100 things about me: 1-50

As I thought, this is kinda hard to do. Thanks to the lovely Fish and not-kate for suggestions. Aside from maybe fact 1, they are not in any order of significance.

1. I’ve been married since 2004. My wife is the centre of my world. See here for more.
2. I have two daughters.
3. We no longer have pet rats.
3. I have an ear piercing.
4. And two tattoos.
5. I have a few scars here and there. The most prominent one is on my chin, which required 7 stitches to close it up after a bike accident when I was 14.
6. I am of English and removed Irish descent.
8. I am the youngest of three siblings.
9. I was the only boy.
10. I drive a red convertible.
11. I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up.
12. I am unable to do the thing I most wanted to do when I grew up for medical reasons.
13. I have been on a TV game show. I was also on a human nature type show when at primary school.
14. I probably should have been killed or seriously injured in a spectacular car accident in 1995. I walked away without a scratch. I used to think that had no effect on my outlook, but now I think it has in subtle ways.
15. I enjoy pub quizzes, Trivial Pursuit, all forms of quizzing as entertainment. I have been referred to as a ‘fountain of useless information’. I am handy to have on your team in any form of quiz.
16. I love that moment of realising you have been singing along to a new song, and realising that its a really good song, and discovering you really like it. I love that my next favourite song might be the next one I hear.
17. I read all the time.
18. I don’t read a lot of fiction.
19. I read more than one book at a time, frequently several. I read what I am in the mood for, and change books like changing channels.
20. I hate small talk, and am not very good at it.
21. I make scale plastic models, usually of aircraft.
22. When I was three I escaped my parents on the Picton Ferry. I was found hanging out with a bunch of Mongrel Mob members, having a great time apparently. The Mongrel Mob was also entertained, so it worked out well.
23. I like watching weather. I love watching a cold southerly approach, threaten, then roll across Wellington. I am often asked for weather predictions. I believe in Billy Connolly's dictum that there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.
24. I enjoy extreme weather. I will happily put on my raincoat and go and find a good spot to watch a thunderstorm.
25. I enjoy casual stargazing on dark nights. I can do this for hours. I love the night sky, and have a fairly good working knowledge of it.
26. I mistrust mass media.
27. And advertising. Inevitable consequence of studying sciences at a tertiary level
28. I seldom take things at face value.
29. I have had an unexplained encounter, so I believe in ghosts, in the sense that people are experiencing a phenomenon we have yet to understand.
30. I am open minded about UFO’s in that I think they exist. I don’t think they are necessarily alien spacecraft however.
31. I have a diploma in applied science that requires only a research paper to become a degree.
32. I have landed an aircraft at Wellington International Airport. Okay so there was an instructor ready to take over at a nanoseconds notice, but my hands and feet were on the controls, and I was flying the plane.
33. Learning to fly is a long term ambition.
34. I love flying, but get airsick if I don’t have the right medication handy. Yay Dramamine!
35. I work in a science based industry. That’s pretty much all I will say about my job in this forum.
36. I have been told my first words were “what’s that?”
37. I am interested in a lot of things. Not all of them I discuss with others, as they are too geeky or boring to those others.
38. I often listen to arguments on subjects I know more about than the participants, but don’t enter the conversation because I can’t be bothered convincing them I am right.
39. I am generally quiet and shy. I used to be outgoing and confident, but then I went to high school. I identify with ‘The logical song’ by Supertramp.
40. My quiet demeanour is often mistaken, I have discovered, for aloofness, arrogance, or a dislike of people I have just met.
41. I have trouble with trusting people and assessing their genuineness.
42. I love listening to and collecting music. I have around 450 CD’s, not counting self made comps. Less than 10 of them are burned. I have a thing for the whole package, and cheap CD’s aren’t that hard to find if you know where to look.
43. The most CD’s I have by any one artist is 28 by Shihad. The next highest is 25 by Pearl Jam.
44. The above aside, I have fairly wide ranging tastes. Cyndi Lauper sits next to Led Zeppelin and Leftfield in my CD rack.
45. To go with the above, I love a good live gig.
46. I love collecting concert t-shirts from gigs I have been to.
47. I also love weird, random, amusing T-shirts in general. I have a large collection and am somewhat known for it.
48. I usually carry a little green shoulder bag everywhere I go. Its contents vary, but usually present are a pocket knife, pen torch, band aids, nurofen, ventolin inhaler and nail scissors. You’d be surprised how often it comes in handy.
49. I am an asthmatic. While I have learned to live with it, that does not mean I despise it any less. It is the cause of fact 12, which is related to facts 32 and 33.
50. I don’t like talking about myself in a meaningful sense. It makes me feel vulnerable.