Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?

No, not really. Basically, as far back as my memory goes, I remember reading. As I’ve gotten older, the obsession love has grown. The idea of not reading baffles me.

What are some books you read as a child?

I recall reading lots and lots of those horrible Goosebump books by R. L. Stein. They were all pretty much the same, and the writing was truly terrible. I remember I read one of my mom’s Mary Higgins Clark books when I was 8 or 9, and only then realized how very pathetic Goosebump books were. But hey, they got a lot of kids reading, so…

What is your favourite genre?

What, I have to choose one? History, then. But fantasy and science fiction come in at a close second and third. And, generally, I like to cast my net wide, and see what I catch. While I do stay away from romance novels, if it has words on a printed page, I’ll usually read it.

Do you have a favourite novel?

Lord of the Rings, as it ended up shaping my character a great deal. It led to my interest in history, languages, as well as (obviously) the fantasy genre.

Where do you usually read?

Anywhere and everywhere. Regardless of where I am, I typically have a book on hand. I read in bed, sitting around the house, in classrooms before my classes start, at the library reference desk where I work, waiting in line at the post office… Like I said, just about anywhere.

When do you usually read?

Pretty much anytime I can. I don’t really have any set times for when I read, but I do have a few time slots that are fairly regular: before bed, and before classes. I’m quite weird about making sure I’m early for classes, often half an hour or so early; I typically use that time to read.

Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?

Not “usually”, but always. I’ve accepted that I’m incapable of sticking to one book at a time. This leads to it taking me months to finish some books, but that’s fine by me. If someone offers me prize money for getting through books more quickly, I’ll consider changing my reading habits. Until then: the more the merrier, I say.

Do you read non-fiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?

I don’t read it in a different place, but I do read it a bit differently. With fiction books, I can lay them down at any time, knowing that I can pick it up hours or days later, and be able to pick up the thread quickly. I’m unable to do this with a lot of my non-fiction books, particularly history. There’s just too many strands, names, dates, concepts etc. in the text for me to be able to stop mid-paragraph. When reading non-fiction (especially history), I really prefer to stop at breaks in the text which the author has inserted.

I also will occasionally take notes while reading non-fiction, something I don’t do very often at all with fiction.

Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?

A mix of the first, last, and one other path: book mooching. I’ll buy books or mooch them, but usually only after I’ve checked them out from the library to see if I really want my own copy. I’d say at this point in my life, the balance is tipping towards “library”; by using OhioLINK through my school, I can get pretty much whatever I want for free. Throw in 4 renewals, and I can keep books for months on end if I want.

Do you keep most of the books you buy? If not, what do you do with them?

Most of them, yes. Due to how I go about deciding on what books I’m going to purchase, I don’t really end up owning a lot of books that I don’t want. Those that do fit that description, though, end up going to Bookmooch.

If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them? Were they some of the same ones you read as a child?

Due to his interests, most of the books I’ve read to my son have involved bulldozers, tractors, and other such things. I still have a few books from my childhood, though, that I read to him: one is a compilation of 3 stories: 1 about firemen, 1 about cars and other vehicles, and Scruffy the Tugboat. (Yes, the first two have titles, I just can’t remember them off the top of my head.)

He’s also fallen in love with a book I got for him from the library, Take Care, Good Knight.

What are you reading now?

• The Third Reich in Power by Richard J. Evans
• The Middle Ages by Morris Bishop
• Europe in the Central Middle Ages, 962-1154 by Christopher Brooke
• A bunch of foreign language books – Assimil’s French with Ease, Assimil’s Russisch ohne Mühe (Russian without Toil in German), New Penguin Russian Course
• The Human Mosaic: A Thematic Introduction to Cultural Geography (for a class)
• A compilation of literature from the beginning of history to the Renaissance period (also for a class)

Do you keep a “To Be Read” list?

Nope, not in any concrete form. I’ve tried to keep them in the past, but they just grew to be monstrous in size, and ultimately unhelpful. I decide I’m going to read when I’m reading to start something new.

What’s next to be read?

I don’t know. I’m not ready to start something new yet.

What books would you like to reread?

Most of my history books; Lord of the Rings, which I reread every few years. Other than Lord of the Rings, though, it probably won’t happen. I tend to not reread many things, as there are too many books that I want to read that I’ve not yet read.

Who are your favourite authors?

Tolkien; Terry Pratchett; Iain Banks; Antony Beevor; Stephen King.

1. My love affair with RPGs began quite early. When I was 9 or 10, I discovered a copy of Dragon Warrior for NES at a yard sale and bought it for $5. Many late nights weren’t spent boop-boop-booping around that fantasy land of skeletons and green and red slimes. RPGs are still one of my favorite game genres, 15 years later.
2. When I was a teenager, I avoided haircuts if at all possible; my hair was often down below my shoulders. My bangs could cover my whole face, hanging down to the front of my neck. My hair has migrated now, however; I prefer a shaved head, but I also sport a goatee at all times.
3. I’ve never tried any illegal drugs, not even the relatively minor league marijuana. No desire to, either.
4. My thumbs are double jointed, and I delight in twisting them backwards and popping them out of their sockets to make people squirm. I don’t have any other double jointed fingers or limbs, alas.
5. I have the awful habit of biting my nails.
6. I have a birthmark on my right eye which is more or less like a small cataract that doesn’t get worse (ophthalmologist’s explanation, not mine). My eye appears fine, but my right eye vision is substantially blurrier than my left.
7. When eating, I really dislike for my different foods to get mixed on the plate; I don’t want corn bumping into my mashed potatoes, or my biscuit sitting upon a serving of green beans.

The rules of the meme said I needed to tag 7 people, but I must say – I’m not sure I can. Between Hrafn and Edrei, they’ve very nearly pointed to all of the folks I’d tag. There are a few left, however – Liz at LearningNerd, Gordon from One Man Blogs, and Tom. Of course, you three aren’t obligated to do this – but I’d certainly like it if you did.

1. I have a slight fear of having birds close to me, due to their fast and sporadic movement. If one was wanting to take a poke at me, I doubt I could dodge it.
2. I’m incapable of singing along with a song without copying the singer’s accent. If I sing along with Blind Guardian, I have the German accent; if I sing along with the Cranberries, the Irish.
3. As a kid, I actively developed this “skill” – I’d listen to a song repeatedly, singing along with it until I could match the singer’s intonation exactly. I’ve no idea why I did this.
4. I used to really hate summer, because I sweat so profusely. This summer, I realized that sweating is okay, and is quite natural. Since that rather simple realization, I’ve enjoyed the summer much more. (I am not, however, very fond of the weather we’ve had recently – hot is okay, but a heat index of 110F? Ow.)
5. I love cargo pants. I wear them almost exclusively.
6. As a child, I apparently despised taking naps. When my mom was able to get me to take one, it was a hard fought battle. However, I stopped taking regular naps at 3 or 4 (I think the former, but I’m not sure). My dislike of naps continues to this day. I’d rather be drowsy than take a nap.
7. I can’t blow bubbles with bubblegum. I’ve never been able to. When I was younger, I was quite distressed about it – it seemed everyone could blow bubbles with their gum except me. I have since reconsidered my position and have decided that if there were one skill in the world that I couldn’t learn throughout my entire life, it’d be blowing bubbles.
8. I decided a few years ago that when I started losing my hair – and I knew I would, because my dad was bald from 20 or so on – that instead of letting myself have the Homer-look, I’d shave my head. I’ve not started losing much hair yet, but I’ve been shaving my head for a while now, and I like it anyway – so I know when the time comes to keep it that way all the time, I won’t have a problem with it.

I’m supposed to tag 8 bloggers who I want to do this, but I’m not one to tag, so consider this an invitation: if you want to do this meme, feel free, and act as if I tagged you.

-300.

Soup
If you could completely memorize any one work of fiction, which one would you pick?

Oh, wow. Great question. Definitely Lord of the Rings (along with all of the appendices).

Salad
What is your favorite breakfast food?

A Tim Horton’s toasted plain bagel with strawberry cream cheese. Healthy? Not particularly. Marvellously delicious? Yes.

Main Course
Name something fun you can do for less than $10.00.

Read a book from the library.

Dessert
How long does it usually take you to fall asleep?

Well, once I actually decide to go to sleep, 5 minutes or so – but I usually read an hour or so before I go to sleep, regardless of what time I physically went to bed. Last night I was up until 1:30AM reading some more of The Last Kingdom. (It’s a great book, by the way – historical fiction set during the Norse invasion of England, late 9th century.)

Appetizer
What is your favorite fruit?

Tough one. Am I allowed to say fruit salad, with strawberries, pineapple, and white grapes? No? Okay, fine. I’ll begrudgingly go with pineapple. But fruit salad is still better.

Soup
Who is someone you consider as a great role model?

Thich Nhat Hahn. No idea who that is? Here you go.

Salad
If you were to spend one night anywhere within an hour of your home, where would you choose?

I honestly can’t think of anywhere specific that I’m just dying to stay at for a night. I suppose I’d be alright with hanging out in one of the many forests around here for a night. Or maybe the university library, heh.
Main Course
Name something you do too often.

If a kitten was killed everytime I checked my email, cats would be extinct. I really do check my email way too much.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I really like ___________ because ____________.

I really like Buddhism because it’s a spiritual path I can follow without being forced to believe in something, solely on faith.

Write a post about your “learning edge” and what you’re into these days. Feel free to mention any books you’re reading, classes you’re taking, people you’re learning from or collaborating with, etc. Tell us about the gems you’re picking up, the fun you’re having, etc., especially if they’re shifting the way you look at what you do.

Well, let’s see.

Languages

I’m still studying languages a lot. Currently, I’m actively studying, every day, German and Russian. For German, I’m mostly trying to enlarge my vocabulary, so the primary books I’m using are dictionaries. I’m most often using Langenscheidt’s Größwörterbuch Deutsch als Fremdsprache. In the Russian department, I’m using the New Penguin Russian Course, along with Kenneth Katzner’s English-Russian, Russian-English Dictionary. I’m thoroughly enjoying Russian; the beginning stages are much less painful than my first steps with German were. Not because Russian is easier than German (quite the contrary, actually), but because I have a clue as to what I’m doing. Not much of a clue, but more of a clue than I had when I started learning German.

Whenever I talk about studying languages, the question generally comes up, “Oh, that’s interesting, why are you learning [German, Russian]?” In response: the same reason some people knit, or collect stamps. Languages just interest me in general. I’m not studying them for any particular reason (school, money, etc.)

History

As always, there’s a bit of history on my radar. I’m not reading any history books right now, but I have a few awaiting my attention. I’m probably going to start reading A History of Russia when I’m done with my current library loans (The Mote in God’s Eye and the first Harry Potter Book). The Celts by Gerhard Herm is also calling to me.

Spirituality

I’m hesitant to label it as spirituality, but I’m not sure of what else to call it… Anyway:

I’ve been listening to some new (to me) podcasts about Buddhism. The podcast is called Zencast. It’s done mostly by Gil Fronsdal, who teaches at the Insight Meditation Center in California. I’m not sure how much overlap there is, but there’s also this page full of talks by Gil. I’ve previously listened to the 21st Century Buddhism podcast, but I’ve given it up after finding Zencast. Zencast is far better. Ethan of 21st Centry Buddhism gives his best, but Gil clearly knows more about Buddhism; considering he has a PhD in Buddhist Studies, that’s to be expected. Gil also stays on topic a lot better.

In particular, I’m really enjoying Gil’s Introduction to Meditation episodes. They’re quite helpful for a beginner. He talks about many of the problems beginner meditators face: what do I do with thoughts? What do I do if I have an itch? Should I change positions if my legs fall asleep, or stay still? I have been very slack about my meditation practice, but I’m going to make it a habit to sit everyday.

I’m also reading a book on Zen, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. It’s a short book, but I’ve been reading it off and on for a while now. Being about Zen, it’s – well, to be blunt, a bit confusing. It’s one of those books where you can spend hours thinking about a chapter, paragraph, or sentence. Brain food, I suppose.

Other Stuff

Ah, yes. The “other stuff.” I might as well fess up: I’m a learnaholic. I thrive on learning new things, and devote a large portion of my day to doing so. Here’s some other learning I’ve been doing:

• English words. A few days ago I signed up for a couple “word of the day” emails, to expand my English vocabulary. (For those interested, I’m signed up at wordsmith.org and Merriam Webster.com. If you know of some other good ones, let me know.)
• Knots! I’m learning a variety of knots that I need to know for boating. Being out on a big lake, with lots of wakes tossing the boat about, is not the ideal time or place to discover you have no idea how to tie off the yard. It is also not an ideal place to discover you’re not sure how to uncoil the sheet / brace lines for the sail.
• Organization. I’m extremely disorganized, and I’m trying to learn how to be better organized. Streamlining my life – what I do, how I do it, where I store all my junk – would make things much easier. I’ve had a go at this particular task previously and didn’t have much success with it. Maybe I just need to throw all of my stuff away…
• Cooking. I’m trying to learn how to cook, so if the women of my life suddenly leave, I won’t starve or have to live on Ramen noodles. Not burning stuff up is also a bonus.

Tag, You’re It

Just kidding. I don’t tag. However, if you’re interested in doing this meme, feel free. 

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?

If it comes with pages in-between two covers, I’m generally happy with it. If they all were the same price, I’d probably go with hardback, simply because I like the feel of them more than paperbacks. On the other hand, I’d have to eventually switch back to paperbacks, because I’m sure I’d quickly run out of shelf space, if all I owned were hardbacks.

Amazon or brick and mortar?

Both. When I know what book I’m wanting, I generally buy it from Amazon, because it’s easy (and fast). Being in a small town, the nearest decent bookstore is about two hours away. However, I love browsing at a brick and mortar store. When the family takes a trip to Columbus, they generally have to drag me out of Barnes and Noble. I don’t kick and scream, but I certainly don’t like leaving, either. Those big, cushy chairs are just so nice…

Barnes & Noble or Borders?

No real preference on this one. As noted, I live in a small town with no decent bookstore to speak of. I’ll take what I can get!

Bookmark or dogear?

Bookmark, for sure. I’m one of those people that cries out in dismay if I accidentally tear a page, or even drop the book and bend a page or two. It’s never happened yet because I’m so careful with them, but I think if I broke the spine of one of my books, I just might cry.

Alphabetize by author or alphebetize by title or random?

At this point in time, totally random. There are odd pockets of books that are on the same subject, and a few pockets where the books are by one author (like Tolkien), but for the most part, my shelves are just one big mess. I’ll be lame and say I live dangerously.

Keep, throw away, or sell?

Keep. Keep. Keep. If I have a book that I really have no intention of ever reading again, I’ll consider selling it. But throw away? As in the garbage? Are you insane?!

Keep dustjacket or toss it?

I generally keep all of my dustjackets. They’re not important in the least to how the book reads, but I still like having them. Then again, I keep old computer game manuals too, so what’s that tell you?

Read with dustjacket or remove it?

I always remove dustjackets when I’m reading a book. For one, it gets irritating fighting the damn thing everytime I try to read. For another thing, I hate seeing the top and bottom edges of the dustjacket become covered in those tiny tears, due to laying against things.

Short story or novel?

Novels. I’ve never enjoyed short stories much. About the time I begin getting interested in one, it’s over.

Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)?

I have no real preference on this one, because I don’t like short stories. I do know, however, that I don’t own any collections of short stories by one author, so I’ll have to default to anthologies. The only reason I own a few sci-fi anthologies is because a friend was going to throw them away and I couldn’t stand it. I know. I have a problem.

Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket?

Again, I’ll have to default on this one, this time to Harry Potter. I’ve never read Lemony Snicket. Having said that, I don’t care much for Potter. I’ve read the first two books of the series, and truthfully (please, no rotten tomatoes!), I don’t see what the big deal is. To me, it came across as a sub-par fantasy book with stereotypical characters. There was nothing really there that made me want to keep coming back.

Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks?

A bit of both! I prefer to stop at chapter breaks, or those wonderful little mid-chapter breaks that (nice) authors put in, but sometimes I don’t get to do this. In particular, when I’m reading in bed, sometimes I just have to call it quits at the end of a paragraph. This generally happens when two variables are met:

1. I’m extremely tired, and know I can’t read much longer.
2. The nearest “break” is the next chapter, which is 50 pages away.

“It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”?

Neither. “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit”, thank you very much. If I were forced to choose, probably the latter, because that ignites at least a little bit of hope of trolls or some other nasty fantasy creature.

Buy or Borrow?

I buy most of the time. I do a hefty amount of borrowing as well, but only from the library.

New or used?

If I were a rich man, new books, easily. However, rich I am not, so I reserve my new book purchases for things I can’t usually find used, such as history books. I’m quickly acquiring a large amount of used fantasy and sci-fi books, mostly because I can get them for a quarter a piece.

Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse?

All of the above. I often read amazon.com reviews, and pay attention to them, too. I’ll also take recommendations, particularly from friends who I know enjoy the same stuff as I do. And, of course, I love browsing. The only problem with buying based on browsing is that I can generally find at least a dozen books I’d like to buy, but I can typically only afford one or two.

Tidy ending or cliffhanger?

I prefer tidy endings. I’m not fond of reading three hundred plus pages simply to be left with an ending that doesn’t resolve all of the problems the author has created. Unless, of course, a sequel is on the way. Oddly enough, I suppose the ending to The Dark Tower was a cliffhanger, in a way, and I liked it just fine.

Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading?

I’m one of those people that generally has a book in hand, regardless of where I’m at or where I’m going. I’ll read at anytime during the day, and just about anywhere, too.

Standalone or series?

Series, generally. If I enjoy the characters in one book, I’m generally quite pleased to find that I can read more about them later. My only gripe with this though, is that I wish authors would learn when to draw the line. Some series just go on too long. The Wheel of Time series comes to mind…

Favorite series?

I’ll join the lemmings and shout out Lord of the Rings. It never gets old. I haven’t read them in years, but for a while, I also enjoyed a few of the Dragonlance series as well. I recently tried to get into the Redwall series at the recommendation of a family member, but I just couldn’t get into the whole mouse thing. Fantasy creatures I have no problem with, but talking mice? No thank you.

Favorite book of which nobody else has heard?

Looking at the books I own, I don’t think I have any that are really obscure. I’m sure I have quite a few history books that the general populace hasn’t read, but I’m sure others have heard of them.

Favorite books read last year?

Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das (which I’m rereading currently), The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla.

Favorite books of all time?

I’m hesitant to say it, because of how much I’ve already gushed about them, but oh well: Lord of the Rings is, by far, my absolute favorite series of books. Having started reading it at around 10, it has honestly shaped my entire character. It kicked off my interest in fantasy, as well as my interest in medieval history, which has since ballooned out to encompass all of history. On the nonfiction side of things, I’d have to say that Hitler by Joachim C. Fest was a great read. It really deepened my interest in the Second World War.

I won’t tag anyone, because I know most people hate it, but if you read the meme and you want to do it, feel free. It’s not like you need my permission anyway, right?

1. Like her, I’ve also been playing MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online roleplaying games) for quite a while. I can’t remember when I started exactly; perhaps in the 7th or 8th grade with Ultimate Online. I later moved on to EverQuest, which I played for a really long time. My most recent foray into digital dragonslaying was with World of Warcraft. I quit once due to becoming far too addicted to it. I’m playing it again now, and watching my “gotta’ play Warcraft!” urges carefully. If it starts getting into the red, goodbye, Warcraft account.
2. The first foreign language I attempted to teach myself was Scottish Gaelic, with this book. I knew nothing about teaching myself a language, and gave up quite quickly. The fact that Gaelic seems to use 25 letters for a two syllable word didn’t help matters much. Now that I know a bit more about learning languages, Gaelic has slowly crawled back onto my “I’m interested in that” list. It’s certainly low on the list, but it’s there.
3. My interest, and subsequently love, in history was sparked by a “historical” movie which was dreadfully incorrect in more ways than you could count. The costuming was wrong, the historical details were off, but damn, it was still an excellent movie. It was, of course, Braveheart. I’ve probably seen it 10 or 15 times at this point if not more.
4. For a brief time in my late teens I went through a militaristic gothic stage. I’d only wear black, generally black pants and a long-sleeved black shirt, along with black military boots. I also dyed my hair black – even my goatee. Pictures of me during this time are scarce (thankfully), but they do exist. They prove that teenagers will do anything to get attention. My, how stupid I looked. Considering where I live, it’s a wonder I wasn’t mugged a few times for it.
5. I don’t like small animals that can move quickly, particularly ones that move jerkily like birds. They give me the creeps for some reason. I don’t know if it’s because I feel that they could close in on me without me being able to do anything about it or what. Whatever the reason, I just don’t like them much.

While I personally don’t have any problem at all with being “tagged” for these things, I know a lot of people hate it. Having said that, I won’t be tagging anyone specifically, so as to not step on any toes. I’ll leave it up to you if you’d like to do this. If you do do it after reading my entry here, drop a link to this post so I’ll know about your responses.

1. Why do you blog?

Good question. Really good question. My initial thought on that question is, “I don’t really know why I blog.” If I dig a bit deeper, I come up with a few different things.

• It helps me understand the world. A professor I have this quarter has us writing lengthy journal entries on select course material. His reasoning? Writing about something helps you understand it better. Writing about something makes you think critically about the subject. Having a vague concept of something and being able to write articulately about something are two very different things. I blog because it makes me think.
• Related to the above reason, I blog because (hopefully) it helps develop my writing skills. Being able to write well is a wonderful skill to have, so I figure I might as well work on making my writing better.
• It’s fun. It’s an enjoyable hobby. It lets me meet new people with similar (and not so similar!) interests.
• It lets me bounce ideas off of other people. This brings to mind a post I saw over here. The gist of the post? Don’t get caught up in the numbers of blogging, i.e., “what, I only have 15 regular readers?!” In comparison to some blogging giants, that’s nothing. But as noted in the post above, that’s 15 people I wouldn’t communicate with on a daily basis if I didn’t blog. That’s a pretty cool point, I think. If I get even one person a day to smile, laugh, or think via my little (tiny, tiny, tiny) corner of the intarweb, so be it. That’s great.

2. Which author and/or book has most influenced you?

This may seem like a canned response at first, but it’s not: J.R.R. Tolkien. One of my older brothers loaned me his copy of The Hobbit when I was 9 or 10. I read it, then moved on to Lord of the Rings. Reading his books sparked off a number of interests, most notably my interest in fantasy and medieval history. My interest in medieval history has slowly grown to be an interest in history as a whole, not just a specific time period. Hell, history’s my major in college. All from reading a few books about hobbits, wizards, and a ring.

3. Which three blogs do you most visit?

That’s kind of difficult to answer, seeing as how I have quite a few blogs in my feed reader, and I read them all pretty much equal amounts. However, I’ll take a stab at it anyway. Just be forewarned, my stab is probably totally off the mark.

• WordPress.com Blog (which I can’t link to directly, beacuse wordpress.com/blog redirects to the wordpress.com page). Basically, the blog that feeds all of the WordPress.com news stuff. My blog is obviously hosted on WordPress.com. I like being in ‘the loop’ of what’s going on.
• Nowhere Zen NJ. A personal blog about Buddhism. Some really interesting thoughts by this fellow.
• Bright Meadow, because she’s intelligent, funny, and because of the hat picture. She knows what I’m talking about. I’d link to it, but much to my chagrin, she’s removed it from her site. Bring back the hat picture!

4. Why do you read fiction?

Because I can learn from it. Because I enjoy it. Because it lets me experience worlds that, without fiction writing, wouldn’t exist.

5. What makes you laugh?

This shirt. The Discworld series. My dumb dog, Gandalf, who is quite far from being even remotely wizardly. This video of some guy lighting his hand on fire while trying to do Zippo lighter tricks. Sluggy Freelance. The Google search results for ‘failure’, as well as this.

And now, for some tagging of other people. Jay, Cas, Billy, you guys are up (if you want – I know some people really hate these things.)

1. Are you craving anything and if so, what?
Hmm. Not really, not that I can think of. Everything is going well. I’ve got a roof over my head, my wife and kid are healthy, I have enough to eat and drink, and I have plenty of books stacked up to read. Oh, and I have my meditation zafu and zabuton. There are plenty of things I could have, but I could also go without them too, so…

2. What is the weather outside, and do you wish it would change?
It’s a bit chilly, actually. Things here were extremely hot all summer. As soon as September 1st rolled around, it was as if someone had flipped the switch from ‘summer’ to ‘fall.’ It’s also cloudy, but it hasn’t rained yet.

I don’t really want it to change. Being a heavy set guy, I was sweating like a pig all summer. It’s nice to be able to go outside and just enjoy the cool air. I’m also looking forward to the leaves changing colors soon.

3. What two web sites do you think you will go to next after you are finished here?
None. My intention is to finish writing this post, and then play a brief stint of Civilization IV before my son wakes up from his nap. After that, I’m going to play with him.

4. Do you wish you were somewhere else and if so, where?
Nope. To borrow a quote from Jon Kabat-Zinn, where ever you go, there you are. I’m quite content where I am.

5. Do you wish you were someone else and if so, who?
Again, nope. I’m quite happy with who I am. I could always use (lots) of improvement, but at least that way, I’m sharing the same boat with most of the world’s population. I figure I’m in good company.

I can’t think of anyone in particular I want to ‘tag’ to do this, so if you read this and are inclined to do this meme.. well, consider yourself tagged.