I’m seeing that “10 Things About Me” or another number prompt out there, so I revisited one with 25 things I did about a decade ago. I had to shake my head at some of my answers, since life has changed greatly, but here are 10 that should still make the cut today with some modifications, lol.

1. My favorite concert in memory has to be the Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1989, Mother’s Milk tour. They were still a funk-punk band, nothing like the laidback group they became after Blood Sugar Sex Magik. To this day, I’ve never seen more raw energy and outrageous execution. While I’m sure substances had something to do with it, this was the most amazing live performance I’ve ever been witness to. Plus it was great locking up with my buddies and pogoing all around Painters Mill Theatre to “Me and My Friends.” Dead close behind this one is Voivod-Soundgarden-Faith No More, the latter two legends as OPENERS and Voivod still won the day.

2. I have many great memories in my childhood but being there in 1977 at the movies when Star Wars came out for the first time is the holy grail moment of my young life. Nothing compares to that sense of wonderment I felt at age 7. I wish my son could know it like I know it, since, being a teenager, he mocks the original trilogy as “weak” compared to Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the SW film which rocked his world.

3. I was on the old school kid shows, Romper Room and Professor Kool’s Fun School when I was a kid. These were locally broadcasted children’s shows during the seventies and early eighties. If you’re a Baltimore Gen X’er, you’ll well remember “Romper Bomper Stomper Boo…tell me, tell me, tell me true…”

4. I was pissed I didn’t win “Most Outrageous” in the high school yearbook. I even lobbied for it!

5. My worst fear in life is never achieving my dreams. If you know me, you what that entails. If I could be anywhere right now, I wish I was on a book signing tour. It’ll happen. Bank.

6. My favorite thing to do after a big workout is kiss my wife. Like Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ “Margo” said to “Todd” in Christmas Vacation, after I shower of course, lol…

7. People often add an “e” to my last name or mash the words together to make “Vanhorn.” Annoying. Some address me as “Ryan” or “Roy” instead of “Ray.” Double annoying. Happens more than you’d think.

8. I live vicariously through a John Carpenter/Alan Howarth synth score.

9. PG Tips rules all teas. I was the pinhead in the theater who hollered out “It’s a tea, man!” during Rob Zombie’s Halloween II when Malcolm McDowell asked his onscreen assistant for one and she was clueless about it.

10. If I had a choice of being a pirate or a ninja, I would have to go with being a pirate so I can shamelessly chase after booty and blame the rum every time. As long as both lead to the treasure trove that is TJ.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.