20 Questions for My Youngest Brother

I taught this boy to walk, and if I hadn't used the picture you see here to the right, then I would've used another of him taking his first steps in a onesie, with me behind him looking nerdy. There's a six year difference between us, so aside from some cut and paste comics I used to make for him, we didn't share that much growing up. Not a bedroom, not the same schoolteachers, not even hair color. A pickup truck, yes, and a few family friends, but other than that, most of what I know about my youngest brother, I've learned in recent years. After I moved to San Diego, we took up swapping mix CDs by snail mail, complete with a set of rules and notes for each song included (i.e. the first track on the CD he would send me would be a reaction to the first track on the CD I sent him, same for the second tracks, the third tracks, and so on, back and forth until one of us didn't reply, which happened sometime before he joined the Navy). I hope we can pick the correspondence back up, because exposure to new music is one of my greatest joys. Anyway, I was really looking forward to reading his answers to the following questions, and I hope you enjoy them too:

1. What is your first childhood memory? I have two. One that I am almost sure isn’t real, but rather just a very realistic projection created by my imagination many years ago (probably based on a picture I’d seen): We are in the backyard . . . having some sort of a church BBQ/social, and I am fairly infantile. I am in some sort of portable baby holder and you and Jonathan are gently lobbing very small rocks into my rocker/baby holder. The other memory is very real, and I still remember it vividly. It is my fifth birthday, and we are opening gifts in the back room (that was adjoined to Mom and Dad’s room via bathroom). My couple gifts were on the pine desk, which I think Dad built years ago. The flagship gift was a Slip and Slide with an alligator mouth; we lost or tore the mouth quickly. I have lots of memories starting at about age five though, everything before then is unreliable.

2. Do you think you look more like Mom or Dad? Dad, hands down. But if you ever get to see my boot camp ID picture, you’ll learn that I look just like a 23 year-old Grandpa . . . perhaps I’ll post that online.

3. What's your zodiac sign and what does it mean to you? Cancer. It probably means I have cancer.

4. Before you got married, how many kids did you want? Two or three. My current hope is to have a girl first, and then a boy.

5. What was the last good laugh you had? I remember laughing myself to tears at the dining hall right after boot camp, but now I can’t remember what I was laughing about.

6. What was your worst subject in grade school? I’m not sure what grade school is limited to. I do remember getting a C once in elementary school in English. This is funny, because that turned out to be my strongest subject in college. However, 9th grade French is the only class I have ever failed. Post-puberty, I redeveloped my academic interests very slowly.

7. Are you more of a cat person or a dog person and why? Dog. Simply because they tend to be more affectionate, don’t make your house as hairy, and are more outgoing. But I like cats.

8. What was your first paid job? Lifeguard, unless you want to consider Mom paying us a quarter to clean her bathroom – but you asked “paid job”, not “sub-unskilled-immigrant-somewhat-paid-hardly-a-wage-labor”.

9. What's the best part of your day now? I live close enough to base that I can eat lunch with (my wife) every day.

10. What's your favorite type of cuisine and why? New Mexican - Because I miss it. If you’ve ever ordered a plate of hot red enchiladas, with beans, Spanish rice, Mexican slaw, and a fried egg on top then you already know why.

11. If you changed your first name, what would you choose instead? Turd Furgeson. I don’t know, I really don’t have any desire to change my name.

12. What was the hardest part about moving to a different town for high school? Too many things to count. I didn’t adjust well, which you may or may not know.

13. Where would you be now if you had never made that move? Perhaps a Mormon. Which means lots of things would be different.

14. When was the last time you strapped on in-line skates and why has it been so long? 9-10 months ago. No one to play hockey with, and I’m too scared to try any aggressive in-line skating anymore. But (my wife) and I do occasionally go on skating trails together.

15. What's your favorite physical trait on your wife? Her smile, because it’s the first part of her that I fell in love with.

16. What's your favorite sport and why? I enjoy baseball, simply because the fantasy community is so strong and entertaining. I rarely have the patience to watch entire sport games anymore, and I find that I enjoy fantasy baseball more than any aspect of any other sport.

17. What's your favorite holiday and why? Christmas, because it reminds me of time with family, the magic of childhood and faithfulness, and uber gifts!

18. Who was your first kiss and how old were you? Cough..Cough. Do I have to admit this? (some name this blogger doesn't recognize), 7th grade, 12 or 13 years old.

19. After the first time you played Magic, if I had told you that you'd still be playing 10-15 years later, would you have believed me or even cared? I doubt I would have believed you, but I don’t think I would have had a problem with that. The competitive Magic community is really fun, and I attribute a lot of my individuality to my interest in relatively unpopular activities.

20. If you could go back in time and see either of our parents at any age, which would you choose, at what age, and why? Dad, during his time in Navy, or his stay in Vietnam. Mostly because I’d like to know what he was like before he converted, and how he dealt with the stresses of Vietnam and armed service. But I’d also like to see Mom during her late years of high school, just to say that I’ve seen our Mom flirt with boys.

Bonus Question: What did Dad say about us becoming pharmacists? He explained that it was my calling in life, finally closing with the following remarks: "You see these varicose veins? You're an idiot if you want to be a pharmacist." But now I'm a sailor; a profession Dad was equally fond of!