1. I was born in the eastern borough of Metropolitan Toronto;
2. I am both a Canadian and a US citizen;
3. I am gay (come on, someone might not know);
4. I did not attend university;
5. My 4 grandparents include 2 Americans, a Canadian and an Irishman;
6. My sun sign is Leo; My ascendant and Moon are in Sagittarius;
7. I own 9 tarot decks (2 based on various aboriginal traditions);
8. I still owe most of my siblings their astrological charts;
9. I have been adopted by three tan felines from a local shelter;
10.The first ‘fan letter’ I ever wrote was to Red Skelton;
11.I own an autographed copy of a book by Red Skelton;
12.One of my favourite childhood memories of Dad is him playing “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” on harmonica;
13.Our family has animal nicknames; mine is Brian Bear;
14.I legally changed my name (to this one);
15.Brian is the only one of my birth-names I kept;
16.One of my favourite childhood memories of Mom is her coming home tipsy and trying hard to hide it from us kids (teenagers);
17.My prized possessions include an autographed copy of “Doc & Raider; Caught on Tape“;
18.I celebrated my 20th and my 40th birthdays by watching the sun come up over a field in the Historic Area of Williamsburg, VA;
19,I have a bionic left leg (rod in femur) as well as ankle (the installed contraption looks like two ‘brass knuckles’ welded together at an odd angle with 6 protruding screws);
20.I wear glasses, and have since before I was a teen;
21.I can’t even imagine wearing contact lenses;
22.I am a photographer;
23.I was born with a ‘club foot’ – my right leg was operated on a number of times before I attended Kindergarten;
24.I lived in four different cities (all in Ontario) before I was 12;
25.My CD collection spans from Air Supply to Tricia Yearwood (alphabetically);
26.My CD collection spans from Kate Bush to Pet Shop Boys to Wynonna (vocally);
27.Although now a cat household, my Ex and I had two Golden Retriever mixes (shelter pups);
28.My favourite food is bacon;
29.I am volunteer President of Animal Outreach Inc (we run a spay/neuter program for low-income families);
30.My favourite movie is “Torch Song Trilogy“;
31.My first crush was on another student who played basketball at high school;
32.I ran for Village Council in the 70s;
33.My favourite plant is a Hosta (hosta undulata mediovarigata);
34.I have three nephews, three nieces and three grand-nephews;
35.My first camera was a Kodak Instamatic using 126 film;
36.Another of my prized possessions is a Bible once owned by my grandfather;
37.I marked my 39th birthday by having a double hernia operation;
38.In November of 2000 I was in a car accident; 18 day hospital stay (see #19);
39.I cut down on the amount of coffee I drink ’cause I will never willingly drink decaf;
40.The only course I ever failed in school was Typing;
41.I have 10 websites of my own, in addition to being WebMaster for 2 others;
42.I have more pod-shops and on-line galleries than I should;
43.I do own albums by ‘Barbra, Bette and Judy’ (R+P reference);
44.I saw Romanovsky & Phillips in concert (in Toronto) 3 times;
45.I have been baptized twice;
46.Another of my prized possessions is a hand-written card from David Sedaris;
47.I liked Anne Rice’s vampires; have no use for the sparkly ones;
48.I have not yet traveled outside of the US or Canada;
49.My current surname is Welsh; my family is mostly Irish with some Scotch in the mix;
50.I speak ‘real English’ and often have to translate into ‘Murican’;
51.Both my parents and each of their brothers have been married twice;
52.I have studied both Offset Printing and (at a different time) Business Management at George Brown College, Toronto;
53.My brother has a PhD in Business Ethics; I giggle as I type that;
54.My recovery from my big accident (see #38) was immeasurably aided by my co-workers (all except one) who drove me to my PT appointments and told me I was needed at work;
55.My recovery from my big accident was also immeasurably aided by a group of friends on-line and IRL;
56.My recovery from my big accident was also immeasurably aided by a New Year’s Day marathon of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?“
57.I developed an allergy to alcohol in my 20s;
58.It was discovered the day before I attended my former (female) room-mate’s wedding – with my then-partner who she had been forbidden to ever spend time with;
59.That former partner and I each changed our last name to Gryphon before same-sex marriage was legal in Canada;
60.My only appearance on stage during a live play was during a black out (and I still ‘got notes’);
61.I saw “Cats” in Toronto three times;
62.I have a small collection of stuffed animals; mostly bears but one beaver and a gorilla;
63.My oldest nephew insisted on dancing with me at his wedding;
64.My partner has taken me to see Dolly Parton, Barry Manilow and The Phantom of the Opera here;
65.The first live concert I ever attended was Dan Hill at Massey Hall in Toronto;
66.I hate most fruits and vegetables but love meat, cheese and most deserts;
67.I own a ‘violet wand’ set;
68.Another of my prized possessions is a Koala teddy bear with knees;
69.Approximately half of my extensive grey hair was caused by one particular sales rep at my previous job;
70.In order to receive a severance package I signed a Release which is so broadly worded that I can’t even name that company;
71.One of the main reasons I moved away from Toronto was the number of friends & acquaintances I lost to aids;
72.Every time I return to Toronto I have to stop at the permanent Aids Memorial;
73.Although unemployed and broke, I continue to renew my ACLU membership;
74.I used to have my left earlobe pierced- I stopped wearing an earring when I moved to OH;
75.I have no other piercings and no tattoos;
76.I experimented with ‘recreational pharmaceuticals’ in the previous century;
77.I admit that I’m an ‘anal-retentive, detail-oriented perfectionist’;
78.I am proud to say I can control it without totally stifling it;
79.I have never found anyone who can make Pumpkin Pie as well as my Mom;
80.I wear boxer-briefs (just the right mix of control and freedom);
81.My 40″ waist is two sizes larger than I want;
82.I hate white dress shirts- in my previous job I wore it only for meeting State or Federal government clients and company managers at least 3 levels up the food chain;
83.I would love to live in Chicago or San Francisco but plan on retiring to Canada in about 15 years;
84.I am 52;
85.I have read every novel by Arthur Hailey; from “Roots” to “The Moneychangers“;
86.I have no idea what my hat or ring size is;
87.I love watching lightening storms;
88.The first apartment I rented was in the basement of an old mansion; my bedroom used to be a walk-in safe;
89.I am not a member of the ‘mile high club’ although I have made out in other inappropriate places;
90.My first real job after high school was in a camera store;
91.I ‘came out’ in a Letter to the Editor of the Chatham (Ontario) newspaper in early 1978;
92.I have yet to visit any US city west of Chicago other than San Francisco (been to SanFran twice);
93.I have yet to visit any Canadian city west of Edmonton (also been there twice);
94.I have yet to visit any Canadian city east of Montreal;
95.I prefer Tim Horton’s to Starbucks;
96.More people realize I’m from Canada when I say ‘process’ with a ‘long o’ than catch me saying ‘hoose’;
97.If I had the money I would collect sneakers,bright sports shirts and khakis, and wear nothing else;
98.I am deeply spiritual, although I run from pretty much any organiz, er institutionalized religion;
99.I am a sucker for a British or southern US accent;
100.I have partial hearing loss but can still call ‘bull’ when I hear it.
(The above was posted in December, 2012 – some details may have changed since)
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