No more time to tell how, this is the season of what...

I start to get petit-mal cases of self loathing when I go several days without writing up a blog post. Thankfully there are people like Kim, Marty, and Dave to help me out with a meme to get those cranial juices flowing again. Sure, this meme is a week or two old right now, but it's still doable.

Apparently it's called the 11 Random meme and here are the rules:

1. You must post 11 random things about yourself
2. Answer the questions set for you in their post
3. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
4. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them
5. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people!

Well, if you know me and my memeography at all, you know I don't tag people to do memes. I don't like making people feel obligated and then they hate me and stop reading my blog and following me on Twitter and Facebook and Google + and... well, I just can't take that kind of rejection. 

So, #1 and 2 it shall be! I am taking some cues from what the other three people linked above mentioned.

1. I don't like video games. Well, I should qualify that statement a bit... I don't like time-suck video games. I don't play RPG, MMORPG, MMO, FPS, or just about any other games like that. If you don't know what those acronyms mean, then you're obviously a lot like me. The longest game I ever committed myself to was Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3. I didn't even play The Legend of Zelda through to the end. I think it might have to do with having a slightly abbreviated attention span.
2. I do, however, love simple video games. I love stuff like Angry Birds, Doodle Jump, Tiny Wings, and Ninja Town that you can pick up and play during a brief gap in time and easily put away. I like when programmers and developers can combine a good story, good graphics, fun game play, and ease of use together effectively. A vast majority of today's video games are too convoluted because programmers try to cram too much stuff into it.
3. This explains my love of short stories. I was told during my freshman year that short stories are far superior to full-on novels because they get rid of the fluff and needless side stories and focus on what is truly important. Only a truly gifted author can self edit to the point of creating a short story. D.H. Lawrence... you are a god.
4. I have one blood sibling and zero blood cousins. But, by marriage, I now have four more siblings and something like a kajillion cousins. It's confusing having all these names to remember now. I often just say things like "Hey you" or "Yo" and hope the intended person reacts accordingly. It's embarrassing when they don't. 
5. I love music. That's really no surprise. But I can listen to just about any genre of music and there's very little that is not on my iPod. I have country, R&B, rap, rock, metal, indie, showtunes, classical, jazz, you name it and it's likely on there.
6. I love hearing songs again for the "first time in a long time" and testing my ability to sing the lyrics accurately. It's great fun with 80s metal and hairband ballads.
7. My bachelor's degree is in Spanish Business and Translation. I barely use it. I'm more likely to speak Arabic these days than Spanish. And that's only because I have a coworker who's Iraqi and likes when I throw the occasional word at him in his native language.
8. As big a fan of the original trilogy of Star Wars movies as I am, I'm not a big fan of science fiction movies. Just the occasional film here and there like Robocop and a few Star Trek films, but otherwise. I seriously have absolutely no desire to see Avatar at all. People have trouble fathoming this.
9. My first car was a 1984 Dodge LeBaron. I wrecked it a month and a half after my parents bought it for me and do not remember the accident at all. But my dad was told by the rescue squad that my seatbelt saved my life. My dad, who never wore his seatbelt when driving, started wearing it from that day on. 
10. The first car I bought for myself was a 1997 Ford Ranger. I had it until this past February when it just became too expensive to maintain. Now I'm driving a 2011 Hyundai Sonata and, as much as I truly love it, I still miss my truck from time to time.
11. I was a very easy kid to buy gifts for. You had a choice of Star Wars figures, G.I. Joe figures, and LEGO sets. And it didn't even matter to me if you bought me something I already had. I'd still play with it or, in the case of G.I. Joe, take them apart and repurpose their parts into custom figures. My custom figures rocked! Far better than what Hasbro came up with.

Here are my answers to the 11 questions posed by Kim.

1. What is your dream job?
   A published children's book author (I do have an idea if I could just find the time to write it up and illustrate it) or a movie reviewer.
2. What is the farthest (furthest?) you have traveled from home?
   I'm pretty sure that would be Hawaii.
3. Do you think you can you have more than one best friend?
   Yes.
4. What is your favorite cuisine?
   Chinese.
5. Who is the first person you want to share news with?
   Katie.
6. What are people likely to ask you to help them with?
   Computers.
7. What are you likely to ask someone to help you with?
   Computers (you see why you shouldn't ask me for help with them?).
8. Why do you read blogs?
   It's fun to have that insight into peoples' lives and it's so much more fun than reading the news.
9. Who knows you the best?
   Katie.
10. Do you believe in karma?
    Absolutely.
11. What’s something you are really interested in, that most people don’t know about?
    Religion. I love the study of religion although I cannot figure out how to make it apply to my life or what religion I feel is most me.

Steal at will!