| What is your most memorable childhood experience? | My most memorable childhood experience would be the first time that I rode a bike without training wheels. My dad took me out to the local bike trail and he had me get on the bike. He held onto the bike like all fathers do at the beginning as he ran after me but eventually I was going too fast for him to follow me so he just stood and watched me go. It was so freeing for me; it was the first time that I did something on my own. It felt great to ride alone with the wind rushing past my face faster and faster as I sped along, free of the crushing weight of the training wheels. When I reached the end of the straightaway I turned around and rode back to my dad. When I reached him he had a big grin across his weathered face and told me how proud he was of me. When we got home I went to show my mother, but shortly after I was starting to ride I hit a pine cone and crashed. |
| What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | I closely identify with my father because, out of my two parents, he has been the most caring and understanding of me. He was always there for me and taught me everything I know. When you look at my father you see a well learned, manly man but he decided not to teach me anything about being a man other than how to be a good one by being kind, understanding, intelligent, and protective of my family. He didn’t teach how to chop firewood or how to shave, I had to learn those things on my own, but he did that because he knows my limits and knows that I am good at learning things on my own, or with minor instruction. One day I hope to be like him. |
| What character traits do you admire in an individual? | A good, genuine soul is something that I’ve always admired in a person. It’s always easy to find someone who has similar interests, is intelligent, and has wonderful wit, but a good soul is much rarer and runs much deeper than any other qualities. A good and genuine soul cannot be measured, it can only be felt and once you feel it you realize what it is. I’m attracted to that the most and I find myself always searching for it. |
| What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | The funniest thing that has ever happened to me occurred in middle school. Already you must be looking at this and be thinking that this is going to be good because that’s the most awkward phase in someone’s life but this has nothing to do with getting older and my body changing. During the spring of my seventh grade year I got pooped on by a seagull. It was lunch break and my middle school was pretty close to the ocean and the kids around the school often littered which was the perfect combination for attracting seagulls which often hung over our school like a furious storm cloud. I was playing basketball with a group of my friends and all of a sudden people started laughing at me. I was confused at first until someone yelled at me “You got BIRD CRAP on your shoulder!” Needless to say I spent the rest of break scrubbing my shirt in the bathroom. |
| If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | If time and money were not an issue for me I would travel to and live in a cottage in the Scottish highlands for a year with my girlfriend. We’ve wanted to live in, or at least visit Scotland for much of our lives, her because of her love for Scotty in Star Trek (original Series and J.J. Abrams movies), and me because I’ve always had a love for its cold rustic feel and beautiful countryside. From a very young age I’ve wanted to adventure on foot like in the Hobbit or any other fantasy book and I feel as though Scotland would be the perfect place to do it. |
| When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | I would love to pass along my general calmness and clear level headed thinking to my future children. They don’t have to take after me in that respect, I wouldn’t love them any less, it would just be a lot nicer if they did. It would allow them to grow up and become great people. |
