In the spirit of friendship with the few who watch me, and because tagged me with his entry, here are:

20 Odd Things You Probably Didn't Know About Me

1) I am not picky about food except beets; I won’t eat them, nor anything that touches them on my plate.

2) I adore Penguins, and have tried on many occasions to convince my wife into letting me have a colony in our basement. I am as of yet unsuccessful.

3) My first girlfriend was a redhead named Tabitha Connell, in 3rd grade, and we connected in an unusual manner. She never asked me out, but simply told me she was my girlfriend, and that I'd just forgotten. I've been a sucker for strong-willed, independent women ever since.

4) No monster created in novelization or cinema creeps me out, except fish people. Fish people give me the wiggins.

5) And that ghost chick from The Grudge.

6) I refuse to watch any reality TV shows, even the ones from Great Britain.

7) However, I am fairly certain that I could win Fear Factor because I’ll eat just about anything unharmful for large quantities of cash, and that seems to be the “scariest” thing they do on the show. The aforementioned beets are the obvious exception.

8) I can’t drive a stick, but I can ride a motorcycle (which uses a manual shifting method).

9) Counting casual dates as well as intimate relations, I have been romantically involved with thirteen Jennifers in my lifetime.

10) My fear of drowning is stronger in swimming pools than in the ocean.

11) I have incredible amounts of determination (that Kate refers to as “stubborness”), but it is most often used to fight my own laziness and a near overwhelming fear of failure.

12) I am a strong empath, which gives me a terrific advantage in social situations. Most people would consider that a gift, but I have always considered it a curse due to the emotional burden I’ve often had to bear.

13) When I was younger, I was an excellent piano player and singer, and could do both simultaneously. Nowadays I do neither.

14) Due to discrimination and harassment while living in Mississippi as a child, I have always been insecure about my eyes, believing them to be my ugliest facial feature.

15) For the same reasons, I refuse to go anywhere in or through Mississippi unless I have no alternative. I have been successful in that evasion thus far.

16) I know many ballroom, swing and latin dances, having taken lessons for over 8 years.

17) I proposed to my wife during a game of Monopoly; after leading the game for over an hour, Kate wiped me out in 20 minutes. I landed on Park Place with 2 Hotels, and when she asked me how I was going to pay, I showed her the ring, and asked “Will this do?” After several moments of stunned silence passed, Kate asked me “Well are you going to ask me?” In my moment of triumph, I completely forgot to pop the question itself.

18) My friend Ben, Kate, and I formed a pseudo-religion called the “Procrastignostics”, which we’ve never fully developed because we keep putting it off.

19) Since age 18, my primary footwear has been black cowboy boots, even though I am not a “country boy” nor wear anything else that would be considered “western”. It is the only footwear I will spend over $100 for.

20) When eating hand-held food items, I often “shake” the food between bites. I picked up this affectation from my close friend ~kylere, who used to shake the sand off his food while eating during his Desert Storm tour of duty.

I'd really love for all of my watchers to participate, and post their odd things. But I'm not going to bully people by tagging them to respond in kind. Except because I know she is probably in need of an amusing distraction.