100 things about kurt

1. I was born the youngest of four children.
2. My brother is about 12 years older than me.
3. My mother married my dad when I was 2 - I have memories of the wedding.
4. They weren't very happy together.
5. They divorced when I was 7.
6. My dad broke the news to me. I swore to not tell anyone for 10 years, but I broke down that night and told my mom what I knew.
7. As a child I enjoyed playing with my toys. I had assorted GI Joes, Transformers, He-Man, and super hero action figures.
8. As an adult, I still have toys that I sometimes play with.
9. By the time I was 8, I had become a huge Cubs fan.
10. Before then, I used to cry when the Cubs would be on TV because it meant I couldn't watch my cartoons.
11. I still remember the game where Ronald Reagan was in the booth with Harry Caray. I was only 8.
12. As a child I had an imaginary friend named "Angel." Later on, Angel would get his own TV deal and star in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (That's a joke)
13. My first memory of my best friend stems from a gym-class incident in which he said, "I'm a bitch. You a bitch?"
14. At the age of 10, my mom remarried.
15. We soon thereafter moved to Hedgesville, WV.
16. The final evening in Bolivar was spent in the playground outside the school with my childhood best friend, Mike Accocello. For a considerable time, I considered it the most important night of my life.
17. I developed a lot of my hobbies while there. I began reading (books and comics), and became a lover of Star Wars.
18. I also developed a sleeping disorder.
19. Because of my fascination with Star Wars, I managed to get over my fear of being the last one awake in the house, and would spend that time thinking about the Star Wars universe.
20. I moved back to Bolivar at the age of 14.
21. Where before I had been a popular person, I soon became very shy and was teased by my peers.
22. However it wasn't long before I made a few friends, including Chad.
23. We both collected comics and our first discussion ever (foreshadowing what was to come) was about politics as I walked home with him.
24. I often spent many of my weekends staying with another friend named Josiah.
25. We would go to sleep at night listening to sappy 80's songs. Today I can't stand that music.
26. In the morning we'd go to church - believe it or not, Josiah's dad was a pastor.
27. By the time I was 14, I absolutely believed I had a soul-mate and would sometimes spend late evenings walking around town looking for her.
28. I would often wind up at the swings outside the high school, wishing I was happier.
29. I began writing terrible poetry while in my teens.
30. My fascination with writing continues to this day.
31. When I turned 17, something changed in me and I became a happier person. I guess I stopped worrying so much.
32. I started using the internet regularly when I was 17, as well. There I met friends I still have today, including Park Cooper and his wife Barb.
33. I don't think the happiness I found is related to the internet, but hey, you never know.
34. In my teens my favorite band was the Eagles, as well as Nine Inch Nails, Bush, and others.
35. My all time favorite song is Hotel California, along with Wasted Time.
36. I listened to Hotel California constantly when I was a teen - it was on repeat every day and night for probably 9 months.
37. I also became a big reader of Stephen King novels at the time. While in my teens I probably read almost every book he'd published.
38. I lost my shyness while taking a theater arts class my senior year in high school. I discovered I could sometimes be funny.
39. I also began to lose touch with Chad. He began dating the woman he'd later marry, and our friendship drifted.
40. When I was 18, I graduated high school and was witness to the best Cubs season in almost a decade.
41. That summer I watched or listened to almost every single Cubs game.
42. I did miss a series against the White Sox while visiting Mike in South Carolina, where he then lived.
43. I was there for his graduation.
44. He later came to New York to see my graduation as well.
45. We then drove to Chicago with my sister, her boyfriend, and my brother.
46. I saw my first Cubs game that summer. Kerry Wood struck out 12 Diamond-backs as the Cubs won the game.
47. I next went to Chicago in October to see Kerry Wood again, this time losing against the Braves. The Cubs were eliminated from the playoffs that night.
48. While there I bought my first two Cubs jerseys.
49. I also happened to start college that fall. I attended JCC in Olean.
50. While there I encountered a lot of people who had a considerable influence in my life, including Rich Hauzinger and especially Leslie and Brad.
51. My first semester at JCC I was taking an English course. It was revealed to me halfway through that I already had credits for the course from AP English in Bolivar.
52. Because of the encouragement of a few friends, I wound up taking Achievement in Self in the second semester.
53. It was there that I really began to change as a person.
54. I began spending every Thursday sitting in Brad's office, talking with him about things. I feel it really helped me grow.
55. As the summer began, I became very good friends with a guy named Jeremiah.
56. Soon, Chad, Jeremiah, and I began spending a lot of time together, staying up all night, talking, and sometimes drinking.
57. As my second year at JCC began, Jeremiah enrolled at the last possible moment and started going to school again with Chad and I.
58. I also began working in radio, at first as an intern and later as a fully paid employee.
59. This was also the year that I met another long-term friend, Joe Hooker.
60. That final year of school blurred by. I was later accepted into a Division I school before electing to attend at Fredonia (which was considerably cheaper).
61. At Fredonia in my first year, I was stuck with a pot-smoking roommate who I never really got to know.
62. I also met a few other interesting/cool people at the radio station there.
63. I wound up really valuing my time at Fredonia. The friends I made, be they neighbors, RA's, or people from different clubs.
64. I also took some hits in my GPA for a variety of reasons, but that was purely my fault and my mistakes.
65. The last year at Fredonia, I met Carolyn via her friend Sara, who I'd met because of Christopher Priest, whose website I'd visted because I was a comic book fan.
66. Carolyn and I began dating that summer.
67. I actually had to take a horrible, disgusting job at the local Uni-Mart because my first phone bill with Carolyn was around $300.
68. I worked there for nearly six months.
69. Before long, Carolyn and I were seeing each other every other weekend.
70. I've been detained on two occasions because customs believed I was going to Toronto to rape someone.
71. At one point I wound up working for the woman who had an affair with the father of another person I was working for at the same time.
72. She was a scary psychotic woman known to have complete breakdowns at work, thus requiring trips to the hospital.
73. Because of my inability to fall asleep easily, I used to stay up sometimes until the dawn, before sleeping away most of the day.
74. In my senior year at college, I weighed 295 pounds. Over the course of about 8 months, I lost 100 pounds.
75. These days I've gained back some of the weight, I tend to float between 220 and 230.
76. My favorite books of all time are two young adult novels by Gary Paulsen. They are "The Crossing," and "Dancing Carl."
77. My favorite movie may be American Beauty, which was the single simularity between Carolyn and I that sparked our first discussion.
78. Last August Carolyn and I drove out west, all the way to British Columbia.
79. On the way home, we decided at the last minute to see a Cubs game.
80. We bought the last seats in the house - literally. The guy behind us had to buy standing tickets only.
81. We also went to Iowa to see the Field of Dreams.
82. We went to Moose Jaw, where there are tunnels dating back to the bootlegging days of Al Capone.
83. And we visited Head Smash In Buffalo Jump.
84. I spent a few days with my brother as well, who I hadn't seen in over a year. It was a lot of fun.
85. Over the past few months Carolyn and I have planned for me to move to Toronto, where I will hopefully be living by early November.
86. We are also going out east in August.
87. I once almost died because I swirved to miss a dead deer lying in my lane on the high way. I was going 70 MPH, and I cut across the median into oncoming traffic.
88. The car and I were fine. I finished my drive to Fredonia. I didn't even have a chance to get scared.
89. Six months later, the car completely collapsed.
90. I wound up buying a Saturn, which needed a new engine, a new transmission, it needed a new alternator twice, plus minor assorted work.
91. I believe that everyone wants to be happy, but often do not know how to be so.
92. I was recently put on someone's prayer list because I'm liberal and I don't believe homosexuals shouldn't marry, and because I believe non-christians won't go to hell.
93. I believe I can mathematically prove God's existence, but most people disagree.
94. I still occasionally write, but a lot less often than I'd like.
95. I'm hoping to spend time writing once I'm in Toronto, while I'm looking for jobs.
96. For many years, I wore a claddaugh ring, saying I was taken but I just hadn't met the girl yet. I still wear it.
97. I also bought one for Carolyn a few Christmases a go.
98. I tend to be a very, very silly person.
99. I can also be shy and reserved around people I don't know.
100. These days, I'm normally a very happy person.