38 Special

The internet is just full of questions; it's a very inquisitive potentially self-aware mass of growing knowledge. Most of the time, I'm asking and answering my own questions. Occasionally, I'll answer someone else's. This is the latter:

1. What bill do you hate paying the most?
My credit card bill, especially around holidays. Seeing that thing at the top of my mail pile at the beginning of each month sends me into a state of crisis and becomes an immediate priority. I already forgot once, and never intend to do so again.

2. Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner?
A small candlelit Italian restaurant in midtown Manhattan, about ten years ago. If I were speaking instead of typing, I'd probably mumble the number unintelligibly.

3. What do you really want to be doing right now?
Having a romantic dinner with a pretty lady in a small candlelit Italian restaurant. By that I mean dreaming while getting a good night's rest.

4. How many colleges did you attend?
One was enough to get me to the glorious and successful place I am now. Maybe I should have gone to a few more...

5. Why did you choose the shirt that you have on right now?
It started to get cold in the house without a shirt, so I grabbed the nearest flannel for warmth.

6. What are your thoughts on gas prices?
I fill up the car on my credit card and don't think about it until later(see answer #1).

7. First thought when the alarm went off this morning?
“Again? Already?”

8. Last thought before going to sleep last night?
”Pineapple Express probably would have been funnier if I were high, or the sort of person who gets high.”

9. Do you miss being a child?
I should, and if I ever stop being one I'm sure I will.

10. What errand/chore do you despise?
Cleaning the gutters.

11. Get up early or sleep in?
Both. I wake up 15 minutes before I have to because I know that's how long it takes for me to snooze, try to get back into my dreams, and finally get the pins and needles out of my arms and hands so I can pull myself into a sitting position and slide off the foot of the bed.

12. Have you found real love yet?
I once thought I did, but I was young. I thought I'd found it a few times since, but I'm the typical nerd who reads too much into any kindness from the opposite sex and then gets his heart broken when reality sets in. However, I haven't given up yet, despite the fact that one of my college friends apparently had his wife ask some girls in her office if they'd be interested and they told her I was “too old”. I'm only 34; my dad was 39 when he got married. She's out there somewhere, and God will bring us together when the time is right. For now, all I can do is work hard, save money, and keep going to the gym.

13. Favorite lunch meat?
Everything is better with bacon.

14. What do you get every time you go into Wal-Mart?
I don't.

15. Beach or lake?
Can't it be both? I love nature preserves on the coast that have trails leading to beaches. If I have to choose, I'd say lake, since it would be surrounded by trees and shady spots and not packed with people absorbing radiation from the sun.

16. Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual?
Absolutely not.

17. Sopranos or Desperate Housewives?
Sopranos.

18. What famous person would you like to have dinner with?
Megan Fox, though she'd probably think I was too old....

19. Have you ever crashed your vehicle?
I was rearended on two separate occasions in my old car, someone crashed into my dad's car once and spun us around, I once mistook the brake for the gas pedal and drove my mom's car into the side of her aluminum shed, and a former coworker once backed into me with her SUV while I was walking behind it. So other than that shed thing, I'd have to say no.

20. Ever had to use a fire extinguisher for its intended purpose?
No, and I hope I didn't jinx myself by answering this one. I did once burn a slice of pizza, causing two office buildings to evacuate and three firetrucks to show up on the scene.

21. Ring tone?
It's easier to just leave my phone on vibrate so I don't have to remember to turn it off at work, in the car, or in movies.

22. Strangest place you have ever brushed your teeth?
Anyplace other than my house, whether in a motel, at friends, or in the hospital, has felt strange.

23. Somewhere in California you've never been and would like to go?
Not particularly, no. I'm not a fan of planes, and right now I don't have the free time for a cross-country road trip. Maybe someday...

24. At this point in your life would you rather start a new career or a new relationship?
I'd have to say the latter, though sometimes I wonder if I'd need the former to get the latter....

25. How old are you?
34 years YOUNG, damnit...

26. Do you have a go-to person?
I am a go-to person, as scary as that is. In college and at my last company it was Rey, but we don't have a Rey at my new company, so people tend to ask me how to do stuff. I give the answers I know and look up the ones I don't, learning in the process.

27. Are you where you want to be in life?
I am where I am, which is neither where I was nor where I will be. That statement will always be true.

28. Growing up, what were your favorite cartoons?
Transformers, G.I. Joe, Voltron, and Thundercats, to name a few key ones.

29. What about you do you think has changed the most?
I'm now built like Juno, if she were covered in hair. I was never really in shape, but I had a different shape in high school, though about the same amount of body hair.

30. Looking back at high school were they the best years of your life?
They were some of the worst. College was probably the best, and a few of the years after college.

31. Are there times you still feel like a kid?
I feel like a kid all the time, whether I'm out in public with my parents, around people older than me, or just getting giddy over a movie trailer.

32. Did you ever own troll dolls?
I am a troll.

33. Did you have a pager?
Never. I've only had a cell phone for 3 or 4 years.

34. Where was the hang out spot when you were a teenager?
My block.

35. Were you the type of kid you would want your children to hang out with?
Yes, because I'd want that kid to have friends.

36. Who do you think impacted your life the most?
My parents.

37. Was there a teacher or authority figure that stood out for you?
My music teacher, may he rest in peace. I would do well to remember the things he taught me about life as well as music.

38. Do you tell stories that start with “when I was your age”?
I usually start with things like “It's a little known fact...” or “Picture it: Sicily, 1922”. Actually, I think I use “When I was a kid...” since I rarely find myself talking to people the same age I was in my stories.