Getting to know you, part XXVIII

It’s another series of random questions, courtesy this time of serenejournal. And when I say random, I mean completely non-sequitur-ish.

[1] What is your middle name?
Taylor. It’s apparently a traditional family name on my father’s side, and I’m only coincidentally named after actor Robert Taylor .

[2] What color is your mailbox?
Aluminium. It’s a typical apartment complex cluster.

[3] Are you available?
Assuming this question means “…for a romantic relationship of some variety.”

In theory, yes. But given the number of long-distance relationships I’m already in, if you don’t live within driving distance of Atlanta I’ll probably be somewhat reluctant to any sort of committed relationship. I only have so much time to budget for travel, alas.

[4] Have you ever hit a deer?
I have. I spent a lot of time when I first started driving going between Williamston, NC, where I grew up, and Greenville, the nearby college town (where I eventually went to university. The roads between these two is mostly two-lane blacktop through heavily forested farm country, and deer were common. I managed to only ever hit a deer once, but I had several near misses as well.

[5] Do you have to drive over a bridge to get home?
Nope. Going home from my office is just around the block. It’s only a 10-15 minute walk, and there’s no bridges between me and the house.

[6] Are you taller than your mom?
Substantially. But then, I’m taller than *most* people I know.

[7] What curse do you say the most when you’re pissed?
I’ve mostly tried to purge curse words from my vocabulary, though I still slip out with a robust “fuck” every so often. I do routinely exclaim “Jiminy Cricket!”, “God…..Bless America”, and “Good Grief” without a trace of irony, though.

[8] Are you God?
I didn’t even know the position was open.

[9] What do you do to get over a broken heart?
Hrm. If I ever find out, I’ll let you know.

In serious, one of the wonderful things about polyamory (in my experiences) has been that when my heart is broken, there’s someone who loves me that’s willing to help hold the pieces together. I have the best sweeties a person could every dream of.

[10] Do you enjoy writing in colored pens?
Sometimes. I don’t routinely make a habit of it, though.

[11] Does anything hurt on your body right now?
Well, there’s some things that seem to always hurt at least a bit. My knees and ankles, which is why I really need to lose some more weight. My lower back, though it’s not doing too badly right now. The injury from my fall last year flares up from time to time.

But that’s just the creeks and aches of getting old, for the most part. Overall, I feel pretty good.

[12] Do you often cry during a movie?
I’m terribly sentimental, so I probably should answer yes.

[13] Last text message you received?
“*smooch* Miss you. Love, A.”

[14] Who sent it?
A. did, obviously.

[15] Do you hate your life?
Good grief, no. I have a good job, a nice apartment, a comfortable lifestyle, a marvelous wife and four smart, beautiful girlfriends, plus more friends than I can reasonably shake a hefty stick at. My life is brilliant.

[16] Do you get mad easily?
I don’t really, and if I manage to, I don’t stay mad very long. It’s too much effort and energy.

[17] Do you drink?
Not a lot, anymore. My medication discourages me from drinking, so I try to be more moderate than I have been in the past. In honesty, I’ve never been much of a heavy drinker anyway, and only occasionally let myself overindulge. I think the last time was at the UK filkcon in 2005.

[18] What is your biggest pet peeve?
Telephone calls that turn out to be recordings. If you want to call me, have a person do it. I hang up on recordings.

[19] Are you cold?
No, but I rarely am. I’ve been told I make a very good bed-furnace, because I’m always shedding excess heat.

[20] Do any of your friends have kids?
Quite a number of them. I hear that one of my friends is expecting their third, which is exciting news.

[21] Who should pay on the first date?
Stealing Serene’s answer: the person who asked for it.

[22] How many years older than you are you willing to date?
I don’t have a fixed number. It’s not really that important to me. I’ve had a partner as much as fifteen years older than me, and fifteen years younger than me — but that doesn’t define the range I’m WILLING to date, just the range I have. The individual person is more important to that decision than their birthday.

[23] Do you have any friends?
My life is filled with the true wealth of many great friends. I am a very lucky man, and I know it.

[24] Do you have any mean friends?
All of my friends are extraordinary. Not one of them is average, in my opinion.

[25] What is the ugliest color in your opinion?
The aesthetics of colour depend largely on context. There are colours I wouldn’t personally put together, but in the right time and place any colour can be appropriate. So once again, the answer is “It depends.”

[26] Have you ever dated someone who all your friends couldn’t stand?
All of my friends? I doubt it. I’ve dated people that *some* of my friends couldn’t stand, I’m sure, but hey, you can’t please everybody.

[27] Have you ever felt like driving off a cliff, seriously?
Yes. I got better.

[28] Have you ever contemplated suicide?
See 27.

[29] Do you scratch your ears?
When the itch, sure. (What kind of question is that? Are there people who *don’t* scratch their ears? And what does that tell you about them? Seriously, what is this question about?)

[30] Who was the last person to hug you?
kitanzi.

[31] What brand are the pants/jeans you’re wearing right now?
Harbour Bay. It’s the store brand for Casual Male XL, I believe.

[32] How tall are you?
6’5.

[33] What is the closest green object?
The spine of the O’Reilly “HTML & XHTML” book is green.

[34] What is on your feet?
Shoes and socks.

[35] If you were born the opposite sex, what would your parents name you?
I have no idea. I’m not sure my mother would remember. I can ask her, if you’d really like to know.

[36] If you could go back to any time period when would it be?
Oh, I dunno. Would depend on my mood at the moment. There’s a lot of interesting bits of history to witness.

[37] Do you want to have kids?
I never really have. I like kids, and I enjoy their company, but I’ve always been afraid of that awesome responsibility, and have great admiration for those who take it on.

[38] What is your favorite color?
Purple.

[39] Who is the friend you have that you would never have?
Why is blue?

[40] Who do you hate the most right now?
The person who wrote question 39. WTFF??

[41] What’s your mother’s middle name?
Elaine.

[42] What kind of car do you want?
Something that sits higher off the ground than a normal car, so I can get in and out of it easier. I’ve considered looking at something like a Honda CR-V. I don’t want a big expensive truck-like thing — I just want something that’s comfortable.

[43] What is your favorite video game?
Currently, World of Warcraft, because that’s where I spend most of my gaming time right now. All time: Probably the Sid Meier’s Civilization games. I never stop coming back to them.

[44] Do you like your dad?
I have no idea. I don’t really know him well enough to say.

[45] Do you have any TV shows on DVD?
I own a tremendous number of TV shows on DVD. I’d have to do an inventory to find out which I had more of — TV shows or Movies.

[46] Are you wearing make up?
Nope. But then, I’ve not been in the theatre for a number of years, and I never really went in for the glam/goth/emo scene. So it hasn’t really come up.

[47] Do you have a tattoo?
I do not. I suppose I could, but I really don’t have anywhere to practice the bagpipes, and that makes it hard to learn them.

[48] Have you ever broken a pinata?
Probably, though I don’t immediately recall. I do, however, have a funny story involving a pinata.

[49] What time is it right now?
2:43pm EDT, but it was around noon when I started this.

[50] Do you know how to draw?
If I didn’t, I’d never have survived all those gunfights. (I can’t draw very well at all, and I’ve always admired those people who were gifted in visual arts. I’m not a half-bad photographer, though.)

[51] Who loves orange soda?
Lots of people must, they sell a lot of it.

[52] Who is your hero?
I have lots of heroes. I don’t know that I could pick any one of them.

[53] Who did you last IM?
cadhla

[54] Do you work a lot of hours?
I do, but it’s highly variable. It depends on what’s breaking at work.

[55] Where were you 24 hours ago?
Right here at my desk at my office.

[56] Who was the last person that called you?
Well, I got a wrong number call over lunch. Prior to that, kitanzi called me yesterday when I left her a message to come pick me up at work because I’d put my car into the shop.

[57] Is there anything you regret?
Regrets? I’ve had a few. But, then again, too few to mention.

[58] Do you know where your family name originated from?
Wales, as near as I can determine.

[59] Animal that creeps you out?
None of them, really. Most of them fascinate me. The really weird creepy ones fascinate me even more.