Meet The Press

I'm so famous now. The paparazzi is camped on my front lawn, and every news magazine wants to interview me.

Well no, not really. Only one blogger wants to interview me, and that's because I asked him to interview me after reading his answers to the five questions posed by another blogger. In the same fashion, I will gladly interview YOU if you'd like. Here are the cut-and-paste rules:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Now on to the tough part -- answering these questions.

1. Seriously? You've been blogging since 2001? Is that crazy? (Oh, I see you took a five year break. But still!)

Yes, I've been blogging since 2001! And yes, it's crazy! Originally, my friends and I had a little chat room where we'd hang out one or two nights a week. This blog was simply a springboard for conversation. As I found odd stories during the week (e.g. penis found in jar of fruit juice), I'd add them to the blog. Then we'd discuss them on our chat night. My friend Mo was and still is skeptical about everything and usually with good reason. The penis in the fruit punch story ended up being mold.

During my five year hiatus I was absorbed in some other interesting projects like programming cell phone games, and I also had a short gig on the Hexed Reality blog writing about reality TV.

When my friend Trung convinced me to pickup blogging again last year, I suddenly discovered I had an urge to write. I wasn't satisfied with just logging links any more. I wanted to give my opinion and I guess you'd say I found my voice or something like that.

2. What has the internet taught you today?

I spent a little bit of time trying to understand artificial DNA, but don't quiz me on it. Also, thanks to Twitter, I learned how Batman and Robin spent their Valentine's Day:


3. Do you sometimes feel the need to make your blog more personal?

Yes. No. Sometimes. I tend to be quite reserved and apprehensive of strangers. I have distant relatives who don't believe I can talk. Coursework and jobs that involve collecting data and explaining it in a rational way have always appealed to me because such work avoided controversy. I like harmony.

So what I'm getting at is -- even giving my opinion on current events and politics is personal to me. You might even say it's therapeutic. But I suppose there is always room to be more introspective.

Give this blog another five years or so, and it could make another transformation.

4. What's the most beautiful place in the world?

That's probably the hardest question. I guess I'd have to actually see more of the world in order to answer that. The most beautiful place in the world certainly isn't where I've already been: Bay Area, Los Angeles, Reno, New Jersey, Florida, Honolulu... eh. I might have to meditate and find idealistic beauty in my own mind... or wait for a more advanced generation of virtual reality.

5. What's the saddest place in the world?

It's in a the Los Gatos cemetery in front of a headstone marking the graves of my twin nephews who were stillborn. Their short lives existed inside my sister's womb, but they will be in my heart and mind forever.

That concludes my interview. Thanks to People In The Sun for the great questions. Now I'll just wait for that call from Katie Couric...