101 Things About Me

1. I am a Texan, no matter where I live.
2. I am big, always have been, always will be.
3. I am founder and president of the John Wayne Society for Manhood.  Sometimes I feel like the only remaining member.
4. I have been happily married for over 5 years.
5. I have three kids: one girl, two boys.
6. I have a favorite, but sometimes it changes.
7. I don’t think I ever got over high school.
8. I don’t think this is a bad thing.
9. I love to read and write.
10. I am currently about 1/3 through a screenplay I’m writing with a partner.  I think it could be a blockbuster.
11. I don’t like vegetables.  Yes, I’ve tried that one.  No, I didn’t like it.  Even with cheese on it.
12. I desperately miss some of my old friends.
13. I don’t know if I’ve made a real friend since college.
14. I love to eat dead animals.  I don’t care what animal it is.  OK, dog was nasty – but other than that…
15. I have never regretted leaving the Army.
16. I’m psyched about moving back to Texas.
17. I’ve lived my life entire life with the crushing pressure to be good at everything.  Even when nobody else puts it on me, I put it on myself.
18. I refuse to give in to the eradication of irregular verbs.  I’m sorry, but –ed doesn’t always make the correct past tense.
19. I am the administrator of a cooperative writing, forum-based RPG website based on the world created by Kelley Armstrong.
20. Sometimes that world is more real to me than my own.
21. I have no idea how I ended up here.
22. Ridiculously bad grammar pisses me off.
23. This is my fourth attempt to blog.  None of the others have gone well.
24. My favorite authors are Stephen King, Kelley Armstrong, and Robert Jordan.
25. I’m a huge nerd and not ashamed of it at all.
26. I have massive amounts of respect for people who can create a fully-realized fictional world with completely different rules than our own (George Lucas, Kelley Armstrong, Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin).
27. I love to read, but hated every book assigned to me in an English class.
28. Shakespeare is the one exception to that.
29. I love movies and can bring up a quote and/or situation from a movie for every situation I face.
30. When I tell people I have twin brothers, they always think I’m one of them.  No, that would be I have A twin brother.  I have brothers.  They are twins.  Thus I have twin brothers.
31. I have yet to see someone finish this list.
32. It’s not as easy as it looks.
33. I call myself a Republican, but in reality it depends on the issue.
34. I am both pro-choice and pro-capital punishment.  I call the stance pro-death.
35. I don’t understand why eggs are often classified as a dairy product.  Beef is more a dairy product than eggs.  At lest beef comes from a cow.
36. I have too many collections (weapons, Department 56, Hero Clix, movie memorabilia, books, I could keep going…)
37. I wish I was still involved in football in some facet (player, coach, announcer…).
38. I have a very definite definition of what is a sport.  Just being an athletic competition isn’t enough.
39. Cheerleading is not a sport; it’s a frivolous side show that serves mostly as a social stratification for high school girls.
40. I think I hate soccer mostly because I was never any good at it.
41. I may have recently convinced myself to become agnostic.
42. I should be writing something for my website or screenplay right now.
43. I think putting ketchup on any form of hot dog is Communist.
44. Everything tastes better with Ranch dressing.
45. I may be the smartest person I’ve ever met.
46. I realize how egotistical that sounds.
47. I am an alumni staff member at Camp RYLA, a week long leadership seminar for rising high school seniors.  It may be the most important thing I do outside of being a husband and father.
48. My favorite movie is Casablanca.
49. A few years ago I stopped drinking alcohol except for rare times in small amounts.  This was not a conscious decision; it just happened.
50. I smoke, but hope to quit this summer.
51. I love to gamble despite knowing that the house will win every time in the long run.
52. I like women.  I like to talk to women.  I like to look at women.  I like to flirt with women.  I will never be unfaithful to my wife.
53. I hate flip flops, even on other people.  They’re noisy, slow you down, and constantly fall off.  These facts are constantly assaulting me since both my wife and daughter love flip flops.
54. I sometimes wish I could go back and start over at my seventeenth birthday.  I know I could do it all better the second time around.  I change my mind when I realize that even my screw-ups are responsible for getting me where I am today.
55. I like my life.
56. I feel there’s something missing from me stemming from the fact that I haven’t seriously worked out in almost a year.
57. I like Spam too, but have yet to be invited into the SSS.
58. I love to speak in public.  I get a high from the audience.
59. I once actually fell off a horse.  Notwithstanding the time it took to properly reaffix the saddle, I got right back on.
60. All my friends once went and jumped off a bridge.  I did not join them.
61. I once had an ex-girlfriend threaten to have me killed.  I have no idea what happened to her, probably ended up with an STD.  Saying things like that is why she wanted me dead.
62. I think House may be the best television show ever, or at least a close second to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
63. My current best friend on a day to day basis is the mutt I rescued from the pound.
64. I like to sing loud, often, and in front of other people despite full knowledge that my voice causes dogs to commit suicide.
65. I have done “Bust a Move” at karaoke and in an actual concert for a song and dance group I was in.  It always fires up the crowd.
66. I can’t stand tea or coffee.  This may make me a Communist, I’m not sure.
67. When I was a kid, I was a sucker for doing things other people mentioned in passing.  This is how I ended up soaking wet from trying to jump a creek (thanks Dad), bruised all over my body from riding my bike over a 4 foot cliff (thanks Uncle Tom), and with my hands superglued together and both of them superglued to my chest (thanks kid down the street).
68. I am an adrenaline junkie who has ridden every roller coaster I could climb into, bungee jumped, and parachuted out of an airplane.
69. Being airborne qualified was my proudest achievement in the military.
70. I have never had a job I liked.
71. I think I am undiagnosed ADD, but don’t want any treatment or drugs for it.
72. I love the spotlight and perform my best on the biggest stages.
73. I don’t respond well to negative leadership.
74. My personal hero and role model is Mark Healy, the director of the camp I mentioned earlier.  Second on the list is LTC (last time I looked) Chris Bonheim, my last boss at Ft. Hood.
75. When it comes to “Crunch Time,” I will always bet on myself.
76. I am a die hard Dallas Cowboy fan, even in the thin years.
77. I spent a year in Korea.  I loved the people and the food.
78. I spent 11 years in the Army and never enjoyed one of them.
79. I am now a civilian and work in the oil fields.
80. I am having a house built in Denton, TX.
81. I may have the world’s most eclectic music collection on my iPod.  George Strait, Weird Al, Frank Sinatra, Jay-Z, and showtunes can all be found on it, among other genres.
82. I love the English language and think its use is a true art.
83. I don’t understand why so many people who post on my website can’t check their writing in a word processor’s grammar/spelling check first.
84. I spend way too much time playing video games – mostly sports sims.
85. Until last July I had a purple car and matching purple motorcycle.  I still have the bike.
86. I take pride in my decorating skills and love musicals.  I do not consider this a threat to my masculinity.
87. I wish life was a musical.  See “Once More, With Feeling” (Buffy, Season 6) for an example.  I’d rather have it without the threat of spontaneous combustion or forced demon marriages though.
88. I think people should rule their emotions, not the other way around.
89. I’ve been out of the Army for almost a year, but still say “roger” very frequently and salute people to say hello and goodbye.
90. As a result of my job, I have no concept of days of the week, except where they govern the T.V. schedule (Tues. – House, Thurs. – October Road, Fri. – Ghost Whisperer, Sun. – Football)
91. I was a Dallas Mavericks fan during the lean years too.  That makes these last two years that much more gratifying.
92. I’m pretty sure the Texas Rangers were put on this Earth to make sure at least one of my sports teams will frustrate me every year.
93. I don’t know why we say “put on this Earth.”  Is there another one?
94. I enjoy reading about theoretical physics (the predicted results of general relativity, string theory, etc.).
95. Growing up, every one (including myself) thought I was going to be a lawyer.  Fooled them, huh?
96. I’m pretty sure somewhere along the lines I became a disappointment to my parents.  I don’t know when or why.  I think I’ve done pretty well.
97. I would rather be too hot than too cold.  Too hot may be miserable, but too cold is genuinely painful.  And there are only so many layers you can put on.
98. I believe all men are created equal.  I also believe we don’t stay that way long.
99. I find it interesting to learn after talking to some European friends, that we are the only major Western nation with a distinct “Black” culture.
100. I still support the war in Iraq.
101. I’m done, and quite frankly impressed with myself for finishing the whole thing in one sitting after wanting to quit while I was in the upper-40’s.