WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? I share a first name with my father. I don't recommend this. We've had lots of confusion with mail, phone calls, credit reports. For example, when I go to the Jiffy Lube down here in Springville, my dad's info in Bountiful comes up. As for my middle name of Kimball, that's my mom's maiden name.
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Hmm, my eyes got a little teary whenI was reading my student papers the other night about drug addiction, abuse, murder, job loss, etc.
DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? It's OK. But like most everyone else, I do precious little handwriting anymore.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? I like tuna at home and smoked turkey at Subway.
DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Oh, yeah. I'm in deep.
IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yeah, Iwould be attracted to my own irreverence, humor, sarcasm, lightmindedness, smell, etc.
DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? I hate all forms of cereal, which I consider equivalent to dog kibble with tons of sugar added. About every two years, I will chew my way through a bowl of Captain Crunch, but it always scratches up the roof of my mouth.
DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? I like to get a double cone at Baskin-Robbins with mint chip and chocolate fudge. At home my favorite is mint chip, but only with lots of little tiny chocolate flakes, not bigger chunks of chocolate.
WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Physically, I've never liked having such light-blond hair. Personality-wise, I think I'm too passive and lightminded about too many things, lacking in passion and drive and leadership mojo.
WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Interesting question, but I'm not aware of missing anyone per se. I suppose I wish all my siblings lived in state.
WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? None. I'm just in my garmies, which I use as lounge wear around the house.
WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Ann is reading the boys stories in the next room, and electronic book keeps making animal sounds, most notably an elephant but also others.
FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? I don't watch any sports. They all bore me.
HAIR COLOR? Very light blond, probably with lots of gray/white mixed in that you can't see because it's already all so light.
EYE COLOR? Dominantly blue with some hazel leanings.
DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Tried them once and was relieved when one of them tore, because they were uncomfortable to me. I've never felt the need to try them again. I got my wife to stop wearing them too, because they made her eyes look more tired, with circles underneath.
FAVORITE FOOD? I'm not the kind of person to commit to one and only favorite food, but I love all forms of Asian food (especially sushi and Indian), fries with ketchup, ribs, broccoli.
SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Scary movies are not fun, but I don't like Hollywood formula movies either. I like the more independent type of stuff, with recent examples including No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. I also really liked some of the recent raunchy comedies, which I suppose have happy endings, such as Pineapple Express, Role Models, Superbad, etc.
LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Hmm, maybe Frost/Nixon? Really enjoyed that one, better than expected.
SUMMER OR WINTER? Don't like either one as well as spring and fall, but probably prefer winter over summer. I enjoy the holidays and the dark evenings, and summer bugs me for a number of reasons that I've written about before.
HUGS OR KISSES? Kisses with my wife, neither for anybody else.
FAVORITE DESSERT? I'm not a big dessert guy, but there are some things I enjoy when I'm in the mood, such as my wife's chocolate-chip cookies.
WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? I'm currently in the middle of Bleak House, America in Danger, Rough Stone Rolling, and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I'm also in the middle of a novel I'm publishing later this year, Rift by Todd Robert Petersen.
WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? An airliner (Jordan made it for us).
WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? I never watch TV, but last night I did watch an episode of Big Love on DVD. I'm only just finishing up season one and am quite engrossed in it.
FAVORITE SOUND(S). iTunes
ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles, by far. I somewhat enjoy a couple of Stones songs, but by and large they do nothing for me, whereas the Beatles fascinate me enough to actually read books about them, let alone own pretty much all their albums.
WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Perth, Australia
DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Writing, I suppose, although I'm no magician at it.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Random Factoids about Moi
Five names you go by:
1. Chris (in person)
2. Christopher (in print, so I'm not mistaken for female)
3. Jimmy or Jimbo (my weird, random nickname at work)
4. Bigs
5. Bigsy (the Australian version of Bigs)
Two of your favorite smells:
1. Ground coffee
2. Anything printed with ink (I'm a sniffer of printed matter)
Three things you are wearing right now:
1. Mormon garments (clean too, I might add)
2. Khaki pants
3. Brown leather slip-on shoes that are sort of cloggish
Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. To feel secure about my career (I feel queasy about my future the majority of every day)
2. To have enough free time to work on a novel
Two things you did last night:
1. Read Diary of a Wimpy Kid to the boys in their blanket tent
2. Tossed and turned with gas blasting out both ends all night
Two last things you cried over:
1. Felt some eye moisture while watching Glenn Beck's conversion story on DVD
2. Felt some eye moisture while reading student papers about abuse, addiction, murder, etc.
Two things you ate today:
1. A steak burrito on whole-wheat tortilla at Cafe Rio
2. Two boiled eggs for breakfast
Two people you last talked to on the phone:
1. My wife
2. The nurse with my colonoscopy results (the one polyp taken was benign)
Five favorite bands/songs (these are not necessarily my top five, just the first five faves that come to mind):
1. Stereolab
2. Radiohead
3. Beatles
4. Black Sabbath (until Ozzy left)
5. The Cars (first three albums only)
Two things that you are proud of:
1. Having published five books
2. Having done the treadmill three times a week for over five years now
Two things that you are not proud of:
1. That my triglycerides are high from too much fat in my diet
2. That I don't enjoy being a Mormon much even though I believe in it
Two things you are going to do tomorrow:
1. Try to catch up at work on the catalog, video scripts, etc.
2. Teach my night class at Utah Valley University
Two longest car rides:
1. In 1990 I drove from Boston to Salt Lake City when I moved
2. In 1995 I did a three-week road trip from Salt Lake City to Washington D.C., New York City, Palmyra, Kirtland, and Nauvoo—and then back again
Two favorite beverages:
1. Coke
2. Sharps
Two of your favorite memories:
1. Going on a trip to London and Paris with just my wife
2. Growing up in Rancho Palos Verdes, California until age 10
1. Chris (in person)
2. Christopher (in print, so I'm not mistaken for female)
3. Jimmy or Jimbo (my weird, random nickname at work)
4. Bigs
5. Bigsy (the Australian version of Bigs)
Two of your favorite smells:
1. Ground coffee
2. Anything printed with ink (I'm a sniffer of printed matter)
Three things you are wearing right now:
1. Mormon garments (clean too, I might add)
2. Khaki pants
3. Brown leather slip-on shoes that are sort of cloggish
Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. To feel secure about my career (I feel queasy about my future the majority of every day)
2. To have enough free time to work on a novel
Two things you did last night:
1. Read Diary of a Wimpy Kid to the boys in their blanket tent
2. Tossed and turned with gas blasting out both ends all night
Two last things you cried over:
1. Felt some eye moisture while watching Glenn Beck's conversion story on DVD
2. Felt some eye moisture while reading student papers about abuse, addiction, murder, etc.
Two things you ate today:
1. A steak burrito on whole-wheat tortilla at Cafe Rio
2. Two boiled eggs for breakfast
Two people you last talked to on the phone:
1. My wife
2. The nurse with my colonoscopy results (the one polyp taken was benign)
Five favorite bands/songs (these are not necessarily my top five, just the first five faves that come to mind):
1. Stereolab
2. Radiohead
3. Beatles
4. Black Sabbath (until Ozzy left)
5. The Cars (first three albums only)
Two things that you are proud of:
1. Having published five books
2. Having done the treadmill three times a week for over five years now
Two things that you are not proud of:
1. That my triglycerides are high from too much fat in my diet
2. That I don't enjoy being a Mormon much even though I believe in it
Two things you are going to do tomorrow:
1. Try to catch up at work on the catalog, video scripts, etc.
2. Teach my night class at Utah Valley University
Two longest car rides:
1. In 1990 I drove from Boston to Salt Lake City when I moved
2. In 1995 I did a three-week road trip from Salt Lake City to Washington D.C., New York City, Palmyra, Kirtland, and Nauvoo—and then back again
Two favorite beverages:
1. Coke
2. Sharps
Two of your favorite memories:
1. Going on a trip to London and Paris with just my wife
2. Growing up in Rancho Palos Verdes, California until age 10
Thursday, February 19, 2009
My Thoughts on Buttars
I don't like Chris Buttars, the Utah legislator who spouts off racist rhetoric and is otherwise apparently a boneheaded hillbilly. After last year's kerfuffle with his "black baby" remark, I thought he should have been unseated, and I was unpleasantly surprised when he actually earned reelection.
Now he's in the news again for so-called hate speech against gays, and I again feel uncomfortable with the way he's expressed himself and with all the bad publicity he's generating. And this time my feelings are even more mixed because I also agree with some aspects of his position.
I don't hate gays or think they are completely evil or that the average gay person has any desire to bring down America. I think they are people saddled with a difficult attraction, and those who choose to follow that attraction have made a terrible mistake that I hope they can ultimately repent of. I don't presume to judge any individual's accountability, and there may be some people who honestly can't help themselves, but I don't think there's any situation where God would countenance an actual gay marriage.
I would put it differently than Buttars. I don't think that gays "will destroy the foundation of the American society." But I do agree that the gay ISSUE could well contribute to destroying our society, splitting it apart and causing God to remove his protection and blessing if and when the majority of the nation accepts something contrary to his will.
I am more alarmed by a person who does not have gay sex but who says that gay sex is fine and should be celebrated with marriage than I am by someone who has gay sex but admits it's wrong. Gay behavior is like any other vice or perversion; it's bad to do but can be repented of, and we need to be patient and understanding of those who are caught in its grip, especially if they are humble about it and do not try to redefine God's laws to accommodate their sin.
I absolutely do not accept that God created some people as gay and that they should receive special dispensation to follow their bliss, while the rest of us have to keep resisting our desires that aren't in harmony with God's laws.
We're in a war here, and the gay activists are very powerful. I'm amazed by how many Mormons who should know better are caught up in the deception that homosexuality is just like race and that the Church will eventually come around like it did with blacks and the priesthood. I definitely think the gay issue will be the main engine that divides those who follow God from those who do not, including within the Mormon church. And as more people choose to put aside God and champion the gay cause, I think society is really going to break down.
So I agree with Buttars when he says, "In my mind, it's the beginning of the end." It's a new, terrible phase that clearly shows how mixed up our nation is getting and how far from God we're getting. Never before have people actually said, "Let's take a sin and embrace it and celebrate it and put it on an equal level with real marriage." It's a whole new ballgame compared to abortion or drugs or anything else. I mean, no one has been trying to say that abortion is acceptable to God, just that people have their freedom of choice (which I agree with). But gay marriage is saying that gay unions are deserving of God's full acceptance, which they're not.
I agree with Buttars when he says, "Sodom and Gomorrah was localized. This is worldwide." Previously, one civilization could be falling apart morally while another one was on the upswing. But now we're essentially one big worldwide civilization, or fast becoming one, and when we go down, we're all going down together as a planet. I can see how the Second Coming will happen because it will be necessary, because the whole planet will have gone rotten all at once and will not be salvageable except through such a dramatic, extreme event.
I don't think there should be laws against sodomy or that we should be mean to gay people. I wish they could just live their lives and not try to gain further acceptance for their lifestyle, which I'm certain that deep down they must all sense on some level is not right. Many gays probably are content just to lie low and follow their own passions without trying to alter the civilization. But there are gay radical activists out there who will not stop until they've persuaded our civilization to not only accept but embrace their sinful lifestyle, and they are gaining in power and influence.
One main reason I'm religious is that I've experienced the devil in person for myself, so I know he's a real being, and I see his handiwork all over everything related to homosexuality and the gay movement, from tempting kids starting at a young age to think they are gay and follow same-sex temptations to carefully orchestrating the whole gay agenda and campaign, twisting it to confuse people and appeal to their sympathies by making it seem like it's an issue equivalent to racial rights.
I don't know how long it will take--I hope several more decades. But I agree with Buttars that eventually the gay issue is going to help split this nation apart and cause terrible civil war. It's the latter days, and the world is going to gradually get worse, and this whole gay thing is a BIG part of that. I honestly don't know for sure if Buttars is doing us a favor by drawing a line in the sand or if he's just making things prematurely worse (probably more of the latter). On some level, I admire his courage to say what he thinks, even if most people don't like it, including fellow Mormons who deep down think much like he does but who want to keep things peaceful and easy.
It's going to be very painful for a lot of Mormons to have to choose which side they're on and, if they do choose the right side, to stand up for it in the face of persecution that I'm sure will eventually get every bit as bad as it was for the early Mormons. I hope it takes another 100 or 200 years, but I think it will take only 10 or 20 years for things to really start getting bad, especially if we have another 10-year depression that keeps everyone in a pissy mood.
Now he's in the news again for so-called hate speech against gays, and I again feel uncomfortable with the way he's expressed himself and with all the bad publicity he's generating. And this time my feelings are even more mixed because I also agree with some aspects of his position.
I don't hate gays or think they are completely evil or that the average gay person has any desire to bring down America. I think they are people saddled with a difficult attraction, and those who choose to follow that attraction have made a terrible mistake that I hope they can ultimately repent of. I don't presume to judge any individual's accountability, and there may be some people who honestly can't help themselves, but I don't think there's any situation where God would countenance an actual gay marriage.
I would put it differently than Buttars. I don't think that gays "will destroy the foundation of the American society." But I do agree that the gay ISSUE could well contribute to destroying our society, splitting it apart and causing God to remove his protection and blessing if and when the majority of the nation accepts something contrary to his will.
I am more alarmed by a person who does not have gay sex but who says that gay sex is fine and should be celebrated with marriage than I am by someone who has gay sex but admits it's wrong. Gay behavior is like any other vice or perversion; it's bad to do but can be repented of, and we need to be patient and understanding of those who are caught in its grip, especially if they are humble about it and do not try to redefine God's laws to accommodate their sin.
I absolutely do not accept that God created some people as gay and that they should receive special dispensation to follow their bliss, while the rest of us have to keep resisting our desires that aren't in harmony with God's laws.
We're in a war here, and the gay activists are very powerful. I'm amazed by how many Mormons who should know better are caught up in the deception that homosexuality is just like race and that the Church will eventually come around like it did with blacks and the priesthood. I definitely think the gay issue will be the main engine that divides those who follow God from those who do not, including within the Mormon church. And as more people choose to put aside God and champion the gay cause, I think society is really going to break down.
So I agree with Buttars when he says, "In my mind, it's the beginning of the end." It's a new, terrible phase that clearly shows how mixed up our nation is getting and how far from God we're getting. Never before have people actually said, "Let's take a sin and embrace it and celebrate it and put it on an equal level with real marriage." It's a whole new ballgame compared to abortion or drugs or anything else. I mean, no one has been trying to say that abortion is acceptable to God, just that people have their freedom of choice (which I agree with). But gay marriage is saying that gay unions are deserving of God's full acceptance, which they're not.
I agree with Buttars when he says, "Sodom and Gomorrah was localized. This is worldwide." Previously, one civilization could be falling apart morally while another one was on the upswing. But now we're essentially one big worldwide civilization, or fast becoming one, and when we go down, we're all going down together as a planet. I can see how the Second Coming will happen because it will be necessary, because the whole planet will have gone rotten all at once and will not be salvageable except through such a dramatic, extreme event.
I don't think there should be laws against sodomy or that we should be mean to gay people. I wish they could just live their lives and not try to gain further acceptance for their lifestyle, which I'm certain that deep down they must all sense on some level is not right. Many gays probably are content just to lie low and follow their own passions without trying to alter the civilization. But there are gay radical activists out there who will not stop until they've persuaded our civilization to not only accept but embrace their sinful lifestyle, and they are gaining in power and influence.
One main reason I'm religious is that I've experienced the devil in person for myself, so I know he's a real being, and I see his handiwork all over everything related to homosexuality and the gay movement, from tempting kids starting at a young age to think they are gay and follow same-sex temptations to carefully orchestrating the whole gay agenda and campaign, twisting it to confuse people and appeal to their sympathies by making it seem like it's an issue equivalent to racial rights.
I don't know how long it will take--I hope several more decades. But I agree with Buttars that eventually the gay issue is going to help split this nation apart and cause terrible civil war. It's the latter days, and the world is going to gradually get worse, and this whole gay thing is a BIG part of that. I honestly don't know for sure if Buttars is doing us a favor by drawing a line in the sand or if he's just making things prematurely worse (probably more of the latter). On some level, I admire his courage to say what he thinks, even if most people don't like it, including fellow Mormons who deep down think much like he does but who want to keep things peaceful and easy.
It's going to be very painful for a lot of Mormons to have to choose which side they're on and, if they do choose the right side, to stand up for it in the face of persecution that I'm sure will eventually get every bit as bad as it was for the early Mormons. I hope it takes another 100 or 200 years, but I think it will take only 10 or 20 years for things to really start getting bad, especially if we have another 10-year depression that keeps everyone in a pissy mood.
Friday, February 13, 2009
25 Random Married Things
I'm afraid all my blogging mojo has migrated over to Facebook these days. It appeals to both my voyeuristic and exhibitionist tendencies, and it's fun when things happen such as your wife's gay cousin, your boss at work, and your mom all chatting together in the comment section of a particular post. Anyway, here's something I typed up over at Facebook, with a few additional tweaks:
♥ What are your middle names?
Ann: None, Me: Kimball
♥ How long have you been together?
Married 11 years in April, plus our four-month courtship/engagement.
♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
The extent of one brief phone call.
♥ Who asked who out?
We were set up on a blind date.
♥ How old are each of you?
Me 42, Ann 43
♥ Whose siblings do you see the most?
Probably mine. I have five out of six sisters living relatively nearby (all three brothers are in other states), while Ann has only one sibling in the state.
♥ Do you have any children together?
Three: Austin (9), Kimball (4), Zach (3)
♥ What about pets?
The kids feel like pets quite often, and we also have a cat officially named Dragon but often known as Titty.
♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Dealing with the baggage from my previous marriage, including two kids and their mom. That's the only thing that's ever landed us in a therapist's office, which helped, actually.
♥ Did you go to the same school?
Not for undergrad, but we both earned master's degrees at BYU.
♥ Are you from the same home town?
No, she's a Provo gal and I'm from Southern California and Bountiful, Utah.
♥ Who is smarter?
We're well matched. Ann is definitely better on things like logistics and directions. I'm more the dreamy creative type. We're both pretty logical in most areas.
♥ Who is more sensitive?
Neither one of us is very emotional, most of the time. Neither gets their feelings hurt by the other very easily. We're both quite live-and-let-live, without unrealistic expectations, grudges, all that high-maintenance crap.
♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Bombay House
♥ Where is the farthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Paris, France (but we're shooting for China this June)
♥ Who has the craziest exes?
Me, by far. My ex-wife disrupts our life at least weekly. And from what we've talked about regarding earlier partners, it sounds like I had a knack for attracting fairly dysfunctional women (up until Ann, that is).
♥ Who has the worse temper?
We're pretty close to the same. I think I yell at the kids more than she does. Ann has probably gotten madder at me than I've gotten at her, but it doesn't happen very often.
♥ Who does the cooking?
Ann does most of the time, but I'll occasionally make lunch or cook some spaghetti or macaroni for dinner.
♥ Who is more social?
Pretty close to the same. We're not very good about reciprocating invitations or reaching out socially as a couple. It seems like we just don't have time. Ann has some girlfriends from her single days that she stays in pretty close contact with, and I tend to get most of my social interaction at work.
♥ Who is the neat-freak?
Me, hands down. I'm not a white-glove kind of guy, but I'm driven crazy by a cluttery, untidy environment. Ann, on the other hand, is a great organizer/cleaner when she gets around to it, but she is content to let things pile up for weeks or even months. I think she probably has better priorities than me, though, in terms of using more of her time and energy to actually, you know, interact with the kids and stuff.
♥ Who is the more stubborn?
Neither one of us stands out as more stubborn than the other. We both have our little weird hang-ups, I guess (maybe I have slightly more than she does). We're very evenly matched on temperament, which is why we experience almost no conflict on an ongoing basis. Seriously, we just get along extremely smoothly. It's been great!
♥ Who hogs the bed?
I am probably ruder about kicking out the sheets so my feet can breathe and then sometimes pulling the covers off her when I roll over in the night. We would love to upgrade to a king-size bed sometime.
♥ Who wakes up earlier?
Most weekdays we both get up at 6:45, but sometimes Ann gets up earlier to go to the gym. On weekends, she is usually the first one up with the kids around 8:00, while I sometimes sleep until closer to 9:00.
♥ Where was your first date?
I was forty-five minutes late to Los Hermanos in Provo (I was driving down from Salt Lake, and it was during the big freeway reconstruction project, so she waited for me). After dinner, believe it or not, we went to a BYU basketball game with her parents.
♥ Who has the bigger family?
I have nine siblings, she has three.
♥ Do you get flowers often?
I'm the man, so no. I get them for her 2-3 times a year, almost always on the expected holidays. I really don't like trying to surprise people or get them gifts.
♥ How do you spend the holidays?
We alternate Thanksgiving between our extended families. We spend Christmas eve with her family and usually some close neighbor friends of theirs (we live in the same neighborhood where my wife grew up—in fact, her mom still lives across the street from us). We have Christmas morning at our house and then go up to my folks' house in Bountiful for Christmas dinner that afternoon. New Year's Eve we usually just spend home with Ann's mom.
♥ Who is more jealous?
Again, neither one, although Ann did have a weird, uncharacteristic episode of jealousy about two years ago when I was corresponding with a lady in France, who I'd never met, about critiquing each other's novels.
♥ How long did it take to get serious?
We were dating exclusively after our second date and engaged about two months after we met, then married six weeks later.
♥ Who eats more?
I eat larger portions at meals and often succumb to the temptation for seconds, but I think Ann eats more baked goods and desserts than I do.
♥ Who does/ did the laundry?
Ann does all of it, but I'd like to start sending out my work clothes more because she's already too busy and sometimes they sit for several months in the ironing pile.
♥ Who’s better with the computer?
I may be slightly better on some things, but there are also things she does better.
♥ Who drives when you are together?
I drive unless we need to get somewhere fast or follow complex directions or parallel park, and then she takes the wheel. I'm very much an autopilot driver who puts very little thought or effort into it, while she puts a lot of thought into routes and traffic patterns and gas prices and all that stuff.
♥ What are your middle names?
Ann: None, Me: Kimball
♥ How long have you been together?
Married 11 years in April, plus our four-month courtship/engagement.
♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
The extent of one brief phone call.
♥ Who asked who out?
We were set up on a blind date.
♥ How old are each of you?
Me 42, Ann 43
♥ Whose siblings do you see the most?
Probably mine. I have five out of six sisters living relatively nearby (all three brothers are in other states), while Ann has only one sibling in the state.
♥ Do you have any children together?
Three: Austin (9), Kimball (4), Zach (3)
♥ What about pets?
The kids feel like pets quite often, and we also have a cat officially named Dragon but often known as Titty.
♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Dealing with the baggage from my previous marriage, including two kids and their mom. That's the only thing that's ever landed us in a therapist's office, which helped, actually.
♥ Did you go to the same school?
Not for undergrad, but we both earned master's degrees at BYU.
♥ Are you from the same home town?
No, she's a Provo gal and I'm from Southern California and Bountiful, Utah.
♥ Who is smarter?
We're well matched. Ann is definitely better on things like logistics and directions. I'm more the dreamy creative type. We're both pretty logical in most areas.
♥ Who is more sensitive?
Neither one of us is very emotional, most of the time. Neither gets their feelings hurt by the other very easily. We're both quite live-and-let-live, without unrealistic expectations, grudges, all that high-maintenance crap.
♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Bombay House
♥ Where is the farthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Paris, France (but we're shooting for China this June)
♥ Who has the craziest exes?
Me, by far. My ex-wife disrupts our life at least weekly. And from what we've talked about regarding earlier partners, it sounds like I had a knack for attracting fairly dysfunctional women (up until Ann, that is).
♥ Who has the worse temper?
We're pretty close to the same. I think I yell at the kids more than she does. Ann has probably gotten madder at me than I've gotten at her, but it doesn't happen very often.
♥ Who does the cooking?
Ann does most of the time, but I'll occasionally make lunch or cook some spaghetti or macaroni for dinner.
♥ Who is more social?
Pretty close to the same. We're not very good about reciprocating invitations or reaching out socially as a couple. It seems like we just don't have time. Ann has some girlfriends from her single days that she stays in pretty close contact with, and I tend to get most of my social interaction at work.
♥ Who is the neat-freak?
Me, hands down. I'm not a white-glove kind of guy, but I'm driven crazy by a cluttery, untidy environment. Ann, on the other hand, is a great organizer/cleaner when she gets around to it, but she is content to let things pile up for weeks or even months. I think she probably has better priorities than me, though, in terms of using more of her time and energy to actually, you know, interact with the kids and stuff.
♥ Who is the more stubborn?
Neither one of us stands out as more stubborn than the other. We both have our little weird hang-ups, I guess (maybe I have slightly more than she does). We're very evenly matched on temperament, which is why we experience almost no conflict on an ongoing basis. Seriously, we just get along extremely smoothly. It's been great!
♥ Who hogs the bed?
I am probably ruder about kicking out the sheets so my feet can breathe and then sometimes pulling the covers off her when I roll over in the night. We would love to upgrade to a king-size bed sometime.
♥ Who wakes up earlier?
Most weekdays we both get up at 6:45, but sometimes Ann gets up earlier to go to the gym. On weekends, she is usually the first one up with the kids around 8:00, while I sometimes sleep until closer to 9:00.
♥ Where was your first date?
I was forty-five minutes late to Los Hermanos in Provo (I was driving down from Salt Lake, and it was during the big freeway reconstruction project, so she waited for me). After dinner, believe it or not, we went to a BYU basketball game with her parents.
♥ Who has the bigger family?
I have nine siblings, she has three.
♥ Do you get flowers often?
I'm the man, so no. I get them for her 2-3 times a year, almost always on the expected holidays. I really don't like trying to surprise people or get them gifts.
♥ How do you spend the holidays?
We alternate Thanksgiving between our extended families. We spend Christmas eve with her family and usually some close neighbor friends of theirs (we live in the same neighborhood where my wife grew up—in fact, her mom still lives across the street from us). We have Christmas morning at our house and then go up to my folks' house in Bountiful for Christmas dinner that afternoon. New Year's Eve we usually just spend home with Ann's mom.
♥ Who is more jealous?
Again, neither one, although Ann did have a weird, uncharacteristic episode of jealousy about two years ago when I was corresponding with a lady in France, who I'd never met, about critiquing each other's novels.
♥ How long did it take to get serious?
We were dating exclusively after our second date and engaged about two months after we met, then married six weeks later.
♥ Who eats more?
I eat larger portions at meals and often succumb to the temptation for seconds, but I think Ann eats more baked goods and desserts than I do.
♥ Who does/ did the laundry?
Ann does all of it, but I'd like to start sending out my work clothes more because she's already too busy and sometimes they sit for several months in the ironing pile.
♥ Who’s better with the computer?
I may be slightly better on some things, but there are also things she does better.
♥ Who drives when you are together?
I drive unless we need to get somewhere fast or follow complex directions or parallel park, and then she takes the wheel. I'm very much an autopilot driver who puts very little thought or effort into it, while she puts a lot of thought into routes and traffic patterns and gas prices and all that stuff.
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