25 random things about me

1) I have one phobia: heights (over 20 ft. or so)

2) I grew up in Baraboo, WI on the south side, basically the bad side of the tracks.

3) My parents were divorced when I was 14 y.o. after 25 years of marriage.

4) I joined the Navy at the tender age of 17 with my best friend at the time. I became a radio operator aboard the ship after some scary times as a deck hand hanging from the yard arms (see #1) with a scraper and a bucket of paint.

5) As a young man I was painfully shy and speaking to a group of people was akin to torture.

6) In High School the only class I excelled in was Art. Straight As, but to this day I still can't draw very well.

7) I was once completely lost in rural Taiwan.

8) I was once completely lost in the woods for about an hour. That day I also learned what 'thicket' actually refers to, in 3 dimensions.

9) When I was in 3rd grade we rented a house for a year next to a Mink 'farm'. Working and playing around those rows of caged minks and one day witnessing the yearly slaughter were the beginning of my animal-loving later life. So my neighbors, they was some cruel motherfuckers and I was secretly relieved when we moved back into town the next year.

10) I consider Madison my adopted home town, as it ever will be.

11) I can tell when it's a full moon.

12) I sometimes imagine myself as blind man or what it would be like to have earlids.

13) Punctuality is very important to me. It is a great indication of character. Waste your own time if you wish, but please don't keep me waiting.

14) I used to have the worst case of hay fever in the summer growing up with uber-ragweed in the fields next to our house. It kept me indoors through much of August and September. My 2+ years in California and maybe the fresh sea air worked it out of my system somehow. I haven't had a bout of hay allergy woe since I was 17.

15) I broke my left arm in 6th grade playing 'battle ball'. 3 fingers on my left hand had their tips crunched at work a few years ago. It's good I'm a righty!

16) I learned to drive at age 35.

17) My favorite color has changed 3 times. As a kid it was yellow, then came blue, now it's gray. You'll know it's changed again if start to use Just for Men.

18) I am red/green colorblind, a condition one in 4 males have to some degree, you might be surprised to learn. The degree of my colorblindness is pretty minor, red things on a green background don't 'pop' as they do for most people. So much for my graphic design career. And yes, I can tell what color the stop light is.

19) I dig red hair. My first crush in grade school was a girl with flaming red hair. My first kiss planted on the lips of another redhead.

20) OK, I have TWO phobias. I am not much into the sight of blood. My own doesn't bother me much though. I get over it a little having to dress cuts for folks at work. I just worry that if someone gets their belly sliced open, I won't be of much use.

21) Sometimes I have extraordinary luck and am conviced that unseen angels intervene on my behalf when I need it the most. When I have bad luck, the angels are sleeping.

22) My favorite condiment is salsa, followed closely by mustard.

23) I disike hard drugs, after some trial and error many years ago led to the conclusion that those drugs and people who use them don't like me much either.

24) I had a comic book collection when I was 12 that would allow me to retire comfortably if it magically appeared now 40 years later. I was such a little geek boy - stamp collecting, butterflies (a killing jar -arggh), cowboys and indians, playing army with a realistic 'arsenal' that included a shoulder-holster, OK I'll stop now.

25) I can't dance, but sometimes I don't let that stop me.

listen:
The Beatles Anthology disk 3
T-Bone Burnette
Latin Playboys