101 Things About Me 2005
Monday, June 27, 2005
The revision, I think, is long due. I tried to make some statements make more sense, or up to date. A few new entries. Hope this is interesting or at least informative.
101 Things About Me
1. I have attempted to create an artistic masterpiece since I could hold a crayon.
2. My masterpiece apparently has nothing to do with paper, crayon, or any other physical media.
3. Perhaps that masterpiece could be the full spectrum of my work, rather than one specific part of it.
4. I don’t get angry often.
5. I get even more often, usually by means of the Atlas
technique.
6. I have brown hair, which turns pleasant reddish when wet.
7. I have green eyes that turn remarkable colors when I’m happy or mad.
8. I still have acne, though not as bad as 10 years ago. If I could get rid of one thing, THAT would be it.
9. I have really long fingers. Long enough to do really intricate tasks. Long enough to get in the way of the tools for the intricate tasks.
10. I cut or impale my fingers on a regular basis.
11. I have not bled to death yet, but I thought I did once.
12. I am really skinny.
13. Nearly everyone I know has given me grief about my size. I’m thankful enough, though there are definite disadvantages to lacking substance. Windy days.
14. My tattoos distract many people from my thin nature.
15. I got my tattoos between the age of 19 and 22.
16. I haven’t wanted any more since then
17. I am writing this at the age of 31.
18. It doesn’t feel as though I’ve made it beyond 22.
19. I still see myself as a young, inexperienced wanderer-in-the-world.
20. I really wanted to live forever. Now I just want to live until I get tired of it.
21. I had a perfect plan to succeed at the living forever thing. There are some problems with technology.
22. Nearly three years ago, I found the means to live forever. It’s not in the manner I previously expected, however, but much more pleasant in the end. Christ really fixed everything.
23. Growing up was just about the same as being grown up. Things happen.
24. It took me 28 years to figure out what to do with myself. I don’t think, based on the last three years, that I actually grew up. I don’t think I’m there yet. Cool.
25. I was wrong about God. But not any more.
26. Being Saved really changed my life. Things really are different. I’ll have to post something on that.
27. Toughest thing about being Saved is a lack of confidence in being open about what it means to me and what has changed for me.
28. I have kept many secrets from my family. None of them are really worth keeping. The subjects just don’t come up, and all is trivial.
29. In the past I have lied more to my parents than any other person on earth, except maybe God, but He said He wasn’t listening.
30. My music preferences appear to be symptoms of OCD. I play the same album, sometimes the same song, over and over. The most common sounds from my music box are Celtic tunes and instrumental stuff.
31. I have a Wife. She is awesomer than I am in many respects. I may have some quality that is superior, I just can’t seem to place it, but it is of no real importance. The fact that I have a Wife, that she loves me, is more valuable than anything else.
32. I don’t have a “True Love.” I have two names that would contend for that honor if it existed. I don’t think it exists in the literal sense of the terms.
33. I have never cheated on my wife.
34. I have four kids. They have me wrapped around their fingers. Better looking (those are from me?) and smarter than I am.
35. People give me a hard time about four daughters. I know better. I don’t want a son. Never did.
36. But they are NOT available. All four are on restriction until the age of 18.
37. My favorite thing as a kid was stuffed animals.
38. I collected (and still collect) Tom Swift, Louis L’amour, business cards, pens and small pieces of hardware (screws, bolts, nails).
39. I collect books, boxes (the nice ones, not cardboard, silly), dragons, Father Christmas figures (I think Gandalf fits in there, right?), and bad habits.
40. I am a coffee junky. Actually, anything I really like, I overdo it. But Coffee is really bad.
41. I don’t sweat much. Except when I mow the lawn at noon on a cloudless, 90-degree day after drinking a pot of coffee.
42. I have written over 200 poems. I have yet to commit them to book, but they’re posted on Paperscreams. That’s something I never thought would happen.
43. I’ve had very sporadic phases of writing in the last two years.
44. I used to write all the time. I have exquisite penmanship because of that.
45. I type really fast with little or no errors. Nobody seems to care.
46. I hate typos, especially in something disseminated to the public.
47. I can read and write fluently in Futhark runes.
48. I have lived over 6 years in Hawaii. It’s not paradise, sorry. Townsville, Australia may be closer to paradise.
49. I have been to (set foot on for more than a quick stop) more than 15 different countries in the world, most of which have shores on the Pacific or Indian Oceans. I’ve seen a nice slice of the Caribbean, as well, and I don’t regret it.
50. I have a great talent for languages. I have yet to have time to prove this to anyone beyond myself, unless you count the three times I almost aced the DLAB test for the Navy.
51. I made up my own language. It’s useless to make up your own language unless you make up a country to speak it.
52. I think I know a lot about computers.
53. I know more ways to break them than fix them.
54. As I write this, I have been in the US Navy for 10 years, 6 months and 5 days.
55. I am nowhere near leaving this organization. I may well stay to retire.
56. I am very proud of my service in this military.
57. I am not proud of all the things I’ve done in this capacity.
58. I will miss the Navy on the day I leave.
59. I will not miss the uniform, the duty, the people.
60. I love the ocean and I never want to see it again.
61. I used to think I would make a good ninja.
62. I have been overconfident many times in my life.
63. I taught my kids that the number one rule is “don’t be stupid”
64. My favorite story of all time is Melanie Rawn’s “Dragon Prince-Dragon Star” series.
65. I have soundtracks for most of my favorite books. The score for the Dragon series is the “Last of the Mohicans” soundtrack.
66. I never get rid of clothes. I wear some of the same shirts I had in Junior High.
67. I graduated from High School in 1992 and remember no one in my class. I graduated in Seoul, Korea.
68. I remember very little about my senior year. I spent the entire time in a closet (voluntarily and literally) with nothing but a drafting table, a chair and a bookshelf stocked with books and a CD player.
69. The only interesting thing I did in school was JROTC, which lasted 6 months.
70. I won “Top Gun” for shooting the highest score in the Pacific DOD schools JROTC rifle teams. I remember that accomplishment vividly.
71. I AM related to Wild Bill. That must be where the shooting comes from. He might have been a linguist too, but that is not confirmed.
72. I have 3 siblings. I am the oldest. Steve is a masterful artist of nearly every medium. He is really strange too. Heather is a wonderful pianist, has perfect pitch. Ben is an accomplished percussionist and one of the foremost examples of Christians I know.
73. I hate TV. Specifically commercials. I rarely even trouble myself to turn it on. I have little respect for people who keep the TV on all day. I will not watch even the best movie in the world if it’s on a channel with commercials.
74. My favorite movies are Moll Flanders, The Fifth Element, Star Wars, What Dreams May Come, and, of course everything by Python.
75. I am still a mystic and appreciate faerie rings, full moons, candles and all the other trappings that make faith and magic undeniable.
76. For that reason, I deny myself most of the mystical. Magic is not a means I can live by or with.
77. I have great fashion style. My wife buys my clothes. I hate patterns and logos.
78. I have a green thumb. I only keep plants in my garden if they promise to stay alive without my having to coddle them.
79. There is no sport that interests me save, perhaps, Volvo-bashing.
80. My dream home will consist of a library and a tub for one that will fit at least three (being six feet long makes standard tubs obsolete). All other rooms and options will be left to somebody else.
81. I am an accomplished swimmer and have taught many in a professional status. I haven’t been to the pool more than one time this year.
82. I hate the beach, but hope to enjoy it through my kids while we are in Cuba. They should make it much more tolerable.
83. I get hypothermia very easily. My first teaching experience was at the pool in Green Mountain Falls, CO.
84. I have only been driving since I was 25. I was too lazy to get my license.
85. I hate driving now, and want to give my license back.
86. I love my car. It’s a Ford Escort LX four door. White, dented, CD player, kidstains and all, it’s my car.
87. I am selfish and self-centered. I don’t give up my things.
88. I am easily swayed to others’ opinions. Probably because I am overly trusting. This usually results in me getting into trouble.
89. I get carried away far too often.
90. I think I give more than I take.
91. I am not a pathological liar, however, I am an empathic embellisher.
92. To my knowledge, I haven’t lied about much of anything in a very long time.
93. I have never done drugs. Nearly everyone I know doubts that.
94. I love cats. Dogs are stupid.
95. I will return to the desert one day. Probably to die. Hopefully a few times before that.
96. I have stolen plenty of things before. Have been caught only in the times it was completely harmless. I’ve not suffered from this vice in ages.
97. I am a perfectionist neat freak. Once or twice a week.
98. I drink. Beer.
99. Beer is a treat, and I am very particular about what I’ll drink. I really do enjoy the taste.
100. I feel that I am really, really strict with my children. I am picky, demanding and easily frustrated with them. Better that than letting them play with cars in the street or grow up like the majority of the kids I see today.
101. I never hate my life. Sometimes I hate when others’ lives intrude.
102. I like silver, green, blue, copper, water, heat, dirt, paper, skin, wood. Mostly natural stuff.
103. I don’t like gold, red, yellow, plastic, cold, white, hair, pollen, disorder. Mostly fake stuff.
104. I have a very indirect approach to achieving goals. I tend to achieve my goals.
105. I waste time, am very lazy, but move efficiently when necessary.
106. I eat steak or grilled cheese and peanut butter when I can get them. I could live off them, and burritos, of course.
107. I used to smoke cigarettes. Since quitting, I’ve (surprisingly) suffered from fewer colds, and much less coughing. My sinuses don’t hate me as much anymore. It’s been 2 years.
108. The habit was replaced with the pipe-smoking habit. This is slightly more intelligent a habit to have, being less unhealthy, less stinky, cheaper and much more enjoyable.
109. Unfortunately, there is a “meta-habit” that comes with pipe smoking, which is pipe collecting. Pipe collecting is expensive. Fortunately, I am much better with my money nowadays.
I’ve combined the contents of 101TV2.0, which is books, with this full 101 2005. Eventually there will be a separate literature list (101 books read by me or some such).
110. The Bible. I was raised with it, tried for the longest time to ignore it and finally found that it was useless without belief. Now it’s the first, most powerful reference in my life.
111. Robert A. Heinlein. I have yet to discover useless writing from this source. Some of the most influential works include “Time Enough For Love,” “Starship Troopers, (NOT THE MOVIE! LEARN HOW TO READ!)” “Number Of The Beast,” and “Stranger...”
112. Louis L’Amour. My first memorable story was “Down The Long Hills,” force-fed to me in the fifth grade, I think. I loved it and soon my Uncle Wilbur began flooding me with titles in periodic packages. Definite essentials include “The Walking Drum,” “The Haunted Mesa,” “Flint,” “Last Of The Breed,” “Education Of A Wandering Man,” “Smoke From This Altar.”
113. Tom Swift. Okay, I was too nerdy for “The Hardy Boys.” These books, series I, II and III were what got me hooked on reading. I would not read my half-a-million words per week were it not for Victor Appleton’s stories.
114. J.R.R. Tolkien. Put the imagination in me. I think Tolkien could be the seed of my love for languages and, to my discredit in many cases, magic.
115. Isaac Asimov has been a good companion over the last year. His work, though not quite in line with my worldview as far as society goes, has many times brought me to think hard about interaction with others. Much of his ideas regarding humans as a race are, as with Heinlein, worth the effort of fitting into our own thoughts. The Foundation series, and his Guide to the Bible (not from a Christian point of view, mind you) are filled with knowledge and insight.
116. C. S. Lewis, friend of Tolkien, and amazing thinker, has inspired me greatly. Mere Christianity is an eye-opener for those of us new to the Way, as well as anyone who hasn’t found Him yet. The Space Trilogy and the Chronicles of Narnia are, simply… You’ve just gotta read ‘em yourself. Beautiful work, not in the immensity of Tolkien, but in a more direct fashion.