About Me

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In grade school they called me "weird," "geek," "fag" — and to their credit I was rather strange. In other words, I was interested. Interested in science. Interested in science fiction. Interested in spirituality. Interested in the world around me. And, when interest in girls arrived, and they made it clear they weren't interested in me, my other interests provided a comforting distraction. And though my odd interests made me a pariah, I chose not to give up on being interested, coping with conformist pressure by becoming quiet and reserved.

I populated my secret world with comic books — The Amazing Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Marvel Team-Up with Spider-Man — okay, yeah, I was obsessed with Spider-Man — but also Dr. Strange, The Incredible Hulk, The Fantastic Four, and various others.

I also watched a lot of TV: Lost in Space, Star Trek, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., I Spy, Fireball XL5, Honey West, and of course the usuals, like Bewitched, The Flying Nun, Sea Hunt, Flipper — I had eclectic tastes.

I hated reading — probably due to the PTSD brought on by the Dick & Jane Incident. I remember the chairs circled up, and we first graders sitting in them — the book in our laps: Dick and Jane. The teacher had us read aloud — one after another. Soon it was my turn.

"See Dick run. Run, Dick, run. See Jane run. Run, Jane, run —" It was at this point that I made some disparaging comment regarding the mundane events unfolding and was banished to the corner.

Actually, my primary school insubordination began much earlier. Every kindergarten report card was marked "unsatisfactory" — and my rebellion continued throughout grade school. At home I played with my chemistry set, the monthly "Things of Science" kits mailed to our door, or I read my monthly Nature & Science magazine. Later I branched into electronics, sparked by a Science Fair 50-in-1 Electronics Kit from Radio Shack. At school, bored, I sculpted figures from modeling clay in the book well beneath my desk, or sold "Creepy Crawly" plastic critters to my classmates when the teacher wasn't looking. I manufactured these at home with my Mattel Thing Maker — I can still smell the Plastigoop fumes.

If you're noticing a trend, you're right, I essentially home-schooled myself — a mode that extended into my adult life where I masqueraded as an electronics technician, then software engineer. Later on, I was diagnosed with a "learning disability," but I like to think of it as a specialized learning style — one not available in the public schools I attended.

I regarded homework as an invasion of my personal space and rebelled against it on principle.

It wasn't until my eleventh birthday that I discovered recreational reading. My favorite grandfather (who was soon to become even more beloved) gave me the book S is for Space by Ray Bradbury. I loved this book! The short stories ignited my imagination. I rushed to the local library and filled out an application for a library card — having discovered I could borrow books for free.

I devoured R is for Rocket and The Illustrated Man. I couldn't stuff the words into my eyeballs fast enough. After that I plowed through Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Lester del Rey, Frank Herbert, J.R.R. Tolkien. I discovered Philip K. Dick later in life, but he also deserves a place in that lineup.

Some of my favorite movies are:

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey [I could watch it another 50 times and still love it]
  • The original 3 Star Wars movies [IV, V, VI]
  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture [yeah, I actually love that movie!]
  • Harold and Maude [like I said, eclectic tastes]
  • Galaxy Quest [!!]
  • My Cousin Vinny
  • My Fair Lady [One of these days I plan to rip the DVD, load the resulting file into a video editor and replace the Marni Nixon over-dub with Audrey Hepburn. Not that there is anything wrong with Marni Nixon's voice (it's loverly), but Hepburn's performance is delightfully raw and captures the character so much better.]
  • There are many more, but I just wanted to give you a taste of my tastes.

Are you getting a sense of why those grade school bullies called me a "fag"?

Yeah, I was weird, and I still am. I don't care about sports, though I have a passing interest in golf, and I do enjoy the Super Bowl, but don't look for me at Super Bowl parties, or any parties for that matter. I hate parties — they wear me out — as does socializing in general. There are a handful of people who are an exception — for instance my wife, who is also my best friend, basically people with open minds who are unlikely to judge or manipulate or control.

Essentially I'm an agnostic hermit who appreciates Buddhism as a guide for decent living and who wishes people would just live and let live. Also, I'm probably on the autistic spectrum, which would explain a lot!

[My goatee looks like one of those cloud bursts where the rain evaporates before reaching the desert floor.]