Ten Things About Me

Thanks to Lin, one of Fluffytek's resident art-photography bards, I'm challenged to pen ten (10!) things about myself that:

1) List some of my (supposedly well-kept) personality traits.

2) Provide a few glimpses into my past or present, peppered with a smattering of personal likes, dislikes, and/or idiosyncrasies.

In spite of being confident that no one really needs cares to know any of this stuff -- no one, it seems, but Lin -- I find myself without anything else to write about at this moment so I guess I'll just forge ahead with these egocentric revelations.

BTW, this little exercise in blogging self-flagellation is all part of some inane game played by certain inhabitants of the Blogosphere who, apparently, have too much disposable time on their hands. Be advised it is as a member of the aforementioned group that I'm taking this bait.

WARNING: Prepare to be thoroughly bored! If you decide to pass on reading the remainder of this update, trust me, I'll understand.

1. I'm a Harley guy--I ride an '07 Harley Night Rod these days--but I also have a thing for classic British motorcycles-- vintage 50s & 60s bikes. At one time or another, I've owned a 50s or 60s Norton, BSA, or Triumph motorcycle. My favorite of all of them was a 1963 Norton Dominator.

2. Due to my own stupidity, an accident caused me to spend many years with continually declining sight in my right eye. Eventually, a dark veil of partial blindness descended upon me: I became 100% blind in my right eye. Still, for over a decade I continued to steadily work as a photographer and videographer, blind eye or not. About four or five years ago, technology caught up with my blind eye. My eye was surgically salvaged and my full sight was restored! This was accomplished via new procedures and treatments and also with the help of a high-tech, synthetic lens implant. Yep! I have a bionic eye! On the down side, I now have a much harder time turning a blind eye to many things! (Sorry. That was a lame attempt at being witty.) Anyway, with the resurrection of what one of my doctors labeled my "miracle eye," I was suddenly fully-sighted and ready to continue my career as some guy who makes his living with cameras in his hands. Interestingly -- or maybe not -- while I was 1/2 blind I was only able to shoot with my left eye and, although its been 4 or 5 years since the sight in my right eye was restored, I still shoot with my left eye. Some habits, I guess, are hard to break.

3. For most of my adult life, I've been fascinated with history, archeology, human evolution, and cultural anthropology. (Not necessarily in that order.) I spend nearly as much time learning about these (and related) subjects as I do learning about photography. I'm a firm believer that we, as a species, must continue to discover all we can about ourselves: Where we came from, how our evolutionary and cultural pasts have molded us and changed us, and how our mistakes and triumphs continue to effect us and guide us, i.e., if we plan on surviving and thriving.

4. I hate lima beans. I do not simply dislike them, I detest them!

5. Most people prefer being spared my rants opinions concerning politics and religion. Trust me, I have much to say on both subjects and a lot of it is outside the consensuses of many groups of people. I'm neither an atheist nor an anarchist. I'm not a member of any organized religion or political party. My beliefs, religious and political, are rather eclectic and quite a few people consider many of them to be on the fringe.

6. When I served in the military, I spent most of my service time overseas; much of that time in the United Kingdom. While there, I became politically and socially active. That was during the late, Viet Nam War era. As you might expect, my activism was not appreciated by my superiors, the military establishment in general, or the British authorities. I was arrested numerous times, threatened with court martial on more than a few occasions and, as a result of a laundry list of infractions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, discharged early, albeit under honorable conditions and not before serving 5-months shy of four years. Proudly, I left the military at the same rank as the day I entered it.

7. I worship women! I adore the female form! From a purely anatomical perspective, I don't consider myself a tit man which, for most men, means BIG tits. Instead, I admire women's breasts in all sizes. Add to that a great derrière, shapely legs, a healthy dose of intellect, adventurousness in bed, and a humorous and engaging demeanor and that's the package that does it for me!

8. I probably have a mental disease: I am obsessive/compulsive when it comes to locking doors. I will, quite often, go back and check the doors to my car or home three or four times before I'm confident(?) they're locked. Even after doing so, queasy, uneasy, and uncertain feelings continue to gnaw at me. I've tried a variety of techniques to assure myself I've locked a door -- things like moving a ring from one finger to another as a "sign" I re-checked the locks -- but the uneasiness persists. I'll sometimes repeatedly question a witness-- someone I purposely asked to witness me locking the door. This can be very annoying to the person I'm questioning. Especially after asking them: "I locked it, right?" or "You're sure it's locked?" two or more times after they've already assured me the door is locked.

9. I wasted spent more than three years of my life actively pursuing a career as a stand-up comic. Trust me-- Comedy ain't pretty! In private and sometimes on stage, comedians are some of the most manic-depressive and depression-inducing people on the planet. During my "comedy" period, I sometimes killed and I sometimes died. Too often, I was just another clown on a stage trying to make a bunch of drunks laugh at the expense of my own flaws and dysfunctions. For some reason, it was something I had to do which, perhaps, qualifies as yet another mental disease in my possession.

10. Too often, I have a bad habit of not finishing what I've started. This being #10, it might either be a good example of me not appropriately finishing something I started or an example of the exact opposite... depending, I suppose, on how you look at it. (Wow! Heavy.)

The gratuitous eye candy at the top is Nikita Lea from two or three years ago.