I'm "It".

There seems to be a sudden rash of blog tags going around. I couldn't respond adequately to the first one because I didn't know enough bloggers not already included in the tag list. Now a couple of bloggers I know have directly invited everyone except me to participate in a different one, but they were both thoughtful enough to leave one slot open for "anyone who wants to volunteer/is bored". Okay, I'll bite. I was originally thinking of posting this over on the snabulus blog in order to keep this blog purely focused on my life in Japan, but I decided it would probably be better to keep it here. After all, not only is this site more centrally located for my personal blog community, but it does, after all deal with my personal life, and that's what this site is all about. Anyway:

7 things I plan to do before I die
1. Visit Dresden, Berlin, Hanoi, and Nagasaki as a matter of moral obligation.
2. Visit as many parts of the world as possible, especially home countries of all the good people I've met.
3. Be able to play a major scale on every instrument used in a symphony orchestra (but why stop there?)
4. Become fluent in at least one more language, maybe two. No, three! Three langua...four! Four languages...
5. Get acquainted with someone from at least 80% of the nations of the world, particularly those whose people I, as an American, am not supposed to regard as human.
6. Become better in touch with my own soul.
7. Compose music that people can really enjoy.

7 things I can do
1. play music in various genre on various instruments (but not necessarily well...)
2. write, compose, and draw (but not necessarily well...)
3. speak three languages fluently
4. gripe
5. turn a simple task into a giant project without even trying
6. argue about just about anything
7. eagerly make a total fool of myself on stage (and sometimes offstage, too)

7 things I cannot do
1. ride a motorcycle (never tried)
2. play sports well
3. make a long-range plan and carry it out as intended
4. pretend to like, believe, or agree with something I don't
5. suffer fools gladly
6. hold my tongue when someone says something ridiculous or offensive
7. go along with a group just for the sake of going along with a group

7 things that attract me to another person
1. Depth
2. A real spark of life
3. A good balance of physical, spiritual, and psychological beauty
4. Compassion
5. Open-mindedness
6. Creative
7. Warmth

7 things that I say the most
1. 'kay
2. Hontou-ni? ("Oh, really?" in Japanese)
3. [nasal voice] Ohhhhh...
4. Stop that!
5. Nan da yo! ("What's up with that?" in Japanese)
6. You SUCK! You suck so MUCH!! (especially while driving)
7. Um...

7 people I want to do this
1. Don Snabulus from Oregon (but I know he won't)
2. Ladybug from Oregon (but I know she won't)
3. Dewkid from California (originally from Oregon)(Won't.)
4. Kami from Washington (originally from Prague...then Oregon...)(Nope!)
5. Phillipa Scratch from Oregon (Not gonna do't...)
6. Vulgarius from Oregon (Like, as if!)
7. Pa've from Oregon (I mean, really!)

Okay, anyway...