There is a Facebook game going around now where a friend posts a number of things you might not have known about them and if you “like” or comment on the post they give you a number and you have to post that number of things people might not know about you. I put up a sarcastic post on about not having a number and a friend gave me six. Another friend gave me a shockingly high number. I decided to rise to the challenge and make this week’s post the 57 Things You Might Not Know About Joe.
1. I often take ideas past their logical limit. This post is a great example.
2. My first crush in Elementary school was smarter and nicer than me. It’s a trend I continued, including my amazing wife.
3. Fall is one of my favorite seasons, but I hate yard work, especially raking leaves. My backyard is completely covered by a canopy of trees.
4. I have owned at least 16 cars, including some really great ones and a Ford EXP. It was a two seat Escort. It single handedly stopped me from ever owning a Ford ever again.
5. In all of those cars, I have only owned one “foreign” car, a Mazda 5. I have had as many, if not more, problems with that car than most of my other cars.
6. I have owned 4 trucks and have loved each of them, even though they are ridiculously expensive to drive given the cost of gas.
7. I had multiple first dates granted because of the cool car I was driving at the time, but my wife agreed to date my even though I drove a Saturn.
8. I learned to drive on a friend’s 1978 standard shift diesel pick-up truck. If you could learn to drive that, everything else would be easy.
9. I have had a motorcycle endorsement for my driver’s license when I was in high school. I briefly owned a small Japanese cruiser bike but I was never comfortable riding it. I almost bought a bigger bike later in life but realized what a bad idea it would be for me.
10. I worry when I see people ride bikes or motorcycles without helmets. I respect their right to choose, but I worry about them anyway.
11. I am a night owl and a morning person. Just not one directly after the other. It’s the midafternoon blues that get to me.
12. I have a total lack of respect for deadlines. I routinely write my weekly blog post on Sunday evenings. Before I went back to work I wrote them on Monday mornings.
13. I do my best work when under pressure.
14. I have no buffer of material for my blog. Most writers work a week or two ahead. I don’t have anything written that far in advance.
15. I will procrastinate whenever possible. I will also procrastinate whenever impossible just to prove it can be done.
16. The four preceding points all contribute to my stress when it comes to my blog.
17. I think the best song lyrics can double as philosophy.
18. I think I can be incredibly lazy, but I can also work harder at getting out of work than the amount of work it would have taken to get the job done in the first place.
19. Conversely I push myself very hard because I know that my natural inclination is to be lazy so I try to guard against it.
20. I have had jobs as a bowling alley mechanic, warehouse supervisor, newspaper delivery person, tree service tech, door to door salesman, truck driver, manager, compliance specialist, project manager, day laborer, and Resident Director among other professions. I was pretty good at all of them, but I love my current job more than any of my other ones.
21. I have never bowled a perfect game but came close, missing by one strike, many times.
22. I have played almost every instrument in a concert band and orchestra. I still think violin and trombone were my favorite.
23. I also played most instruments in a rock band, but I could never really get the hang of piano. It is also the only instrument I ever really practiced.
24. I secretly wish I stuck with guitar longer, just to be able to play one if I visit a music store.
25. I love to sing, but my voice is the worst I have ever heard. I am not saying that with a false sense of modesty, it is truly bad.
26. I used to buy new cassette tapes and listen to them over and over until I knew every word to each of the songs by heart. Even when I was trying to be cool, I turned music into something I geeked out over.
27. I am a total nerd. I am okay with it and am proud of it.
28. My favorite comic book was Uncanny X-men. I loved the outcasts and I could never warm up to normal super heroes like the Fantastic Four.
29. I never gave Doctor Who a chance until the new version. I still haven’t seen many of the episodes before the Ninth Doctor.
30. I love most of the programming on BBC America and I always cringe when I hear something is being brought to America after being modified to suit American tastes.
31. I am terrified of being a bad parent.
32. My son’s birth inspired my desire to be healthier. He inspired me to quit smoking, start eating better, and to exercise more. I want to be a better role model for him.
33. I am That Guy more than I want to be, and it bothers me.
34. I have lived in Chicago, Philadelphia, three places in West Virginia, at least five different cities in Connecticut, and New Hampshire. I think I would move back to Philadelphia if I had the choice, but I miss West Virginia as well.
35. I still see my best friend from childhood even though we both have families of our own and live half a state away from each other. When we do see each other its like ten minutes have passed between times.
36. Norm is also still a role model to me.
37. I still see myself as 25. I can’t believe I will be 40 in a year.
38. I won a national championship and trained at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
39. I wish I used my Broadcast Communications degrees or my English degree professionally. I also wish I had more skill in either field.
40. I am proud of my college radio shows, they were entertaining and led to many great memories.
41. 57 things people may not know about me is more than I thought, and harder to come up with than I anticipated when I started this.
42. I have loved Douglas Adam’s books since the first few pages I read and it has forever changed my humor. I also never forget my towel.
43. I have struggled with depression for most of my life. It is why most of my humor comes from a dark and cynical place.
44. I also have a habit of overthinking almost everything. I often second and third guess myself, sometimes weeks or months after making a decision. I know that it’s not healthy.
45. I love riding my bike. It quiets my mind and takes my focus off of the previous two points. It’s why I ride as often as I can.
46. I also love the way the world waits quietly for the day to break on the early morning rides. I have ridden for miles with only the sound of my bicycle to break the predawn silence.
47. I love reading. It’s an instant escape from reality and a chance to have new experiences from the comfort of your reading place. I love that you can learn how others think and feel by reading their stories.
48. My love of reading fuels my desire to write. I want to share some of what I think the same way as other authors have.
49. I am the loudest introvert you will ever meet, and the most outgoing socially awkward person to ever live.
50. My greatest fear is that people will read what I have written and not care. Ironically I get self-conscious when people read my work.
51. Getting older scares me, but so does the alternative. I would like to die quietly in my sleep at 104 but with the mind and body of a 50 year old.
52. My greatest fear on the bike is traffic. I am sure that one day I will be hurt or die while riding on the road. That is a large part of why it took so long to start riding on the road and why I ride early in the morning when few people are out on the roads.
53. At some point in life I learned that time puts all problems into perspective, and almost none of your problems are really as large as they appear in the moment. If I could go back in time and tell my younger self anything, it would be that.
54. I once got in trouble for changing my report card. Twenty something years later it’s a funny story, proving the above point.
55. I was homeless for a little while though my own actions. I was able to move back in with my parents and get my life back on track. The experience has made me more aware of others’ plights and more likely to get involved in charity, even though I don’t publicize it. One day I would like to do more.
56. I am proud that my 52 Posts in 52 Weeks Challenge is almost over and I haven’t missed one yet. I am worried about finding something to do next. Writing the blog is one of the best things I have done, and one of the hardest
57. I have had a strange life so far, but I am very grateful because I am so happy with where I am right now. I wouldn’t have gotten here if it wasn’t for what came before now.