25 Things

The term Internet meme is a neologism used to describe a catchphrase or concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the Internet. (thank you, Wikipedia)

And that, my friends, explains the dancing baby, the dancing hamsters, the dancing prisoners (anyone else notice how many things are dancing on the World Wide Web?) and "all your base belong to us."

It also explains the chain mail-like nature of the 25 things meme that has swept through Facebook like a band of rampaging zombies. (You can't kill it - look out! Run! Zombies Ahead! - btw, did anyone else get to see this?)

But I digress. (Heck, that pretty much covers about 1/2 of my blogging - I am the King of Digressions, the Duke of Rabbit Chasing, the Earl of Run-On Sentences, the Vizier of Parenthetical Reference Overuse... ehem.)

So, my 25 things. I will NOT be "tagging" anyone with this... if you want to join in, do it. If not, don't. It's a free country.

1. I have glaucoma. It was actually diagnosed when I was 6 months old & I had surgeries to stop the progress of the disease.
2. I've never broken any bones - well, maybe my toe, but probably not. Anyway, no casts.
3. The guys from Hokus Pick used to call me "Dad" - I don't remember why but I'm really proud of that.
4. I've actually had a hand in two different books: I wrote the teaching materials for a Jay Strack "True Love Waits" book and consulted on Klutz's latest board games book.
5. Frank Branham gave me playtesting credits on Dia de los Muertos (which I only played once) but didn't give me playtesting credits on Nodwick: The Card Game (which I played a lot).
6. I've said this before, but I played keyboards & sang in a rock'n'roll band. We weren't very good.
7. I sold a chunk of my comic book collection to buy Shari's engagement ring.
8. I did NOT know Shari was 18 when we went on our first date.
9. I will eventually publish the top 35 games of the Kid Games 100 - I promise.
10. I got the Order of Light (Webelos) but wasn't interested in going much farther in the Boy Scouts, due to the stoner nature of the troop I would have been a part of in late 70's SoCal.
11. I grew up in the O.C., only we didn't call it the O.C. and it didn't look like the TV show.
12. My two best friends from high school & junior high (hi, Keith & Jim/James) live hundreds of miles from where we grew up... yet only live about 30 miles from each other.
13. I've been involved in pretty much every facet of the boardgaming hobby (family games, wargames, RPG's, CCG's, Euros, etc.) with the exception of serious miniatures gaming. (Now, if you count Heroscape, I've done the minis thing, too.)
14. I did not intend or want to be a minister and/or a senior pastor - I spent most of my youth telling people that was NOT going to happen.
15. I was really scared of being a dad of a boy - I've always struggled with my lack of sports and/or mechanical skills - and yet the moment Braeden was born, I knew it was right. Collin was an exclamation point at the end of the sentence, "God loves you, Mark."
16. I'm secretly enjoying watching season 5 of the Gilmore Girls with Shari, but don't tell her that.
17. I don't have a gall bladder... any more.
18. There's a part of me that wonders if I couldn't find a job with the Disney parks when I retire.
19. I work very hard not to be obnoxious about what I believe, but the birth, death & resurrection of Jesus Christ is at the absolute center of my life. And not just because I preach for a living.
20. Shari & I will be married for 19 years this June - I am a blessed man.
21. I still think Frank Branham's Battle Beyond Space deserves publication... and I don't care who knows it.
22. Sometimes I still wonder what I could have done differently to keep the church @ hickory hollow from dying.
23. I live close enough to go to high school reunion stuff now, but a lot of those folks weren't particularly kind to me 25 years ago so I'm not sure I want to subject myself to that again.
24. I love to read.
25. I wish there was a way I could tell people about grace & truth & love that helped them know & experience it rather than cause them to go 15 rounds with the crappy churches & hypocritical "Christians" from their past.