Life begins

So, I'm 40 now.

That truly does seem weird to type.

But, really, other than the fact that I've been around for four entire decades, today doesn't feel much different than yesterday.  I suppose some of that may be due to us not having done anything extraordinary to celebrate, or it could just be that once you get to a certain point, birthdays more or less become just another day. And while 40 is a 'milestone', this one was an 'under the radar' one, I guess.

Anyway, I think to fill this blog post out a bit (I was going to say 'make it more interesting', but....), I'll do one of those lists that were popular in the blogosphere back when people still said the word 'blogosphere' (you know, like 15 years ago)

So, here are 40 things that you may or may not know about me:

1) The very first concert I ever went to was The Black Crowes.
2) I've had backstage passes for (and thus got to meet): Oingo Boingo, Garbage, Ben Folds Five, and Jill Sobule.
3) I've dressed up in two mascot uniforms: Michigan J. Frog and The Noid
4) I went trick-or-treating every Halloween until I was 21 years old.
5) I didn't own (or want) a cell phone until I was in my 30s.
6) The first CD I remember buying was the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "What Hits?"
7) I've run out of gas three times.
8) I've never been in a fist fight.
9) I was a Boy Scout for about a year.
10) In my Freshman year of High School, I joined the wrestling team. I dropped out several weeks before our first match.
11) I made a promise to myself when I was 36 that I would have completed a novel by the time I was 40.
12) Nope.
13) I'm more or less okay with that.
14) I realize that I've kind of cheated for these past few #s. I'm more or less okay with that, too.
15) It took me three times to pass my drivers test when I was a teen. Parallel parking is just stupid.
16) I've had mono.
17) Before the television station I work for got bought by the corporation that owns it now, I composed and printed two issues of a station newsletter.
18) During my Senior year of High School, my breakfast nearly daily was a can of Coke and a Twinkie.
19) It was after high school that I switched over to drinking Pepsi.
20) The last time I threw up was... 17 years ago? I think that's right. Saren was just a baby, so that's got to be about right. It was a bad burger from Wendy's that caused it.
21) Ugh, we're only halfway? I did not think this plan through at all.
22) There's a certain 5-letter word that whenever I hear it, I automatically have a phrase I respond with. (I'm being deliberately vague, because I don't want the power of that word to fall into the wrong hands.)
23) Growing up, we had a cat named Rascal. I stole him from someone's driveway.
24) Years later, we lost Rascal when we took him for a ride to go get pizza. (I don't know why we took him in the car with us when we were going out to get dinner. It was just a thing we did. But, we left the car unlocked, and while we were inside picking up the food - someone opened our car door and took him. Or he ran out. Honestly, the whole memory is pretty vague in my mind, and seems somewhat unreal. Maybe I dreamt it? But, yeah, the karma thing is pretty evident now.)
25) I've been told that I snore.
26) I've shaved the following body parts: Head, face, armpits, legs.
27) While shaving my legs (the one and only time) - I cut my right shin pretty badly, and still have the scar.
28) Between the ages of 17 and 21, I often went commando.
29) I've been homeless.
30) I took one year of Latin, one year of German, and two years of Spanish in high school. None of it really stuck.
31) I'm allergic to shellfish.
32) I've never broken any bones.
33) Lots of kids make up languages. I created the Denixian language AND an alphabet (mostly so I could write notes in 'code'.)
34) I don't like Ranch Dressing, and sometimes think I'm the only person on the planet who doesn't.
35) I also don't like guacamole or avocado.
36) I do like to pronounce avocado as "ah-voc-ah-doe"
37) I consider my eyes to be my best physical feature. (My awesome wit is overall my best attribute.)
38) When Stephanie and I met, my hair was dyed jet-black. I used to dye it (often different colors) pretty frequently.
39) I was going to make the last # a joke saying "I don't know how to end this list." But now I'm at #40 and I don't want to do that because it seems to predictable. I do that a lot. Don't go with something because it seems to predictable. Which, it is, because *I* already know it's going to happen. So I often feel like I need to surprise *myself*, which is a pretty tough job. But, really, I don't know how I'm going to end this list.
40) thought of an ending. Whenever I'm going to bed, I always say to Steph, "See you in the year 2000". (Yes, the year two-thousand is now fifteen years ago. But that only makes the saying more awesome.)
So, to anyone reading this out there - see you in the year 2000.