An Army of 1 in 10

I’m not normally a person that goes along with an internet meme, but I’ve decided to do this one for a couple of reasons:  1) to see if I could think of 100 interesting facts about me, and 2) it might be fun.  So let’s get started!

1. I don’t usually go along with internet memes
2. I was an Army brat
3. I’ve lived on two continents
4. I’ve been to Germany four times and France twice
5. I’ve lived in 8 states
6. I have German relatives
7. I speak three languages (English, German, and Spanish — in that order)
8. When I was six, I decided I liked living in America more than Germany because I didn’t have to worry about which language to speak to whom
9. I have three brothers and one sister
10. I only grew up with one of my siblings (one of my brothers)
11. I rarely got along with him when we were growing up
12. My paternal grandparents had 6 children, and I’m the eldest grandchild
13. I was the first male in my family to receive a high school diploma
14. I never got into trouble at school
15. I never skipped school or cut class
16. I was not in the top 50 of my class
17. I only received one grade higher than a “D” in math during six years of elementary school
18. I was placed into a remedial math class in my sophomore year
19. Having my pride injured by being placed into that class, I very quickly caught up with my classmates and finished the course before anyone else
20. Algebra was one of my favorite classes after that
21. I am a space and technology geek
22. I love astronomy
23. A secret fantasy of mine is to be the first person to set foot on Mars
24. I used to be an atheist
25. I believe a Higher Power exists and created the universe
26. I see no incompatibilities between science and faith
27. I believe evolution is part of God’s plan
28. I don’t believe God has a gender
29. I am not Christian, Jewish, nor Muslim
30. I do lean toward belief in the Abrahamic religions
31. I don’t believe any single religion is “right”
32. I once had a religious experience I can not explain
33. I used to believe in alien visitation
34. I don’t believe that space aliens visit Earth
35. I don’t believe in FTL travel because it violates all known laws of physics
36. I would love to be on a space ship with FTL drive
37. My favorite TV shows are Battlestar Galactica (the new series), Sliders, Stargate SG:1 and Atlantis, and Star Trek (all series) … notice a trend?
38. When I was a little kid, the salt vampire from the Star Trek episode, “The Man Trap” terrified me
39. My father made me watch John Carpenter’s The Thing on my eighth birthday
40. I have been unable to sleep with my hands on my chest ever since I saw the scene in which one character’s hands were cut off after they punched through someone’s chest when he was trying to perform chest compressions to restart his heart
41. I’ve loved the horror genre ever since
42. One of my favorite authors when I was growing up was Stephen King
43. I used to masturbate to the wet dream scene in Apt Pupil when I was a teen
44. I’m more partial to Harry Turtledove nowadays
45. I walked through a nearby park after dark completely naked once when I was 13
46. I masturbated in math class in 8th grade once
47. Despite that, I am (and always have been) rather shy
48. I peed in a remote stairwell in my middle school once
49. A classmate caught me doing that and told everybody
50. That was the worst thing I ever did at school
51. By the end of the year, it had turned into a rumor that I had given my best friend a blow job
52. I had the nickname “Woody” in 9th grade
53. I got it because I had an erection in the shower after swim class
54. I was very relieved when we moved to another state at the end of my freshman year
55. I didn’t get the chicken pox until I was 16
56. I used to get very sick two or three times a year every year until I was about 14
57. I’ve had appendicitis more than once
58. My appendix was necrotic as a result before it was removed a year and a half ago
59. I have owned every Nintendo game system except the Virtual Boy and Wii
60. I bought all of them with my own money because my parent’s wouldn’t
61. I have never owned a non-Nintendo game system with the exception of a Game Gear
62. I will not buy an X-Box or PlayStation.  Ever.
63. I bought my first one (NES) with money I earned from a paper route
64. I rode almost 12 miles round-trip on my bike to buy it from the McChord AFB PX/BX
65. My first computer was a Commodore 64
66. I was in the Computer Club in middle school
67. I wrote a log-on program for the Apple IIe when I was 12
68. I now own 6 computers
69. I was the shortest kid in my class.  Every year.
70. When I was 10, a neighbor thought I was … significantly younger
71. At 15, I was under 5 feet tall and weighed 95lbs
72. I am still short
73. I have been mistaken for a teenager on multiple occasions
74. I barely weighed 110lbs when I went to basic training
75. I didn’t break 120lbs until 2004
76. My fastest 2-mile run time was 13:36
77. I maintain between 14:00 and 15:00
78. I love country music and rock
79. My favorite country artist is Johnny Cash
80. I own Transformers
81. I eagerly await the release of the Transformers Movie
82. I cried when Optimus Prime was killed by Megatron in the first movie
83. I can’t stand the new Transformers cartoons
84. He-Man was one of my favorite cartoons when I was a kid
85. I also secretly liked She-Ra
86. I hated the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
87. Thundercats was another favorite of mine
88. “Exodus” was my favorite Thundercats episode
89. I liked it because young Lion-O was nude at the beginning
90. My favorite Thundercat was WilyKat
91. I wrote my first story at age seven.  It was about vampires
92. I’ve written hundreds of stories, yet have not yet published any
93. I’ve been working on a novel off and on since 1998
94. I love studying the Constitution and the early years of the US
95. I am very political-minded
96. I am conservative
97. I used to be liberal
98. I voted for Gore in 2000
99. I voted for Bush in 2004
100. I am fiercely patriotic