The Final List of 25 Random Things about Me

Mostly in an effort to put a stop to the flood of fan mail I receive each day, demanding that I bring the list of random things up to 100, as promised, I now present the final list of 25 random things about me.

76. People in ward choir are always surprised when I sing along to the soprano parts, but keep in mind that I sang soprano from birth until about age 14.

77. One of my biggest pet peeves is when I am standing in line at the grocery store, a neighboring register suddenly opens, and people who are behind me in line move over to it and check out ahead of me. It drives me up the wall.

78. I worked my way through college in three departments (Missionary, Finance and Records, and Curriculum) at the Church Office Building (aka "the Great and Spacious Building") in downtown Salt Lake City.

79. In my junior year of high school, some friends and I started an underground newspaper titled The Breakfast Club, which was a response to a male-bashing newspaper called Aunty Em. My friends and I wrote under pseudonyms of breakfast cereal characters; I was Toucan Sam. We actually recruited a couple of girls to write articles for us, one of who went by Eggo Mini-Skirt.

80. People in my family have had bad luck with rides, playgrounds, and toys. At Lagoon, one brother cracked his head open while riding the white rollercoaster, and I split my lip while riding the Wild Mouse. Another brother fell off a slide at a playground and split his head open. Yet another brother, while sledding, fell into a window well and split his head open. One other brother was hit over the head with a croquet mallet by our next-door neighbor. (For those of you who know my four brothers, I'll let you try and guess which incident happened to whom.)

81. Speaking of Lagoon, I worked in the Merchandising Department for a few months during the summer when I was 17, and I hated every moment of it. Also, I often witnessed dizzy kids stumbling off of rides and throwing up.

82. Speaking of throwing up, I have tried sushi a number of times, and I still don't like it. In fact, I dislike seafood in general, even though I practically lived on fish for two years during my mission.

83. One of my secret ambitions is to land a starring role in a production of the unofficial LDS musical My Turn on Earth.

84. On one hand, I can count the number of dates I went on before I left on my mission.

85. I have won more than one game of laser tag. I have also been skeet shooting a few times, but I am not as good of a shot with the real thing.

86. Some of the hikes I have completed include Huayna Picchu (at Machu Picchu), Mount Timpanogos, Ensign Peak, Subway Canyon (Zion National Park), a 50-mile hike over the course of five days through the Uintahs, and walking from Bountiful to Cherry Hill (in Kaysville) and back in the same day.

87. I believe that giving stupid names to children is a form of child abuse.

88. As a child, I ran a temperature of 106 degrees, which sent me into a fibral seizure. I almost died.

89. Members of my family and I have owned and played essentially every video game system released by Nintendo: the original Nintendo, GameBoy, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Game Cube, and the Wii. Our favorite game to play at family parties is, without a doubt, any and all versions of Mario Kart.

90. I have had an allergic reaction to medication, and I looked a lot like Will Smith in that one scene in Hitch.

91. I detest James Bond movies. A man who is that promiscuous is no hero of mine.

92. I have seen '80s teeny bopper Tiffany in concert. I also used to have a crush on Debbie Gibson . . . yes, really.

93. Growing up, one of my favorite hangouts was Classic Skating. I still love to rollerskate, though I'm not as good at it as I once was.

94. A good friend of mine met his wife at a Star Wars party I hosted a few years ago. They are now married and have two kids. The Force really is one of the most powerful things in the universe.

95. Both Coke and Pepsi taste like battery acid to me.

96. I learned to ice skate the same week I came home from my mission. A few years later, however, I was diagnosed with fallen arches on both feet, and I can no longer go ice skating, because it is too painful.

97. When I learned at age 11 that I was nearsighted, I first wore contact lenses. I came down with so many eye infections so frequently that, at 15, I switched to glasses and haven't gone back.

98. In Puerto Rico, my family actually owned a chihuahua. They are a lot of fun to have around the house.

99. I have set foot in 29 of the 50 United States (Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming), the District of Columbia, and one territory (Puerto Rico).

100. If you have read all of the 100 items on this list, then you are a better man/woman than I.