I. As much as I always wanted to be the lead guitarist in a band when I was growing up, I figured out quickly (and regrettably) that I have almost no musical talent. My only possible talent with music is at least being able to reasonably recognize good from bad, but I can't explain why most of the time. Where as, I love hearing someone like Rory explain (in most of his cases undeniably) why a certain piece of music is so good. However, my parents still have a old cassette tape of the four of us (my parents, my brother and I) singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer when I was in grade school. At the end of the song, I hit the harmony so well on the word history you'd think I was a prodigy. Instead, that note turned out to be the highlight of my musical career.
II. I'm borderline OCD. I'm really not, but I've been called it before because I like keeping things even. For example, if I scratch my left arm I need to scratch my right arm in the same place (even if there is no itch there). The funniest time to watch me is when I am playing a video game and need to do it within the 0.8 seconds between plays/levels/etc.
III. While I met some interesting and fun people in my five years at NDSU and five years at Hamline, I do not keep in touch with a single person from college. Side note: My statement is not absolute...I see Stacy from time to time, which is nice, but it's mostly because she has kept in touch with Jon and Rory and I have just recently gotten back in touch with someone I hadn't spoken to in ten years from NDSU.
IV. More than once in my life I have been consoled by somebody because something in my life that I loved in obsurity has become popular. Whether it be Tenacious D, Mike Doughty or something else, most people assume that I always have to be different and that I would rather start disliking something then be part of the "in" crowd with them. While it does typically pain me, I am usually happy for them and rarely do I jump ship (unless I have good reason).
V. I'm a baseball player by nature, so it's not surprising that I am superstitious. However, over time I have broke many of the superstitions I once had...mostly because Gina is not a superstitious person. My only active superstition that I can think of is I will not set the volume on a radio or TV to 13. I'm OK if someone else does it, just not me. The hardest superstition for me to break involved M&Ms. I always had to eat a green M&M last. If I got a package with no green M&Ms, I'd buy another one. Once Gina found this out, she would eat all the green M&Ms (with or without me knowing) because she thought it was hilarious. Yeah...real funny, kick the kid while he's down why don't you. In the end I had to break the superstition just to survive.
VI. There are very few things in life that I have worked harder at then hiding my stutter. Right or wrong, I consider it a weakness. While I don't think I will ever be comfortable with certain words (in particular words starting with s or the kuhs sound..as in customer) I have been surprised in recent years how many people have not known that I have a speech impediment until it somehow comes up in conversation.
