Still Me

[quasigeostrophy]

Current Annotation in Bold

1. I don't believe in acquired tastes with regard to food. Generally, if I don't like something when I first try it, I'm not going to keep eating it. Still there.
2. I often feel like I have very contradictory personality traits.
3. I have always found it easier to become friends with women than men.
4. I have a (sometimes annoying) habit of quoting movie and TV lines, often very esoteric ones, incessantly.
5. I am extremely shy when first meeting people, but can more than hold my own in conversation as I get to know someone.
6. I am an unrepentant smart-ass when I open up. And an unrepentant flirt, at least online.
7. I generally try to follow the Star Trek "Prime Directive" of non-interference when dealing with other people's lives.
8. I have gone back and forth over the years with my feelings of self-worth (currently better than ever), and when high, tend to consciously watch myself for signs of conceit.
9. I have an insatiable general curiosity that manifests itself in too many interests and hobbies to maintain (and spending too much money).
10. I am trying very hard these days to get back into reading voraciously. I did a good job at this in 2003, but I've gotten away from the books again, and the "to-read" pile just keeps getting bigger.
11. Due in part to my curiosity and shyness, I lived for years as an observer. I learned about a lot of things, but rarely actually tried them.
12. I miss working in video production. I've done this a little since leaving FormerEmployer - despite advances in the technology, it's just like riding a bicycle, or at least it has been for me.
13. I hate the politics of my management job. So much that I wouldn't let them move me arbitrarily and took a layoff at the end of August of last year.
14. I don't define myself either by my biological family or by the employment I hold.
15. I have learned in the last year that, for every interest I have or aspect of my personality I think is significant, there is always someone out there better or more extreme. I cherish that.
16. I have a lousy sense of smell, which I think makes more of a picky eater at times.
17. I love going places by bicycle, in more adverse conditions than I ever would have expected until recently. I need to get back on the bike as soon as my ankle is better.
18. I like to look at maps of all kinds.
19. I would love to get my private pilot's license.
20. I can only cook well enough to keep myself fed with basics when I'm alone. I've done a little more cooking since I wrote that, but I'm still not too advanced. And that's okay.
21. I generally only read the comics in the newspaper, but I try to do that every day.
22. I have a lot of little pet peeves with regard to grammar.
23. I can't type, yet I do so with great speed.
24. I get annoyed when people assume my first name is "Daniel".
25. I am not confrontational. But I'm getting better at speaking what's really on my mind.
26. I was never shielded from "adult" subject matter or media at any age as a child.
27. I very rarely lose my temper.
28. I have lousy penmanship.
29. I love cats, and have a terrible allergy to their dander.
30. I'm ambivalent about most dogs - I take them each individually when I meet them. Technically, I'm allergic to them as well, but not as severely.
31. I can't sing. Although I've noticed that, in the car by myself, if I'm more forceful, it sounds better.
32. I have perfect interval, but not perfect pitch - most tunes I pick up "by ear" end up in a different key.
33. I have never broken a bone.
34. I have had hernia repair surgery twice.
35. I don't mind going completely under water for brief periods, but I can't swim well, and I can't relax enough to float on my back. I used to have a phobia of being in the water at all, beyond a bath tub.
36. I love whitewater rafting.
37. I have to balance solitude with time around friends.
38. I cannot be around cigarette smoke, or even places such as a hotel room which is/has been a smoking room, without a severe sinus reaction.
39. I love grey, rainy days.
40. Van Gogh and Magritte are my favorite painters.
41. M. C. Escher is my favorite artist.
42. I adore pipe organ music, especially almost anything by Bach.
43. I wish I could get by on less sleep.
44. I really want to see the highlands of Scotland, Australia, and New Zealand sometime.
45. I've been to almost all of the major U. S. National Parks in the last three years, yet I still haven't seen the Grand Canyon (and yes, I really want to!). This will change at the end of September - yay!
46. I really value being several different definitions of 'geek'.
47. I wish I could get someone else to organize all of my photography from the last few years. I hate that part of the hobby. And that part of the business.
48. I have a Master of Science degree in "Information and Communication Sciences". Sometimes I wonder why.
49. I have yet to find a really dry wine (like a cab) that I like. I'm not losing sleep over it, either.
50. I like having a lot of movies and especially books, but often wonder if life is long enough to enjoy them well.
51. Despite having a lot of media, I feel I am fairly critical of my entertainment sources.
52. I was raised around very conservative, somewhat religious, opinions toward sexual orientation. I like to think that, despite being straight myself, I have one of the most liberal and tolerant attitudes toward same. The epiphany came when I met a girl who would become one of my best friends, and she came out as a lesbian to me very early in our friendship. I didn't blink.
53. I come up with 'systems' for doing very routine chores or activities. I am clearly a creature of habit, and often I am critical of myself for being so.
54. When these 'systems' are altered by external influence, I don't fret over it. I am very laid back.
55. I own recordings of the complete set of symphonies by Beethoven.
56. I love to cuddle.
57. I love hugs.
58. I don't like being in crowded public spaces.
59. I loved London, even in cold, rainy November.
60. When I started college, I was studying to become an astronaut. But all the way through school before actually applying for college, I wanted to be a meteorologist. Not a TV one - I'd have probably ended up as a stormchaser.
61. I used to hate my hair. I've learned to live with it and let it do it's 'thing' over the last few years.
62. I like to make plans for gatherings and such, but can easily 'wing it' when necessary.
63. I used to love playing 'tug-of-war' with a badger we kept when I was growing up.
64. My father also used to raise wild ducks (for show/conservation), ferrets, and wallabies, and we kept a pair of river otters when I was a child. I learned a great appreciation for animals at an early age.
65. I have always had a healthy fascination with fire and other destructive forces.
66. At 37, I'm still wondering when I'm supposed to get the certificate that says I'm an adult (along with the instruction manual). Hopefully never. I don't care anymore. Age is what I make of it.
67. I drink a lot of water. Got away from this. Trying to wean slowly from so much caffeine and get back to it. I've gotten back to drinking more water, but haven't cut out enough caffeine yet.
68. I hate commercial flight, not so much for the flying on the jets as the airports and surrounding hassles.
69. I still count on my fingers on occasion.
70. I love trying new restaurants, but at my favorite regular places, I usually get the same thing every time.
71. At most 'steak houses', I end up getting salmon.
72. I have yet to be exposed to 'too much' of these three spices: garlic, ginger, and cinnamon. To my dismay, I'm wondering if I'm not developing an intolerance to garlic at a certain level. I've awakened with a stomach ache and severe gas several mornings after having garlic-heavy food lately.
73. I am severely squicked by the concept of contact lenses.
74. I am not bothered by bugs or snakes, but don't go out of my way to enjoy them.
75. I love giving back rubs.
76. I was in the marching band in high school. I played the synthesizer.
77. I am ticklish.
78. soaring_phoenix and I often express our love for each other by linking one or two fingers from across the couch.
79. I love foreign languages, but, other than German, I only know enough to get my face slapped in at least ten different ones.
80. My first job was in the 'Home Center' at K-Mart, for $3.35/hour.
81. I have been known to watch The Weather Channel for extended periods of time.
82. I survived a near-head-on collision with a deer in a rented Toyota Corolla, at 65 mph, in Montana last summer. I came away physically unscathed.
83. I abhor the taste of coffee.
84. Ditto for Dr. Pepper.
85. I have no tattoos or piercings, but I really adore them on others when tastefully done.
86. I am intrigued by the sport of cricket.
87. I don't get into most U. S. spectator sports. I used to follow them, but strikes and the realization I could be making better use of my time turned me off. I have found myself watching the Tour de France the last couple of years.
88. I am not close to my siblings at all. I have a brother 11 years older, and two sisters, 9 and 7 years older than I am.
89. I would love to know how to play guitar, but didn't have the patience to develop the callouses when I took lessons once.
90. I am very squicked by dental work, but love my current dentist.
91. I have difficulty accepting other people being attracted to me. Believe it or not, I still have this, though not as severely.
92. I have a low tolerance for physical pain, but a high tolerance for pain medication.
93. My sense of humor has been described as a combination of 'Monty Python' meets 'Peanuts'.
94. The only stage acting performance I ever gave was in fifth grade. I played Charlie McCarthy (yes, the dummy).
95. I love licorice/anise.
96. I love taking the 'T' in Boston (which is great because I abhor driving inside 128 when I visit there).
97. Red is my favorite color.
98. I prefer Coke products to Pepsi products, but will take the latter if it is all that is available.
99. I sometimes feel that I need to write more.
100. I love to dance. I can do contra and square dance, and (sort of) the polka. I would love to get better at swing dance and the waltz. I've gotten better at both, but haven't done any in quite a few months.