Ten Random Facts About Me

One of the prompts for blaugust is Tell us ten random facts about the human behind the blog. So here are ten random facts about me!

1. Dinner With a King

I had dinner with King Abdhullah of Saudi Arabia in 2009.

I was contributing to TechCrunch at the time, and was invited to Saudi Arabia to cover the grand opening of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. I was one of several tech journalists there, and it was a super interesting experience. After the grand opening ceremony, there was a dinner for all the invited guests. This dinner took place in an enormous reception hall, and there were hundreds of tables, and an astonishing number of human beings. One of those human beings was the King, who of course sat at the head table. My table was way in the back of the room, and I could barely see him. I certainly never spoke to him, let alone get close to him, but the fact remains: I had dinner with a ruling monarch.

2. SCUBA diving

I am a PADI certified scuba diver. I've only been diving three times, though. I'd like to do it again.

3. High Cholesterol

I have hereditary high cholesterol. Without medication, my cholesterol levels are in the 300s or above. I've been taking ezetimibe and rosuvastatin for two decades, and that kept my numbers hovering just under 200, which is still high. I recently started taking Repatha, and that dropped my numbers to under 100!

4. Mental Health

I've struggled with my mental health for a long time. I've written about my short temper. I spent quite some time working with a therapist, and I'm generally a big proponent of more people getting more therapy. Being able to talk, to externalize thoughts and feelings, with someone neutral is extremely helpful. A good therapist should help you identify patterns of behaviour, encourage and support meaningful self-reflection, and be a real champion for your success.

My therapist prescribed citalopram for me and I've been taking it daily for a couple of years. I was very worried before starting it that the drug would dull me, or impair me, or somehow diminish my experiences of the world. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Since starting it, I've had much better success self-regulating. Things still piss me off, and I still get angry about things, but it takes lot more over a lot longer period of time before I reach a breaking point.

I've been wondering if I should ween off the drug now. It has helped me have time and energy to build additional coping mechanism, but are those sufficient? Do I still need the assistance of the drug? My gut feel is that no, I'm not ready to stop taking it, but it's something about which I think.

5. Tattoos

I have four tattoos. I want more, but I'm suffering significant analysis paralysis as to what to get, and where to put it.

6. Swole

I've been seeing a personal trainer at the gym once a week for the last two years. I am significantly stronger than I was when I started! I'm not trying to get ripped, but I do want to ensure my body remains healthy and functional as I age. Once a week at the gym was rough to start, but now it's not enough. I need to go more.

I used to hate going to the training sessions. It was something I needed to do, not something I wanted to do. I'm finally at the stage where I look forward to my sessions! I've been doing it long enough now that I know what to expect, and I know I'll feel better afterwards. I'm not quite at the point of being motivated to go three times a week, but I'm definitely approaching that point.

I find that the accountability of meeting someone for my sessions helps motivate me. It's also super helpful for me to not think about the program: I just follow instructions. When I work on out on my own (say, at a hotel when traveling or if my trainer is sick), I find myself doing less and with less enthusiasm. I still need to overcome this, to be able to really put in a good workout on my own.

7. Grandfather

When I was 16, I got my girlfriend pregnant. We elected to have the baby and give it up for adoption. I've stayed in touch with son through the years,and it's been a real delight. When he was 16, he called to tell me that he had impregnated his girlfriend. They also chose to have the baby and give it up for adoption. I've never met her, but I have a granddaughter.

8. Editor

I have a credit as an editor in the Index Card RPG Master Edition. I helped Brandon copyedit the book, mostly spotting typos. It was a total labor of love, because my reading gets really disrupted by typos (despite making so many of them myself!). I didn't get paid, I have no formal training in the editing process, and upon publication it was obvious how much more editing the book could have benefited from (at least with respect to internal references and consistency: I clobbered most of the typos!).

9. Vegetarian-ish

I'm mostly vegetarian (technically pescatarian, because I eat a lot of fish). When there are abundant options available, I'll usually select vegetarian. But I get hangry when I don't eat, so I prioritize my body's needs over my values. If the only thing available is a meat dish, I'm going to eat meat.

I'm also a very picky vegetarian. I absolutely hate olives. I don't like cherries, or grapes, or pineapple, or honeydew. I've acclimated to cucumber.

10. Agnostic

I was raised Catholic, but I am currently agnostic. Too much about Catholicism and Christianity just don't make sense. I'm not willing to completely reject the notion of some kind of deity responsible for creating everything, but I can't possibly fathom what that might be like so I simply don't worry about it.

Treating others with kindness and respect, making the world a better place, and improving myself are all things I can do without a religious belief.