[Content: poker 8%, me 100%]As some but not all of my readers know, bloggers often "out" themselves with a list: "100 Things About Me". I recommend this exercise to everyone, even if you only share the results with your cat.
So as my final step in changing this blog from poker to personal, here are my "100 Things About Tim".
1. I do not have a tattoo or any piercings.
2. I was All-League in football in high school, so were all three of my brothers.
3. I was born in Detroit but only lived there a year and a half.
4. I grew up in a rural village of 1200 in Michigan near Ann Arbor.
5. I have lived with four women in my life; this total does not include lesbians, my mother or my sister.
6. Only one relationship ever got anywhere near the conversation that begins: “4½ yellow gold with….”
7. I got my undergraduate degree in political science from Kalamazoo College in 1969.
8. I received a Ph.D. in East-West Psychology in 1999.
9. I have been quoted in Business Week.
10. I was the key witness in two trials and both times the lawyers neglected to ask “the” question.
11. I was Jane Fonda’s bodyguard for a day.
12. I once grew my hair for two years, it never reached my collar.
13. My beard used to be dark red, now it would be dark red and white-grey.
14. The title of my novel in process is: “All My Friends are Nearly Normal.”
15. That has been the title for over ten years.
16. I went to a Catholic grade school
17. I skipped the fourth grade.
18. I rang the “Angelus Bells” at the church three times a day for five years.
19. I don’t wear jewelry, cologne or chartreuse.
20. I volunteer at the SPCA in the cat wing.
21. 99.4% of my clothes are cotton.
22. A google search for me will find a lot of papers presented to the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness.
23. My academic friends think that same google search finds a lot of strange poker references.
24. I feel the most important feature of a car is head room.
25. I have really great hands.
26. I taught real estate in LA in the late 70’s.
25. I once sat next to a perfect Madonna wannabe at a dance performance, this was during the underwear-on –the-outside phase; she had the costume down perfect. Later, I noticed the guy she was with was Sean Penn.
26. I was mesmerized twice during an Easter weekend in Paris.
27. There were seventeen academic awards for boys given out my senior year in high school. I won them all.
28. I write under several pseudonyms.
29. I won $4800 in my first ever major poker tournament.
30. The first hand I was ever dealt in a live poker game was pocket Aces.
31. When working for a major Japanese corporation the president of the division fired 25% of the employees, called everyone else into a meeting and gave a 90 minute lecture on our new austerity plan. When he finished he said: “I will take questions now.” Then he looked at me and said: “If you ask a question, you’re fired.”
32. I once had a job evaluation where the manager wrote: “I have no idea what Tim does; we prefer not to ask. Overall rating: Excellent, perhaps.”
33. I have run several political campaigns, none of my candidates won but neither were any of them arrested.
34. I have voted in every presidential election I was eligible for.
35. I have never voted for a winning presidential candidate.
36. I have only voted for one democrat and no republicans for president.
37. In the 1972 election, I voted for ten different parties.
38. The last presidential speech I heard was Richard Nixon’s resignation.
39. I don’t believe in the Cartesian mind/body split.
40. I do believe in Karma and Reincarnation, well at least this time around.
41. From the age of twelve to twenty-six, I had the key to a pharmacy in my pocket.
42. My father was a pharmacist, village councilman and volunteer fire chief.
40. I got my first passport to study in Germany in 1968.
41. I used my second passport to go to Antarctica in 1980.
42. Third passport took me to Singapore & Bali in 1997.
43. I was using my fourth passport in Australia in January 2007, when I wrote the first draft of this list.
44. The fourth passport is going to get a lot more visa stamps.
45. I have about six dozen favorite quotes.
46. I think that The Simpsons is a brilliant commentary on American culture.
47. When anyone says their family is dysfunctional, I ask if they have ever seen The Osbournes.
48. I have many qualities that resemble a hibernating bear.
49. I love my friends more than my family, except for one wonderful brother.
50. I have never been arrested. Once a young, eager officer considered it (1971 anti-war demonstration) until his more seasoned partner said: “…that guy outweighs you by fifty pounds and I am not helping you if he resists.”
51. I have only two addictions: chocolate and oxygen.
52. Apocalypse Now is my favorite movie but not the director’s cut.
53. Catch-22 was once my favorite book.
54. Annie Lennox is my favorite female singer.
55. I really love cats and I am fond of manatees.
56. Microsoft Word is sheer brilliance; its creator is a chauvanistic ass.
57. Three of the most remarkable women I have ever met, all live in Texas.
58. The other three I met in San Francisco.
59. I have lived in Michigan, Massachusetts, Germany, LA, San Francisco and Las Vegas.
60. I am the middle child of five; I am typical of a middle child.
61. I am an Aquarius, double Capricorn.
62. I read Tarot.
63. I have some limited shamanic abilities.
64. The best vacation of my life was in Bali.
65. The second best was Key West.
66. Genesis before Peter Gabriel left.
67. Nessa Dorma from Turandot.
68. Susan Sarandon, Steve Buschemi, Val Kilmer,
69. I discovered I was buddhist in Singapore.
70. I write about poker better than I play poker.
71. The most important part of a movie is the writing.
72. After the writing comes the music, except Koyaanisquatsi.
73. I am fascinated by images from the Hubble Space Telescope.
74. I prefer Charlie Rose to Bill Moyers, most of the time.
75. “It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all” is empirically true.
76. I do not watch nor follow team sports.
77. I do watch the Super Bowl for the commercials.
78. I eat the M&Ms by color, dark to light.
79. I can’t skate or ski.
80. I don’t believe in sports where your legs often go in opposite directions.
81. I was employed for several years as a demi-god in several virtual reality worlds.
82. No matter what some relatives say, I am paternally Italian.
83. My mother’s maiden name was Gillespie, which has got to make me part Irish.
84. Is my favorite number but not my lucky number.
85. Grey is my favorite color.
86. I have made love in hell.
87. Until I was 35 everyone thought I was older than I was.
88. After I was 35 everyone thinks I am younger than I am
89. I lived in Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach and I never, ever lay on the beach.
90. 1984 was the first book I ever stayed up all night to read.
91. I owned a mortgage company in Manhattan Beach, CA.
92. I lived with a woman named Faith.
93. I got hit by a car driven by a woman named Hope.
94. I was asked to have coffee with a hooker named Charity and she really did want to have coffee.
95. I do not eat fast food of any kind.
96. I will eat a hot dog, no matter how many snouts and lips are in it.
97. I will eat chocolate anything and will do most anything to acquire it.
98. I once camped for a weekend with 7 gay men, 6 lesbians, and 4 newborn kittens.
99. I have only one prejudice; I abhor voluntary stupidity.
100. I will listen to almost any thoughtful position, unless it violates the limits referenced in ninety-nine.
