THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS: Did you ever look at somebody’s personal web site and say to yourself, wow, this guy really has a crazy mix of interests? Maybe something like Roger Maris baseball cards and 19th century ballet arrangements and occult symbols taken from the pyramids and the history of the James Knox Polk presidency? I was recently thinking about my own web site, and it struck me that I’m also presenting a rather eclectic mix of information. That made me think about my life and about the things that have captured my fancy over the years, and I concluded that they represent an even crazier mix. It’s hard to see the connections sometimes. If I could figure out how everything related, maybe I could figure myself out. But right now I can’t. Just when I thought I had myself figured out, back to the drawing board.
Anyway, here’s a list of some of my favorite things. See if you can make any more sense of it than I can:
- Vegetarian food and cooking
- Taoism
- Red Wine
- Non-fiction books
- Modern physics
- Collecting stamps
- Railroads and trains, esp. from the 1950 – 1980 years
- Space exploration
- Meditation
- Book Stores and Libraries
- Growing Herbs (oregano, basil, parsley, etc.)
- Rainy, foggy nights
- Photography
- Microbrewed Beer
- Preventative Health Practices (including exercise)
- Looking at stars
- Aircraft carriers
- Spring flowers
- Theology
- Uncrowded public places
- Computer programming and web page composing
- The historical aspects of Jesus of Nazareth and his brother James
- Social justice efforts, esp. urban poverty outreach
- Myers-Briggs temperament analysis
- Critical thinking, in general
- Politics (from afar; I’m not running for office!)
- Monks and monasteries
- Fighter jets
- Peace and harmony, cultural diversity
- Systems and how they work
- Ecology and environmental preservation
- Hiking
- Old buildings and neighborhoods
- The Ashcan school, esp. John Sloan paintings
- Rock music
- Mornings and sunrises
- Histories of empires and wars
- Sleeping late
- Economics
- Comfortable clothes (the older the better)
- Most anything that’s intelligent and wise (not that empires and wars and politics and rock music and sleeping late always fit that category!)
Oh yea, and learning (that’s why I’m the eternal student).
Well, what can I say. That’s just me.