25 things about me

1. I am the youngest of four kids.
2. I love college football and am a lifelong Notre Dame fan.
3. I was an Evans Scholar at Miami (Ohio) University, a scholarship for golf caddies. Seriously.
4. I have been writing for as long as I can remember.
5. My favorite TV shows are Arrested Development, The Office, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Saturday Night Live, Austin City Limits and ESPN College GameDay.
6. I am a big fan of Cincinnati Reds baseball.
7. I enjoy a wide range of music (Pearl Jam, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Band of Horses, Johnny Cash, Dave Matthews Band, Hank Williams, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Marley, Kings of Leon, Waylon Jennings, The Black Keys, Jack Johnson, The Script, Mumford & Sons, Tim McGraw…). The two best written songs ever: “Imagine” by John Lennon and “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
8. I was a firefighter for two years, but decided to leave the department due to chronic health problems.
9. After college, I served with AmeriCorps for two years (like a domestic Peace Corps). I was stationed with Habitat for Humanity in Knoxville. When my term was up, I stayed on with Habitat for about seven more years.
10. I wish that I liked seafood, but I can’t stand it. Not even fish.
11. I love to read and usually gravitate to nonfiction. My favorite books are Tao Te Ching, On the Road, Into the Wild, The Alchemist and The Motorcycle Diaries. My favorite authors are Jack Kerouac, John Steinbeck and Paulo Coelho.
12. I played basketball, baseball and soccer when I was growing up. Looking back, I wish I would have focused on soccer, martial arts and yoga.
13. I have only had three cups of coffee in my life. I do not even like how it smells, let alone tastes.
14. My favorite season used to be summer, but nowadays I can’t decide between spring, summer or fall. Though I love the Holiday Season, winter is not in the running. Whatsoever.
15. I like doing yoga and Pilates.
16. I prefer to be in a t-shirt, flip-flops and cargo shorts in the summer, jeans and a hoodie in the winter.
17. I am narcoleptic and could fall asleep pretty much anytime if given the chance. My brain skips restful sleep, so I don’t know how I would survive without 20-minute power naps.
18. I try to meditate every day.
19. My favorite movies are The Godfather 2, The Shawshank Redemption, Good Will Hunting, Scent of a Woman and Tombstone.
20. My favorite color was blue until somewhat recently. Now I prefer green.
21. I lived in Tennessee for ten years and liked it quite a bit. But I couldn’t talk my family and closest friends into moving there, so I moved back home to Cincinnati.
22. Driving around the country in an RV or Airstream trailer for a few months tops my bucket list.
23. My biggest pet peeves are arrogance and inconsiderateness.
24. The Dalai Lama is the person that I would most like to meet.
25. My proudest accomplishment: writing two books and putting them “out there” for the world to read, especially a very personal memoir.