10 Random…

1. I missed seeing a lot of movies in the 80s that my contemporaries recall through the forgiving lens of nostalgia, like John Hughes films or The Goonies. I’ve seen some of them since and found them to be largely forgettable or inane.
2. I haven’t used any of the graphic design skills gained through formal training in my job for the last five years, and the skills that I use instead were almost exclusively self-taught. I don’t feel at all confident in these abilities.
3. Despite every job I’ve held since I was 21 years old consisting of me sitting in front of a computer for a minimum of 8 hours per day, I’m a terrible typist who never learned how to touch-type.
4. I am not as hard-working, observant, funny, humble, intelligent nor as kind as compliments I’ve received might suggest. I wish this wasn’t the case, and can’t decide if I’d rather be better at those things without any recognition or leave it the way it is.
5. No one has ever complimented me on being particularly honest. As a kid I used to make up fantastic tales and weave them intricately to my friends and family. I justified it internally as being merely an expression of creativity, as opposed to being dishonest. People quickly learned to be skeptical of me, to the extent that I later had difficulty convincing them when I was in fact being truthful. I think I’ve mostly grown out of this, although I am still prone to exaggeration. For “comedic effect.”
6. My biggest pet peeve is when people don’t return shopping carts to their designated locations. To me it is the epitome of laziness and casual disregard for others.
7. My second pet peeve is one passed down from my father: I hate when there is no towel available to dry my hands after washing.
8. My father is my all-time greatest hero.
9. I had terrible nightmares as a kid and over-compensated by reading scary books and watching horror movies as I got older. Lately I’ve lost most of my appetite for that kind of entertainment, although I still love zombie stories.
10. I’m a huge nerd. I work with computers, I still read comic books (ahem, “graphic novels”), I play too many video games, I enjoy complicated board games and wargames, I like role-playing games and science fiction, I attend gaming conventions and follow technology news. I have questionable social skills and identify most strongly with people whose interests align with my own (so, other nerds).
11. It is less a matter of me being nerdy or uncoordinated and more a product of me being incredibly lazy that I don’t participate more in sports or outdoor activities, although I enjoy them very much. I also like spectator sports quite a bit, especially hockey and football. I even like watching soccer, although I can’t stand basketball because I think any game that values genetic physical characteristics as much or more than skill is inherently broken.
12. I loathe superstition and silently judge people who engage in superstitious behavior.
13. I’m skipping #13, though.
14. I’m adventurous with food. I have a personal rule that I’ll try anything, once. Although I’m secretly glad that the rule hasn’t really been put to the test with certain dishes like balut or fafaru. Most of the time I try to order something from restaurants that I haven’t ordered before.
15. Despite more or less hating cats growing up, partially due to a heavy allergy, my wife took in a stray early in our marriage and I’ve warmed to them considerably. I’m convinced I had no choice in the matter, and I take allergy medicine daily to compensate for our choice of animal companion.
16. Sometimes people mistake me for being a shy, quiet person. The truth is I’m uncomfortable in certain social situations and am mostly content to listen and observe. When I do feel comfortable, everyone agrees that I talk way too much.
17. Everything I know about being kind and selfless and loving, I learned from my mom. She was an incredible teacher and I regret that I wasn’t a better pupil.
18. Though I’ve never been able to stick with musical training or practice enough to be proficient at it, and my attempts at songwriting have never matched the ideals in my head, I love music. Listening, playing, discovering, sharing and creating music feels like recharging my soul.
19. I’m pretty cheesy and overly earnest. I use phrases like “recharging my soul” without the appropriate level of irony.
20. I absolutely love life and take most of my principal delight in the tiny, insignificant details like walking through dry leaves in autumn so I can feel and hear the crunch, or getting to be the first person to put a knife into a freshly opened jar of peanut butter, or unexpected laughter.
21. Because of this, I find sleep to be an annoyance that gets in the way of my ability to experience life. I truly enjoy the comforting sensation of sleep, but I prefer to stay up late and get up as early as I can convince my body. I spend a lot of time feeling exhausted.
22. I’ve had “This is the Song That Never Ends” stuck in my head more or less continuously since 1991. Even when I get other tunes stuck in my head, I mentally replace the lyrics.
23. I once misspelled “Land” in a spelling bee. I added an “e” at the end. I was in fourth grade. Spelling is still not my strong suit, but it has always bugged me when I find misspellings.
24. Mostly I’m relieved about my male pattern baldness: It’s incredibly easy to maintain and functionally free (although I do purchase a new hair clipper once every two years or so) since I just shave my own head. But sometimes I miss being able to have weird hairstyles. I rocked a mullet through Junior High and had an un-spiked mohawk in high school. I would have liked to had hair long enough to dye it funky colors or something eventually. Mostly I regret that I spent most of the years when I had hair covering it with a baseball cap.
25. The best part of any day is coming home and seeing my wife’s beautiful smile. Her love for me is inscrutable (see above) but I learned long ago to simply accept it and continue to do my best to deserve it.

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