1. My Favorite color is blue. It's been that way most of my life. When I was really young, it was my maternal grandmother's favorite color. People also tell me it's the color that looks best on me, but I buy other things to shake things up after a girl I liked told me at a dance once that if I continued to dress in only blue, people would only notice my socks and my teeth (which are slightly stained).
2. I attended HS in FL: I actually went to the "poor" high school because it was only about a half mile from where I lived, so I walked home at least. We drove to school unfortunately because we had seminary in the morning at the church 12 miles away and then had to drive back to where I lived to go to school. We got let out early at least a half dozen times for bomb scares and at least once because the Air Conditioning went out. I was also almost suspended once because they had this unwritten rule about suspending a white kid with a black kid (it was about 65% black, and then split evenly after that between whites and Hispanics).
3. While living in FL I was once stung by a jellyfish: we were out playing in the ocean just before spring break and my legs started stinging like mad. I had been hit by fragments of tentacles that had broken off of the jellyfish coming in, and I couldn't sit still for about a week.
4. My mom made us learn piano for five years, then I played clarinet in HS band and I took up the guitar in 2008 as one of my goals. My sister was amazed at my ambition and ability, but she tells me I have bad form ;).
5. The last time I played an organized sport was in the MTC and I got injured sufficiently playing soccer that I was almost reassigned stateside. Although nothing broke, now that I jog a lot, I can tell there was damage that was never detected or treated.
6. My favorite movie has almost always been the Princess Bride. If I trim my mustache, I do a wicked Wesley impersonation
7. My favorite gift: one year, dad gave us this race car track kit, and we played for hours and hours and hours, year after year after year...I have no idea why, but we loved that thing.
8. My favorite thing to eat is salmon because I like the taste and it's easy to cook, not that I don't prefer other foods, but I don't cook them because I'm too lazy.
9. According to the USAF, I am 5'11", which is why I am not in the military because I thought I was 6', so I didn't make the weight cut. I do now.
10. I think the prince into whom the Beast transforms in Beauty and the Beast is the ugliest prince in any Disney movie. That gives me hope since Belle is like the cutest babe.
11. Back in college, I had an 8AM lecture class every semester. Two semesters I had an 8AM lecture class every day M-F. I also graduated in 3.5 years, only staying that last semester for two classes because my major offered no summer courses.
12. One Christmas, I really did want my two front teeth. At my grandmother's birthday that year, we were playing baseball in the park, and I refused to move off the plate when my brother wanted to hit a ball, so he tossed it anyway, swung, and knocked out my two front teeth. They didn't come until the next year, but at least it was baby teeth and not permanent ones that I lost.
13. When my sister's having a bad day, I sometimes offer to play Barbie: Queen of the Prom with her. Although I've come close on many occasions, I have never won, though I often manage to get Pointdexter as my prom date.
14. I prefer to run a little behind the current technology for practical reasons. For example, by the time I buy something, the price has basically bottomed out, and as other people I know upgrade I can sometimes get their cast-offs for free. I regularly pick up free VHS tapes and cassettes that people are just giving away, and so I have a steady stream of free entertainment for the price of the fuel it costs to drive over and pick it up, which I would have to pay any way to go shopping.
15. I have never received all of my income tax withheld back any year I've filed tax returns. When I was 12, I inherited some money and invested it in the stock market, and so I've had to pay capital gains since I was 16. In fact that year, since I earned so little, they didn't withhold any tax, and when I filed I had to write a check to the government for $40 for the $400 I earned in capital gains that year. Stupid Clinton tax policies… It did a lot to shape my politics and accounts in large part for my conservative views.
16. Unless I write something down, I tend to forget it. When I write it down, more often than not I don't actually have to refer to it in order to remember it. I seem to have a great knack for memorization and managed to memorize the following: The Declaration of Independence, Patrick Henry's Liberty or Death Speech, and the first three pages of Common Sense.
17. Although I don't usually remember sleeping dreams, but if you want to talk about dreams for my life, I really wanted to be a cop. For all of my life, I've been a real stickler for law and order so much that people hate following me anywhere because I drive the speed limit and all that. Although I passed the Nevada and Idaho Highway Patrol exams and the Vegas Metro test, I was ultimately rejected for two reasons: first that I didn't have a college degree in criminal justice or any classes appertaining thereunto (I have an MS in Biochemistry) and secondly because they weren't sure I would make it through the physical portion of the academy.
18. One thing that never fails to make me laugh is that line from Beauty and the Beast where Cogsworth tells Lumiere "I know it's a girl…" Of late, we've had lots of occasion to say that, and that line just makes me laugh, even when it's used without context at all.
19. One of the most profound things I've thought about of late is the Genie's limitations on wishes in Aladdin. First off, he forbids wishing for more wishes. The unlimited expansion of having whatever you want whenever you want is a fundamental concept of the cosmos- that there are rules that must be followed and that you can't overcome them simply by passing a law that oblates a priori law. It also sets precedence for unlimited power, which is also contrary to happiness and order. Secondly, he talks about bringing people back from the dead. First of all, I think that's very, very cruel. Last night I watched Hellboy where he gets this corpse in the graveyard to help him find Rasputin. When the corpse plummets to its second death, it almost looks relieved. Cursed lives, half lives, and shadows of what they were, in all fables and stories that involve the reanimation of dead tissue except for Christ, they are all dark, fearful, and end badly. Finally, the genie forbids him to mess with love. The affairs of the heart also relate to agency and from cupid to Love Potion Number Nine reemerge in popular culture as a theme. Forcing love is a form of control. Everyone wants to marry for love, and everyone wants to get what they want and deserve. In a related sense then, everyone who plays tricks with the heart even without genie influence does every one of us who is honest in our pursuit for love, acceptance and affection a disservice. Eventually people stop believing in "true love" and brave knights, and cynicism and bitterness become the rule of the day and behavior. Sad but true.
20. During High School, I CLEP tested out of Chemistry lecture but not out of lab, but I was in my second year before I finally got around to making up the lab. So, at 22 years old, while taking Organic Chemistry lab, I also had to take General Chemistry lab too. One day in class while we were sublimating or something, the girl next to me shoved a beaker in my face, she knowing I was an upperclassman and a bit more adept at Chemistry than she, and asked me, "Does this smell like bromine to you?" Bromine gas is a caustic and toxic chemical similar to chlorine which was used as a weapon in war. Fortunately for me, the only thing that happened is that it burned out the inside of that nostril. So, on cold days, my nose will just randomly bleed, and it impeded my sense of smell and also in effect my ability to taste. When people tell me I have no taste, I smile and respond, "You have no idea..."
21. My idea of a perfect date is April 25th because it's not too hot or too cold. All you need is a light jacket. It also happens to be my birthday, so kudos to the writers of Miss Congeniality for forever ensconcing my birthday in pop culture.
22. Well, I think the last song I listened to was "Silver Bells" from Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas. I have that on a cassette in my car and I listen to it from about October-April every year at which time I finally stop listening to Christmas music.
23. Back when we moved from Florida, I got interested in photography. The movers were horrible, and my random pictures also served as proof of things we owned that didn't arrive when the truck got there, and so the moving company reimbursed us for things that were stolen. I've always been interested in photography. My parents worried in HS that on Friday nights I would go develop film and prints in the garage instead of going out on dates. I spent the better part of the last two years photographing Nevada for a book I'm putting together that will go to press in 2009.
24. Unlike most people of religious persuasion, I do not consider ass, hell and damn to be profanity. Since they are used in scripture and if used in the proper context, not as interjections or exclamations, I do not feel uncomfortable using them in every day speech. Most people use them as substitute words when other ways of expression fail them. I however do not feel uneasy talking about natural things like menstruation, because in the right context certain words and phrases are completely innocuous, or should be. Don't make me share your disease for an expression when there's no need for it. Passing on your shame to me is cowardly.
25. The night I attended Gordon Hinckley's 90th birthday concert on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, I purposely did something dangerous. As we walked home, crossing through the park on the way to my grandparents' condo where we parked, I noticed two men involved in a knife fight. After watching for a few minutes as other attendees in their fine vestments walked by without stopping to look or gawked without interceding, I turned to my mom and told her I was going to intervene. The one man was bleeding profusely from some cuts and appeared to be unarmed. Both men were inebriated. I sent my mom back for the policemen we'd passed a few blocks away and I stepped out onto the grass. As soon as I did, the man with the knife ignored his original target in favor of coming at me. Since I have a black belt, don't drink, and knew what I was doing, I was able to keep away from him and distract him until the police arrived and took him into custody. I also kept trying to check on the bleeding man who seemed grateful to sit there and bleed without having to fend off more attacks. I have always found it odd that of all the people who watched that spectacle I was the only one to intervene.
2. I attended HS in FL: I actually went to the "poor" high school because it was only about a half mile from where I lived, so I walked home at least. We drove to school unfortunately because we had seminary in the morning at the church 12 miles away and then had to drive back to where I lived to go to school. We got let out early at least a half dozen times for bomb scares and at least once because the Air Conditioning went out. I was also almost suspended once because they had this unwritten rule about suspending a white kid with a black kid (it was about 65% black, and then split evenly after that between whites and Hispanics).
3. While living in FL I was once stung by a jellyfish: we were out playing in the ocean just before spring break and my legs started stinging like mad. I had been hit by fragments of tentacles that had broken off of the jellyfish coming in, and I couldn't sit still for about a week.
4. My mom made us learn piano for five years, then I played clarinet in HS band and I took up the guitar in 2008 as one of my goals. My sister was amazed at my ambition and ability, but she tells me I have bad form ;).
5. The last time I played an organized sport was in the MTC and I got injured sufficiently playing soccer that I was almost reassigned stateside. Although nothing broke, now that I jog a lot, I can tell there was damage that was never detected or treated.
6. My favorite movie has almost always been the Princess Bride. If I trim my mustache, I do a wicked Wesley impersonation
7. My favorite gift: one year, dad gave us this race car track kit, and we played for hours and hours and hours, year after year after year...I have no idea why, but we loved that thing.
8. My favorite thing to eat is salmon because I like the taste and it's easy to cook, not that I don't prefer other foods, but I don't cook them because I'm too lazy.
9. According to the USAF, I am 5'11", which is why I am not in the military because I thought I was 6', so I didn't make the weight cut. I do now.
10. I think the prince into whom the Beast transforms in Beauty and the Beast is the ugliest prince in any Disney movie. That gives me hope since Belle is like the cutest babe.
11. Back in college, I had an 8AM lecture class every semester. Two semesters I had an 8AM lecture class every day M-F. I also graduated in 3.5 years, only staying that last semester for two classes because my major offered no summer courses.
12. One Christmas, I really did want my two front teeth. At my grandmother's birthday that year, we were playing baseball in the park, and I refused to move off the plate when my brother wanted to hit a ball, so he tossed it anyway, swung, and knocked out my two front teeth. They didn't come until the next year, but at least it was baby teeth and not permanent ones that I lost.
13. When my sister's having a bad day, I sometimes offer to play Barbie: Queen of the Prom with her. Although I've come close on many occasions, I have never won, though I often manage to get Pointdexter as my prom date.
14. I prefer to run a little behind the current technology for practical reasons. For example, by the time I buy something, the price has basically bottomed out, and as other people I know upgrade I can sometimes get their cast-offs for free. I regularly pick up free VHS tapes and cassettes that people are just giving away, and so I have a steady stream of free entertainment for the price of the fuel it costs to drive over and pick it up, which I would have to pay any way to go shopping.
15. I have never received all of my income tax withheld back any year I've filed tax returns. When I was 12, I inherited some money and invested it in the stock market, and so I've had to pay capital gains since I was 16. In fact that year, since I earned so little, they didn't withhold any tax, and when I filed I had to write a check to the government for $40 for the $400 I earned in capital gains that year. Stupid Clinton tax policies… It did a lot to shape my politics and accounts in large part for my conservative views.
16. Unless I write something down, I tend to forget it. When I write it down, more often than not I don't actually have to refer to it in order to remember it. I seem to have a great knack for memorization and managed to memorize the following: The Declaration of Independence, Patrick Henry's Liberty or Death Speech, and the first three pages of Common Sense.
17. Although I don't usually remember sleeping dreams, but if you want to talk about dreams for my life, I really wanted to be a cop. For all of my life, I've been a real stickler for law and order so much that people hate following me anywhere because I drive the speed limit and all that. Although I passed the Nevada and Idaho Highway Patrol exams and the Vegas Metro test, I was ultimately rejected for two reasons: first that I didn't have a college degree in criminal justice or any classes appertaining thereunto (I have an MS in Biochemistry) and secondly because they weren't sure I would make it through the physical portion of the academy.
18. One thing that never fails to make me laugh is that line from Beauty and the Beast where Cogsworth tells Lumiere "I know it's a girl…" Of late, we've had lots of occasion to say that, and that line just makes me laugh, even when it's used without context at all.
19. One of the most profound things I've thought about of late is the Genie's limitations on wishes in Aladdin. First off, he forbids wishing for more wishes. The unlimited expansion of having whatever you want whenever you want is a fundamental concept of the cosmos- that there are rules that must be followed and that you can't overcome them simply by passing a law that oblates a priori law. It also sets precedence for unlimited power, which is also contrary to happiness and order. Secondly, he talks about bringing people back from the dead. First of all, I think that's very, very cruel. Last night I watched Hellboy where he gets this corpse in the graveyard to help him find Rasputin. When the corpse plummets to its second death, it almost looks relieved. Cursed lives, half lives, and shadows of what they were, in all fables and stories that involve the reanimation of dead tissue except for Christ, they are all dark, fearful, and end badly. Finally, the genie forbids him to mess with love. The affairs of the heart also relate to agency and from cupid to Love Potion Number Nine reemerge in popular culture as a theme. Forcing love is a form of control. Everyone wants to marry for love, and everyone wants to get what they want and deserve. In a related sense then, everyone who plays tricks with the heart even without genie influence does every one of us who is honest in our pursuit for love, acceptance and affection a disservice. Eventually people stop believing in "true love" and brave knights, and cynicism and bitterness become the rule of the day and behavior. Sad but true.
20. During High School, I CLEP tested out of Chemistry lecture but not out of lab, but I was in my second year before I finally got around to making up the lab. So, at 22 years old, while taking Organic Chemistry lab, I also had to take General Chemistry lab too. One day in class while we were sublimating or something, the girl next to me shoved a beaker in my face, she knowing I was an upperclassman and a bit more adept at Chemistry than she, and asked me, "Does this smell like bromine to you?" Bromine gas is a caustic and toxic chemical similar to chlorine which was used as a weapon in war. Fortunately for me, the only thing that happened is that it burned out the inside of that nostril. So, on cold days, my nose will just randomly bleed, and it impeded my sense of smell and also in effect my ability to taste. When people tell me I have no taste, I smile and respond, "You have no idea..."
21. My idea of a perfect date is April 25th because it's not too hot or too cold. All you need is a light jacket. It also happens to be my birthday, so kudos to the writers of Miss Congeniality for forever ensconcing my birthday in pop culture.
22. Well, I think the last song I listened to was "Silver Bells" from Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas. I have that on a cassette in my car and I listen to it from about October-April every year at which time I finally stop listening to Christmas music.
23. Back when we moved from Florida, I got interested in photography. The movers were horrible, and my random pictures also served as proof of things we owned that didn't arrive when the truck got there, and so the moving company reimbursed us for things that were stolen. I've always been interested in photography. My parents worried in HS that on Friday nights I would go develop film and prints in the garage instead of going out on dates. I spent the better part of the last two years photographing Nevada for a book I'm putting together that will go to press in 2009.
24. Unlike most people of religious persuasion, I do not consider ass, hell and damn to be profanity. Since they are used in scripture and if used in the proper context, not as interjections or exclamations, I do not feel uncomfortable using them in every day speech. Most people use them as substitute words when other ways of expression fail them. I however do not feel uneasy talking about natural things like menstruation, because in the right context certain words and phrases are completely innocuous, or should be. Don't make me share your disease for an expression when there's no need for it. Passing on your shame to me is cowardly.
25. The night I attended Gordon Hinckley's 90th birthday concert on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, I purposely did something dangerous. As we walked home, crossing through the park on the way to my grandparents' condo where we parked, I noticed two men involved in a knife fight. After watching for a few minutes as other attendees in their fine vestments walked by without stopping to look or gawked without interceding, I turned to my mom and told her I was going to intervene. The one man was bleeding profusely from some cuts and appeared to be unarmed. Both men were inebriated. I sent my mom back for the policemen we'd passed a few blocks away and I stepped out onto the grass. As soon as I did, the man with the knife ignored his original target in favor of coming at me. Since I have a black belt, don't drink, and knew what I was doing, I was able to keep away from him and distract him until the police arrived and took him into custody. I also kept trying to check on the bleeding man who seemed grateful to sit there and bleed without having to fend off more attacks. I have always found it odd that of all the people who watched that spectacle I was the only one to intervene.
1 comment:
Finally, someone else who likes Belle! Not only is she one of the cutest ones, she had a personality akin to what I prefer.
While I also am one step behind current technology on purpose, I usually dont wait long enough to get cast-offs. I've found plenty of sites (like newegg.com) that offer great deals on hardware that will cost you 40% MORE at your local store, provided the item is at least a few months old. Example: I recently bought a 1TB hard drive from Newegg for $109 shipped. The same drive at Best Buy was $180, though it came with the $6 SATA cable that Newegg omitted in it's shipment(but in all fairness, they told you in the item description). I got the equipment in 3 business days and works perfectly.
Every male on my father's side is blessed with a lack of memory. I am no exception, but I share your technique of writing things down. I've learned how to go around simply remembering by either writing things down, telling people to remind me later, or placing my keys in odd places. the first two methods use similar tactics in that if I know it was important enough for me to need help remembering it, it will fester in the back of my mind until the problem is resolved. The last one is helpful because if I am missing my keys, I can't go anywhere until I find them. My mind retraces my steps to find where I misplaced them, and subsequently I remember why I placed them in the fridge or under the bed. Yes I realize this will cause problems later on in life, but it works for now.
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