Survey Because Kiss My Ass in Book Four: Ichi-no-Tani 2017

1) If someone wanted to really understand you, what would they read, watch, and listen to?
Read… I’d have to say “The Death and Life of Superman” by Roger Stern. Not because I am Superman but because… read that book, then look at what Zack Snyder did to the character. Then you will understand me.
Watch? This one has three. Stein’s Gate; The Shape of Things (with Paul Rudd and Rachel Weisz), and Office Space
Listen To? Also a mixture… you’d have to listen to Classical Irish Folk Songs, The Yoshida Brothers, The Fraggle Rock Soundtrack, and Sad Cello Etudes

2) Have you ever found a writer who thinks just like you? If so, who?
There are some PB writers who are fairly similar in some respects. I miss reading them as frequently as I once did

3) List your favorite TV shows and one character from each that you identify with?
Buffy/Angel: Angel
Lucifer: Dan
Attack on Titan: Armin

4) Do you like your name? Is there another name you think would fit you better?
I do like my name. I like what it means and what it represents. Though, I do have a dozen that people call me.

5) Do you think of yourself as a human being or a human doing? Do you identify yourself by the things you do?
I am a human struggling. In fact, I think most are these days. Human Beings exist, and they certainly do that. Human Doings are plentiful in this day and age. But I think even those two varieties find themselves often as Human Strugglings.

6) Are you religious/spiritual?
I’m not as religious as I should be. My spirituality is a bit… inconsistent lately. When you realize there is no such thing as justice, no such thing as karmic rewards and punishments… when the whole random hellscape comes into view… Spirituality is hard. And yet, I also fervently believe that not all things are random. I think there is significant reasonable evidence to suggest that there is some Grand Design. It is just… the belief in that grand design makes the random that much harder to deal with.

7) Do you care about your ethnicity?
I approve of an answer I saw previously. I am a white male with an education. I am required to apologize for my ethnicity and do what I can to minimize it.

I am proud of my heritage though. Norwegians, Germans, and Bermudans.

8) What musical artists have you most felt connected to over your lifetime?
311, Goo Goo Dolls, Linkin Park, 5 For Fighting, Crash Test Dummies

9) Are you an artist?
The only art I can do at all is performance art, and I genuinely fear I’ve lost the ability for even that.

10) Do you ever lucid dream?
I dream often but rarely realize in the dream that I am dreaming; and even less frequently am I able to exert any form of control onto the dream world.

11) Describe your ideal day?
God, an ideal day? Like… the day that if I waived a wand and made everything perfect would happen? Wife and I would wake up feeling well rested at around 8 a.m. We’d grab a nice breakfast and grab a boat out to a reef. We’d snorkel for a few hours before coming back to shore where we’d sip Fruity Alcoholic Cocktail Drinks and play board games with friends and family. At about 10 at night, feeling warm and happy, we’d snuggle in bed together and fall asleep holding one another.

12) Dog person or cat person?
DOGS in such an extreme way that it borders on the bizarre

13) Indoors or outdoors?
Indoors.

14) Are you a musician?
I haven’t sung or played the cello in a long time; but I used to do both frequently

15) Five most influential books over your lifetime?
The Bible
The Talmud
Norwegian Myths and Monsters
Big Book of Greek Gods and Myths
Batman Knightfall

16) If you’d grown up in a different environment, do you think you’d have turned out the same?
I am fairly positive that the answer is a RESOUNDING no. Had I grown up with fewer opportunities and fewer finances… I would be a Career Retail Employee. Had I grown up with more opportunities and more finances… I would be a business owner or an investor.

17) Would you say your Facebook is a fair representation of the “real you”?
Certainly not anymore. I’m trying SO hard to share on Facebook those things which I feel need more exposure. Realizing that it won’t make any change. But I have to try somehow. It astonishes me that people can be so complacent and accepting of the thousands of ways things are terrible in this world.

18) What’s your Patronus?
Buzzfeed says mine is a Stag

19) Which Harry Potter house would you be in?
Ravenclaw.

20) Are you in a relationship? If so, how long have you been together? If not, what would your ideal significant other be like?
Yes, I am married. We started dating July 3, 2005; got married July 2, 2011

21) Do you love easily?
Love? No, at least not anymore. Care? Yes. I care far too easily at far too high a cost.

22) Were you a good student?
The majority of my life is a riddle. When I tried hard to succeed, I would get a B. When I didn’t try at all, I would get a B. When I tried hard to fail, I would get a D.

23) How often would you want to see your family every year?
At least once a week would be nice.

24) Have you ever felt like you had a “mind-meld” with someone?
Definitely. My Wife and MBFITWW

25) Are you a writer?
I’ve certainly written. I’ve had poems published and plays acted.

26) How would you describe your gender/sexuality?
I’m a male identifying as straight. Some have suggested hyper-sexual in that regard. But, then, I’ve always been hard to pin down on that. For over a decade, everyone was telling me that I was gay. It is why, for a long part of my life, I opposed Gay Acceptance. Because I was honestly worried that people were being pressured into a sexuality. Because so many people just told me “You’re gay. Accept it.” Funny thing is, the people who know me now can hardly imagine it. Apparently, being an attractive man in High School who abstains from sex means everyone tries to convince you that you are gay. Being a fat married man who wants sex means you are straight.

27) What’s your MBTI type and do you think it’s accurate?
INTP-T
My Extrovert/Introvert breaks down as 45% to 55% so… right there, I continually call myself an Ambivert.
Intuitive is 69% to Observant 31%
Thinking 61% to Feeling 39%
Prospecting 61% to Judging 39%
Turbulent 90% to Assertive 10%

Honestly… stuff like that (and others) makes me wonder if Lawyer is right for me. However, “law” is one of the primary INT jobs. Does it fit me? My favorite quote of all time is the first quote associated with INTP which is “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Logicians duly struggle in finding careers that meet their needs. I think it works?

28) On a scale from 1 to 10, how hard is it for someone to get under your skin?
Depends on how close we are. Or if they owe me money. Ranges from 3 to 7

29) Pick three songs that you connect with right now, and share the lyrics that speak to you in each? “Superman’s Song” Crash Test Dummies - Superman never made any money/saving the world from Solomon Grundy/and sometimes I despair the world will never see another man like him “Help” The Beatles- And now my life has changed in oh so many ways/my independence seems to vanish in the haze/But ev’ry now and then I feel so insecure/I know that I just need you like I’ve never done before “Welcome to the Black Parade” My Chemical Romance- When I was a young boy/My father took me into the city/To see a marching band/He said, “Son, when you grow up/Would you be the savior of the broken/The beaten and the damned?”

30) Pick one of your favorite quotes? “Sometimes a person breaks; not because they are not strong, but because they have been strong for too long.”