Question Month - Round 1: The Anonymous Questions
So here goes...
An anonymous fellow asks the following:
If you had to look back on 2008 and like TIME Magazine, you had to choose one individual to put on your life's version of that magazine, who'd be the person you'd put on the cover (not a famous person, but the person(s) other than yourself who impacted you the most in the past year)?
I think it would be a photo of my Dad. I reached out to him in 2008 and had a very frank and honest discussion. We now talk a lot more often and share more of ourselves with each other. Last night I was thinking about how long it took me to invite him back into my life and I was mad at myself for missing out. But then I realized it was time that I needed. And when it really felt right, I made that call. And it's made all the difference.
What is something you believe unequivocally about yourself?
I believe that in all my failings and missteps that I am still a good person.
Let's say you've had an exhausting week at work and you want to spend the night alone relaxing...what would be some things you might do for yourself?
I'm a simple fellow, really. I would probably make sure I had a great movie or a disc of episodes of some awesome tv show and I would sink into the couch and trade off between programs and video games. In a perfect world, I'd have a bigboy friendly bathtub to fill with warm water, girly bath powder, and I would plunk down in it with a good book and excellent music playing all the while.
Another anonymous fellow asks:
I see you post quite a bit about your San Diego posse, but nary a mention of romantic suitors. Obviously, some topics are too dangerous to blog about, especially new and fragile relationships, so I've only seen you drop hints of fly-in play dates over the years. What gives? Is it "slim pickings" in SD?
You're pretty much right about why I don't blog about relationships or dates. As open as I tend to be in my journal there are certain subjects I don't share. And if i do share them it tends to be to a filtered reading list. So here's the deal with me. I suck at dating. I never got to practice it in high school or college so I pretty much have been learning as I go and while I think I'm a good guy my ability to date a person has yet to really be perfected. San Diego has a large population of handsome and interesting men. A great deal of these men are hitched. So that makes it difficult at times. The other factor is that I've been here since '91 so people tend to already know me and in knowing me I've either become "that guy I've assumed things about and don't want to know", "that guy who seems like a nice guy but I'm too intimidated to talk to", "that guy who's a dick and who can go fuck himself", "that guy who I know too well and feel like a sister towards and don't see as a date".
It doesn't help that I tend to fall for guys who live an average of 1000 miles away and/or have partners already. I've come to realize that I might be single for a good, long time. Sometimes that gets me down but I've gotten to where I like who I am and I don't mind spending time on my own and with my friends. I know I'm loved and that's enough.
The first anonymous fellow returns with more questions:
What's an article of clothing or an outfit from childhood that you remember fondly (or not so fondly)?
Two examples. First one, my yellow Star Wars t-shirt. It was one of those with the plastic sorta iron-on shiny logo on the front. It was basically the original poster in plastic ironed onto a shirt. I was about 4 years old when I had it. It's memorable because I was wearing it when Frankie Pannico ran into me while I was holding hot chocolate. It spilled on me and my shirt and burned my chest and neck. The shirt had to be cut off of me in the ER. I just remember being bummed out months later when I asked where my shirt had gone.
The second one was a Town & Country Surf shirt that was read and had aliens on it with surf boards. I was the first kid in the 7th grade to get this shirt. In Bakersfield (devoid of water, much less surf) the kids were all into surf style so having a new T&C shirt was a big deal. I can remember wearing that shirt every Tuesday and Friday for about 3 months before another kid (an 8th grader) got the same one and then it became this huge stress to not wear it on the same day he did. Oh the problems of childhood!
You have an artistic eye and are somebody who is interested in art. If you yourself were to create art, what would be the medium, theme, subject matter that you'd like to explore?
I think if I could just go for it, it would be a mixed-media presentation. A mixture of the physical (structures, designs) along with lighting and video or photos. I'd want it to be simple, scaled, yet effective in its ability to emote and explain. Capturing something specific but something that could be shared by many. I think my first piece would focus in on discovery of self.
Can you do any imitations? If so, who do you do particularly well?
Hmm, not really. I mimic my friends sometimes to give them shit. I do a decent Pete Puma (from Warner Bros cartoons) too.
Several years ago you were unemployed for a while, which allowed you enjoy a summer and which you have referred to as "epic." On the eve of leaving your job, compare and contrast where you are now with your experience and mindset then.
Wow, someone has been paying attention in class. When I left that last job I felt lost and I wasn't sure what I'd do next. Today I'm not entirely sure what I want to do next but I don't feel lost at all. I feel confident that this change will be for the best. I'm ready to leave my current job. It's time. I'm just glad I can leave in a positive way and with a lot of growth and experience obtained. I'm in a similar place financially, but everything has been amp'd up a bit. I make more, I spend more, and well, I save about the same. I'm close to paying off my car - I was in the same spot with that the last go round. I have a way better apartment now. I think as a person I've grown tremendously from the guy I was six years ago. That Summer was indeed, epic. At one point I thought I'd have another "Summer of Brian" but with the economy being what it is, I think I'm just going to allow myself an "April of Brian" instead.
You can ask me a question here if you'd like to participate in March's Question Month.
An anonymous fellow asks the following:
If you had to look back on 2008 and like TIME Magazine, you had to choose one individual to put on your life's version of that magazine, who'd be the person you'd put on the cover (not a famous person, but the person(s) other than yourself who impacted you the most in the past year)?
I think it would be a photo of my Dad. I reached out to him in 2008 and had a very frank and honest discussion. We now talk a lot more often and share more of ourselves with each other. Last night I was thinking about how long it took me to invite him back into my life and I was mad at myself for missing out. But then I realized it was time that I needed. And when it really felt right, I made that call. And it's made all the difference.
What is something you believe unequivocally about yourself?
I believe that in all my failings and missteps that I am still a good person.
Let's say you've had an exhausting week at work and you want to spend the night alone relaxing...what would be some things you might do for yourself?
I'm a simple fellow, really. I would probably make sure I had a great movie or a disc of episodes of some awesome tv show and I would sink into the couch and trade off between programs and video games. In a perfect world, I'd have a bigboy friendly bathtub to fill with warm water, girly bath powder, and I would plunk down in it with a good book and excellent music playing all the while.
Another anonymous fellow asks:
I see you post quite a bit about your San Diego posse, but nary a mention of romantic suitors. Obviously, some topics are too dangerous to blog about, especially new and fragile relationships, so I've only seen you drop hints of fly-in play dates over the years. What gives? Is it "slim pickings" in SD?
You're pretty much right about why I don't blog about relationships or dates. As open as I tend to be in my journal there are certain subjects I don't share. And if i do share them it tends to be to a filtered reading list. So here's the deal with me. I suck at dating. I never got to practice it in high school or college so I pretty much have been learning as I go and while I think I'm a good guy my ability to date a person has yet to really be perfected. San Diego has a large population of handsome and interesting men. A great deal of these men are hitched. So that makes it difficult at times. The other factor is that I've been here since '91 so people tend to already know me and in knowing me I've either become "that guy I've assumed things about and don't want to know", "that guy who seems like a nice guy but I'm too intimidated to talk to", "that guy who's a dick and who can go fuck himself", "that guy who I know too well and feel like a sister towards and don't see as a date".
It doesn't help that I tend to fall for guys who live an average of 1000 miles away and/or have partners already. I've come to realize that I might be single for a good, long time. Sometimes that gets me down but I've gotten to where I like who I am and I don't mind spending time on my own and with my friends. I know I'm loved and that's enough.
The first anonymous fellow returns with more questions:
What's an article of clothing or an outfit from childhood that you remember fondly (or not so fondly)?
Two examples. First one, my yellow Star Wars t-shirt. It was one of those with the plastic sorta iron-on shiny logo on the front. It was basically the original poster in plastic ironed onto a shirt. I was about 4 years old when I had it. It's memorable because I was wearing it when Frankie Pannico ran into me while I was holding hot chocolate. It spilled on me and my shirt and burned my chest and neck. The shirt had to be cut off of me in the ER. I just remember being bummed out months later when I asked where my shirt had gone.
The second one was a Town & Country Surf shirt that was read and had aliens on it with surf boards. I was the first kid in the 7th grade to get this shirt. In Bakersfield (devoid of water, much less surf) the kids were all into surf style so having a new T&C shirt was a big deal. I can remember wearing that shirt every Tuesday and Friday for about 3 months before another kid (an 8th grader) got the same one and then it became this huge stress to not wear it on the same day he did. Oh the problems of childhood!
You have an artistic eye and are somebody who is interested in art. If you yourself were to create art, what would be the medium, theme, subject matter that you'd like to explore?
I think if I could just go for it, it would be a mixed-media presentation. A mixture of the physical (structures, designs) along with lighting and video or photos. I'd want it to be simple, scaled, yet effective in its ability to emote and explain. Capturing something specific but something that could be shared by many. I think my first piece would focus in on discovery of self.
Can you do any imitations? If so, who do you do particularly well?
Hmm, not really. I mimic my friends sometimes to give them shit. I do a decent Pete Puma (from Warner Bros cartoons) too.
Several years ago you were unemployed for a while, which allowed you enjoy a summer and which you have referred to as "epic." On the eve of leaving your job, compare and contrast where you are now with your experience and mindset then.
Wow, someone has been paying attention in class. When I left that last job I felt lost and I wasn't sure what I'd do next. Today I'm not entirely sure what I want to do next but I don't feel lost at all. I feel confident that this change will be for the best. I'm ready to leave my current job. It's time. I'm just glad I can leave in a positive way and with a lot of growth and experience obtained. I'm in a similar place financially, but everything has been amp'd up a bit. I make more, I spend more, and well, I save about the same. I'm close to paying off my car - I was in the same spot with that the last go round. I have a way better apartment now. I think as a person I've grown tremendously from the guy I was six years ago. That Summer was indeed, epic. At one point I thought I'd have another "Summer of Brian" but with the economy being what it is, I think I'm just going to allow myself an "April of Brian" instead.
You can ask me a question here if you'd like to participate in March's Question Month.