1. I’m always second-guessing myself, which is why this is in the number one spot. I realized I was taking too long to decide what should go here.
2. I’m horrible at staying in touch with people. Hence the blog.
3. I was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. I suppose it’s a good place to raise a family, but when I left I had no real intention of ever going back there to live. So far I’ve been successful at that.
4. Of course, if you told me when I left Columbus that I would wind up in its funkier, edgier, and trendier doppelganger in Texas (Austin), I probably would have laughed in your face.
5. I thought I would spend my life in the Washington, DC area. I was wrong. I don’t even care for it that much anymore.
6. I went to college in Washington, DC. My college experience can best be described with the words “unmemorable” and “mediocre.” I think I got a good education (I’ll certainly be paying for it for a long, long time), but I don’t really have all that many good memories from my college years. On the other hand, I don’t have all that many bad memories, either.
7. Part of that is probably related to the fact that I was deeply closeted in college. I came out four months before I turned 25.
8. My parents reaction to that news was “so what?”
9. My mother later informed me that I’m not off the hook as far as grandchildren are concerned.
10. And the dog doesn’t count.
11. My parents were nice enough not to tell me that they had figured it out a long time ago. My friends were not as nice, but at least they didn’t pay off their bets in front of me.
12. I met Ray less than a year after I came out. That was six years ago.
13. Our anniversary is September 10. We mark it from the time we first met.
14. A year and a day later was September 11, 2001.
15. September 11 is also my father’s birthday. We celebrated my grandmother’s birthday on September 11, too, because we didn’t know when her actual birthday was.
16. 9/11/01 was my grandmother’s last birthday – she died the following May. She was 92. We think.
17. I am half-Greek from my father’s side.
18. My grandparents both emigrated from Greece. They married in Montreal, and settled in Cleveland.
19. I never knew my father’s father. He died in 1946. He was 20 years older than my grandmother.
20. I tend to self-identify as Greek, even though I’m only half — my mother’s family is a big mishmash of British, German, and French Swiss.
21. My mother’s parents lived in Lima, Ohio. My mother’s father died in 1994, and he was buried the same day that Israel and Jordan signed their peace treaty. I know that because I was an intern at the Jordanian embassy at the time and was at work the day of his funeral.
22. My mother’s mother died shortly after I moved to Austin (like, a week after I moved to Austin) in August 1998.
23. I did some genealogical research and discovered that my mother’s mother’s mother’s family was descended from one of the original settlers invited by William Penn to found Pennsylvania.
24. Despite my coloring (brown hair and blue eyes), I look exactly like most of my extended family in Greece.
25. The fact that we have fair skin, brown hair, and blue eyes means that there’s probably more than a little bit of Turkish flowing in our veins.
26. My aunt would probably disown me for saying that.
27. I do, however, have enough of the British and German genes from my mother’s side of the family that I sunburn badly.
28. Speaking of sunburns, I have been to a nude beach several times.
29. However, I myself have only been naked for about five minutes at the nude beach. I laid on my stomach the whole time. There were no sunburns.
30. I am not fluent in several languages: English, Egyptian Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Greek, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.
31. I can speak Greek, but I cannot read it very well.
32. I am referring to mainland Greek. When I was in Cyprus, I thought everyone was speaking Portuguese.
33. I can read Swedish, but I do not speak it nor do I understand it when it’s spoken.
34. Contrary to what Ray says, I did not learn Swedish in order to understand the lyrics to various pop songs – I learned Swedish in the process of doing so. By the time I deciphered most of them, I decided that I might as well keep going.
35. I have a theory that cheesy pop music is infinitely cool if it’s in an obscure foreign language.
36. German and Cantonese are two major exceptions to this rule.
37. I really don’t like techno or dance music. I mean I really don’t.
38. Although I’ve tried to learn French several times, I just haven’t gotten very far. I think it has something to do with the words not looking like the way they’re pronounced.
39. I enjoy traveling. I’ve been to a lot of weird places, and haven’t been to a lot of the usual places.
40. The farthest east I have ever travelled is Agra, India. The farthest south is Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
41. I have a special place in my heart for Egypt. I spent a year there as an undergraduate.
42. Zanzibar was pretty cool, too.
43. I have led groups to Egypt twice. It was fun, but I’m looking forward to going somewhere else for a change. As snobbish as this sounds, you can only look at the Giza Pyramids so many times before they start to resemble the big piles of stones they really are.
44. I would like to go back to India – my trip there (a business trip) was rushed, and I’d like to do it slower — and in the company of someone who knows what they’re doing.
45. I also want to go to Thailand for no particular reason other than the fact that it looks really cool. My brother’s been there and his pictures look awesome.
46. My best friend from college lives in Burma (Myanmar). If I ever go to Thailand, I’d like to pop over there and see him.
47. It only took nine years of living four hours from the Mexican border before I actually spent the night in the country.
48. It has been ten and a half years since I last went to Greece to visit my extended family. I would feel less guilty about this if I weren’t constantly flying over, around, and through Greece on the way to other places.
49. Places I haven’t been include Paris (except de Gaulle Airport), Rome (except Fiumicino Airport), and Amsterdam (I did see it out of the window of the plane, though).
50. I have a younger brother. He just moved to Korea for the second time.
51. He’s Korean. We adopted him when he was 11.
52. For some reason, he won’t ask his girlfriend to marry him. When I’m being obnoxious, I refer to her as “the woman who’s not his fiancee.”
53. I am usually obnoxious.
54. I’m trying not to be. But usually I just come off as trying.
55. I’m not religious. I go through phases of spirituality, but I don’t care for organized religion.
56. At the moment, I’m in an agnostic phase. I don’t know if there is a God, and I’m not sure what he/she/it wants from humanity. I am certain, however, that you don’t know, either, so don’t tell me otherwise.
57. I am highly suspicious of people who identify themselves out of the gate as belonging to a particular religion. That particular religion is generally Christianity. This is largely because so much of what we see from the evangelical Christian leadership in the US seems to be about promoting hatred and intolerance.
58. I find myself constantly disappointed by the various ‘-phobias’ that are prevalent in post 9/11 America.
59. I think homophobia is the most useless thing ever, and it upsets me that so many people dedicate so much energy to it. I don’t understand how what I do in my own house effects you in any way, shape, or form. I don’t come into your house and tell you how to live your life, and you don’t have the right to tell me how to live mine. I cannot forgive the Bush administration for using gay marriage as a distraction to turn popular attention away from real issues that plague this country. To me, that is a bigger offense than sending us to war in Iraq, spying on American citizens, and bankrupting the country.
60. Don’t get me wrong, those are pretty big offenses, too.
61. I think it’s a couple of decades too early to talk about gay marriage. I’d be happy with civil unions. But most of the gay marriage bans include civil unions – that’s why I’m pissed at the Bush administration. Give me my tax breaks and I’ll be happy.
62. Regardless of my feelings about how we got into the war in Iraq, I fully support our troops and feel that we have a responsibility to leave Iraq in better shape than it was when we got there.
63. I love this country. I want it to be the shining example of democracy and prosperity everyone thinks it is. If I didn’t, none of this would bother me. Think about that before accusing me of hating America.
64. I’ve spent nearly a decade and a half studying the Islamic world. I have never considered becoming Muslim. I don’t think the two are related. The number of people who think they are surprises me.
65. I tend to get defensive about Islamophobia because I’ve spent so much time living and studying in the Islamic world, and I feel that I know better. Most Muslims are not thinking of ways to kill you. Most of them don’t think about you at all. It makes me unhappy when people assign blanket statements about others that they would immediately repudiate if they were made about themselves.
66. It has, on occasion, struck me that there’s something weird about me, a gay man, studying the Islamic world when homosexuality and Islam are fundamentally incompatible. But I’m hardly the only one in that situation.
67. I like to cook.
68. I’m slightly addicted to caffeine. I gave it up for three weeks, once, and just couldn’t make it work.
69. I’ve never really tried to be a vegetarian. There’s just too many vegetables I don’t care for out there.
70. I don’t eat beef, however. It doesn’t sit well with me. If I eat a dish that has beef in it, the evidence will present itself sooner rather than later.
71. Other than that, I have something of a cast-iron stomach. Of the group I was with in India, I was the only one who didn’t get sick. And I was also the only one who ate Indian food the whole time we were there.
72. I love spicy food. Indian, Ethiopian, Mexican, Thai, it’s all good …
73. I was once convinced that there is no such thing as bad Indian food. Then I had bad Indian food and am no longer convinced of that.
74. I was also once convinced that there is no such thing as good Chardonnay. Then I had a good Chardonnay and am now convinced that such things exist, but that’s it’s very easy to create a bad Chardonnay and that the good stuff takes time and effort.
75. I enjoy wine. I used to exclusively drink white wine, but have now switched to almost exclusively drink red.
76. My friend Natalie and I a favorite sushi spot in Fort Worth. We go whenever we’re up there. The ironic thing is that neither of us really care for sushi that much. It’s that good.
77. Good rum and good tequila are worth the money you spend on them.
78. I’m a lightweight. It doesn’t take a lot of drinking to get me tipsy. In my defense, however, this is probably because the friends who have us over a lot tend to serve strong drinks early and dinner very late.
79. An interesting exception to this are ouzo and raki. I can drink a considerable amount of either without feeling the effects.
80. I’m quite the conflict avoidance champion. Unfortunately, this means that when my frustration finally does boil over, things get ugly.
81. Despite my attempts to grow a thicker skin, my feelings get hurt easily.
82. I am not good at multitasking. I get irritated when faced with constant distraction.
83. I’m not good at masking my irritation.
84. A psychologist tested me once. I analyze things and arrive at conclusions extremely quickly, and find it frustrating when others don’t. This is part of my personality type.
85. I’m also extremely logical, and I find it very difficult to understand people who base everything on emotion.
86. I’ve been on anti-depressants for just under six years for control of my anxiety. Despite what certain celebrities say, this is a good thing. People who don’t have mental issues shouldn’t be allowed to have opinions about things like anti-depressants. You don’t understand it if you haven’t been there.
87. There is one prominent side effect of the anti-depressants that bothers me, but not as much as it bothers Ray. I’ve tried a few different anti-depressants, but, unfortunately, it’s a common side effect with all of them.
88. I once worked a job where my boss was a licensed psychologist. Ironically, she was one of the most mentally fucked up people I’ve ever known.
89. I think there are fundamental flaws in the American education system. I say this as someone who works for a higher educational institution and works with K-12 educators. Not everyone is destined to go to college. Unfortunately, the way our system is set up, people that don’t go to college are at a significant disadvantage. Although the German system is also flawed, I think they’re on to something.
90. That said, I have a Master’s degree.
91. I’ve considered going for a doctorate, but the fact is that what I really want is the credibility that comes with having a doctorate, and I don’t know if it’s worth the money I’d have to spend.
92. I also don’t know what I’d get my doctorate in. I became an historian because the political science professor in my master’s program and I didn’t get along.
93. I like to dabble. My interests shift from day to day, and being stuck researching the same thing for five years would drive me bonkers.
94. I have no idea how or why I became interested in the Middle East. People ask me all the time, and the simple answer is that I don’t know.
95. I’m an avid reader. At any point, I usually have a book I’m reading at work (for research), an audiobook I’m listening to in the car, and a book I’m reading at home (for pleasure. Or research. Or both).
96. I follow the news religiously. I have a constant need to know what’s going on in the world.
97. I have two speeds: warp and comatose. Whenever I work on something, I’m either all in or completely uninspired. I don’t seem to be able to control the gears, either.
98. I added the “Now Reading” section to this Web site so that I can keep track of what I’m reading. I have been known to pick up a title and realize I’ve read it before.
99. I added the “Movie Review” section to this Web site because we get so many movies through Blockbuster online that I can’t keep track of them all.
100. This was easier than I thought it would be.
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