Autobiographical Posts

Though this is mainly an idea blog,  I felt that without telling stories about myself, the ideas would be empty.  So I wrote personal anecdotes to let the readers get to know me.  Next I decided that my kids may enjoy these stories when they are adults, so I have slowly add more.  For convenience, orientation and referencing, this index lists those stories chronologically. (more pics later)

Just a youngster (2nd R)	13yo Eagle Scout	16yo learning guitar

0 – 17: Birth to High School

• What scared you as a kid? : my childhood fears
• A childhood toilet epiphany : experience nonexisitance
• Sunday Best :  we looked pretty on Sunday
• Hot Dog Cooker : my first “mediation” – self-torture
• Raccoons : I raised raccoons
• Experienced astral projection : experimenting teenager
• Seen UFOs : bunch of us see a UFO or two
• Seen flying reindeer : saw Santa’s reindeer
• Voice guides me to my dead friend : Found my best friend dead

18yo Cornell Univ. (on far right)	19yo Wheaton College	24yo Minnesota: Grad School

17 – 19: US Undergrad: NY, IL

• Forgive Me : apologies for my Christian fanaticism

19 – 20: Asia 1: Europe-Asia hitchhike

• Monkey vs. Cat Religions : Indian classification of religion
• Language Faux Pas: Part I : my German mistakes
• Hinduism was my Undoing : Hinduism is my exit from Christianity

20 – 25: Undergrad & Grad School: IL, WI, MN

• In Jesus’ Name: My Deconversion : my last prayer
• Cauterizing Empathy : learning to stop sadness
• Seen my mother’s ghost : Mom visits after she died
• Tibetan shaman weather miracle : miracles do happen?
• Universe exploding in my abdomen : weird meditation experience
• Lessons from Philosophy Grad School : Lessons I learned
• Yoga Gratitude : Studied Yoga

25 – 27: Asia 2: Philosophy “scholar” – Pakistan, India

• Insh’allah: My Muslim Lesson : My Pakistani Mom hit my head
• Crow Mind : crow makes my mind talk Urdu

33yo no-handed on japan bike tour	34yo Kyoto studying	35 yo Acupuncturist — Japan

27 – 34: Asia 3: Japan, East Asia (professor & acupuncture)

• Been possessed by a Japanese spirit : Dead woman talks through me
• The Japanese Barber : Man explains being bombed
• Language Faux Pas: Part III : more language mistakes
• All Chickens Look Alike : all other-races look alike
• Responses to Strangeness : my parents visit me in Japan
• Confessions of an Acupuncturist : my acupuncture experiences
• My Gateway to Acupuncture : my intro to acupuncture
• The I-Ching and Tofu : Chinese divination – a theory
• The Hour of the Monkey : girlfriend splits over color green
• Amanojaku : My confrontative personality
• Heard a rock warning me of death : Java cliff talks to me
• Indonesia Rapist Ghost : Ghost wakes me
• A Vision: The Withered City : Kyoto crumbles in my vision
• My Previous Life as a German : my dream reveals my past life? 10/16/10
• Reincarnation as a Pig : Ooops, I insult a friend 7/30/10
• Woman prays in crashing planes : Buddhist background haunts her
• Da Free John – Part 1 : intro to a cult leader

35yo North Carolina	37yo Seattle ER	38yo Halloween in ER

35 – 40: Physician Assistant: NC, WA

• Alternative Medicine & Weirdos : Why I didn’t do alt med
• Homeopathy Success and Skepticism : My homeopathy beginnings
• Your god is weird ! : Sikh has heart attack
• Alternative Medicine is of the Devil : docs hate my acupuncture background

40 – 41: Asia 4: Peace Corps China, Taiwan

• Language Faux Pas: Part II : more language mistakes

41 – 43: Physician Assistant: NY, Wash DC

• Alternative Medicine is of the Devil : Doc hates my background
• Premastication : chewing my food for my kid
• Your god is weird ! : Phone guy freaks with my decor

43 – 46: Professor: Central Pennsylvania

• Fictitious Sea Otter : I hallucinate an otter, or did I?
• Evolution cost me my job : Science prof is creationist

54yo blogging	55yo with daughter	56yo Sled Riding

47 – 50: Professor: Western Pennsylvania

• Thankfulness : our family’s meal time grace
• Responses to Strangeness : my son in NYC
• Being Zen vs. Being Japanese : local Zen temple experience
• Zen Tree Prayer : bad experience at Zen Center
• Atheist Practices Lent : Giving up stats
• An Atheist’s Shrine : Some home decorations

51 – 57:  Clinical: Western Pennsylvania

• Do I qualify as a Buddhist? : Check list of my Buddhish traits
• My Kids’ School becomes a Church : Fighting religion in school
• Fighting Dragons & Santa : My son understand myths
• My wife’s Horse Pilgrimage : my wife loves horse riding
• Our Pseudo-Amish Family : my odd family
• I saw an Angel : at an ice skating rink
• Buses Stacked High with Feelings : school buses on road
• Disease & My Luddite Son : explaining technology to my son
• Mushroom Faith : I ate first wild mushrooms
• Hallucinated masses of people : driving & walking hallucination
• April Fool’s Buddhist Omelet : tricked my kid
• Sound does not exist : Son’s question about sound
• Our Easter Dilemma : questioning if we go to church
• Arrogant Christian Prayer : an example of what happened to me on a flight