In which michael5000 responds to a tag

[But don't forget, we're still looking for suggestions for the reading list of non-fiction books!]

In a sure sign that L&TM5K is maturing into an established blog, despite its frequent and wildly unpopular college football content, I have received my first "tag." It came from regular commenter fingerstothebone, and it assigned me to list "the top 10 reasons why you like yourself."

It turns out that this is kind of hard to do. It's a lot easier -- I hope this isn't just me -- to come up with reasons you don't like yourself. And, there's a powerful urge to qualify the hell out of anything positive you do say about yourself.

Fortunately, I had the endless ennui of the company picnic to work with yesterday, which gave me plenty of time to accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and prepare the following upbeat list of great things about me, michael5000. (Those of you who know me personally, feel free to comment about how many are actually accurate. But try not to, like, shatter me.)

1. I laugh a lot. Life's short.

2. I am immune to road rage. There's construction? Well, they have to fix the road sometime. You did something stupid? Hell, I screw up often enough too. You're a jerk? Well, that's going to cause you more trouble than it does me, in the long run. Why get worked up?

3. I can, and do, run fairly long distances. Slow and steady turns out not to win the race after all, but since winning the race turns out to be not such a big deal, it's all good.

4. I didn't want to have children, so I didn't. If resisting societal pressure was an Olympic event...

5. I'm creative. I like making things, and I usually like the things I make.

6. I pretty much live according to my principles, but I don't make a fuss about it. Nope.

7. I'm pretty friendly. Not in-your-face, howdy-stranger friendly. I'm actually really shy. But I am basically kind, positive, supportive, and interested in what you have to say.

8. Though I am an aging dog, yet behold! An occasional new trick! I try to mix things up.

9. Despite a lack of musical training, knowledge, or especially talent, I can still put together quirky little songs that are more or less listenable. I think. Maybe. Try this one. Or this one.

10. ChuckDaddy2000 once said that "michael5000 is the only person I know who, the more he drinks, the better he gets." He might have meant that I'm kind of dull when I'm sober, or he might think I have a drinking problem. I choose to believe he meant that I know how to relax and have a good time.

Fingerstothebone's own responses, incidentally -- including her claim to have great legs, which I therefore wasn't able to use myself for fear of being thought derivative -- are spread out over three posts, starting here.

Oh! I almost forgot! I am entitled to tag others now! Hmmm.... I choose:

• ChuckDaddy
• MyDogIsChelsea
• KickKarinintheButt. Um, I mean, KickintheButtKarin.