Tagged: {8 randomly ragged bits & pieces}

Thanks to JGW and his evil friend, I'll play this rendering game and relinquish 8 relatively raw reminiscenses of myself. Watch out. When I find some unsuspecting souls to tag, I'll edit and include them in.

THE RULES 1. All right, here are the rules. 2. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts. 3. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves. 4. People who are tagged write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. 5. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

1. I like to dive into the deep end. However, posting these daring confessions is way beyond my comfort zone, because I like to live mostly in the closet. Well, sort of. My sweet wife wishes what she did know would just go away; my good friend and Bishop is supportive. I don't tell either of them everything. I'm not sure my adult daughters know of my orientation, but they appreciate my unique individuality and I suspect they claim a heritage to it, since they're all a bunch of Mormon feminists. I am proud of them and hope they rock the boat. . . without loosing their lifejackets. I struggle to know how and when to tell them, if ever. My dear mother lived the second half of her life with a wonderful woman friend, although we never talked about the closet. I suspect she felt it was never any of my business. I never told her either.

2. I've stuttered my way through life ever since, at age 10, my unconscious picked up on the fact that my parents were divorcing. I cursed this sensitivity for 30 years, until I realized that it was something to simply accept and appreciate for helping me to mold the man I am.

3. I wish I would have got that PhD in Dairy Chemistry. I am fascinated with the hydrophobicity of Beta Lactoglobulin and all things relating to Brownian movement (such is my life).

4. I have sung Tenor most of my adult life, but as I mellow and age, I'm discovering there is a rich Baritone lurking somewhere below the surface. Some day I will sing 'Libera Me Domine' from Foure's Requiem, and maybe then I'll get out of the closet. If not, I want it sung at my funeral.

5. Five is my favorite number. I don't know why, but it multiplies so nicely, doesn't it?

6. I joined the LDS Church at 17.967 years of age, and for the sake of religion became a Black Sheep in my mother's aspirations for me, especially when I left for a LDS mission and she wept on my shoulder, but still let me go with good grace. Note: I've always found off-colored sheep more interesting than white sheep. I've never aspired to be a white sheep. Truth be known, I feel more closely akin to goats.

7. I write poetry for myself, family and friends. Poems are a revelatory experience for me, not only in their creation, but in reading the work of others. I love Isaiah; a poem don't have to reveal itself all at once. If you feel so inclined, please leave me some of your thoughts with the poems in my blog.

8. I am the Ice Cream Man. I dream in ice cream. Actually, I invent new products for a major brand of ice cream and actually get paid for eating the stuff. Go ahead, lust after me, but watch your daily intake of saturated fat. Gecko ice cream is not currently in my dreams.