7 Little Known Facts About Me

There is a meme traveling across the Internet these days- 7 Little-Known Facts About Me. Tracy Murdach tagged me on her blog to share my 7 things... Thank you Tracy! I apologize for getting such a late start on this blog post, but in life, things come up... even so, I was able to get my list together.

1. Some of my favorite movies are probably the silliest movies ever made. Flash Gordon is one of my favorites. The 5th Element and Hudson Hawk are others- both of those with Bruce Willis. I also love the movie Big Trouble in Little China with Kurt Russell. I am not sure why I like these movies so much, but if they are on TV I will watch them every time I come across them.

2. I have been in two made for TV movies. Eleanor and Franklin, when I was 9, and Rising Son, a made for TV miniseries that I think has been lost to the world. I did Rising Son about 14 years ago, which is before I had kids and had quite a bit of free time. In both movies I was able to showcase my ninja skills. I was part of the background. You could look really carefully at both movies and miss me. I blended right into the scenery.

If you are looking for a good extra, I specialize in walking away from the camera in an incredibly anonymous way. Call me. Your people can talk to my people!

3. When I was younger, my parents owned a travel agency and our family was able to do a bit of traveling. At 16, I walked on the Great Wall of China. It was shortly after the Love Boat episode when the ship visited China when I was fortunate enough to go. The country had not really been open to the west until that time, and our little sightseeing group was quite the oddity.

I was also able to visit the Forbidden City, I rode up the Eiffel Tower, and walked through the Sistine Chapel. I have been to many other places, but don't want to bore you with a list. Besides, it all happened so long ago that it almost feels like a dream from a different life. As an adult, I have stayed very close to home.

4. I like using emoticons! :-) I realize that is not the cool or professional thing to do, but I have never claimed to be either. I try to keep to the happy face :-) and avoid the sad face :-(. Every once in awhile I will throw in a confused look :-? and even stick my tongue out :-P. But I try to stay positive with it. The whole idea about using emoticons is that you are better able to express yourself, and really, I need all the help I can get in that department.

So if you are an emoticon hater, I am sorry. I am really not trying to upset you. It is just the way I roll with it! :-)

5. When I was in 7th grade I took a class called Basic Computer in middle school as an elective. I got a D- in the class. I hated computers after that. Let 10= ... It was a terrible class and the teacher was not really helpful. Amazingly, today all I do is work on computers. Life is funny like that.

6. My mother knew I was born to be a teacher. Moms' know their children. When I was a sophomore in college, my mom was dying of cancer. At the time I was a Government Pre-Law Major, but I was not happy with the choice. My mother kept gently nudging me towards teaching.

One day it must have just reached a critical mass with me. I thought I made the decision on my own, but when I told my mother over the phone, she sounded so relieved that I instantly knew that she had really made the choice long before it crossed my mind. I remember feeling a flush of embarrassment wash over me, and I felt like a child again. But I kept all that to myself.

Perhaps pushing me towards teaching was not about my skills, even though I like to think it was, but maybe she thought that I would always be able to get a job with a teaching certificate. The security of the job would help to protect me from the real world. It was her last effort to make sure I would be ok after she was gone. She died a little over a month after that phone call.

Whether it was because of the teaching skills I have, or my mom's last attempt at protecting me, all of the good things in my life that I am thankful for, came from that one choice 21 years ago. I was hired right out of college to pick up a long term sub contract. That led to a permanent job that I have held with my school division ever since. I met my wife while teaching. Teaching is the only true job I have ever held as an adult. I love my job and really can't picture myself doing anything else.

Thank you Mom!

7. I am not motivated by competition. I will never win the Nobel Peace prize, or the Iron Man triathlon. I don't need be better than anyone else to be happy. I do have a desire for self improvement, but I am not in search of showing anyone that I am better at anything. I don't want to make others upset, I want to make people happy.

This is probably a strange philosophy in this competitive world, but I think I am finally comfortable with myself and I feel no need to prove anything to anyone. The one accomplishment that I am most proud of is my family. My wife and three children are perfect and our life together is better than I could have ever hoped to have achieved in a thousand lifetimes. So if I feel I have already won, what is there to compete over?

I would like to tag-
Kate Olsen
Kim Harrison
Cathy Bowler

I had some additional people picked out but either I was late to the party or their blogs have been inactive for a couple months or more... I am not sure if it is polite to tag someone who may be occupied with other things. If you would like to continue this meme, please jump right in! I will be happy to link to you, just reply in the comments, or twitter message me.

Thank you for the tag Tracy!
:-)