meme /meem/ [coined on analogy with `gene' by Richard Dawkins] n.

I responded to this meme going around on Facebook. I usually ignore these things, but my cousin and another guy I know each posted and I was inspired by their wit and vulnerability. So I jumped off the cliff, too.

25 Random Things

1. Dove into the Gulf of Thailand from a bar window. Read all about it here: http://surferondryland.blogspot.com/2008/09/messing-about-in-sailboats.html

2. I am fascinated by my wife's habit of coordinating her underwear top and bottom.

3. The best thing I ever read was a note from my 22 y/o daughter telling me she likes to hear the stories I tell about her because it helps her remember what is good and strong about her.

4. I am surrounded by women who love me and tell me, my beautiful wife and three amazing daughters, and it makes me happy, however, I have a poor relationship with my parents and worry that I am not helping my son find his bliss.

5. I have recently discovered sailing and am a bit obsessed with it; in a good way.
In fact, Kris and I are planning our departure from the higher latitudes and I keep track of our progress on two blogs. We dream of lying at anchor in translucent water and work hard to perfect our repertoire of cocktails for the purpose of enhancing each and every sunset.

6. I like creme brulee.

7. I like Bordeauxs from 1985 that have been opened and allowed to air out for an hour.

8. I secretly admire my redheaded 5 y/o's rebellious desire to have whatever she wants whenever she wants it and regret having been such a good boy growing up. Of course I recognize that my current vicarious thrill is a payoff, since my caution was a survival tactic, so the regrets don't run too deep.

9. Everybody Wants to Rule the World and Tarzan Boy are the two songs that make me happy every single time I hear them.

10. I made wine in a plastic barrel hidden in the bilge of the engineroom I ran in the Navy. It was pretty good, but everything that came out of my body for the next week was a deep purple color, including snot.

11. I was raised a poor white child in Mississippi ... and Texas, Colorado, Utah, Alaska, and California.

12. I miss my brothers. I have some friends now who I get together with once a month and they feel like intentional brothers; they also know how painful I find it to have grown up with those guys and not be able to have them around anymore.

13. I'm very proud of my 19 y/o son's guitar playing skills and travel down to Corvallis whenever he plays just to sit and listen to him.

14. I rarely wear socks with my sneakers.

15. The first time I tried to catch a wave over 20-feet it caught up to me and completely blew up my whole world. It was the first time in my life I realized that I'm not going to live forever.

16. I was Dave Johnson's (Olympic decathlete) first training partner. We ran a 300m race with some other guys and I won. Dave probably could have been on the Olympic team as a Javelin thrower, too. I was a lousy javelin thrower.

17. I drive to Mexico for a spring break surf trip every year, speak really bad Spanish, eat great fish tacos, drink beer on the beach, and fall a little bit more in love with Baja.

18. I was in a car accident four years ago this month and put on forty pounds over the past couple of years, probably because I quit running/biking/swimming. I've gotten a little fatter, but I'm a little happier. I expect to drop the weight again, but I feel grateful and a little humbled by the lesson I learned about how vulnerable we all are and what a fragile gift life is.

19. It's weird being a military brat. I lived all over the country and feel a part of the whole thing. When I see [insert place here] Native stickers on cars, I think that's a person with a closed mind and little imagination. I imagine if you counted up those stickers they would equal the number of people who voted for W.

20. I love Virginia Hamilton Adair's poetry.

21. Hoodies make me happy.

22. I own six surfboards and four bikes and whenever my wife asks me why, I answer, "Because I haven't bought another one yet."

23. I'm taller than you.

24. I should have paid attention in school and become a pediatrician. Now I realize what an important role parenting plays in how a kid turns out.

25. When I think I'm all done, I wipe one more time.