I just noticed this video from another blog I get twitter updates from. I don't normally post things like this but I found this one particularly appealing, probably because it deals with visualization which is really important to me and who I am.
The only way I'm going to get a list of 25 things about me is to start collecting them here:
1. I have loved electronica since I first heard it in the 80s. It started with 80s New Wave and European disco dance tracks and it continues today with trance and progressive techno.
2. I spent the first 10 years of my education attending the Southern California Military Academy in Long Beach, CA. Yes, that's kindergarten through 9th grade. It was an all-boys school and was also a Christian school. We didn't carry real guns but we did plenty of marching and wore uniforms. One of these days I plan on uploaded scores of nifty photos of this experience. The school is now gone but it had a very interesting and rich history.
3. I absolutely hated high school and most of my college years. I have very negative feelings about schooling in general and don't like to think about it too often.
4. For about 5 years probably starting around 1985 I decided to build and aviary in my parent's backyard. The deal with my parents was that I could have some birds if I helped beautify the backyard. This venture became a refuge for me during the difficult college years. I loved raising my birds and at the peak I had about 400 or so. I raised parakeets, all kinds of finches, pigeons, cockatiels, button quail, weavers and diamond doves. Along with all the birds I also tended a beautiful garden with as many flowers as I could afford. I have tons of pictures and video of this experience that will also make it to bugimus.com one of these days.
5. I was 18 years of age when I discovered I had a half brother on my dad's side. It was another 18 years when he knocked on my door after having found me through my website. I welcomed him in and discovered he had grown up no less than 5 miles from where I did. We are now building a relationship that was denied for all those years.
6. In the last year I have found David Keirsey's books "Please Understand Me" and "Please Understand Me II" profoundly helpful to understanding myself and those I associate with. I have taken the personality test a few times in order to feel confident that my personality type is ENTP (extroverted intuitive thinking perceiver) and my temperament is "Rational/Inventor". I've rarely felt that friends or family understand me and I've rarely "fit in" to any group. It helps me to know this is understandable based on my basic makeup. It also helps to know the information in these books is well supported by decades of data.
7. In June of 1998 I stopped eating animal flesh. I guess you could say I quit it "cold turkey" =) If you want to know the reasons why then read my bio on bugimus.com
8. In my junior high years I was near suicidal because I believed a global nuclear holocaust was imminent based the premillennial teachings of my school. I was not so sure of my salvation and even if I ha been the prospect of a rapture, 7 year tribulation and Christ coming back to judge the world was too much for me to take at that age. I kept this intense and paralyzing fear to myself until one day I broke down and wept in my father's arms for hours telling him my fears and what I'd been taught. He was outraged. My father was raised Church of Christ which considers premillennialism heresy. I felt like the world had been lifted off my chest after letting that all out and was able to move forward with my life once again.
9. Wella and I have been together since 1986. Doing the math results in 22 years together. We are closer now than we have ever been before.
10. I absolutely love shows about cryptozoology and UFOs. I can watch them for hours. In that vein I 1) think there is a high probability that the creature known as "bigfoot" exists in North America 2) am agnostic on extra-terrestrial visitations and 3) do not think the Loch Ness monster exists currently although evidence doesn't rule out it may have in the past.
11. Beginning sometime in 2004 I experienced the worst 3 years of my life...
12. I am 1/16 Chippewa and that probably explains why I still have plenty of hair on my head, can't grow a beard and prefer to wear my hair long.
13. I do not fly. I have flown a few times when I was younger and I thought the actual experience was wonderful and exhilarating. Few people seem to understand that I don't have a fear of flying, I simply choose not to fly. If I'm going to die in a vehicle I simply want to eliminate the airplane from the list of possibilities.
14. I am the chairman of the elders at La Habra Christian Church.
15. I have a phobia when it comes to mailing letters, or anything else for that matter, through the post office.
16. The year before I gave up eating animals I ordered a 4x4 from In'n'Out Burger and it was glorious.
17. My B-2 Stealth Bomber webpage has been the most popular section of bugimus.com since 1999. For some reason it got indexed very early on and has remained in top search engine results for all these years. Try searching for "b2" or "b2 bomber" on Google and my site should be on the first page. In conjunction with this page I've collected around 150 B-2 patches and am working on a Web2.0 interface for displaying them all.
18.
19. For the most part I accept the theory of evolution. It shouldn't take a brain surgeon to deduce that I do not read every line of the Genesis account literally as do my creationist brethren.
20. I love collecting comic books but I rarely read them. I'm primarily attracted to the art and the popular culture that surrounds them. I especially love the culture that is found at the San Diego Comic Con. I feel "at home" in that crowd more than most. I've attended it every year for the last 15 and can't wait for the next.
21. I've driven the same car for almost 20 years now. It recently hit 200,000 miles and it's still running great. As much as I love my 1990 Eagle Talon I am ready to upgrade and I really like the look of the new 2010 Camaro. I have my eye on a gray metallic V8 supercharged version with orange racing stripes and 22" wheels.
22.
23. I have a mental block when it comes to doing math in my head.
24. I love to fly kites at the beach. I have a pretty decent collection of them ranging from single, dual and quad line stunt kites to a couple of power sleds that can haul a wide array of line laundry. I also may be the only flier to combine a power sled with a 50ft tail held up by a spinning box kite. (see it)
25. I believe as strongly as is possible that Jesus...
I was listening to a podcast the other day. During the talk the speaker asked to "think back to a time when you were the happiest in your life". I proceeded to start this mental exercise and was surprised that I was unable to come up with an answer. Since that time I have thought of a few times that would fit the bill, but the fact that nothing came to mind for a few days was really telling.
I've been living under such a cloud for so long that I hardly recognize the situation. I don't want this anymore. I don't have to be unhappy. In fact God himself commanded we be happy. You would think a person would automatically want and strive to be such. It's just not automatic with me and I actually have to work at it.
The good news is I now know this is something my life has been missing and I wil be a happier person from now on.
BugLOG is Powered by Greymatter
return to BugLOG homereturn to home page