Joseph M Kurtenbach

At long last, here are my answers to the remaining questions posed by Kana Tyler on her post A Game of Blog-Tag:  YOU’RE It! over at her terrific blog Kana’s Chronicles.  My answers to the first three questions are here in Part 1.  As I stated in Part 1, the questions provided me some much needed inspiration and I knew I’d enjoy taking a stab at them, even if I were too lazy to really play the game as it was intended.  Never fear, those of you who blog, however!  Accept the mantle, go over to Kana’s post, and have a go at the game yourself!

4.  What’s something you’re great at?

I’m great at not saying the first thing that comes into my head.  This trait has undoubtedly kept me out of trouble countless times, but probably also makes me seem a bit slow.  Okay, more than seem.  To be fair, there have also been times that my silent initial response to someone else communicating with me has also got me into trouble.  One does not always have to speak in order to suffer from foot-in-mouth disease.

5.  What’s something you’re terrible at?

Writing the first thing that comes into my head, when I can easily edit it later.  The tendency to edit before I write makes me a very slow writer.  And stifles, or even chokes, creativity to a degree.  It does, however, make rewrites less painful.

6.  Who’s your favorite superhero (and why)?

Superman, of course.  Why?  Two words:  Lois Lane.

7.  What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?

Unfortunately, I can’t remember precisely.  I think at the time I first read this question, my most recent LOL moment had been something I’d seen on the Discovery Channel show Mythbusters.  I love that show, for too many reasons to get into here.  Maybe I’ll write more about the show in another post.

Thinking further about this question reminded me of the last time that I laughed so long and hard that my jaw hurt.  It was perhaps a couple of months ago talking on the phone with my best friend.  We live several hundred miles away from each other now, so don’t get the chance to hang out very often.  But we share some great memories of our younger years and can still get each other laughing uncontrollably sometimes.  Sheesh, I’m sounding old.

8.  What’s your least favorite Rule to follow? (Do you follow it?)

When I think Rule, the primary one that comes to mind is The Golden Rule, but I like following that one.  I guess I could say I don’t like following legal speed limits sometimes, but for the most part I do, give or take up to 5 mph depending on the driving environment.  Many years ago I got Jury Duty and served in a civil trial of a young man who had been driving about 10 or 15 mph above the residential speed limit when he hit and killed a young child.  That trial is never too far from my mind when I’m driving.

9.  What’s the ring-tone on your phone?

One of the generic ones that came with the phone.  Rather musical and pleasant, though not so mild I’m unlikely to hear it in a noisy environment.  Nothing exciting, but rather telling in its own way, I suppose.  For a long time, on a previous phone, my ring-tone was a clip from the song, “The Sweet Escape” by Gwen Stefani.  I’m not a total bore.

10.  What quirky habit are you willing to confess to?

Hmm.  Quirky.  Well, I will admit to having a touch, or maybe more than a touch, of OCD.  I’m far from the tidiest person you’ll ever meet, and live with my share of random clutter, though I do dust and vacuum on a fairly routine basis, and my living space is easy for me and my dog to get around and be comfortable in.  But sometimes, some things have to be just so for me, and I find it hard to leave it alone until I correct the situation.  Like, for example, a towel I just folded and put away has a turned-up corner  or unsightly wrinkle — gotta fix that.  Or the placement of a shoe box is not just right in my closet.  Or I notice I missed a teeny streak of dust on something I dusted yesterday.  Or I accidentally leave a small crumb of food on a counter or tabletop.  These are things that I feel a strong urge to correct immediately, and I almost always do.  I’ve found that I can force myself to walk away from the situation, realizing it is OCD (maybe not technically, but something akin to it), and I will shortly forget about it and that leaving-of-something-undone doesn’t continue to annoy me for very long.  But that momentary need to correct a perceived flaw in my environment does occur pretty regularly.  I can understand and have great sympathy for those whose lives are impacted to a much greater degree with true obsessive-compulsive disorder.

11.  When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?  (Any resemblance to your life now?)

For most of my childhood I wanted to be a veterinarian.  I think when I grew old enough to realize how much college that would require, and how much time and dedication would be required of me on an ongoing basis to be a truly good and skilled veterinarian, I began to shy away from that career goal.  I did eventually get an Associate Degree in veterinary technology, and worked as a vet tech, a zoo keeper, and in a veterinary diagnostic lab for quite a few years, until my wandering interests took me into other careers.

There now.  Once again, thanks to Kana for passing along the game and providing the questions.

Stay tuned for my next post, a science-fiction vignette of a dystopian future that I’m calling, “A McDonald’s Love Story.”  I don’t think you’ll want to miss this one.

Please feel welcome to comment on any of my answers, or answer any of these questions your own self, right here.  Below.  In the neat little window down there created just for that purpose.  Maybe you didn’t know this, but sometimes my comment section gets lonely.  Even just say Hi.  It’s okay; sometimes that little two-letter word is all I can manage, too.  I really am a very quiet person until I really get to know you, but somehow I’m always glad to say just, “hi,” to a person, if they say it to me first.  And then, afterward, for some reason, it usually feels kind of good.  Not like I was forced to say it, or anything.