his Canon 400D... and by golly, I'm going to hold him to that promise!

6.  Helen Bode - Really, I only had a few short months to get to know Helen, while she was living in Amsterdam -- but I've really come to respect her writing talent.  She's originally from Australia but living in England (last I heard).  She's considering a legal career, but I was recently trying to convince her to become a novelist.  Seriously, she's good enough to make it, if she put her mind to it.

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I'm honestly not even sure that all of the people I tagged are regular readers of this particular blog (which is fine with me).  I will not in the least be offended if they choose not to follow the "rules" in this game.  But in any event, they're all interesting people with interesting lives and interesting blogs (or at least the potential for interesting blogs, whenever they get around to writing).

So yes.  Now I've completed my participation in swirl of events precipitated by the random tagging of Billy B.Williams.