Twenty-five things about me:

1. I am quite fond of art
2. Red wine is my alcoholic beverage of choice (Malbec, Shiraz, Cab – in that order)
3. I have only fired a pistol on one occasion and will never own a gun of any kind – ever
4. I believe intelligent life exists (or existed) elsewhere in the Universe
5. If I don’t like a book I won’t finish it. Halfway is the tipping point for most
6. I haven’t had cable in two years but still enjoy watching shows (thank god for Netflix)
7. I played reasonably competitive hockey until I was 16, but was a third or fourth liner at best (I was a great skater though)
8. It wasn’t until 2012 that I started to consider myself a writer
9. I once provided trivia content for a home video game system
10. My daughter and I were both baptized by the same Anglican minister, at two different churches, 22 years and 100km apart
11. I am at peace with the fact that there are some questions that seem like they cannot be answered, and encouraged by the fact that it does not stop many others from trying to answer them
12. In the tenth grade I received an award for achieving the highest Math mark out of 400 students in my year
13. I can juggle
14. I accidentally lit myself on fire and ended up in “The Darwin Awards III, Survival of the Fittest” (a dubious distinction, but a distinction none the less)
15. I was a teacher’s assistant for behavioral English as a Second Language kids between the ages of eight and ten. The teacher spoke seven languages
16. I used to drive the student safety van at the University of Waterloo
17. I started smoking in 1987 at age 13, was up to a pack a day by the time I left high school, and quit for good (cold turkey) on March 8th, 1998
18. For various weddings, I have been a: bus boy, bartender, usher, groomsman, master of ceremonies, and groom
19. I will not wear a hat when seated at a table for a meal – not even after golf
20. For three years in school, I played the trumpet (and sucked at it)
21. I almost failed typing class in high school, but last clocked myself at 80 words per minute
22. I tend to win a lot of radio contests, with one of the biggest being $500 from best buy and one of the coolest being getting to be “Concert Promoter” for a day and meet Nine Inch Nails and take 7 friends to the show
23. I enter a lot of hockey pools every year (regular season and playoffs) but have only won money in a few
24. I received a swimming badge at summer camp – with a full wrist to shoulder cast on my left arm. The duct tape marks (from the garbage bag over-the-cast “solution”) on my shoulder took weeks to heal
25. March 13, May 19, June 14, and November 6 are days that mean a lot to me