I received a call the other day from my longtime friend and ex-bandmate Mike saying that he's going to be my neighbor soon. Apparently after his girlfriend and him get back from their 6 week trip to Greece and Italy ... this is following a 2 month tour of Europe a few months ago and a trip to Chile last year... They plan on moving down here to Oceanside/Vista from Lake Tahoe so that she can finish getting her Master's Degree. It will be so great to be able to connect with Mike again after spending so many years living so far apart.
1. How long have you had a weblog?
Not very long. I started with Blogger.com around January 2002 I think, and I finally started using Movable Type with the release of 2.0
2. What was your first post about?
With Blogger I don't remember. Probably "look I got this to work". Then a brief introduction. With MT I converted all my Blogger stuff over and said "I can't believe I was able to install MT myself". :)
3. How many changes (name, location, etc.) of your weblog have there been, if more than one?
There was Blogger and then this one, no name changes.
4. What CMS (content management system) do you use? Do you like it or do you want to try something else?
I use MT and I love it. I still can't believe I was able to install it myself. It did require me to change ISPs, but that worked out for the best too. Now I have more functionality and options and I pay less!
5. Do you read people who have both a journal and a weblog?
By strict definition I don't like Weblogs. I have no desire to see a bunch of links to other sites content. I like journals since they are more personal and require more than I great knowledge of "cut and paste". I prefer the jo-blog. Where you have everything and it's done in a easy to use lay-out.
Cindi and I spent 4 hours talking on the phone. I was nervous so I tended to ramble. It's amazing how many things had changed in just 4 years, but it didn't take long for me to feel comfortbale again. One thing I noticed is that she is very patient and a great listener. It's not something I remembered about her. Most of my close friends are great listeners, they have to be, I'm a great talker :)
I wrote Michelle a letter to let her know I was still here and haven't heard back from her. I'm afraid she's done exactly what I asked her not to do, come back into my life, write me a few emails, and then disappear. I hate that. She's the third person I went to high school with to contact me, write me a few times, then just disappear. ugh! I know she's called Sean so I assume her husband didn't feel comfortable with her being in contact with an ex-boyfriend so she stopped. I just wish people would have the strength of character to write and say good-bye. I can accept that people have to move on or that they just don't like me, but to just stop suddenly and with no explanation is rude.
1. Where were you born?
St. Joseph's Hospital, San Francisco, CA.
2. If you still live there, where would you rather move to? If you don't live there, do you want to move back? Why or why not?
I actually never lived in San Francisco, we lived in nearby Daly City. We moved from Daly City when I was 3 to Modesto, CA where I lived until I was 21. I went running out of Modesto and never want to live there again. It was a horrible place to be for someone as open-minded and adventurous in most aspects of life as I am.
3. Where in the world do you feel the safest?
I think to feel safe anywhere all you need is a certain level of ignorance to what is going on around you combined with good communication with your friends, neighbors, and family.
4. Do you feel you are well-traveled?
Absolutely not. This is actually one of the areas of my life that has been far from what I wanted. I have been to Mexico once and outside of a trip to Chicago I've never been East of Arizona and Nevada. I really look forward to my kids getting older so my wife and I can travel to Europe.
5. Where is the most interesting place you've been?
I imagine this question is about Geography, not sexuality :) So with that in mind I spent a great deal of time while growing up traveling the coast of California to various small towns with good places to camp and scuba dive. Of them the most interesting to me was always Caspar. There is this very old cemetery atop the hills above the campground where you can read the tombstones that have been there for around 200 years. Then drive down the road to Mendocino, an old fashion fishing town. You feel like you've gone back in time when you are in that part of Cali.
My life has been filled with so many unexpected events in the last 10 months or so if I sit and think about it it's very overwhelming. The most recent event took place this past Sunday. After nearly 4 years absence from my life one of the closest friends I've ever had wrote me an email and asked we were still friends. Unlike many friendships where lives grow apart Cindi had a very definite event in her life that took her suddenly and completely out of my life. To be honest I never thought I would ever hear from her again. All my searches on the Internet to find her had been fruitless, I didn't even know what her name was anymore. Yet, here she is wanting to be back in my life again. We haven't had much chance to talk, but tomorrow she is suppose to call me, I'd be lying if I didn't say I am very nervous about talking to her.. I'm not sure what to say, where past events belong in the conversation, and how well I'll be able to put all of the growth emotionally and spiritually I have gone through into practice when part of me feels like I've been warped back 4 years.
1. Where are you right now? Literally, sitting in my new house at our make-shift computer desk. Psychologically, I'm coming out of 9 months of panic-attacks and fear of losing my house and regaining my piece-of-mind.
2. What have you lost recently?
We'll see after I'm done unpacking. So far I can't find any of our Gamecube controllers.
3. What was the first CD you ever purchased?
As I love to mention I have 794 CDs in my collection, but I can't remember where it began. My guess is either ABC's "How To Be A Millionaire" or Depeche Mode's "Black Celebration" there are very few CDs I've thought after a few listens "why did I buy this"?? The only one that comes to mind is Fiona Apple's "Tidal"
4. What is your favorite kind of writing pen? Any pen I can find and works is good buy me. I do really like the pens with the rubber grip at the bottom.
5. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Here in San Diego we have a great place called Cold Stone Creamery where they will hand mix any flavors/toppings/nuts/fruits/etc. in you ice cream. My favorite combination is peanut butter and banana in their sweet cream ice cream.
When was the last time you...
1. ...sent a handwritten letter?
Oh my... even when writing was the only method outside of a phone call to communicate with people I tended to type them. I think the last person I sent a letter to was my friend, Sean, he and I had been having issues in our relationchip and he sent me a letter so I sent a reply. I'm not much for even emailing on important issues because I find that people tend to put to much into what's on paper often making a more serious issue than there really is.
2. ...baked something from scratch or made something by hand?
baked ... I have no idea. I made Spanish rice from scratch last night and I am ususally the one to cook dinner, but it's my wife who makes the awesome homemade cookies and pies in this family.
3. ...camped in a tent?
1989, my dad invited us on a scuba trip to Ft. Bragg. He said he got us a tent. When we get there it's a little pup tent that was only 6 ft. long... I'm 6'2" so I had to sleep diagonally and poor Brie had to kind sleep under my legs. It was such an awful experience I vowed to only stay at hotels from then on.
4. ...volunteered your time to church, school, or community?
I'm actually not sure if I have ever volunteered for anything like that. I think I volunteered to chaperone one of my son's school functions, but they passed on me. I have participated in some AIDS and breast cancer 5k walks.
5. ...helped a stranger?
We buy the newspaper every Sunday from the people who sell them in the street. We donated some money to the Fireman's fund locally and my wife will gives her change to anyone who looks like they can use it. When we moved last week I donated our furniture to charity and clothes and toys to AmVets.