10 Things You Might Not Know About Me

Originally posted HERE

Okay, I’ve been “tagged” twice now, so I thought I’d better do it. I have to list 10 things you don’t know about me.

1. My favorite color is marble blue – my wife tells me that a marble pattern doesn’t count as a color, but I’m sticking to it.

2. My favorite city is Panguitch, Utah. I laugh every time I visit Utah and see the sign for that tiny city in the middle of nowhere. It’s also the city where that looney guy from Contact is from – you know, the religious zealot who blows up the huge alien machine that cost billions of tax dollars to create. My next favorite city is Orem, UT (the Orem/Provo area was once nominated the most livable city in America... but then I moved away... and... you know... They had to take the “most livable city in America” sign down).

3. Three authors motivated me to become an author: J.R.R. Tolkien, Lloyd Alexander and Douglas Hill. Tolkien died a long time ago, but Alexander and Hill both died last year, but not before sending me personal letters. Also, Douglas Hill loved my book and gave it a blurb.

4. I got engaged to be married after 2 dates and 10 days. We’ve been married for over 10 years now and have 5 boys. We’re still happy.

5. I am an utter perfectionist and somewhat @%$!, but my office is a total mess.

6. I performed in 4 musicals, although I can hardly sing. I must have had a lot of charisma and energy for the directors to keep inviting me back!

7. I did the artwork for my book, Paraworld Zero. It was the first time I had ever done computer art and the second time I had done any art at all since 8th grade.

8. I was perhaps one of the best video game players out there when I was a pre-teenager. I would go to the video arcade with one quarter and would play games like Super Mario Brothers or Black Tiger for an hour without skipping levels or dying once.

9. I really wanted twins. I told my wife many times that she would have twins. The morning she had her first ultrasound, I told her she was eating for three. We discovered during the ultrasound that she was pregnant with twins.

10. I’m a huge scifi/fantasy addict. However, I’m too busy to watch the shows, so I’ve tape recorded every episode of Stargate-SG1, Stargate Atlantis, Farscape, Early Edition, Lois and Clark, and Battlestar Galactica... but I’ve watched very few of them. I’ve never seen an episode of Stargate Atlantis or Battlestar Galactica, but I have them all recorded.

Bonus: I had a premonition when my last boy was born. A few minutes before he was born, I felt this feeling of dread cover my body that something was wrong. When my boy was born, the doctors instantly saw that something was wrong. He was flown to another hospital where he had open heart surgery. My wife had also become crippled during labor.