25 Random Facts about Paul Sizer

I did this list as part of a Facebok meme, and thought I’d dump it here as well:
1. I am the oldest of four kids in the Sizer family, although I used to lie to my siblings and tell them that there was an older brother named Darren Michael Sizer who was a children’s book illustrator.
2. My first real kiss lasted 21 minutes. I know this because I looked at my watch before and after.
3. I worked at Glacier National Park for the summer between high school and college, washing dishes and playing baritone sax for the hotel production of “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”. It was awesome, and I also got 4 years of dorm living out of my system in one summer.
4. I am an Eagle Scout, and also received my bronze, silver and gold palms past Eagle Scout. I achieved the rank as quickly as was technically possible, and my certificate is signed by President Jimmy Carter.
5. I’ve met Moby three times; once after a concert in Grand Rapids, once after a show in Chicago, and once in a back room of Rebel Rebel Records in New York City. He was cool each time.
6. I’ve read comics all my life, starting with comic strips in the newspaper, then comic books. I was a “Marvel Comics Only” reader until my art hero George Perez started doing comic work for DC. I quit comics in college, but started collecting again in the early 90’s, and continue to this day.
7. I’ve been to all 48 continental United States, England, France and Italy. I would like to someday visit Japan.
8. If you type in “Singing Pig” to Google Image Search, my illustration of a singing pig comes up as #1 image in the world.
9. I’ve lived in Kalamazoo all my life, rented two apartments and owned two houses. I have never really had a substantial desire to move away, although I am not against the idea if the right opportunity presented itself.
10. I was born 6 days after Kennedy was shot, every 7 years my birthday falls on Thanksgiving, and I always request pumpkin pie instead of cake.
11. I have at various times in my life played music in the following ways and with the following instruments: clarinet, baritone sax, contra-alto clarinet, alto sax, computer-sequenced keyboards, DJ CD mixers and DJ turntables.
12. I’ve owned 4 cars in my life: ’65 Chevy BelAire, ’88 Honda CRX, ’91 Subaru, and my current car, ’94 Volkswagen Jetta GL (still running great!).
13. I currently am a shaved head man, but I wish I has just gone ahead and done this well before I did back in 1992; pictures of me with the thinning top kill me when I see them. I did not use the hair I had very well; that’s why God took it away.
Speaking of hair, my stated preference of hair color for women is very dark brown or black; a high percentage of the women I’ve dated were redheads or near reddish, but the woman I married is blonde, so go figure.
14. I am left-handed for all creative functions, and right-handed for anything physical related.
15. For all the years I’ve done caricaturing at grad bashes, parties, special events and social functions, I still think I have about a 30% success rate of getting them to really look like the person I’m drawing. Doing a rough calculation, for all the years I’ve done caricaturing, I have done over 9,000 caricatures.
16. While I have gotten over my dislike of many foods I hated as a kid, asparagus is still on the “No Way” list. Most of the foods that I have problems with are due to texture-related issues, i.e. how they feel in your mouth when you eat them (stringy, slimy, etc.). I am still a “bachelor level” cook, but I have gotten wicked good with omelettes and I make killer popcorn as well. Grape Nuts are the best cereal, period.
17. I read a lot: magazines, comics, graphic novels, online stuff. But I don’t enjoy reading long form prose and novels usually. Every once in a while, but usually I tend to enjoy shorter, more concentrated things.
18. The first electronic music I really got hooked on as a kid was Walter Carlos’ “Switched on Bach” at my uncle’s house, and the electronic version of the Star Wars theme by Meco. When I was a teenager, I would lay on the porch of our family’s cottage near Lake Michigan and listen with my headphones at night to Chicago radio stations with people like Frankie Knuckles and Marshall Jefferson doing all night house music mixes, well before they became famous remixers and producers.
19. I have always tested well in math, but sucked in the practical application of it.
20. I have never smoked a cigarette, smoked pot, taken LSD, Ecstacy, or any illegal drug. I would classify myself as an “infrequent drinker”.
21. I have never cheated on any woman I’ve dated, but I have let some of the relationships end in ways I would change slightly if I could go back in time.
22. My cat Brody was named after graphic designer Neville Brody. My other cat was named after Polish pop/jazz singer Basia. Our dog Zoe is named after the character from Joss Whedon’s “Firefly” series.
23. When our Boy Scout troop used to do weekend paper drives, we would all hope to get to the house where someone was throwing out old Playboy or Penthouse magazines. Because we couldn’t risk hiding them where others could find them, we would find ways to hide them on our persons, rolling them up in our socks, hiding in our jackets and pockets. If we were really lucky and got too many to carry, we would find places to stash them in the church where we held our meetings until we could get them later.
24. According to my wife Jane, it took me three years for me to figure out she liked me, and two months to call her after she spent a weekend at my house before we started actually dating. We dated swapping weekends between Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor for a year before we got engaged.
25. I have never had a job out of college that was anything like what I though I would be doing as a graphic designer. I have been temporarily freelancing for 15 years. I have never had to make a cold call to get work. I am a very lucky person that I’m able to incorporate what I love doing into my career.