The Syndicate

Probably 80% of my possessions. I have movies, cds, games, and books that just collect dust. I could minimize most of that (and all our junk in the basement) and not miss a darn thing.


What is your least favorite healthy food that you make yourself eat on a regular basis?

Disney’s The Little Mermaid in 1989.


What was the last movie you saw in a theater?

Ghosts, yes- I hold out the possibility that they might be real (supposedly my great-grandfather haunted the old homestead after he passed). Demons, however, I have not witnessed first hand and am skeptical about.

What was your favorite movie growing up?

Peaceful outside, but obnoxious to the point of murder when I hear it coming from my basement.


Crab or shrimp?

I think there are better things to spend time and money on, like preserving currently endangered species.


Is the Earth flat?

dunya wrote: ↑Tue Apr 12, 2022 5:36 am
do you think youre happier living in this generation that any past generation?

I guess this generation. My parents were dead broke when they got married. Mom got pregnant with my sister at 16 and I came a year after that. In prior generations, my parents probably would have had more barriers in their way due to their lack of education and absolute need to work to provide for a family. That would have set back my ability to get a college education and wind up with a modest but comfortable middle-class existence. Culturally, I would have enjoyed the music and movies of the 60s and 70s in the moment. The generation that I grew up in had a lot going for it technology-wise and health/sanitation wise, so I wouldn't want to go too far back in time.


Do you prefer headphones or earbuds?

Black licorice, no. I’m hit or miss on other flavors.


Do you like to ride roller coasters?

dunya wrote: ↑Mon Apr 04, 2022 9:28 pm
Do you believe in the concept of soul mates?

Yes. I found mine.


Would you rather live the rest of your life being able to eat your favorite meal but never being able to get a haircut again or being able to get haircuts but never being able to eat your favorite meal again?

dunya wrote: ↑Thu Mar 31, 2022 11:36 am

what's your fav thing to do when it's shit pouring rain outside?

Stay inside.



Breakfast for dinner or dessert for dinner?

Still living in the same house, married to the same woman, with one kid in college and the other in high school. I'll probably still be at the same place of employment, perhaps having moved up in the ranks a notch. If not, I'll probably be a little bit more of a shell of myself, contemplating why I turned out to be such a waste of potential. Hopefully I'll have started to write down some of my crazy story ideas in the hopes of getting published someday.


Which of the creative arts do you excel at the most?

I used to say two years in either direction, but I could see three years older or younger as acceptable now.


Would you rather survive an avalanche or a forest fire?

Ron Jeremy. It’s all about control.


If you could eliminate one of the six primary or secondary colors, which one would you banish?

Jailhouse Rock


Win, Lose, or Draw or Charades?

Auntie Anne's cinnamon sugar soft pretzel with glaze dip


What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Sex


What's the least fun activity you have tried?

My wife and I caught a virus once where we were throwing up every 90 minutes. It didn’t take long for us to be sapped of all energy. We were all but crawling to get to the toilet to throw up again, even if it was only saliva and bile. This stopped after about 12 hours, but we had to ease ourselves back into eating or drink too much or we would throw up again. That’s as close as I’ve felt to dying.

Literally though, I came pretty close to breaking my neck on a trampoline once. I landed wrong and my momentum resulted in me flipping backwards off the trampoline. I landed equally on my upper back, shoulder, and head. Just a little differently and it could have been lights out for me.


What is your earliest childhood memory?

Little Richard


You get to prevent one film industry celeb other than Betty White from dying in 2021. Who do you choose to make it to 2022?

The more I learn about the vastness of space, the more I doubt that UFOs are extraterrestrial in nature. Interstellar travel requires far too much energy and resource consumption to be feasible. Barring any advanced technology or physics beyond our wildest imaginations, I doubt we'll ever meet aliens. Heck, the first radio signal intentionally aimed at a specific target in space was broadcast in 1974. Radio waves move at the speed of light. The target was 25,000 lightyears away, so that primitive message has only travelled 0.188% of the way to its target. Who knows what Earth, let alone our own species, will look like when the message arrives.

If you could move to another continent, which one would you select for your new home?

Microwaveable bacon.


What’s the craziest thing you’ve done this month?

Me? Not in the immediate future. I’m about to host a Racket game.

What’s your favorite kind of shrimp?

Until I just looked up their singles, “Hotel California” was the only tune I knew to be an Eagles song. Having looked up their singles, though, it turns out I know three Eagles songs. I’ll say “Life in the Fast Lane.”


What’s your favorite Weird Al Yankovic song?

From a truly visual standpoint, the five-head guitar used by the guitarist from Cheap Trick.

Why do so many music nerds hate The Eagles?

“Where the Streets Have No Name”


What is your favorite Beatles song?

Personally, probably $22,000 when I paid for a car straight-up with a check.

Professionally, I have cut a construction check to a company for over $2 million.


Which season (winter, spring, summer, fall) is your favorite?

The last year my parents let me Trick-or-Treat, I went as a rodeo clown. No store-bought costume items; just some raggedy old clothes, handkerchiefs, and face paint.

What’s the lamest thing (candy or otherwise) that you were given by someone while Trick-or-Treating?

Not drinking this week. My wife has a cold (the coughing up mucus kind, not the Rona), so our Friday festive beverage pattern has come to a halt. Even then, we only ever have one drink. I am a lightweight.

Have you ever been to a sprint car race?

The Green Bay Packers

Will the Miami Heat get swept by the Lakers?

I am a side sleeper. Sometimes I curl up a little, but I’ve been developing a little restless leg syndrome, so I try to start the night as straight as possible.

Do you prefer french toast or pancakes?

Nah. The E sounds are a little tricky. They should stick with something inherently Canadian though.

Will Lebron wake up for Game 2?

eBay

Will the Washington Redskins nee team name be alliterative?

The Bill Rice Basketball Arena- Bill was my freshman and junior year roommate in college. He loves basketball, knows basket, and can shoot very well unguarded. But he stands a mere 5’5” tall. Dude deserves some credit for sticking it out as a short-guy baller.

What should Seattle’s new hockey team use as their nickname?

One, if I’m lucky.

Do you prefer eating popcorn or candy during a movie?

Liquid gold. Don't know how I'll move it though.

What was your favorite breakfast cereal as a child?

Easter Island (I mean, someday. It's on my bucket list. I proably won't be able to save enough for the trip until after the kids are out of the house.) Immediately after lockdown? We hope to go to the beach in late-July.

What major tourist destination do you have little interest in seeing?

I don’t trust any one source. I have two local news stations that I frequent online. It used to be three but the regional newspaper’s website now hides behind a paywall. As for National news, I like to balance things out between CNN and FoxNews. That gives me a good taste of what both sides of the political aisle are thinking. MSNBC lost credibility for me years ago and a lot of their stories are video based, which annoys me. When I want to go further to the right for their paranoia and conspiracy theories, I will check The Blaze. I find that the BBC does a great job covering international news that doesn’t get reported on in America.

Pepsi or Coca-Cola?

Play mafia, ask each other random questions, listen to each others music submissions. Oh- you meant friends that I hang out with in-person? I don't really have any of those...


Red or black licorice?

World peace.

Jelly beans or gummy bears?

We had pizza.

What's your favorite kind of berry?

I’ve only seen the Iron Man movies from the MCU, so I’ll say X2: X-Men United.

Favorite DC Comics-based film?

My parents.

Do you prefer pretzels or potato chips?

My children.

What is the least favorite thing you have ever made?

Selfishly, I hope that they do, because that means my life will slow down some and I’ll have more free time at night. I’ve been working past midnight for almost a week straight now. Realistically, I think it’s possible.

Favorite jazz vocalist?

I love the Book of Revelation, but right now I’m reading/studying the Book of Job. I’ve watched some videos from various perspectives (conservative, mainstream, Jewish) and it’s interesting what people think the book means. Wisdom literature is a tricky genre, but I love wrapping my head around Job as a kind of ancient thought experiment.

What recent TV/Netflix bandwagons have you resisted hopping onto?

There's a Japanese restaurant in the next town over that does hibachi. We're big fans and we were thinking of doing hibachi not long before everything shut down. Hopefully they re-open.

How long after things open up again will it take for you to feel comfortable going to a movie theater?

I have a job that still pays me. That keeps me plenty motivated to work. Not much motivation to get things done around the house though. I’m too busy working!

How many puzzles have you put together during quarantine?

In 2003 I went to see the LotR trilogy presentation on opening day of The Return of the King. Everyone who was part of the trilogy screening event received a memento- a resin/plastic display with a frame from each of the three films inside it. Many of them hit eBay the next day, but I have held on to mine. That was one of the greatest theater-going experiences of my life.


What is your favorite alcoholic drink?

Either my cleft chin or the scar above my left eyebrow.

If you knew when you were going to die, what would you have for your last meal?

Golden Retriever

Baked potato or baked sweet potato?

Hockey.

What Summer Olympic sport will you miss not seeing this summer now that the Games have been pushed to next summer?

Candy and sweets, thought I haven't actually put on any weight.

What was your last impulse purchase?