100 things

100 Things about Kevin

1. I was born in Belleville, IL, but have never lived there.
2. I grew up in New Baden and lived there for 18 years, same house, same room and have only been back for extended stays, the longest being 2 months between my freshman and sophomore years in college. Also received my one and only job firing that summer because I was “not Houllihan material.”
3. I went to Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. Named for the Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, Germany where Martin Luther sought refuge during the stormy days of the reformation. It’s a college of the ELCA.
4. It was those fours years of Lutheran college that convinced me that religion is a destructive and mind-numbing mythology and you don’t have to follow religion to be a “good” person.
5. It was those four years that also helped to keep me in the closet as long as I was.
6. I have been attracted to other guys since I was a little kid which was odd, because as a toddler I had a fascination with breasts. Freud would have a field day.
7. I thought my attraction was due to the fact that I wanted to look like the other guys.
8. I was a skinny kid until I turned 10. You can clearly see the fattening of Kevin in my school pictures.
9. I stayed fat until I was 19 when suddenly I developed a penchant for jogging and working out.
10. It was the same year I developed that jogging obsession that A) I found out both my sister and my childhood pastor were gay, B) my one and only girl friend broke up with me and C)My parents got a divorce. Running was cheaper than therapy.
11. That attraction for guys didn’t go away after even after I “looked” like the guys I had admired for so long.
12. I have loved cooking and serving 7 course dinners from the time I was 12.
13. I had a fully functional theatre in the garage (complete with light boards, sound system, a proscenium that could be raised in the rafters and a working curtain) which provided post-meal entertainment for those dinners.
14. I built an herb garden to supply the dinners with fresh flavors when I was 14.
15. I stole bricks kept in heaps in other people’s yards to build that garden.
16. I redecorated my room when I was 16 in a tasteful, low-key country style.
17. At the age of seven I took up the violin after seeing a performance of “Peter and the Wolf” where a young lady stood up and did a violin solo.
18. Later that year (on my aunt's birthday) I was diagnosed with Acute Lyphocytic Lukemia (ALL) and gave up the violin shortly thereafter.
19. I found a new passion when I first heard the Vienna Choir Boys.
20. I joined the Masterworks Children’s Choir in Belleville, IL when I was 10.
21. That same year I finished treatment for ALL.
22. I stayed with the choir for 2 years until my voice changed.
23. Then I tried to form my own boys’ choir in New Baden. I was miffed when no one showed up for the auditions.
24. Growing up, I never got along with kids my own age. I always felt more comfortable around adults or folks older than myself in general.
25. That pretty much held true until recently when I discovered that there are people out there around my age that have actually begun living their lives.
26. There’s plenty of other guys (and gals) out there that I still can’t get along with solely because they have no life experiences and no passions.
27. My passion is music. Specifically, children singing.
28. When given the choice of music to listen to, even as a toddler, I always chose classical music over anything else. My mom, grandma and cousin started giving me my own classical records when I was 6.
29. I completely missed out on popular music growing up and have no recollection of what the hit songs were through my adolescence and teen years.
30. For that matter, I have no idea what the popular music was in college or at present.
31. I’ve had a few friends make mix tapes for me of “cool music.” Beyond those tapes, I’ve only bought, at most, 10 CDs of non-classical or jazz/big band music.
32. I teach elementary vocal music now.
33. But I’m not a typical music teacher in the sense that I’m not a music or education snob and I don’t think myself all that odd.
34. I like to laugh and like to make my students laugh.
35. There are very few things I take seriously enough that I won’t laugh at it.
36. I don’t understand, and can not relate to, people who do not have a passion for something.
37. While I respect people with a passion for gaming, I have nothing to talk to them about.
38. I also don’t understand people who do not have a dream job. Winning the lottery and doing nothing is not a dream job.
39. Curtains and blinds should be open during the day. Especially sunny days. If it’s summer, closing the sheers is appropriate, but the house should never be dark during the day.
40. I can’t watch TV in the dark or sit in dark rooms. It’s depressing to me. I have no problem paying a higher electricity bill if it means I can live in a bright home.
41. Though I'm not obsessed about it, I like a clean home. Cleaning does NOT mean piling everything up and putting it where you can’t see it.
42. As my mom said, “everything has a place and everything goes in it’s place.” Believe it or not, this makes for a very happy home.
43. I hate clutter and because of this, I do not collect anything. Magazines are promptly recycled after they’ve been read and books are donated to the library.
44. Memorabilia from places and things I’ve actually done are the only things I keep.
45. I’m a big procrastinator when it comes to big projects.
46. I make my bed every day.
47. I visit the dentist every six months and so should you.
48. I haven’t had a new cavity since I was in High School.
49. The only two car accidents I’ve had were also in High School.
50. Since infancy, I’ve been a sickly person. I seem to catch everything that blows in the wind and am at the doctor at least 4 times a year getting treated for something.
51. I’ve had tubes in my ears 4 times. I’ve had a lump and three moles removed from my body. I had my tonsils out at age 26 and one other surgery I’d rather not mention.
52. Medicine is our friend. When you get sick, go to the doctor, get something and get better. And if it’s not that bad, there’s no shame in Nyquil. And I don’t understand people who think there is. I hope in the next 100 years we will be able to shed that machismo bullcrap from our societal brains.
53. Plants, like people and animals, need to be cared for and loved. Even if this means talking to them occasionally.
54. I have little need for heavy metal, rap and most rock.
55. I enjoy music that can actually make a cloudy sky appear serenely beautiful.
56. For me, this mostly means classical, opera, and some alternative music.
57. New age music is too monotonous and repetitive for my tastes.
58. I’m a very unpicky eater.
59. But I don’t like brussels sprouts or lima beans.
60. There is no room in my life for passive-aggressive people.
61. If I feel something or believe something, I have no problem telling you.
62. “What’s wrong?” “Nothing.” … is passive aggressive.
63. I don’t shy away from an argument or discussion and I will not leave the room until it’s resolved.
64. In social or work settings, I tend to use humor to work through issues.
65. I often use humor to mask my true emotions. Always unconsciously.
66. There are two very distinct sides to my personality. One is sexual, one is not and I struggle daily to reconcile the two.
67. I’m most attracted to blue-collar type men.
68. I am a decidedly well-educated, white-collar guy.
69. Nothing brings a smile to my face faster than hearing children sing or getting a hug from a kindergartner.
70. Almost daily, someone tells me how good a job I do as a music teacher. I don’t know how to respond to these compliments. Honestly, I love my job and put little thought into how I do it. Teaching music to children is such a natural and easy fit, most days I don’t feel as if I’ve worked.
71. Except the days I have to work with a group of 6th grade girls who’ve all gotten on the same cycle.
72. My dream job would be directing a children’s choir full-time.
73. My tastes in clothes, food and style do not match my meager teacher's salary.
74. This issue has caused me many credit problems in the past. They’re since been resolved and never happened again.
75. I could not date a person who has a great deal of credit card debt.
76. I’ve always believed that you need to pay your debt off before you pay yourself.
77. I don’t include car and house debt in that maxim.
78. Because a good part of my childhood was spent in illness, I think of myself more a kid now than I ever did when I was a kid.
79. I love miniature golf, ping pong, bowling, bad-mitten, and hide and seek.
80. Besides those sports and a few others, I’ve never been a sports person.
81. Except when I played t-ball as a very young kid. And then in Junior High tried to play basketball, but was so terrible, I was told I had a choice: Either I could sit on the bench the rest of the season or just not show up anymore. I just stopped showing up.
82. To this day, I find no enjoyment in watching sports outside of the Olympics.
83. Ironically, anything that involved balls scared me as a kid. Again, Freud would love this.
84. Otherwise, I’m VERY easily entertained. It doesn’t take much to make me like a movie.
85. I laugh, a lot, at children’s jokes.
86. If I have the choice, the TV stays off. There are very few shows I watch religiously. Project runway and Desperate Housewives are about it.
87. I have no time for most other reality shows. If the TV is on, I mostly watch comedy shows and documentaries or almost anything on the history channel.
88. If I hadn’t done something with music I would have either been a chef, or a history teacher or some kind of interior designer.
89. I was enrolled in the New England Culinary institute before I changed my mind and went to Wartburg to be a music teacher.
90. There is a fine, but definite, line between sarcasm and wit. I’ll take wit any day. I often get sick of all the sarcasm in the world.
91. I’m not a democrat or a republican. I am a social liberal but a fiscal conservative.
92. I get along very easily in crowds of people I don’t know.
93. I hate admitting it, but I’m very good at small talk. But if there isn’t substance or chemistry, small talk is as good as it gets with me.
94. I don’t understand people who are rude or inconsiderate.
95. This includes people who litter or don’t put their shopping cart back in the carrel.
96. I’m more of a dog than cat person. And I prefer dogs that don’t shed.
97. I have many acquaintances but few real friends. But those friendships are very close and intense. It takes quite awhile to become my friend.
98. I have never made a real friend by chatting or e-mailing online. Part of me gets tired of the effort I have to put forth not only in writing and responding, but in deciphering the tone of the e-mail and chat.
99. I have one addiction. And no, it's not drugs or alcohol.
100. If I have my choice, I do not hang out with smokers and would not date a smoker. Especially if he smokes in his house.