1. I used to be a horse wrangler. All through high school, every summer I was an assistant horse wrangler at the camp where my family lived and worked. I led trail rides, taught classes, did overnight pack and trail camp-outs, all that. I was a certified CHA horsemanship instructor and even had one of my senior pictures taken with my full cowboy outfit on (boots, hat, western shirt) standing next to my best friend's horse, Red (I didn't have a horse of my own, just rode the camp horses.)
2. I used to want to be President of the United States - not like when I was a little kid, like in high school. I was serious about getting into politics and wanted to go as far as I possibly could - even the Presidency. I thought I actually had a shot too, before I realized that I wasn't rich enough to be president. :)
3. I was a hardcore political conservative as a teenager. I was a huge Rush Limbaugh fan, cheered for the '94 Republican Revolution, and even briefly considered going to Jerry Falwell's school to study political science.
4. I've always wanted to live in Europe for at least part of my life. I love the culture and the history, and the five weeks of vacation every year mandated by the governments!
5. I'm actually a pretty slow reader. I enjoy reading, and I used to be able to read a book in a couple of days, but since college I just haven't had the attention span to plow through a book in less than a week or two. I think I've developed adult ADD or something. I'm still always reading, but it just takes me longer, and I often just read enough to get the general idea and don't bother finishing the book. (Most non-fiction books are so repetitive anyway. You can usually get the whole book in just the first two chapters.)
Okay, so those are mine. I'm not going to bother tagging anyone, since most bloggers I know have already been tagged by my wife or my friends.
At 12/31/2006 11:37:00 AM, 
M James
Mike,
RE: #5
Do you think that's because the nature of how we receive our information has changed?
When you and I were in middle school and even high school, we really didn't have the internet in the same way we do today. To get our info, we had to pick up a book.
If you wanted to find out about the Gauls, you had to go do extensive, time-consuming research. Now, a couple quick searches will give you all the info you need. Just a thought.
Or maybe, the internet just wastes too much time that we can't find ourselves investing the time to something tangible?
At 1/01/2007 02:53:00 PM, Mike Clawson
I think you're absolutely right Michael. I blame the internet for my ADD. It started in grad school when I had a job where I could surf the web while making telemarketing calls. I would have a half a dozen windows open, plus my caller program. I'd be doing three things at once all the time. It was great for learning to multi-task, but it formed a habit in me that I haven't been able to break. I can no longer focus on just one thing for any length of time. Even now, I always have at least three or four windows open at all times on my computer and I'm constantly bouncing back and forth between them.
At 1/02/2007 04:07:00 PM, Mike Clawson
Pam, you just made chills run up and down my spine! :o
That's just plain scary to think about.
Though I do have a very reactive personality. I tend to become the opposite of whatever environment I'm in. So if a moderately conservative evangelical school like Wheaton turned me into a Green Party-lovin' emerging church heretic, I can only imagine what a fundamentalist school like Liberty would have done. I'd probably be a atheist by now! ;)
not tag anyone!! you broke the chain - you will now have 5 years of bad luck for each person you failed to tag!