Some Things about Hugh
[current as of 04/2008]
Hugh…
- …weighed 10 pounds and 11 ounces at birth, and was just over 24 inches tall.
- …once performed 72 dead hang pull-ups.
- …has two brothers, both of whom are handier with tools than he is.
- …was raised a Methodist, although he mostly reads Catholic authors.
- …thinks most denominations are much more about the members than they are about God.
- …dislikes Mimes and Carnies.
- …wore a size 10 shoe in the 9th grade, but now wears a size 9. No idea what that’s about.
- …was baptized as an infant in a church that had his Grandfather’s name on the cornerstone.
- …loves email, walking in the woods, and anything to do with water.
- …did not learn to swim until he was 18.
- …likes chamber music, hair bands, jazz and delta blues.
- …prefers dark chocolate to almost anything.
- …likes poetry that rhymes, except when it shouldn’t.
- …had for his first car a 1971 Ford Torino (think Starsky and Hutch, only his was green)
- …reads 2-3 books a week.
- …was born by cesarean section (him and MacDuff).
- …got high smoking corn silks at the age of 9.
- …actually knows people who go by the names Tater, Scooter, Junebug and Hoss.
- …hates video games, television and talk radio.
- …was clinically dead for almost 4 minutes when he was 18 months old.
- …was most influenced as a teenager by Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
- …currently finds inspiration in the writings of Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day.
- …speaks English and a very poor sort of Texican.
- …came very close to dying by incineration in March of 1998.
- …placed 12th in the nation in an extemporaneous speaking contest, in which he talked about how to instill a work ethic in young people of today.
- …can not remember any of the suggestions he made in said speech.
- …prefers piano to guitar.
- …loves New York City and New Orleans.
- …is a self-taught speed-reader.
- …overhauled a manual transmission by himself at the age of 18.
- …wrecked truck that said transmission went in at the age of 21 (but it had nothing to do with the transmission).
- …thinks the best Southern writer since William Faulkner was Peter Taylor.
- …would not give two figs for Robert Penn Warren.
- …really wants to write a novel, but doesn’t, because he has no idea how he would end the thing.
- …has helped deliver 4 babies, one of them in the pouring rain and one in the back seat of a 1972 Buick Electra.
- … took a year of Hebrew because of a girl. (Shalom, ya’ll)
- …once considered moving to Great Falls, Montana because of a girl.
- …lived 8 months in an underground house…because of a girl.
- …joined the Baptist Church (briefly) … because of a girl.
- …once went deep sea fishing in 10 foot swells in advance of a Hurricane.
- …caught more fish than anyone else on said trip (not getting sea-sick helps).
- …graduated Marine Boot Camp in the middle of the pouring rain.
- …watched the girl he had recently asked to be his girlfriend die in a ditch in the pouring rain.
- …got a black eye at the homecoming game because he had reported another student for cheating on an exam.
- …only owns four pair of pants.
- …had ADD before it was cool to have ADD.
- …rarely worries, even when it would be good to worry.
- …has three favorite movies: The Godfather, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Mary Poppins.
- …is not a morning person, unless your morning starts around 9am.
- …sleeps less than 5 hours a night in the summer, about 6 & ½ in the winter.
- …wishes he could read Latin.
- …regrets not taking the girl to the prom that he had asked after he found out she was pregnant with someone else’s baby.
- …once seriously considered entering the Clergy.
- …now realizes he was called to Ministry, but not to the Clergy.
- …would rather read than do almost anything.
- …really gets off on classic crime fiction.
- …does not mind crowds unless he is with children, in which case he gets freaked out about losing the kids.
- …once had his hand sliced open by a box cutter when he was attacked in a parking lot.
- …drinks an obscene amount of coffee every day.
- …once wrecked his car and blamed it on a dead cat.
- …had a girlfriend who left him because she discovered she was a Lesbian.
- …gained a girlfriend who had thought she was a Lesbian (different girl).
- …cringes every time he hears the words “like” and “you know” used in conversation.
- …worries about kids these days.
- …wanted to own a used bookstore since he was 12.
- …owned a used bookstore before the age of 30.
- …wants to see every Vermeer in the world with his own two eyes before he dies.
- …agrees with Truman Capote that the Beat writers were not writing, they were typing.
- …once flew so often that the employees in the China Wok on the second floor of Concourse C in Atlanta International Airport thought he was an airport employee and regularly gave him a discount.
- …had a Grandfather who was shot down behind enemy lines and stayed hidden from the enemy for 21 days until he could get rescued.
- …had a Great Grandfather who was gassed in France in WW I
- …had another who flew planes over Europe at the age of 17, also in WWI, and came home from the war to be a barnstormer.
- …hates boredom.
- …feels intensely protective of the women in his life.
- …has a recurring nightmare in which he is a salesman in a credit jewelry store.
- …loves to cook.
- …was once called a ’serial monogamist” by a girl he wanted very much to go out with.
- …was confused when she thought that was a bad thing.
- …hates to wash dishes.
- …prefers cats to dogs.
- …wishes he were more organized, but thinks it is not effective to worry about it.
- …wishes he was handier than he actually is. His brothers wish so, too.
- …refuses to drink dark liquor or gin.
- …was the arm wrestling champion of Independence, Mississippi.
- …strongly wishes he was better about keeping in touch.
- …misses the 1980’s.
- …prefers travel by train over all other options.
- …would dig his own well before he would drink Perrier.
- …believes his favorite author is Ernest Hemingway
- …thinks his favorite novel is “A Movable Feast“.
- …dreams about living in the country again, but loves the city too much to do it.
- …learned to drive on a three-cylinder tractor.
- …likes wearing suits, but hates occasions when you need to wear suits.
- …has a strong distrust of organizations, movements and –ism’s.
- …has a birth defect that affects both pinkies: one won’t bend, the other will not straighten.
- … is prone to lethargy, with random, unpredictable bursts of extreme hyperactivity.
- …once broke a ceiling fan with a cat, a piece of string and a sheet of paper.
- …was very shy growing up. Nobody believes this now.
- …prefers to wear sandals whenever possible.
- …believes Love Wins.
Category: fun 8 comments »
July 19th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Wow! Sounds like you’ve had some interesting life experiences! I really enjoyed reading that/
Um, I will try to make a conscious effort to not say “like” and “you know”, LOL. I don’t use those words too often but have caught myself from time to time.
BTW….I love Monty Python and the Holy Grail! Seen it hundreds of times, and it played in a theater here a few months ago for free. I went and saw it and it was awesome to see it on the big screen.
October 5th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Wow…
what a great idea and profile with content galore….Chocolate….me too.
How many chicks have you sacrificed your lifestyle for?
How many times have you perished??
Good stuff my Friend in Jesus.
October 18th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Hugh – good stuff!
I think I actually knew most of those things about you and probably others that you may or may not wish to publish. I remember this one time in the grocery store there was a woman whose child had red hair and she didn’t . . .
Holler back soon,
Brandon
October 28th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
i feel…enlightened. You are a multi faceted person, hugh hollowell!
karin
November 1st, 2007 at 5:04 pm
I have been friends with Hugh for longer than he can remember. The facts listed above, and many more that aren’t, define a friendship. Hugh – keep working on that legacy! I remember this one time when we had an extremely isolated blackout…
April 11th, 2008 at 7:30 am
[...] Like all lists, things change, so I have updated the list of 100 things you probably did not know about Hugh. [...]
October 1st, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Well those are interesting facts. I know one, you stuck up for a girl that you had never met when a car of goofy boys made her sad at a Sonic Drive-In! Our first meeting! How time flies!
October 4th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
…overhauled a manual transmission by himself at the age of 18.
…wrecked truck that said transmission went in at the age of 21 (but it had nothing to do with the transmission).
LOL….I was bored and now i am laughing..keep fighting the good fight cause even if ya lose you win!