Years ago, on Myspace, I wrote a blog listing 99 random facts about me. I don’t remember all that I wrote, but I’d been considering writing a new version for this blog. Inspired by this post, I’d decided to try again, but only with 25 facts, since that will be easier.

1/MY FULL NAME IS JOHN RICHARD LEMAR

2/MY NICKNAME, “J.R.”, IS BASED UPON THE TV CHARACTER J.R. EWING, PLAYED BY LARRY HAGMAN
My brother was always a big Soap Opera fan and, as a wee lad, he got my interested in the TV series Dallas, and I quickly become hooked on the show and fascinated with the character of J.R., in particular. @ the time, I was still primarily known as “John”, but I eventually managed to get everyone to every to call me “J.R.”

3/I AM LEFT-HANDED
Specifically, I write and eat with my left-hand. I do everything else with my right hand. My older brother is the same way. And we’re the only ones in our family, that we know of, who is not completely right-handed.

4/I DO NOT BELIEVE IN ANYTHING CONSIDERED “SUPERNATURAL”

5/I AM SLIGHTLY CLAUSTROPHOBIC
I get uncomfortable in elevators, and will therefor avoid getting in them whenever there’s a better alternative.

6/I AM AFRAID OF HEIGHTS
Technically, I’m afraid of falling from heights. But I’ve never had a problem riding airplanes. In fact, I usually request the window seat. I think it’s because I’m able to understand that, statistically, it’s very unlikely that a plane will crash.

7/THE WORST PAIN I HAVE EVER FELT IN MY LIFE, SO FAR, WAS WHEN I HAD MY WISDOM TEETH PULLED OUT @ AGE 19

8/I HAVE ONE FULL-SIBLING (AN OLDER BROTHER) & ONE HALF-SIBLING (A YOUNGER SISTER).
I also have a cousin, one year older than I, whom I grew up with and she feels like a sister to me. So do 4 of my Godsiblings. Through my father, I have a younger stepsister and stepbrother, and through my mother I have 9 stepsiblings, but I’ve only met one of them.

9/I LOVE TO READ
I always have. Science fiction, fantasy, comic-books, biographies, I’ve read books on everyone from Malcolm X to Malcolm Forbes.

10/I AM A BIT OF A GERM-PHOBE
I’ve always have some antibacterial lotion or wipes in my car, and @ my desk @ work. And I avoid touching food with my bare hands. Some people mock me for being overly cautious, like when they see me using paper towels to eat potato chips, but I rarely get sick. So it’s working.

11/I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO SWIM

That ties in with the whole germ thing. The idea of getting into a large body of water with other people, and their various bodily fluids is unappealing to me.

12/I HAVE NEVER ONE ANY ILLEGAL DRUGS

I just say no. I’ve have several opportunities in life to try marijuana, but I don’t want to take the risk. I don’t want to mess with my brain (any more than it’s already messed up). I didn’t even have my first drink of alcohol until I was 30.

13/MY FAVORITE ACTOR IS NEIL PATRICK HARRIS

14/MY FAVORITE ACTRESS IS ASHLEY JUDD

15/I HAVE NEVER SMOKED CIGARETTES, BUT HAVE SMOKED CIGARS A FEW TIMES

But I didn’t inhale.

16/I HAVE NEVER TRAVELED TO A FOREIGN COUNTRY

I kind of would like to visit Israel or South Africa, someday.

17/I LOVE OLD WOODY ALLEN MOVIES, ESPECIALLY “Annie Hall,” “Sleeper,” “Manhattan, AND “Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask”

I like some of his more recent films, as well. But his classics movies are my favorites.

18/I ONCE PAID $114 FOR A SINGLE COMIC-BOOK.

MIRACLEMAN #15 This was pre-internet for me, and I spend a lot of time going to different comic-book stories, trying to track down every single issue of that series, and #15 was the holy grail. I couldn’t believe it when I finally found a shop that had a copy. It wasn’t even a “mint” version or anything, but I just had to have it.

19/I TOOK 3 MONTHS OF KARATE CLASSES WHEN I WAS 12

My mother made me, because she was dating the instructor, even though I didn’t want to do it @ the time, which is why I eventually dropped out. Looking back, I wish I’d stuck with it. I’d be a walking lethal weapon by now.

20/I DON’T PARTICULARLY LIKE ANIMALS

I have no pets. I don’t want anything that walks and/or has fur or feathers in my house. I would like to get some fish, one day.

21/I HAVE LIGHT-SENSITIVE EYES

I frequently have to wear sunglasses when I’m outdoors in the sun.

22/MY FAVORITE FOOD IS PIZZA

Especially 4-cheese pizza with rising crust. I could eat it every single day.

23/I DIDN’T GET MY FIRST DRIVER’S LICENSE UNTIL I WAS 22

Since I couldn’t afford a car, it wasn’t a big priority before that. I failed my first driving test, but passed the 2nd one a week later.

24/MY TEENAGE AMBITION WAS TO BE A RAPPER.

From about 13 to 19, I was “The Capital J”. My style was sort of a cross between the braggadocios raps of young LL Cool J, and the story-telling raps of The Fresh Prince. I got as far a meeting with an executive with Geffen Records but, needless to say, I never got signed.

25/I THINK I HAVE SLIGHT SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER

I get uncomfortable in large crowds. Even if I know everyone.