100 Things About Osbasso
I’ve put this off as long as I possibly could. You might already know some of this—I can guarantee there’s some stuff you don’t! So, for better or worse, here’s the May, 2006 version of “100 Things About Me”.
Updates/changes to this as of August, 2008 in yellow.
1. Other than a three-year stint in the early 80s, I have lived my entire life in Montana. Except the 3 years or so when Dad was in dental school in St. Louis when I was born. But I don’t remember that. 2. My family is very close with each other. 3. I have first cousins that I have never met. 4. I’ve had people hesitate getting to know me because I intimidated them. 5. Once you know me, you’ll realize that I’m just an old softy. 6. If we’re friends, I’ll hold on to that friendship for as long as I can. 7. I’ve been in love three times in my life. 8. In spite of my public disdain for Valentine’s Day, I secretly love it. But I’ll always deny it. 9. I also love Christmastime. But not the commercialism. 10. I own about 60 80 Christmas CDs. I love Christmas music. 11. I haven’t had a Christmas tree in over 15 years. But I have for the past two. 12. I’m a big fan of fireworks. The big ones, not the ones you can buy at a stand. 13. My family has had pets, but other than Pepper (dog) for a year when I was in grade school, they all came after I ran off to college. 14. I’ve never had a pet of my own, though I got a squirrel from my back yard to take an Oreo from my hand for two years when I was in grad school. 15. I have never been married. 16. I’ve had sex with an older married woman. 17. I am a musician. 18. I have Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music education. 19. I have no desire to return to public school teaching. 20. My primary instrument in college was the tuba, but I haven’t played it seriously since then. 21. I have played all the standard brass instruments in performance situations at some point in my life. 22. I also play the bass guitar, a little bit of piano, and can play a mean triangle. 23. I would have liked to have learned how to play the cello. 24. I once took a 4-day/3-night concert road trip with a 19-year-old girl that was not related to me. I was well over twice her age. I’m still over twice her age.. 25. The first concert I ever attended was the Cowsills, in 1971 I believe. 26. Though I don’t have an exact count right now, I have approximately 1700-1800 CDs. 27. I’ve purchased CDs I already owned because I didn’t realize I had them. 28. My current tastes run towards country or classical. They’ll never run towards rap, death metal, pop, or most of the crap one can find on the radio these days. 29. I’ve seen Britney Spears in concert. And have her autograph. 30. While I tend to take my musical talents for granted, I dislike others taking them for granted. 31. I am envious of those who can draw/paint/sculpt/write. 32. I could eat my mother’s potato salad for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And have. 33. I have been in only one car accident that was my fault. I was sober. 34. I have driven under the influence of alcohol too many times to count. 35. There are a few times where I’ve driven home drunk, and then couldn’t remember the next morning the route I took to get there. 36. I don’t drink wine or tequila, and the only hard drink I’ll order is a gin & tonic. 37. I drank a lot of rum in the Caribbean though. 38. In spite of my tendency to babble and pontificate, I dislike talking on the phone. 39. I’ve spent hours on a single phone call on a number of occasions recently. Thank God for nights/weekends! 40. I am the only musician who was raised in the 70s who never tried any drugs other than alcohol. Still haven’t… 41. I have spent real jail time for crimes I did not commit. 42. I have done some things that should have landed me some real jail time, but I was never caught/charged. 43. I love being on the “inside”, knowing people’s secrets, and having people trust me. 44. I am extremely trustworthy. 45. I am overly trusting. I’ve been severely burned by this, but yet I still trust others. 46. I am a very good observer. 47. I tend to be somewhat possessive of things, ideas and people. 48. I prefer to drive long distances than fly, but it’s getting too expensive to do that these days. 49. Only twice in the past 30 years have I allowed another person to drive my car with me as a passenger. 50. I have never watched a “reality” show (except “Fear Factor”), other than skipping through channels. 51. I often think I could do much of the stuff on “Fear Factor,” other than the eating stunts. Particularly the really, really gross eating stunts. 52. A friend and I once ordered the entire left side of the menu at Burger King. Each. And successfully ate all of it. 53. I drink a six-pack of Diet Coke w/lime per day, on average. Used to do the same thing with Dr. Pepper. Not so much anymore, but still more than I should. 54. I would give that up to drink nothing but chocolate milk. 55. When I was a kid, I had a fire fetish. I’d light anything and everything on fire. That came to a halt when I set fire to the garbage cans in the alley behind the rectory, and the wind caught it and burned the entire lawn. Swear to God, I thought the Devil himself had come up and done it. 56. When I was a kid, I was a space geek. I could tell you how far it was to the moon, the planets, and the nearby galaxies. Fireball XL-5 was the coolest show on TV. 57. When I was a kid, I would listen to my transistor AM radio (FM radio was only in the big cities back then) to put me to sleep. If I was still up at 10:00, I’d be treated to Red Sovine trucker songs. “Phantom 309” is the one that sticks in my mind. 58. On Sundays at 10PM, it was “Classics In the Night”. The theme song was Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”. I very vividly remember that. 59. I have taught music classes to students in all grades from 1st grade through college. The most frightening for me—the 1st and 2nd graders. 60. I don’t remember my high school classes at all, though I remember most of my classmates, and many of the social events. I don’t remember ever doing homework. I know I must have done some, but I couldn’t tell you where or when I did it. 61. I was primarily a singer in high school, not a band geek. I was in the All-State Choir for 4 years, and the All-Northwest Choir my senior year. 62. I was also a drama nerd. 63. I spent my first year of college as a chemical engineering major before switching to music education. The best part of that was that almost all of my electives were out of the way! 64. I’ve never taken a college English course. I took the CLEP test to get out of it, and there were never any other requirements. 65. I don’t read books. I envy those who take the time to do so. 66. I have been an Apple geek since the first time I ever bought a computer (Apple IIGS) and have never gone back. 67. I still have every computer I’ve ever owned, but don’t know how to operate the old ones anymore. 68. I love big band jazz and could listen to it for days on end. 69. My mother taught me how to dance to it. 70. My best jitterbug partner was my sister (S2). Until the day I broke her in half (without going into detail, I split open her sternum, and she somehow bruised her heart, complete with irregular EKGs—we had been drinking…). 71. I don’t dance anymore. 72. I’ve never bought a house, nor do I see the day that I might. I’d like to, though. 73. I’m not comfortable with my current body image, though I wasn’t comfortable with it when I weighed half of what I do now. 74. I have very few good friends that are my age or older. 75. Most of my good friends are 15 or more years younger than me. 76. A vast majority of them are female. I would much rather be friends with women than with men. As long as they don’t do too much talking about “female things,” if you get my drift. 77. I suck at gambling. Even slot machines. I’ve never had any decent payout from slots, craps or keno. Blackjack is an exception, but I always get stupid and lose anything I’ve won. 78. I am primarily a meat and potatoes sort of eater. 79. I love walking through the Pike Street Market in Seattle and watch the fish tossers, and wishing that I live closer to the sea for the seafood. 80. I will not eat raw tomatoes. When you bite into one, it looks like it’s still in the embryonic stage in there. Don’t particularly like them in other things either. 81. I will not eat artichokes, avocadoes, olives, or a variety of other plant-like things. I’ll eat mushrooms, but only if sautéed in butter and smothering a steak. 82. I like almost all fruit, but don’t eat near enough of it. 83. I am not tolerant of ignorant people (ignorant as in stupid, not as in uneducated). 84. I am fairly ignorant in a number of areas. 85. I generally need things spelled out to/for me. I dislike people when they play games or skirt around an issue, hoping that I’ll figure it out on my own. Communicate, people! 86. I tried smoking cigarettes when I was a freshman in high school. Never figured out the attraction. 87. In spite of messy workspaces and living areas, I tend to be fairly organized. 88. I think that too many people today are on medications that don’t need to be. I think it’s become a crutch for too many. 89. I don’t understand the lure/attraction of NASCAR, especially for those who live in this neck of the woods. I’m sure I’d be a fan if I lived in the southeast. 90. I don’t understand the lure/attraction of fishing shows on TV. 91. The eruption of Mt. St. Helens on May 18, 1980 will always be a strong pivotal day in my life. 92. I watched a total eclipse of the sun in February of 1979 in the Gallatin Valley near Bozeman, MT. It was one of the most fantastic things I’ve ever seen. 93. I’ve driven a regular car at 120 MPH before. 94. My upper lip hasn’t seen the light of day since I quit shaving up there on New Year’s Day, 1977. 95. On more than one occasion I’ve dreamt that I accidentally shaved part of my mustache off, and the first move I made in the morning is to run to a mirror to check. 96. I am allergic to cats, though I’ve been able to tolerate Moose’s cats for a couple of days at a time. 97. I’m also allergic to cottonwood trees, and dread this time of year when the cotton flies. 98. I love the smell of lilacs, roses, a summer rain, and airplane glue. Not necessarily in that order. 99. I’ve never ridden a motorcycle. I’d like to own one some day. 100. When I’m on the putting green, I look at the cup when I putt, rather than the ball. If I don’t actually make the putt, it’s close enough to be a tap-in.
The second 100 things will come at a later date...
