25 Random Things About Me

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

1. I absolutely, positively abhor these type of notes. I rank them up there with virus warnings and invitations from the President of Botswana to launder foreign currency. The *only* reason that I'm doing it is because my sweet baby sister, Kasey, asked me to.

2. I had a series of twelve colonics in 2002 costing more than $500, completely paid for by Starbucks health insurance.

3. I have not lived in a house with central air or central heat since I left college in 1995. Last year I didn't use air conditioning in my house at all.

4. The only music I regularly listen to is the music I'm rehearsing to perform. Most of the space in my iPod is filled with podcasts of NPR programming, followed by books on tape, and then "learning mp3" of songs I've learned.

5. I value Authenticity above all virtues (as far as I recall at this moment) and *always* prefer to hear the painful Truth, to a comforting lie.

6. I love to travel...maybe more than any other thing I do. I've been in 26 countries, seen most of the world capitals, and visited all the continents except Africa and Antarctica. But I've never been to New York or Las Vegas.

7. I consider Frugality a lifestyle, a personal challenge, and a hobby. If its worth doing or having, its worth taking the extra effort to find a way to get it at half the cost. Nothing kills the buzz faster than paying retail.

8. While I make quick friends easily, I take a long time to form deep friendships. Most of my best friends - those who know me 'best' - have known me for 10-20 years: Brooks, Kyle, Lee, Todd and their families.

9. I can think of fewer than five vices I haven't tried or quit. All are legal...if not in this country, then surely in Amsterdam or the Philippines.

10. I turn 40 in less than two months.

11. In 5th grade, my family moved and I changed school. I introduced myself to the class as "Mitch". My Mitch Phase only lasted a couple of weeks for me...but some kids called me "Mitch" until we graduated from high school.

12. I drank my first beer with Christopher Tatum on graduation night in the parking lot of MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas.

13. Although I love to read books, I can't stand owning, dusting, or moving them. After I finish a book that I've bought (and that, in itself, is a rarity), I'll stick it in the Book Return slot at the local library.

14. My Love Languages, in order of personal preference: Quality Time, Physical Touch, Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts.

15. On every test I've taken, I rank as an Introvert. I love people, listening, being around them, etc., but they deplete me :-) I've got to get by myself to rejuvenate.

16. I lived out of the country, in central and South America, from August 1991 - May 1993.

17. I have worked for the same awesome company for almost 11 years...but have had many different jobs.

18. I've been debt-free since 2004 and continue to live the blessing of living far beneath my means.

19. While I am a 5th generation Texan, for the last 7+ years, I have lived less than 3 miles from where I was born: Methodist Hospital in Oak Cliff, just south of Dallas.

20. I had long hair, a ponytail to below my shoulders, from 2003-2008. I cut my hair short in November 2008 because my hair is thinning. Whenever I would put it in a ponytail, it was starting to look like a "comb over"...and we can't have that (see no. 5).

21. I don't drink soft drinks or milk - ever.

22. I love cats and hate dogs. If I'm nice to your dog, it means I love you...not your dog. And, no, its not "cute" when they jump, hump, or slobber on me - its as annoying as hell and I'd wish you'd control that bitch. See...I told you I hate dogs.

23. I drink enough coffee to pay the monthly electricity bill at one Starbucks....that is, if I ever actually *paid* for my coffee ;-) Most of my coffee I drink iced, no sugar, no cream. I easily drink a gallon (two pots) of coffee a day.

24. I've never had cable or satellite television.

25. If not for God healing me, delivering me, rescuing me, sustaining me, there would be nothing left of me but a name on a tombstone.