Something Personal

Usually, I talk about stuff I do, as opposed to talking about myself.  Since I don't get a lot of comments from the readership, I thought I would post several factoids about myself in an effort to let you all get to know me, and together we might share experiences with each other.  That said, I'll make a list of ten things I find interesting about myself (though you may not).

1. I am neurotic when it comes to time.  I never like to be late to things that have a formal start time.  Concerts, movies, classes, work, plays, etc.  If I am late to any of these types of events, I feel like I committed a moral failure on my end.  This idiosyncrasy was so great that in 2006 Arielle and I (this was our first go round at dating) were driving to a show I was playing for the band I was in at the time, and we got there two hours early.  The venue was empty with the exception of another musician I knew, so I immediately left Arielle alone to talk to my friend.  It went something like this:
2. I was fairly poor growing up.  My father and I moved to a quaint redneck town called Plant City when I was four years old, and my grandfather and he converted a brick building into a home for us.  The down side of this was that the only rooms were a bathroom and a living room, so privacy was very minimal.  This made things like watching internet porn, or masturbating very difficult.  It also destroyed my belief in Santa Claus at an early age, since we had no chimney and my dad never dressed up as Santa.  I also could never sleep on Christmas eve, so without having a room I had full view of the distribution of presents.  This same setup allowed me to get exposed to great cinema as a kid, too.  I saw movies like Silence of the Lambs and A Clockwork Orange before I was ten years old.  Some people say it fucked my mind up a little bit, but I see no evidence of that.  
3. My mother, several uncles and cousins have/had substance abuse problems ranging from alcohol to crack.  Thankfully, my mother managed to quit smoking crack sometime around ten years ago and is living a sober life.  Others of my family are not so lucky, and are still addicted to these drugs.  I am thankful that in all my experimentation, the only thing that took hold of me was cigarette smoking, which I started when I was 12.  As of now, I do not smoke or do any sorts of recreational drug and I rarely take NSAIDs or anything similar. I will occasionally get some cheap bottles of wine from CVS (3 for $10) and enjoy a few of those.
4. Speaking of substance abuse, the first person who introduced me to anything resembling Westside Barbell methodology or powerlifting at all worked at a gym in Plant City.  He claimed he trained there and maybe he did.  He later stopped showing up to our lifting sessions due to a warrant out for his arrest involving meth.
5. Plant City was also home to a lot of protestant Christians, and I grew up with a lot of disdain for them.  I took a class on the New Testament in college so I could argue with the Christians in my town.  Later, I would go on to get a degree in religion, focusing on Black Muslims and Malcolm X.  The highlight of this was when I spoke at the American Academy of Religion South Eastern Regional Conference.  My paper was on the Nation of Islam and Gnostic elements within the religion and was a blast to present.  It was the first original thought I had, and I am still proud of it.  To top it off, I had an interesting homeless person encounter.  I was pumping gas on the way back home from Atlanta, and a homeless guy approached me. He asked for food money as I was pumping gas.  He offered a leather jacket in exchange for this food money.  I told him to hold on and he waited.  I went inside to buy some coffee and a bottle of water.  I also bought the homeless guy a burrito, which I warmed up for him.  I went out to hand him his burrito, and he said, "Well, I actually wanted $8.00 so I can get some Boston Market."  I convinced him to take the burrito, and he offered up a leather jacket. As it turns out, he had a bunch of jackets sitting on the ice chests. I declined, and wound up in Tampa, Florida eight hours later.  I unwound myself by watching my favorite live action television show--Married with Children.
   
6. The first person I fell in love with and lost my virginity to was a black immigrant woman from Trinidad. Her mother was a doctor, and together they had the best grasp and command of the English language out of anyone I have met to this day.  We met at a concert when we were in chorus in high school.  I put ice down her shirt, and that was the catalyst that started our relationship.
7. In no particular order, my favorite movies are Apocalypse Now Redux, Terminator 1 & 2, Blade Runner, Malcolm X, and Natural Born Killers. 
8. My favorite musical artist is Prince.  I was fortunate enough to see a concert of his in April of 2004.  It is one of the best shows I have seen, and even for a 46 year old man, he still danced and sang like he did back in the 80's.  The highlight of the show was when he performed an acoustic set of his older material in the center of the stage.  All by his lonesome--and a rhythm guitar accompanist in the shadows.
   
9. My favorite song is "Eleanor Rigby" by The Beatles.  I think it is the best example of songwriting as a craft, insofar as it defines, develops and resolves a plot relevant to many people.  It does so simply, without any superfluousness and moreover, it has a memorable refrain over a simple chord progression.
10. I am more physically and mentally active at 27 years old than I was at 17, despite having a shitty job at the moment (which most use as an excuse not to do anything at all).  Had I been lifting or playing Jiu Jitsu since I was, I would probably be really good at both of them.  At the very least, I am getting better daily.