Getting Kreativ

There's this thing called the Kreativ Blogger award:

and when you're tagged with it, you're supposed to answer seven set questions and offer up ten factoids about yourself, then tag seven more blogs.  It's like a Ponzi scheme of kudos or something.  I'm kidding of course - it's really more about getting the faces behind the blogs you enjoy to stick their noses out and chat about tangential stuff briefly.

...and the sky full of dust and Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque have both poked me in the ribs with this thing now, so here goes.

THE SEVEN QUESTIONS OF SOUL-BARING PSYCHOLOGICAL REVEAL-INATION:

1.  What's your favorite song?  I love all sorts of music, but I'm not certain I have a real favorite.  "Take On Me" is a good bet if you want to see me bounce around the room belting in falsetto, but I suspect that's probably true of everybody in my age cohort.  I really like XTC.  Lately I've been listening to a lot of Wampus-friendly bluegrass and zydeco.  See also #5.

2. What's your favorite dessert?  Either key lime anything, or the classic orange dreamsicle.

3. What do you do when you're upset?  Bottle it, swallow it, shove it under a rock so it can slowly grow and then explode all over the place, inappropriately.

4. Which is your favorite pet?  "My wife has cats."

5. Which do you prefer, black or white?  Johnny Cash.

6. What is your greatest fear?  Failure and/or poverty as filtered through classic American Daddy Issues.

7. What is your attitude, mostly?  Externally positive, internally pessimistic.

TEN FURTHER FACTS ABOUT ME (by which we may verify our identities when the dopplegangers come):

1. By day I teach basic analysis to Defense personnel; before that I was a manager-type in the same field.  I try very hard to be "the cool teacher", and most of the time it works.  I don't know if it's the tweed jacket over a Batman t-shirt, or the rockabilly mutton-chops, but the students seem to recognize I'm a little different from their other instructors.  I do love working with the younger folks, fresh out of school or AIT.

2.   I went to school for Anthropology, which likely explains the years I spend slinging coffee and CDs at a big chain bookstore (with purple hair).  I did once get a proper job offer in the Anthro field, as a folklorist for the government of the Gambia, but elected not to take the position once I did the math and realized the annual salary, all together, wouldn't cover a plane ticket back to the States.  So much for Indiana Jones.

3.  I met my wife through gaming, and online to boot.  Maybe that's chuckle-worthy, but it's worked out great for us.  Most of my gaming-pals are a little jealous that I have a gamer-geek wife.  She's more into White Wolf stuff but has played her share of everything else.  And she knows more about Star Wars than maybe anybody else I know.

4. One of the things that I love about the online gaming community is that we all get along great because for the most part we restrict our interaction to talking about gaming (and related sci-fi geekery).  No political arguments, none of that crap, and I'm hoping it stays that way.  I'm fully cognizant that some of us would be at one another's throats in a political discussion, and that's fine, because that's not why we're here.

5. When I was a kid I wanted to be a cartoonist or a comic-book writer; messing around with rpg stuff thankfully scratches both those itches these days.  My artistic talent is on the limited side, but I'm pretty kickass at 'Draw Something', and I draw just well enough to please my kid.

6.  I have accumulated more stupid knowledge about Transformers than is considered healthy.  However, I've yet to find an rpg that will do Transformers in a manner which is satisfactory to me.  No, not Mekton.  No, not Cartoon Action Hour.  Don't even bring up Mechamorphosis.  Someday I will write the game I wish existed (I have started and given up several times).

7. Much of my time is spent with my son, The Boy, who's just finishing up first grade.  He's learning-disabled and didn't speak til he was four and a half; the last two years have been an absolute verbal explosion around here, and it's wonderful.  He's my sidekick in our constant battle against boredom and a world painted in grey, and every day he inspires me to work harder and kick my own creativity in gear (since it comes so naturally to him).

8. Never having been to Europe is one of my great regrets.  Someday, someday.  Central America, yes; West Africa, yes.  No Europe.  However, I often fantasize about traveling around the U.S. and Canada after retirement, so who knows what'll happen.

9. I love food and cooking.  I come from a family of food-lovers - our family motto has been "If You Leave Hungry, It's Your Own Damn Fault" since the early seventies.  We watch a lot of Food Network and the like around here.

10.  Language and wordplay are other hobbies.  I acquire languages rapidly, but forget them just as quickly if not used.  Faux languages are the best!  I love wordplay of all kinds - it might show a bit in Wampus Country.

AND NOW, I BEQUEATH THE AWARD TO THE FOLLOWING FOLKS, SEVERAL OF WHOM MIGHT PARTICIPATE:
Giblet Blizzard
wrathofzombie
The Most Unread Blog On The Internet.  Ever.
My Terrible Sorcery Is Without Equal In The West   (dude, where are you?)
The Fearless DM
Monster Manual Sewn From Pants
theonlysuccessfulone