Memed: 7 things about me

Jenell Paris tagged me with this meme.

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

(There was a fifth item, but she and her predecessor both ignored it, so I will as well. Like the telephone game.) Okay. I never know what to say on these things, but here goes:

1. I am a genetic mutant, because I have never had wisdom teeth and will never get any. Dentists have X-rayed my head and have confirmed that I am sorely lacking in wisdom.

2. When I was a kid, during a snowball fight I hit a kid in the nose with the front edge of a snow shovel, and it sliced into his nose and broke the cartilage. I still remember the eruption of blood, his screams of agony, him rushing home and to the hospital. I think this may be the worst thing I've ever done to someone else.

3. One of my favorite childhood books was The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. It's a Newbery-winning puzzle mystery that is amazingly well-crafted and satisfying. Complex but accessible, with a diverse cast of well-developed characters. A modern classic, with humor, suspense, plot twists and surprises. Loved it, loved it, loved it. If you've not read it, pick it up. (And I just realized now that the author's name was Ellen. Maybe the book planted a subliminal thing in me to marry someone named Ellen.)

4. I read comic books. Collected them as a kid, and recently got back into the habit. I blame my colleague Dave Zimmerman for getting me back into them a few years ago when he wrote his book Comic Book Character. I was his editor, so I had to start reading comics again. Y'know, for research and fact-checking. And actually, the comics I enjoy most are the team-ups, like the classic The Brave and the Bold and DC Comics Presents, or the Justice League of America and the Teen Titans, or World's Finest and Superman/Batman. In some ways team-up comics reflect my ecclesiology that we are better together than on our own.

5. Ellen asked me out on our first date. I had seen Aladdin five times in the theatre and told her that it was a great movie. When it came to our college town's second-run theatre, I mentioned to Ellen that it was playing there. She responded, "So when are you going to take me?"

6. I like Hondas. My first car was a white Honda Civic wagon that looked like a rollerskate. But I got in an accident because I was reading a book while driving and totaled it. My next car was a white Honda Accord. After we had Josiah, we got a white Honda Odyssey minivan.

7. I'm starting PhD work at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School this fall. I was accepted several months ago, but I don't think I've mentioned it on this blog yet. It's a PhD in educational studies, and I'm hoping to do some sociology of religion and theology of culture through it. Classes in this particular program are modular, two weeks at a time, and about half of the people in the program are working professionals, some of whom fly in for each course. So I'll be able to stay on at IVP - I'll likely be working on the program slowly. We'll see what's manageable. I was looking into various other options, like Edinburgh's program in media and theology, but I couldn't just uproot my family to head off to Scotland, so I pretty much limited my choices to the Chicagoland area. Peter Cha was my mentor for a leadership development program, and he encouraged me to look into this program at TEDS. I got in, so here I go!

People to tag. Let's see . . . how about:

1. My wife, Ellen, at Team Hsu
2. Fellow IVP editor Dave Zimmerman at Loud Time
3. Another IVP colleague, Lisa Rieck, at Strangely Dim
4. Yet another colleague, Jeff Reimer, at Mode of Expression
5. Publishing industry friend Jana Riess at The Review Revolution
6. Ashleigh the IVP super-fan at Being Redefined
7. Caryn Rivadeneira at Mama's Got a Fake ID