Hello to all of my readers, a.k.a. my Frye Guys, which is what I’ve decided to call you for the moment. We’ll see if it sticks or not. I’m honored to have received the “Seven Things About Me” award, given to me by the lovely ladies over at Simply Om. Along with the warm & fuzzies of being recognized the award also comes with a loose set of requirements for its recipient, as follows:
1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Tell everyone seven things about yourself.
3. Choose other blogs that you think deserve the award, and post on their blog to let them know they’ve been nominated.
Number one is taken care of but I’ll do it again — thanks a bunch Simply Om! As for number two, the request for seven things has so little clarification that I don’t know where to start, so I’ve decided to simply ramble off anything about me that might be interesting, odd, quirky, or just random — basically the stuff most Frye Guys (sticking?) wouldn’t know about me. So here goes:
1. I can’t read a book without taking notes. Not only does this mean it takes me 20 minutes to read a page, but also that I’m a non-fiction junkie who doesn’t really reach for a book unless I can walk away with some cold hard knowledge in the end. Fiction novels? Sure I’ve enjoyed a few, but I end up just taking notes on the author’s writing style the whole time. Either I’m an over-analytical kill-joy, or I’m simply making up for my sieve of a memory — you decide (because I can’t).
2. One of my old jobs in New York was to drive a Hummer covered with skeletons around Manhattan for 8 hours a day. No joke! It was a promotional vehicle for the (now closed) Jekyll & Hyde restaurant on 6th avenue, and my only job was to cruise figure-eights through the city and be seen by as many eyeballs as possible. I learned to navigate that diesel-guzzling tank of a vehicle through the narrowest and most tricky spots the city could throw at me, but not before busting up the bumper of a taxi cab and hitting an NYPD officer with one of my huge side mirrors. Not the cop’s car, mind you — the cop himself. The only thing that kept me from soiling myself during the confrontational aftermath was the soothing groove of the Phil Collins cassette I had in the Hummer’s old school tape deck at the time. The cops let me go with a warning. They must have been Phil Guys.
3. If you look hard enough I can be found singing professionally on iTunes. That’s what I was doing in NYC in the first place, playing out my own version of the starving musician, or maybe one step up from that — let’s say “Dollar Menu musician”? I spent my nights as a busker in the subway singing my heart and brains out, the proof of which is also available somewhere out there on the interwebs. Playing music underground was actually the thing that would eventually lead me to a life in Paris, but that’s another story for another post. :)
4. I built a chandelier for the movie Sex & the City 2. Long after the Hummer nonsense I settled into a job as Production Manager for a well-known lighting designer. This meant I prepped and assembled each of her objects for various projects, including an enormous one in Barney’s on Fifth Avenue and this smaller one in Carrie and Mr. Big’s apartment. Don’t bother clicking the play button in the middle; it’s just part of the screen capture.
5. I once attended a private Sting concert with only one audience member — me! A friend of mine used to work as a set designer for Saturday Night Live. She knew I was a die-hard Sting fan, which prompted her to call one afternoon saying that if I could be at the NBC studios in an hour I could watch him rehearse for that night’s performance. She let me in, I quietly grabbed a seat in the unlit mezzanine seats, and I silently watched Sting perform two songs and then rehearse a skit he was acting in. It ranks as one of my life’s all-time coolest moments.
6. My legs look pretty good in shorts. But that’s not the reason I wear them in the summer — I just hate being hot. And that’s why I’ve accepted the reality that to Parisians I’ll always look like a hapless American tourist between the months of June and August. And maybe even the occasionally warm May to all you locals, so you’ll just have to deal with it. My goal isn’t to succumb to your pants-in-summer rule but rather hone my French accent so finely that when I open my mouth you feel embarrassed to have judged me. “Don’t like looking at these pasty white limbs, madame? Well listen to me roll this R, baby!” I’m sure this conversation will happen one day.
7. Final fun fact: I want to write about Paris for a living. There. I put it out there. I want my life and my job to be nothing but studying, experiencing, and sharing all the little parts of this amazing city. Not sure how, but I need to make this happen. My mother will be jazzed because she believes that things only happen once we vocalize and own them. Maybe this is the beginning of something special for me. Or maybe I just couldn’t think of anything else to say for number 7.
Ok, final piece of business: blogs that I enjoy and will be forwarding this award to. Enjoy!
afrenchfryeinparis.com 
Hey French Frye!
Thanks so much for the nod. I am really flattered. I have already participated in this 7 Things thing a while back about 2 years ago! I will pay forward the love one way or another one day.
I can help you practice your white limbs speech as long as these shorts are not worn with white socks and sandals. Just sayin’…
A Boston Frye Guy
Thanks David. Yes I agree the socks & sandals look is très bad. :) Thanks for commenting!
Congratulations on the award! As always it’s a joy to read your posts.
A private concert with Sting?!? Amazing! Keep your writings of Paris coming. As some of us may one day find ourselves there and wouldn’t mind walking a mile in the steps you’ve taken throughout the city.
Thanks,
A Frye Guy in CT (did that help the sticking factor?)
Yes it did! Sweet, maybe this Frye Guy thing has some legs; between you and David above it’s like we’re taking over the whole eastern seaboard. Thanks for reading & commenting. I’ll try to answer that call for more posts!
I’ve said this only once about someone close to me because he has the most adventurous stories (one involving a close call collision with the replica Amistad ship) – you, sir, are like a true life Forrest Gump of sorts.
Thanks Dena, never thought of myself as a Forrest Gump but I’ll wear that with pride! I think in general we never realize how interesting our story has been, because we lived through it and end up taking things for granted. This list was a nice little reminder that yeah, I’ve maybe had a few cool moments in my life that are worth sharing. Thanks for reading & commenting!
Congrats first – and wow you’ve an absolutely interesting list of fun facts there! Ok – I do the same for Pt 1 – taking notes when I read so I take forever to finish a book (novel alike – I end up picking out the beautiful phrases!) Everything else you’ve stated are cool – everything I want to do but my secure paycheck and fear of societal judgement forbids me to take a step out. :( Anyway! Cool stuff there, please keep writing and I’m looking forward to seeing this become your career (PS: I wish alike for myself too!) Cheers!
Thanks Rustic for backing me up on #1! I take notes of beautiful phrases in books also; maybe it’s the equivalent of snapping a photo of a beautiful building that you don’t want to forget. Many of these notes I may not come back to for a few years, but it’s nice to know they’re there. :)
I totally understand your hesitation to leave what’s comfortable and put yourself out there. I think we all face that in our own ways, no matter what walk of life. And sometimes the things that come natural or seem necessary to ourselves seem daring or courageous to outsiders. People ask me if I was nervous the first time I went into the NYC subway to sing to a platform of strangers. The honest answer is I don’t remember; I needed some cash so I went and just gave it shot, whereas for others it might have taken several years of getting up the nerve to do so. And then in other areas of life I’m the scared one who watches people jump into things easily and I wonder how the hell they did it without freaking out. It’s all relative I guess. :)
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, and take care Rustic!
These are hilarious – I can’t believe you were the one driving the hummer around for Jekyll and Hyde (I’m from NY). I did a post of ‘7 things about me’ for one of these awards and they were all one liners, yours are GREAT! And congratulations on saying aloud that you’d like to write about Paris for a living!
Thanks so much Daisy de Plume!
Fellow New Yorker, awesome. Yeah I was behind the wheel of that monstrosity for about six months, until I found a nicer job with fewer skeletons and diesel fuel. ;) It’s just one of the odd random gigs I had in the city while I was finding my way (you probably know how that goes). Jekyll and Hyde is actually shut down now, likely for some massively failed health inspection or something (I always felt the management there was rather dodgy).
Love what you’re doing with THATLou. I originally studied Fine Arts painting at RISD and I still have a huge soft spot for great art. I’ll definitely be taking part in one of your future excursions! Did you happen to see my post before this one (Strokes of Genius)? Considering your work you might be familiar with the story, but I’d love for you to check it out sometime.
Stoked to have you as a Twitter and Pinterest follower. Take care and see you around the blogosphere!
Very interesting list of 7! As for your Number 7, “they” say that whatever your passion is, you can make a living out of it. It’s also said that we don’t even really need to worry about the “how;” just take one small step, and eventually everything will start to fall into place. It’s a bit of an odd/scary concept, but exciting as well. Once you start to see that things really *are* falling into place, the sky’s the limit!
Thanks a lot! Having the support of the positive mystical presence that is Simply Om surely can’t be a bad thing! :) It’s true that worrying too much about the “how” can often keep you from getting out there and just doing it. Some good advice!
Frye boots are absolutely amazing, I actually have four pairs, and they are all completely worth it, they are the only shoes I wear for the most part, September through April, and they most likely will be for the rest of my life because the craftmanship on Frye boots is phenomenal. They are absolutely worth the investment and superior to any other boots I’ve come in contact with…www.fryebootsshop.com
By this time, you’ve probably given up on my ever responding, but I did want to do at least the first part of this task, which is to express my gratitude at Signals to Attend being named on your blog. I’m flattered. Your blog is wonderful–consistently enlightening and enjoyable like this post–and, if I had seven such interesting things to say about myself, I’d readlily participate. Alas, I’ve tried. The seven things format eludes me, but I did want to say thanks. And thanks for your blog. I wouldn’t mind being counted as a Chicago Frye Guy.
Happy to have one in Chicago David! I appreciate your kind words. Take care.