100 Things About Me
I have finally gotten around to the obligatory '100 Things About Me' post... it was actually kind of fun putting it together.
If you have some time to kill ... Click here to read the list!
Family History:
1) I am the only child conceived by my mother and father.
2) I have an older brother, born of my mother ... adopted by my father.
3) My parents, who had married as newly born again ex-hippies, divorced when I was 4.
4) Both of my parents are passionate, devout Christians.
5) Both of my parents have remarried.
6) I have a younger brother and sister by way of my dad and step-mom.
7) When my mom married my step-dad, I also gained three sisters ... all near my age.
8) My mother is a recovering alcoholic. Sober for 12yrs+. She is a creative, soulful, deeply spiritual, and loving woman. Anybody who knows my mother, knows her to be a cheerfully magnetic, down to earth, genuine person with a survivor's heart. I am proud to be my mother's son.
9) My father is a full time pastor. He is the most truly selfless person I've ever met, a lover of his neighbors, and an unabashed warrior for what he believes to be Right, Good, and True. Anybody who knows my father knows him as a determined optimist, an encourager to the downtrodden, and a man who shoots for the moon. I am proud to be my father's son.
Religious History:
10) I would have never used the label back then, but I now realize that I was a Fundamentalist Christian up until 2005.
11) Nowadays I'm so spiritually confused that I refer to myself as agnostic.
12) The transition was the most difficult time in my life, hands down.
13) My blog was birthed in the process and the theraputic nature of it helped me keep my sanity.
Other stuff you may or may not already know:
14) I was a virgin when I married at the age of 19.
15) I had only two girlfriends before my wife. One of which I never even kissed.
16) Aside from a 8-month stint with my mom in the Pacific Palisades when I was in Junior High, I've never lived outside of my hometown.
17) Sometimes that really bothers me.
18) I sometimes regret not naming my son after myself. At the time, I thought that other people would see it as an arrogant thing to do.
19) My travels outside of the United States include Mexico, The Bahams, and Israel. Exculsively.
20) My wife lets me put everything on my blog with one exception: details of our sex life. So, I started another blog.
21)You will never find that blog. EDIT 9/16/2006: Somebody acted like they found my other blog. For my wife's sake, I took it down.
22) EDIT 9/19/2006:I am really pissed about losing my anonymous sex blog, it was a good outlet for me. I am over it now. Live and learn ...
23) I am calm in the midst of crisis and trouble.
24) I often feel very burdoned when others find no reason to be.
25) I had never been so much as buzzed until my mid-20's when a friend of mine and his wife invited us to stay the night while they housesitted their parents' home. Before then, I had only drank one time in Mexico in attempt to get drunk but for some reason it had no noticable effect. Anyhow, at my friend's parent's house we raided the liquor cabinet and I got wasted. We had a really great time. Like all people should the first time they get drunk, I puked the next morning in the kitchen sink. I'm glad they had a garbage disposal.
26) My true calling in life is to be a counselor and encourager to others.
27) It is difficult to find opportunities to fulfill that calling when most of your days are spent operating a small business in the insurance industry.
28) I played football and volleyball in highschool and enjoyed both tremendously.
29) ... until I started having Grand Mal Seizures for no apparent reason.
30) Those dang seizures really messed up my already hodge podge highschool experience: Took me out of sports. Screwed up my social life (had to be in bed by 10pm while they ran me through various tests and drugs trying to find out what was going on). Made me stop playing guitar. And ended up being one of the main reasons I graduated a full year earlier than scheduled.
31) I've never taken any illegal drugs.
32) If they ever legalize pot (or if I found somebody's stash that they left behind or something), I'd try it.
33) I've always teased my older brother for his hair thinning. Now I don't think its a funny subject at all.
34) Whenever my crazy eyebrow grows back, I look in the mirror and see my grandpa and my dad looking at me in the mirror ... and I smile.
35) I believe life is too short not to laugh, dance, love, and risk.
36) I believe safety can be a sort of death.
37) I didn't come up with that last one myself. I read it somewhere, ... but can't remember where at the moment.
38) I hit my personal income goal nearly four years ago. It was the same financial goal my dad once told me that he had always aimed for.
39) I don't feel as rich as I imagined I making that kind of money but I don't really have a need or desire to work longer or harder for more.
40) Between work and leisure, I spend more time with electronics than I do with my children.
41) I'm not proud about it, but its true.
42) Aside from what the Bible says about the subject, I've never been all that bothered by homosexuality.
43) I have more than one relative who has come out of the closet.
44) The older I get, the less convinced I am that any of us act as freely as we think we do.
45) I cannot stand subversiveness.
46) Thats probably part of the reason I feel so guilty that I laugh so hard when I see this.
47) I have a compulsive need to respond to all emails that I receive immediately. It is very very rare that a new email, even about a trivial subject, goes unreplied to for more than twelve hours.
48) If it wasn't for Addictive, I wouldn't have no Personality at all.
49) All of my blog entries are written and posted with not more than one or two quick read throughs to make sure they easy to read and understand (except the expansive Chapter 7).
50) I hope in the depths of my soul that a merciful, all powerful, good God is in control of all of this mess.
51) I love to eat mashed potatoes, asian food of all types (except Korean), and popcorn with way too much butter and salt on it. But not in one sitting.
52) Sometimes I wish I didn't take life so seriously.
53) Other times I'm enraged that others don't take things as seriously as I do.
54) I guess that makes me human.
55) At least, a tormented quasi-schizophrenic human.
56) Now... what was I talking about? Oh yes. I remember...
57) Admittedly stolen from Buckhorn Road's 100 Things About Me: My wife is one of those women who doesn’t need makeup to look beautiful.
58) Despite my efforts to control the habit, all of my writing is littered with '...'s.
59) The part of my business that I take the most pride in is keeping my paycheck out of the equation when giving advice.
60) My absolute favorite movie EVER is The Naked Gun.
61) I love it so much I can ALMOST forget that one of its stars, OJ Simpson, murdered two people, everybody knows it, he walks free, and many African Americans celebrate that fact.
62) I love it so much I can ALMOST keep my currently broken relationship with a life long friend from popping in my memory despite the fact that we were The Naked Gun junkies together as little kids. We memorize nearly every line in that damned movie.
63) Who brought all that crap up anyway? ... Damn that schizophrenia. ... and those '...'s!
64) The number one reason I am a sober minded, dour, sometimes depressed person is that I can't keep weighty and difficult questions and issues from popping in to my head.
65) I've recently discovered that alcohol can help with that.
66) I don't really know why, but I've always wanted to visit the motherland of my grandparents on my father's side: Praque, Czech Republic. I don't speak the language, know little to none of the history or culture, and know nobody there. And yet, I want to go.
67) My problem with seizures made some parts of my life grow that I frequently criticize myself for: I sleep ten hours a day, don't play sports as much as I'd like to, and instead find competitive release through cards, video games, and intellectual musing.
68) When I am in a Miroslav-bashing depressive mood, I think the seizures are just an excuse for all those things ...
69) ... but deep inside I know they aren't.
70) I've never been very happy with my wardrobe. Thanks to my wife, it has definately gotten better over the years, but there are times I look with envy at all the metrosexuals walking around town looking so dang good. Its like they just stepped out of a magazine or something.
71) I know I'm way too comfortable with my physical appearance to ever be a metrosexual (... not that there is anything wrong with that).
72) Many times when I meet new people, they assume I'm The Man. And I don't mean that in a good way. I mean it in the keep-the-black-man-down sort of way.
73) Every person I've ever asked to share with me their first impression they had of me said the same thing: ARROGANT.
74) Ouch.
75) Every one of those same people also immediately said that now that they know me, they realize its not at all true.
76) Or perhaps they were just stroking my ego.
77) Those same people also informed me that many who don't know me well are put off by my sense of humor because it is so dry.
78) But now that they know me, they get it. And like it.
79) I'm having a hard time coming up with this list, ... particularly because of #49.
80) People who feel entiteled to everything really make me disgusted and angry.
81) Sometimes I don't know how to just BE.
82) The first girl I kissed would have slept with me the same night. We had opportunity, she offered, I declined.
83) You don't know her.
84) I don't even remember her name to be honest.
85) No, I didn't make her up.
86) I was great with math until my seizures. Now, I can hardly draw a triangle without my brain tweaking out. Stuff like that really frustrates me.
87) I am right handed.
88) I cannot ride a skateboard AT ALL. If I had to use one to travel a mile, I'd end up in a hospital. No joke.
89) One likely contributing factor to my inability to ride a skateboard is that I have a massive cranium. "Head! Down!"
90) I inherited that trait from my dad, and he from his.
91) My poor son ... he didn't escape the curse.
92) I'm sick of "I don't know" being the answer to serious questions about the world, humanity, and God.
93) I spent far too much time as a young kid pouring through The Joy of Sex.
94) I do this odd habitual thing when I'm reading stuff on the internet. I click and drag repeatedly, highlighting and de-highlighting random paragraphs and text. If you ever sit down with me while I'm in front of a computer, you will see it. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to it. I didn't even know that I was doing it until somebody pointed it out to me recently.
95) For ten years, I was a closet porn addict. Looking back, I realize that the vast majority of the damage done in my life wasn't actually done by the porn. It was from the lies I told to myself and others to try to keep my secret.
96) Because of that, I now find myself preferring the pain of complete truth to the false comfort of secret thoughts and desires.
97) When I'm in a social situation, my blunt speech makes people very cautious and uncomfortable at first.
98) Eventually, they either are drawn to the transparency and vulnerability and join in like manner leading to a refreshingly frank conversation ... or they can't stand it and distance themselves.
99) Either way is totally cool with me.
100) I am really tired and need to go get my ten hours of sleep. Goodnight.
If you have some time to kill ... Click here to read the list!
Family History:
1) I am the only child conceived by my mother and father.
2) I have an older brother, born of my mother ... adopted by my father.
3) My parents, who had married as newly born again ex-hippies, divorced when I was 4.
4) Both of my parents are passionate, devout Christians.
5) Both of my parents have remarried.
6) I have a younger brother and sister by way of my dad and step-mom.
7) When my mom married my step-dad, I also gained three sisters ... all near my age.
8) My mother is a recovering alcoholic. Sober for 12yrs+. She is a creative, soulful, deeply spiritual, and loving woman. Anybody who knows my mother, knows her to be a cheerfully magnetic, down to earth, genuine person with a survivor's heart. I am proud to be my mother's son.
9) My father is a full time pastor. He is the most truly selfless person I've ever met, a lover of his neighbors, and an unabashed warrior for what he believes to be Right, Good, and True. Anybody who knows my father knows him as a determined optimist, an encourager to the downtrodden, and a man who shoots for the moon. I am proud to be my father's son.
Religious History:
10) I would have never used the label back then, but I now realize that I was a Fundamentalist Christian up until 2005.
11) Nowadays I'm so spiritually confused that I refer to myself as agnostic.
12) The transition was the most difficult time in my life, hands down.
13) My blog was birthed in the process and the theraputic nature of it helped me keep my sanity.
Other stuff you may or may not already know:
14) I was a virgin when I married at the age of 19.
15) I had only two girlfriends before my wife. One of which I never even kissed.
16) Aside from a 8-month stint with my mom in the Pacific Palisades when I was in Junior High, I've never lived outside of my hometown.
17) Sometimes that really bothers me.
18) I sometimes regret not naming my son after myself. At the time, I thought that other people would see it as an arrogant thing to do.
19) My travels outside of the United States include Mexico, The Bahams, and Israel. Exculsively.
20) My wife lets me put everything on my blog with one exception: details of our sex life. So, I started another blog.
21)
22) EDIT 9/19/2006:
23) I am calm in the midst of crisis and trouble.
24) I often feel very burdoned when others find no reason to be.
25) I had never been so much as buzzed until my mid-20's when a friend of mine and his wife invited us to stay the night while they housesitted their parents' home. Before then, I had only drank one time in Mexico in attempt to get drunk but for some reason it had no noticable effect. Anyhow, at my friend's parent's house we raided the liquor cabinet and I got wasted. We had a really great time. Like all people should the first time they get drunk, I puked the next morning in the kitchen sink. I'm glad they had a garbage disposal.
26) My true calling in life is to be a counselor and encourager to others.
27) It is difficult to find opportunities to fulfill that calling when most of your days are spent operating a small business in the insurance industry.
28) I played football and volleyball in highschool and enjoyed both tremendously.
29) ... until I started having Grand Mal Seizures for no apparent reason.
30) Those dang seizures really messed up my already hodge podge highschool experience: Took me out of sports. Screwed up my social life (had to be in bed by 10pm while they ran me through various tests and drugs trying to find out what was going on). Made me stop playing guitar. And ended up being one of the main reasons I graduated a full year earlier than scheduled.
31) I've never taken any illegal drugs.
32) If they ever legalize pot (or if I found somebody's stash that they left behind or something), I'd try it.
33) I've always teased my older brother for his hair thinning. Now I don't think its a funny subject at all.
34) Whenever my crazy eyebrow grows back, I look in the mirror and see my grandpa and my dad looking at me in the mirror ... and I smile.
35) I believe life is too short not to laugh, dance, love, and risk.
36) I believe safety can be a sort of death.
37) I didn't come up with that last one myself. I read it somewhere, ... but can't remember where at the moment.
38) I hit my personal income goal nearly four years ago. It was the same financial goal my dad once told me that he had always aimed for.
39) I don't feel as rich as I imagined I making that kind of money but I don't really have a need or desire to work longer or harder for more.
40) Between work and leisure, I spend more time with electronics than I do with my children.
41) I'm not proud about it, but its true.
42) Aside from what the Bible says about the subject, I've never been all that bothered by homosexuality.
43) I have more than one relative who has come out of the closet.
44) The older I get, the less convinced I am that any of us act as freely as we think we do.
45) I cannot stand subversiveness.
46) Thats probably part of the reason I feel so guilty that I laugh so hard when I see this.
47) I have a compulsive need to respond to all emails that I receive immediately. It is very very rare that a new email, even about a trivial subject, goes unreplied to for more than twelve hours.
48) If it wasn't for Addictive, I wouldn't have no Personality at all.
49) All of my blog entries are written and posted with not more than one or two quick read throughs to make sure they easy to read and understand (except the expansive Chapter 7).
50) I hope in the depths of my soul that a merciful, all powerful, good God is in control of all of this mess.
51) I love to eat mashed potatoes, asian food of all types (except Korean), and popcorn with way too much butter and salt on it. But not in one sitting.
52) Sometimes I wish I didn't take life so seriously.
53) Other times I'm enraged that others don't take things as seriously as I do.
54) I guess that makes me human.
55) At least, a tormented quasi-schizophrenic human.
56) Now... what was I talking about? Oh yes. I remember...
57) Admittedly stolen from Buckhorn Road's 100 Things About Me: My wife is one of those women who doesn’t need makeup to look beautiful.
58) Despite my efforts to control the habit, all of my writing is littered with '...'s.
59) The part of my business that I take the most pride in is keeping my paycheck out of the equation when giving advice.
60) My absolute favorite movie EVER is The Naked Gun.
61) I love it so much I can ALMOST forget that one of its stars, OJ Simpson, murdered two people, everybody knows it, he walks free, and many African Americans celebrate that fact.
62) I love it so much I can ALMOST keep my currently broken relationship with a life long friend from popping in my memory despite the fact that we were The Naked Gun junkies together as little kids. We memorize nearly every line in that damned movie.
63) Who brought all that crap up anyway? ... Damn that schizophrenia. ... and those '...'s!
64) The number one reason I am a sober minded, dour, sometimes depressed person is that I can't keep weighty and difficult questions and issues from popping in to my head.
65) I've recently discovered that alcohol can help with that.
66) I don't really know why, but I've always wanted to visit the motherland of my grandparents on my father's side: Praque, Czech Republic. I don't speak the language, know little to none of the history or culture, and know nobody there. And yet, I want to go.
67) My problem with seizures made some parts of my life grow that I frequently criticize myself for: I sleep ten hours a day, don't play sports as much as I'd like to, and instead find competitive release through cards, video games, and intellectual musing.
68) When I am in a Miroslav-bashing depressive mood, I think the seizures are just an excuse for all those things ...
69) ... but deep inside I know they aren't.
70) I've never been very happy with my wardrobe. Thanks to my wife, it has definately gotten better over the years, but there are times I look with envy at all the metrosexuals walking around town looking so dang good. Its like they just stepped out of a magazine or something.
71) I know I'm way too comfortable with my physical appearance to ever be a metrosexual (... not that there is anything wrong with that).
72) Many times when I meet new people, they assume I'm The Man. And I don't mean that in a good way. I mean it in the keep-the-black-man-down sort of way.
73) Every person I've ever asked to share with me their first impression they had of me said the same thing: ARROGANT.
74) Ouch.
75) Every one of those same people also immediately said that now that they know me, they realize its not at all true.
76) Or perhaps they were just stroking my ego.
77) Those same people also informed me that many who don't know me well are put off by my sense of humor because it is so dry.
78) But now that they know me, they get it. And like it.
79) I'm having a hard time coming up with this list, ... particularly because of #49.
80) People who feel entiteled to everything really make me disgusted and angry.
81) Sometimes I don't know how to just BE.
82) The first girl I kissed would have slept with me the same night. We had opportunity, she offered, I declined.
83) You don't know her.
84) I don't even remember her name to be honest.
85) No, I didn't make her up.
86) I was great with math until my seizures. Now, I can hardly draw a triangle without my brain tweaking out. Stuff like that really frustrates me.
87) I am right handed.
88) I cannot ride a skateboard AT ALL. If I had to use one to travel a mile, I'd end up in a hospital. No joke.
89) One likely contributing factor to my inability to ride a skateboard is that I have a massive cranium. "Head! Down!"
90) I inherited that trait from my dad, and he from his.
91) My poor son ... he didn't escape the curse.
92) I'm sick of "I don't know" being the answer to serious questions about the world, humanity, and God.
93) I spent far too much time as a young kid pouring through The Joy of Sex.
94) I do this odd habitual thing when I'm reading stuff on the internet. I click and drag repeatedly, highlighting and de-highlighting random paragraphs and text. If you ever sit down with me while I'm in front of a computer, you will see it. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to it. I didn't even know that I was doing it until somebody pointed it out to me recently.
95) For ten years, I was a closet porn addict. Looking back, I realize that the vast majority of the damage done in my life wasn't actually done by the porn. It was from the lies I told to myself and others to try to keep my secret.
96) Because of that, I now find myself preferring the pain of complete truth to the false comfort of secret thoughts and desires.
97) When I'm in a social situation, my blunt speech makes people very cautious and uncomfortable at first.
98) Eventually, they either are drawn to the transparency and vulnerability and join in like manner leading to a refreshingly frank conversation ... or they can't stand it and distance themselves.
99) Either way is totally cool with me.
100) I am really tired and need to go get my ten hours of sleep. Goodnight.
posted by Miroslav at 11:23 AM
14 Comments:
Miro My Son.
One day you need to begin your first book for publication.
You are an amazing man. I'm still smiling and laughing. Proud to be your Momma.
Yo Momma
WHAT??? You kissed another girl before me?!?
You are not welcome in my bed tonight.
The women in my life are the first to speak... how nice!
Momma,
A blog only a mother could love... :D
Anonymous Wife,
Don't make me bring up the cartilage necklace.
i wish i could be as honest as you; but my family might not like it.
Great list... I always enjoy your BLOG. Thank you for your honesty and candor.
Mrs. Chanman
Did you really write all that after 5 episodes of 24. Nice work buddy.
anonymous,
You sir (or ma'am) have earned yourself a whole new post! Check back soon.
Mrs. Chanman,
What an honor to have you hear. I didn't know you were a reader! :)
MJB,
No, wrong date dude. It was the night before.
Really! Like I said way too much time... But then life would not be so entertaining now would it. Since honesty is the thing... Yes I would have used the word arrogant also. I can't say that I have changed my mind about that. I think that your recent experiences have definitely toned it way down, in fact it is almost gone. When you were younger I would get so angry at you and your life long friend( who is still as completely arrogant as ever) when you would come over or I would see you at a gathering and I was never greeted unless I said hello first! the nerve of you guys. In fact it still makes me mad just thinking about it. Probably a waste of energy. I do appreciate you and you know that in regards to our biggest strength usually the flip side is our biggest weakness. Perhaps the arrogance is really just complete and unadulterated confidence, but I think we should care how people perceive us because it usually means we could use some tweaking.
By the way I never have time to review my entries, it is a one time shot. Probably why I don't work on my own blog and just use yours to voice my opinions.
I keep thinking that one day I will start blogging but then I am just way too busy(in agood way usually) to do anything about it.
Miroslav,
that last post sounded so harsh. I am sorry. I am reminded how much I appreciated ypur presence and support in our little trip to paradise. I guess the part about still feeling that way was not accurate. I have grown to appreciate you. I remember a meeting of the "marriage board" and the wisdom and clarity that you brought to the situation. truly wisdom beyond your years as they say. Know that I care about you and pray for your journey that you are on.
george,
yeah. I've got weird habits. What can I say? (I just checked out your list, btw. Nice.)
Woman of Faith,
LoL! (are we even now? hehe...) Sorry that I made you feel bad by not greeting you more warmly. Often times I find myself in a haze (either from inner wrestlings, depression, or my seizure med stuff) and think that really contributes to how distant I am with people. That, mixed with my confidence and bluntness, probably makes me look like an arrogant bastard. Thats my best guess anyhow.
It was good to see you and share a hug at church this morning.
That was a great night (number 25)…I forgot about that. Hehe – loads of laughs and fun with you and Juanita. It sucked though cleaning out the sink before the parents got home!! I think we had pizza that night…never could eat Hawaiian pizza again after your blow up. Oh well, that’s how memories are made.
I am glad that you started believing in number 35 and 36 of your list. I agree, life is too short to not try and experience new things – of course, within certain boundaries.
#95 did change a lot as well…Thanks for the support through those times.
And I wont send you to the copyright policy for posting your fam photos...on Flickr...without my permission. Talk with you later.
Number 26 is right on.
This post really made me go through the gamut of emotions...
Like your mom said 'You are an amazing man.'
Here's to more good stuff!!
popeye,
Greetings broham! A pleasure to have you drop by...
man, I had forgotten the bit about Hawaiian Pizza. I'm remembering that pineapples and bile don't mix well on the way up. Now I won't be able to eat the stuff either. Thanks a lot, jerk. ;)
ditto on the support man. Glad to be out of that stink pit.
Marita,
Thank ya thank ya. I had a good time coming up with this list... Its a good exercise.
After just knowing of this for the first time today and reading your blog, and you not being a person I really enjoyed being around in the past in your arrogant days. This blog has helped me understand you more and thus pouring respect and admiration for you. I have known you since your were 3. I changed your stinking ass diapers as well. You have incredible parents and step parents as well. State of confusion is so not a bad thing. It makes us think if we are willing! Love you Asher!
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