Tagging and Sweating

I just finished working on a project The Desire sent to me a couple of days ago. It's a game called Tag, You're It. It took a couple of days for me. I know most of you guys probably did it in less than 10 minutes. But I sweat over some of the things I write. It's just my nature. What I say in person, you might forget. What I write on paper or on one of these pages can be seen until the end of the internet. Scares me!

At any rate, here's what I wrote. I know I'm double dipping by not offering a new blog. But not everybody reads myspace. So here you go...

1. Most of my email addresses are tied to my very first nickname. It was given to me was by my father, who incidentally I called "Pa" (pronounced "paw"). He called me "Pard" which is short for "pardner," which is an alteration of the word "partner."
2. I used to jump over other kids on my bike when I was young. A bunch of us boys in the neighborhood would build a ramp and then lie down at the end of the ramp. We'd take turns jumping each other. We'd lay side-by-side and hold our breaths. You never wanted to be on the end if the kid jumping was a wussy. The most I ever jumped was 5 kids. I tried 6 one time, but the back tire of my bike came down on the kid's stomach and that was the end of our kid-jumping ramp.
3. I weighed 135 pounds soaking wet when I started college. My waist was 28 inches and I had long hair and a mustache. Daniel is as tall as I am, weighs more right now, and he's only 12 and in 7th grade. Big boy!
4. I have a 2nd kyu brown belt in Shotokan karate, which is two steps away from black belt. Problem is I haven't trained in over 10 years. Please don't pick a fight with me or I'll have to show you how fast I can run.
5. I'm soft-hearted. I hit a bird one day in my car. So I stopped, picked up the bird, and took it home. Angie thought I was crazy. I put the bird in a shoebox and went to get a shovel to bury it. While I was looking for the shovel, the bird came back to life and started flying around in my house. Angie was not amused. It took us almost an hour to get the bird out of the house.
6. I'm partially deaf in my left ear. When I was a kid, I fell out of a tree over 15 feet and landed partially on my head. I broke a bone in the base of my skull and hemorrhaged from my ear for over a week. As a precaution, the doctors made me stay in bed for two months. Did I mention this happened at the beginning of summer? Can you imagine being bedridden for two months of summer when you're a kid? Not pleasant! Ironically, though I have a hearing problem, I've been a sound man for two different bands. Go figure. God does have a sense of humor.
7. I took Angie out on our first date on March 31st and married her on August 18th of the same year. On our first date, I took her out in my 1968 Ford Bronco, which had no air conditioning. The passenger side door was broken and she had to crawl through the driver's side to get to her seat. When we got the restaurant, four of my buddies were still there because they had gone to the restaurant's Happy Hour. When they saw how pretty Angie was they decided to dine at the same table with us. So, on our first date, I had to compete with four other guys for Angie's attention. Who said nice guys can't finish first? We will be married for 24 years in August. By the way, I still have the Bronco too.
8. I don't like going to big parties. Some people think that because I'm a happy-go-lucky guy that I love to party-it-up big time. Truth is I prefer to be with my close circle of family and friends doing rather ordinary things. If I have a choice of being with my loved ones watching a movie or going to a big shindig with people I only casually know, the family is going to win. Call me boring, but I love my family.
9. I have this eerie sense that I don't fit in. I mean, when I'm around seniors (aged 59 and above), I become that age. When I'm around people of my generation, I become that age. When I'm around youngsters (anybody 30 and below), I become that age. My age seems to be timeless. Now you're probably saying, "What a blessing." But there are days when it feels like a curse. I wrote a song over 20 years ago that expressed my angst. Here's a sample of the lyrics: "…frustrated by the thoughts that run inside of my mind. Am I a man, am I a child?"
10. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church, was baptized in a Southern Baptish church, was married in a Southern Baptist church, and will probably have my funeral there too. However, I seem to march to the beat of a different drummer. My beliefs could better be described as reformed or Calvinist. Not everyone that knows this agrees with me. There are people in my church that would be mortified to know that I believe this. We could get into a big argument, but it all boils down to this, though. Jesus is God's only begotten son and I believe in Him, and only Him, for my salvation. How about you?

Oh, and before I forget, nobody solved the actor photo yesterday. In the ladybug costume was none other than Prissy Hawthorne. Julie Self was the spider. Oops, sorry Kim. Julie was a scorpion. And one of shots shows a young Chris Leader. All have gone on to star in bigger productions. Way to go Youngstage! My oldest son, John, was the grasshopper.

Plus, attached are some random "eye candy" photos for Matt