[1] I used to be moderately obese during my early teenage years.

[2] Even as a young man, I used to cry very easily, as well as get angry very easily. I have since gotten better at pretending indifference.

[3] Well into the early years of high school, I used to play by myself in a sandlot in my parents' backyard. I still can't pass by a Lego store without feeling strong nostalgia for those happy and solitary evenings.

[4] Many significant shifts in my life, including the geographical migration to this new world, and even more recently the getting the job position I am currently employed in, were in part triggered by certain relationships and certain women. And I often wonder, is this because in my mind I unconsciously link love to having to prove myself some external other?

[5] In my subconscious, I wrestle with the ideas of "suffering" (and relatedly "sin")and "happiness" (and the question, "what is good?") constantly. Which is why I think Woody Allen's dark comedies appeal to the optimistic pessimist in me.

Note: Elizabeth had tagged me with this meme: "Five things you may not know about me". And since I am supposed to infect others, you, kind reader, if you are reading this bathetic list, consider yourself tagged.

Re #4: I've always found change to be intrinsically entangled with human relationship. That is, when I think of the biggest changes I've made in my own life they've also come because of my interactions with another person. I certainly don't ever decide to change my life after, say, reading Redbook or watching television. It's only through connection that I learn how to discover a new direction.

(ooh, that rhymes... not on purpose, so ignore)