Thursday, December 14, 2006

Tagasaurus Rex... Time to lay it on the line.

So in the quest for truth and full-disclosure, after revealing six real life facts about himself on his blog, Cornbread tagged me (along with five others), so now it's time for me to give you six glimpses into myself that you may not know. Here it goes...
  1. My number one goal in 2006 is to slow down -- Ask anyone that knows me well about my driving style, and you'll probably get a range of responses. But "too fast" would probably be a part of every single one of them. But after getting two tickets and about four warnings in the span of a year (in 2005), I decided enough was enough. It's time to slow down. And I think that after our trip to the HFF, CVO and Em would probably agree that I'm doing better so far. I'm not perfect -- I still like to see what the car feels like at 100+ sometimes, but those days are fewer and farther between than ever before. Perhaps I'm growing up... a little.
  2. I say "I love you" a lot -- Just this morning, Laura and I were pondering how many times we tell eachother we love eachother while we're getting ready in the morning. It's a lot. When I was a child, my Mom taught me that it was important to tell people you love that you love them, and to do it often. Maybe Laura and I take it too far, but if something ever happens to me, I want for one of the last things Laura heard come out of my mouth to be "I love you."
  3. I struggle with depression every single day -- This is incredibly hard to talk about for me, and I don't really know what to say about it. Those of you who know depression understand how incredibly dark and frivolous life can be at times. Those of you who don't know this place, congratulations, you're one of the lucky ones. I kicked the anti-depressants to the curb about two years ago -- I'd never actually considered suicide until I was on those things. Luckily I had a moment of clarity and realized the drugs weren't working, and that I needed to get them out of my life. But if I ever seem a little distant, quiet, or simply absent, be confident it's not you, or anything you did. I'm probably just having a dark day and am doing the best I can just to get through the day.
  4. Rick Johnson was my #1 hero growing up -- During my teenage years (mid-80s), he was the person I most sought to emulate. From his Oakley sunglasses to his fluid, aggressive, flamboyant riding style, Rick had the image I wanted to have. Remember the "Bad Boy Club"? I had the vinyl die-cut BBC sticker in the back window of my 1982 Mercury Lynx (along with a teal-green Oakley Factory Pilot sticker, of course).
  5. I love animals -- I sometimes think my life could be content just having dogs and cats, as opposed to children. Don't get me wrong, I want to have children with Laura, but if it never came to pass, we'd still have our pets.
  6. Learning to fly -- When I was five years old, I didn't have my own bike yet, but I taught myself how to ride in the driveway of my babysitter's house one day. I was afraid to tell anyone though, because I thought my parents would be mad that I taught myself how to do it. So a short time later, when my parents got me a bike of my own, I was forced to ride it for about two weeks with training wheels before I finally got up the nerve to admit that I actually already knew how to ride without them. I'll never forget the freedom I felt flying down the hill from our shop to the house, unencumbered by the constraints of the training wheels. And it's that freedom that lies at the heart of my love for bicycles and the sport of cycling. When I feel that wind in my hair, it's like I'm five years old all over again.
And with that, you now know six things about me that may, or may not surprise you, depending on who you are.

As one of the liberated, I'm going to take this opportunity to tag a couple of people. Bdiddy, Pcakes, Redstone and -kw -- you've been tagged!

10 comments:

debaser said...

Yep, #2. So much so that my wife will call me back if I it isn't the last thing I say.

gravy said...

I've been in the dark so long my eyes have adjusted to it. I try to be very zen about it though. "All things shall pass."

My meds are in my head. Sometimes in Wildy Park I just coast along hearing Jimi play Easy Rider.

Anonymous said...

Great list MG. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, stay off those antidepressants. The FDA is considering changing the prescribing info on must SSRI's. Just not safe.

Pets are awesome. They're always happy to see ya. Gotta love that.

MG said...

nice ganzel. i know you and z are totally that way. who'd have thunk it? she won you over...

"...my eyes have adjusted to it." that's a good description of how you deal with it. last night i was in a bad funk but then i rode through the park. started late - about 8:30, so i didn't see anyone else out there. i find it ironic that you say "all things shall pass," because my mantra through those times is very close to yours -- a take off of a 311 song actually -- this too shall pass.

thanks cornbread. i just got back to work from seeing three very happy animals. it's a good day to be a dog! but then i suppose today's a great day to be just about any living creature -- it's absolutely beautiful outside!

wanna ride tonight? i'm gonna.

Anonymous said...

I really, really wanna. Haven't been on a bike in 3 days and it's killin' me. Been sick. Same thing CVO has, but probably a little worse. Sux. Hope to kick it by the weekend.

Anonymous said...

Oh, so no ride for me. I really shouldn't. Don't wanna allow the sickness to migrate further down into my lungs. Thanks though.

Anonymous said...

you fly, I see it every single time.

We have decided on only having pets, you can lock them in cages ;)

BTW: these are so fun.

debaser said...

You said the 'd' word, so I'll say this: Regardess of what you may feel inside sometimes, you've always seemed to show the relentlessly postive side of things 99% of the time.

MG said...

being around my friends makes it hard for me to be depressed. i just need to spend more time with my friends and less time alone... but that's the paradox, when i'm depressed, the last thing i want to do is to be in a group. which isn't the worst thing in the world for my friends either, cuz my mood would most certainly play 'debbie downer' on the vibe.

but it's a good day today, and it's gonna be a beautiful weekend too! mw and i got a great run through the park last night, and i'm hoping to repeat it tonight. too bad i can't be off work today like cvo...

MG said...

feel better cornbread!!