Meme: 8 Things About Me

So, I like the idea of community based events (apparently called "memes" - a word I have not heard before I started reading blogs) and there was a recent one on a buddy of mine's blog: 2 Guys Buying Comics

And it sounds fun, so here I go:


- Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
- People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
- At the end of the post, I'm supposed to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

I'm skipping the last step. As Chris has done his already, I really don't have any other blogging buddies to tag.

On with the sharing!

1) I derive the greatest joy in life when I am with my two children, whom I love very much. However, for a few reasons, which I will add up (as tactfully as I can) to a "not-even-playing-ground" I was made the "visiting parent" and get to spend very little time with them. More recently, I have been fighting against allegations from my ex that have precluded me from seeing my children for nineteen (19) months now. It breaks my heart. My children are the only thing I like better than video games or D&D. I hope that some day, they understand just how much they mean to me.

(Sorry for the heavy first bullet, now to lighter things.)

2) I never really got in to comics. I was uninterested in them. Through Chris's influence, I have found a new appreciation for them. I have even begun purchasing D&D related comics. I used to be a big book-reader and I think I viewed them as "infantile" compared to a book. HA! (I've been "showed" that I was wrong.) (Thankfully)

3) I have some fears that people would consider odd. (Of course, the whole "me" package people might consider odd.) I have a fear of wind while inside (but not outside). I have a fear of being alone. (I live alone but have to keep ventrilo or the radio going). I have a fear of spiders, but not tarantulas, which is strange considering it was a tarantula that gave me the fear to begin with. (I don't even pretend to understand this one.) (I woke up with one on my face.) And I have a fear of not-existing. Not really dying, but the act of being dead. (I'm sure this one is a bit more common.)

4) I am *horrible* with names. So horrible, in fact, we planned out our children's names before they were born and I wrote them down on a note card and practiced memorizing them for more than a month each "just to be sure" I would know them before they were born. (And hoping the gender in the exams was correct.)

5) I cry during movies. All the time. I realize that's not "cool" with the men crowd, but so isn't choosing to watch "chick flicks", for which I do. ("Love, Actually" is one of my favorite movies.) That said, I despise gory movies or horror films. I will not go to them. Oh and that Eminem movie that my brother tricked me in to seeing - "8-Mile" I think it was called. (Note to self, the next time someone asks "Hey, want to go see an R rated movie with me?" - ask the title first.)

6) I don't have many positive experiences coming out of childhood. I can remember a few, but even those, I remember how afraid I was constantly of upsetting my parents. Upsetting my parents was something you did *not* want to do. I think I even became as large of a reader as I was in order to escape sometimes. I remember doing things like the spelling bee because I wanted to impress them. I remember being very upset at how unpriveledged I felt. I remember signing up for after-school activities and being in things like the band because they gave me a reason to get out of the house. Even now, I know if they were to read this, the resultant conversation would be very .. miserable.

7) I will drive out of my way to shop at places that are more architecturally pleasing than others. There is a Frys on the way home. I usually avoid it and make a three mile detour to a different Frys. Because the first one bothers me. The lighting is "yellow", the store is falling apart, the floor tiles are crooked, the place just creeps me out. Yet it's a pretty busy store so I'm sure most people probably never notice. (Nor ever drive out of the way) But it's like this for everything. I hate the City Court building because the center is open, but I love the design of the Superior Court building (although I still don't like being in a court building.)

8) I constantly try to improve things about my life. I stopped drinking sugary soda and started on diet, then I stopped drinking diet soda and started on Tea. Then, I decided that most my drinking will be pure water. I relearned a new keyboard layout (Dvorak) because it was more efficient over my old layout (qwerty). I have timed the average drive to work and can tell you that it takes me seven minutes longer during rush hour, and that the path I take now is quicker than my old path by four minutes. I learned to eat with chop sticks because eating slower (like with chopsticks) and with smaller bite sizes (chopsticks anyone?) causes you to feel fuller, sooner, and so you eat less per meal.

So there you have it. More about me than you ever wanted to know.

Game Has Attention

Picked up new game...

Can't .. put .. it ..down ....

Review .. soon .. when .. I .. beat .. it ....