After being pinged about 1,100 times about this thing, I decided to do it. Now, shut up.

1. I’ve logged an estimated 7,000 total hours of meditation in my lifetime. Most people don’t know this about me, so I’ll make it random fact number one.

2. I was foolish enough to join the Army at age 18. I didn’t have enough money for college and wanted to raise it somehow. I stayed in the Army through basic training and AIT [Army college]. After AIT, they attempted to change my contract. I fought it and got out. I am thankful for what I learned about myself in basic training.

3. I rarely cry about ‘real life’ situations, but weep like a baby on a regular basis because of film, music, and poetry.

4. I’m very shy. I overcome it so well that people who know me for years are surprised when I finally admit it.

5. Growing up, I usually lived in the ghetto. Hip-hop made up about half of my musical intake. I never assumed the ‘urban’ or ‘thug’ personality, though. I didn’t take on the speech patterns or dress the part.

6. I am not at all well-read and am in the process of writing my first novel.

7. I’m much more intuitive than I let on. I generally choose to keep what I detect to myself.

8. I have never and would never date a smoker. I consider an addiction to such an unimpressive substance as a sign of weakness. I understand that this is a bit unfair.

9. When working out, I listen to dramatic, fast-paced music and imagine myself as the singer. I picture friends in the audience. I suppose this means that I secretly aspire to be a rock-star.

10. I consume a LOT of hot sauce. I prefer Tapatio lately. Tabasco is completely without character, I feel.

11. I enjoy fighting and did a lot of it as an adolescent. It isn’t a macho thing for me. It’s a competition thing.

12. I fear death. My hope is that medical technology progresses enough so that I can be rebuilt, maintained.

13. I’m friends with nobody for the simple reason of enjoyment of company. Everyone who I give my time to is someone that I admire and look up to in some way.

14. I enjoy actors and musicians for what they are capable of in the realm of their respective art forms, but have no interested in meeting them. I cannot remember the last time I was star struck.

15. I battle my own narcissistic tendencies and win a little more each day.

16. Retail therapy works very well for me.

17. I am manic a lot of the time and must put effort into toning it down.

18. A reasonable flow when listening to music would look like: Fiona Apple, Pantera, Johnny Cash, One Be Lo, Joanna Newsom, Jurassic 5, Jethro Tull, Chemical Brothers, Junior Boys, Cream, Willie Nelson… you get the picture.

19. Coffee just might be my favorite beverage. Also, I play the djembe. Look, two facts in one spot! DEFIANCE.

20. I sleep walk, talk, and fuck. From time to time I’ll have a night-terror. Waking up in the corner of my room, panting and sweating and frightened happens.

21. I will probably never stop eating meat.

22. I miss riding motorcycle and am considering buying one again despite the maniac drivers that infect the San Francisco streets.

23. I’ve lived in Mesa, AZ, Tucson, AZ, Lansing, MI, East Lansing, MI, Okemos, MI, Haslett, MI, some place in Colorado, some place in Southern California, someplace in Ohio [I think], and San Francisco, CA. I’ve travelled across the country numerous times and am ready to do the same thing in another country.

24. I am severely detached in a way similar to your average sociopath. This is almost constant. I have only recently exposed this to those closest to me. I have always been smart enough to understand what people expect in terms of human behavior and interaction, and have used this understanding to conceal my detachment so that I don’t have to remain so lonely. I’ve come to terms with this and have been emotionally exploring the most likely culprit [a rocky childhood]. With each day, I slowly pull the mask off of my face.

25. Despite some of the morose facts that I’ve listed here, I’m at peace most of the time and swell with love and amazement and appreciation for my experience and the people around me.