I hate chain emails… I basically consider them spam/junk mail.  There is a particular chain mail that has been circulating Facebook recently.  It’s called ‘25 Things About Me’.  The premise is that you list 25 things about yourself and tag 25 others to do the same.  When choosing who to tag, you are to pick people who either tagged you in their list, or people you want to know more about.

I don’t normally participate in such things, but after being tagged by three people, including a relative, I figured – why not.  Since I have been such a slack blogger this month, I figured I’d post it here as well as on Facebook.

1. I’m not a believer in fate, but the procrastinator in me sometimes lets it handle things.

2. I am a big baseball fan, but have never played. My favorite team is the NY Yankees.

3. I am half Italian and always wished I was 100 percent, but I wouldn’t trade my mother for the world!

4. I had two partial art scholarships and one full drama scholarship for college. I chose the drama one because it was the only one that didn’t require me to go to a specialized school. I ended up changing to a different school when I fell in love with computers, and ended up paying for college myself.

5. In 1995, I finalized the divorce of my first marriage, had my 25th birthday, quit my job, and left for Army basic training all in the same weekend.

6. I was an Army Ranger and loved it.

7. I once fell 60 feet in a rappelling accident. I broke my jaw in 3 places. Lost, cracked, or broke 18 teeth, and earned a wound to my leg so bad that if it had gotten infected in the first two weeks, it would have been amputated. Nathan, my friend and then next door neighbor, videoed it.

8. RealTV did a segment about the accident. Apparently, granting them the right to use the video also granted that company the right to use it however they want on other shows like “Stupid Things People Do”. It was unexpected and embarrassing. I tried to get them to stop using it, but failed. Now I hate it when people say they saw me on TV.

9. The Discovery Health Channel also did a segment about me on one of their shows called Impact. It was well done and in good taste. The experience diluted some of my resentment toward television.

10. I have been playing guitar since I was 14, but I still don’t really know how.

11. I would still be in the Army if I didn’t love computers so much.

12. Most of my family lives in New York or Connecticut, but I was born and have lived in Georgia most of my life.

13. I’ve been fortunate enough to have had four best friends during my lifetime. Interestingly enough, I have kept in contact with the first one, Nathaniel, even though we haven’t seen each other in over 25 years.

14. My six-year-old son, Daniel, is almost as big of a Star Wars fan as I was at 8. He still has a while to surpass my former enthusiasm because Nathaniel and I were die hard Star Wars fans for several years. We saw the Empire Strikes Back in the theater 25 times, yet our favorite movie was still Grease - go figure.

15. My favorite person in the world was my Grandfather who died when I was 11. I still think of him regularly. Now I have two new favorite people - my two children, Savannah and Daniel.

16. My wife, Joyce, has many college degrees and is currently working on her Doctorate. On the other hand, I never graduated from college. I guess opposites really do attract.

17. Joyce and I both hold arguably the most prestigious and difficult to earn certifications in our separate professions. National Board Certified Teacher and Microsoft Certified Architect, respectively.

18. I have been told by many people that they thought I was an “asshole” until they got to know me. Of course, there are those that got to know me and still think I am.

19. I usually only sleep about 4 or 5 hours a night. I am frequently doing things, like grocery shopping, at 3 or 4 in the morning (Check out the time stamp of this note, for example).

20. I was once very rebellious and did lots of drugs. Later, I became extremely religious and didn’t even curse. Now I am neither religious nor rebellious. I guess I am more of an agnostic pragmatist. I still don’t do drugs, but I curse horribly — or wonderfully, depending on how you look at it.

21. I started smoking when I was 7 years old and got caught, but didn’t quit. I just got better doing at it without getting caught. I quit when I was 28, however, I will have an occasional cigarette when I’m around friends who smoke. I probably average about a pack a year. Ironically, smoking always gives me headaches.

22. I am not an only child like most people think. My older sister, Jamie, was 12 years older than me and moved out of the house when I was 5 or 6. She died when I was in my early twenties and I miss her very much.

23. I wear my emotions on my sleeve and speak my mind. Advantages to this are: It is easy to tell how I feel and you can assume you know my true opinion of you. Disadvantages to this are: You will know how I feel and you probably know my true opinion of you.

24. I appreciate my parents, more, the older I get. I get my compassion from my mother and my sense of logic from my father. They are loving, kind people and are very dear to me.

25. My wife is my closest friend. I adore her and cherish the time we spend together. She is the most supportive person I know. She gets better looking with age (it’s not fair). We have fun together and our bond grows closer as we get older together. I love her with all my heart and am truly fortunate that she loves me too.

And there you have it.