Since this is a new(ly relaunched) blog, this meme seems appropriate as a way of (re)introducing myself. Also, I can’t leave the WriterDad post up all summer, his blog is just too good. Folks might stop hanging around here.
So, until regular posting begins later this month, I give you:
Six Things People (Generally) Don’t Know About Me
- I’m an extreme introvert. This one often takes folks by surprise, because my day job demands a lot of extroversion. I’m a preschool teacher. I’m constantly engaged with children, coworkers and parents. I can be extroverted when the moment calls for it, but that doesn’t change my natural state. It’s a huge energy drain to be around people, and I relish my alone time in the Dave Cave. Also, because I’m not naturally outgoing, people often mistake my inwardly focused nature as some kind of arrogance or perhaps a personal insult. I’m not giving you the cold shoulder, I’m just lost inside my own head.
- I cry rather easily at certain movie moments. Anything noble, self-sacrificing or heroic gets me misty. Okay, weepy. Sometimes, yes, blubbering. The end of Iron Giant, for example. Like. A. Baby.
- I am an atheist. I used to worry that I would lose “friends”, offend coworkers and alienate blog readers because of that. I’m finding as I get older I just care less and less what others think. If my atheism offends you, that’s your problem. I’m generally not offended by people who believe in a god. In fact, I only believe in one less god than most folks. I am generally offended by people who use religion or god as an excuse for hate and prejudice.
- I nearly died from a run-away infection while I was in grad school because of the seriously incompetent and bureaucratic UCLA student health care. And when I say nearly died, I mean it. The doctor looked absolutely frightened, as well she should.
- I never went to a single dance, prom, formal, or officially sanctioned social event in all my school days. Because I was terribly shy, I was terrified of trying to dance in front of others, and I was convinced that no girl in the world would ever want to spend time with me.
- I used to be a really cute kid. I mean, I was beautiful. Gorgeous. Heart-melting. Now I’m fat, balding, hairy, pasty and just damned ugly. Sometimes I look at pics of me when I was three and think — who the hell is that? If only I had known at the time how cute I was. And how little it would last.
Six un-spectacular things about me
And now, because I asked for it, WriterDad has cursed me with this one.
The subject is….
“6 UN-spectacular things about me”
As with everything in life there are rules:
1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.
I’m not sure what qualifies as a quirk, but here goes:
- I hate olives and wine. I am of Greek descent, and I love almost every kind of edible or drinkable thing you can imagine, but when it comes to the two staples of Greek dining, well — I really hate olives (weird, fleshy dirt) and wine (sour, sour grape juice). Also, I hate eggplant (bitter dish sponge). Most of me is very Greek — just not my palette.
- I hate going to bed and will often fall asleep at my desk. But I also hate getting up in the morning. I’m like a stubborn three-year-old and I have no self-discipline. I’m really working hard to change this, because I’m getting older and sleep deprivation is doing bad things to me. Also, for some reason, when I fall asleep sitting up, I invariably bite my tongue. I hate that.
- I love books more than I love reading. That’s the only explanation I can find for how many freaking books I have, but how few of them I have read. It’s not that I don’t read — it’s that I buy a lot of books. I’m trying to rein this in, and being poor has helped. Also, I’m no technophobe, but I’ll never be someone who can read a book on a Kindle. I need to touch and smell and interact with a book.
- I am so addicted to Coca Cola Cherry Zero. I go through three or four fridge-packs a week. It must be served in a tall glass over lots of chipped ice.
- I don’t watch network television because it mostly sucks. You know it does too, don’t make excuses. I do watch Lost. Mostly I watch some variation of Discovery, Food Network, TLC, etc. I totally dig Alton Brown, and I’m always up for some kind of real-life emergency-room trauma show.
- I’m very bad at math and speling. Mostly I blame the school system. I wasn’t very motivated in my early school days, so I didn’t learn the basics, though later on I became a very good stoodent.
I tag…the first six people to read this entry.
First to comment, so I’ll consider myself tagged.
As for your lists — first list, number 2: That’s me during the last 15 minutes of It’s a Wonderful Life. Second list? Right there with you on number 5, except I take it a step further and just leave the damned thing off.
Hey, anything to get you posting early. :)
For the record, I have seen RETURN OF THE JEDI roughly eight zillion times, and every time I watch Vader save Luke at the end, I tear up like a five-year-old on his first day of kindergarten…
I’d like to say you missed absolutely nothing at those high school dances, but I wouldn’t know, ’cause I didn’t go either.
Here’s another meme for you:
If you could take over LA’s New Beverly Cinema for seven double features (like Joe Dante, Diablo Cody, Edgar Wright, and Eli Roth), what would you pair together and make people watch? Tag, you’re it!
I’m atheist. There are no gods. As I get older, the more I believe, people who believe in a god, have one as a belief, something to believe in, all the while knowing, there’s no white beardy santa type, floating out there, in space.
Alan, never saw Wonderful Life and at this point probably never will.
WriterDad, science fiction movies seem to be especially guilty of putting me through an emotional wringer — or perhaps it’s just that I watch a disproportionate number of them. Then agin, Wrath of Khan.
Lis i like that meme! Must save that for a day when I’m strapped for an idea to post.
Shaun, I’ve never been militant or pushy about my belief, or non-belief, but it seems lately, especially here in America, despite our much touted freedom of religion, believers are trying harder and in greater numbers to impose their own particular brand of religion into everyone’s lives. Both on a large scale with “Intelligent Design” and arguments against gay marriage and the like, and on a smaller scale — my own suburban city of Mission Viejo recently voted to make “In God We Trust” the city’s official motto. It’s silly, it’s a violation of my constitutional rights, and it’s no accident — there’s a group targeting cities all over the map, getting this item on the agenda.
I’m afraid Atheists have been in the closet too long. It’s just time to
speak upcome out [edited to avoid mixing metaphors!].“KHAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!”
Sorry, had to be the one to do it. :)
And count me in on the Screenwriters Against God roster. Born and raised Catholic, turned agnostic in my 20s and have ended up in my mid-30s just not buying a word of any of it anymore. I have zero tolerance for crusading zealots of any faith — that’s great if you’re a believer and I would never dream of picking a fight with anybody over this subject (unless they’re trying to bend the Constitution to suit their agenda), but please keep it to yourself. I thought/feared fatherhood would send me scurrying back into the arms of the Pope, but, uh… nope. Much to my parents’ dismay. :)
“Screenwriters Against God”…now that’s a whole other SAG.
I am also very introverted….and I run a B&B! Kinda nuts, I know. But there is something about learning how to talk to people that has really helped me get over my problems. But, I am like you, talking a lot and being at parties or in big groups drains me. I can’t do it for long. Our guests will get one good conversation out of me, and then I must retreat upstairs to my office for much time alone and in the quiet.
I’ve decided many writers are introverted because we don’t communicate well verbally. Thinking on the fly and coming up with witty comebacks? Not my thing. But I sure can write a wicked retort! Just give me a minute and a blank Word page.
WOW! An atheist whose tears at the end of TIG could irrigate farmland?
That’s me too!
You are so subscribed in my Google reader. Now make with the posts! : D
Did you cry at the end of A.I.?
That was pretty heavy on the spirituality of man packaged in a sci-fi wrapper.
Definitely got to me.
I believe in atheists and I believe there is an intelligence in the universe that we use to create. I now believe that I create everything in my experience. This prevents me (most of the time) from feeling like a victim. If I caused it, I can change it. If I fight against what I don’t want, what I don’t want gets stronger … like lifting weights. Instead I work for what I do want and that gets stronger.
Sometimes I forget all this, feel like an victim and fight against what I think is wrong. But each Sunday I go to a church and that helps remind me.
I was raised without any religion and had quite a dim view of it … I think from popular culture. Now I think that people who want to do bad things use religion, among other things, to justify their deeds. And I’ve met people in Christian religions that think much like I do. (I’m not a Christian.)
In the end I don’t think it matters whether or not I believe in God. What matters is what I do in the world and how I feel about what I do in the world.
That’s why I want to make movies.
Many films touch me and I want to touch others as I’ve been touched. (I tear-up at movies. Tearing-up is my truth meter. I’ve teared-up as I write this.) I want to pass it on. I want to pay it forward. I want leave something of value behind.
I think video is the literature of our time.
Peace, Love, Laughter,
Rob:-]
i feel you on questioning the whole organized religion thing, i’ve never been to comfy with it either. i like this idea of posting a few tidbits about yourself, so i went ahead and did the same. i did seven things, but that’s okay, i think!
lp
Luzid, thanks very mu…wait a minute…was that sarcasm?
William, A.I. left me kind of cold, but I’m not averse to crying during a Spielberg movie.
Rob, thanks for coming by and for sticking with me. One reason I tend not to talk about my religious or political beliefs is that I want this blog to be a welcoming place for everyone sharing the screenwriting struggle.
Six things is a wonderful post. Thanks for that. I am going to post my own on my website: http://kartiksingh.wordpress.com/