Bio
![Picture](/uploads/1/2/9/9/12995445/published/dido-003.jpg?1593319418)
About Me:
Age - "Over the hill - but the view is great." Born in Clarksville, Tennessee; current resident of Edmond, Oklahoma.
Education:
Masters Degree - Bilingual Education/Teaching English as a Second Language; The University of Central Oklahoma - 2012.
Last 54 Books Read:
Free Food for Millionaires - Min Jin Lee, Pachinko - Min Jin Lee, Men without Women - Haruki Murakami, Jesus on Trial - David Limbaugh, The Language of God - Dr. Francis Collins, I Never Thought I'd See the Day - Culture at Crossroads - Dr. David Jeremiah. The Perfect Catch - Lessons for Life from a Bass Fisherman - H. Norman Wright. The Painted Veil - W. Somerset Maugham. Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus - Dr. Nabeel Qureshi. The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary - Simon Winchester, The Men Who United the States - America's Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics, and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible - Simon Winchester, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine - Michael Lewis. The Mother Tongue - English and How It Got That Way - Bill Bryson. A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906 - Simon Winchester. Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love, and Language - Deborah Fallows, The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck. Pacific - Simon Winchester. The Shawshank Redemption (The Shooting Script) - Frank Darabont. Why Suffering? - Finding Meaning and Comfort When Life Doesn't Make Sense - Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale. Writing the Character-Centered Screenplay - by Andrew Horton, Handbook of Christian Apologetics - by Peter Kreeft & Ronald Tacelli, The Case For Christ - by Lee Strobel, Jesus Among other Gods - by Ravi Zacharias, The Screwtape Letters - by C.S. Lewis, Light in the Shadow of Jihad - by Ravi Zacharias, The Triple Package - How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America - by Amy Chua & Jed Rubenfeld, God and Stephen Hawking - Whose Design is it Anyway? - by John C Lennox, Beyond Opinion - Living the Faith We Defend - by Ravi Zacharias, The Case for Faith - by Lee Strobel, The Grand Weaver - How God Shapes Us Through the Events of Our Lives - by Ravi Zacharias, Inception - The Shooting Script - by Christopher Nolan, Sense and Sensuality - Jesus Talks with Oscar Wilde on the Pursuit of Pleasure - by Ravi Zacharias, The End of Reason - A Response to the New Atheist - by Ravi Zacharias, Walking from East to West - by Ravi Zacharias, The Best American Travel Writing (2014) - by Paul Theroux, The Best American Travel Writing (2011) - by Sloane Crosley, That Old Cape Magic - by Richard Russo, On Writing Well - by William Zinsser, Writing About Your Life - by William Zinsser, The Kite Runner - by Khaled Hosseini, The Fracture Zone - A Return to the Balkans - by Simon Winchester, The Professor and the Madman -by Simon Winchester, The Man Who Loved China - by Simon Winchester, Hiroshima - The World's Bomb - by Andrew J. Rotter, The Harbinger - by Jonathan Kahn, A Life of Jung - by Ronald Hayman, From Daniel to Doomsday - by John Hagee, Straight Man - by Richard Russo, Entanglement - The Greatest Mystery in Physics, by Amir D. Aczel. Inferno - Dan Brown. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Story to Screenplay, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Eric Roth, and Robin Swicord, The New Time Travelers - A Journey to the Frontiers of Physics, by David Toomey, The Best of Me - Nicholas Sparks. (Note: The Bible is an ever present member of this list and while it could go without saying - I prefer to say it.)
Hobbies:
Photography, fishing, writing, reading, guitar, bass guitar, traveling, Bible study, watching movies (particularly foreign films), listening to music, bowling, people watching, weight lifting, shopping, and preserving awesome friendships with special people in the world.
Favorites:
Films:
The Shawshank Redemption, Departures (Japanese), Shall We Dance (Japanese), The Road Home (Chinese), Schindler's List, Inception, Eat Drink Man Woman (Chinese), The Dark Knight Rises, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Passion of the Christ, Good Will Hunting, Tokyo Sonata (Japanese), To Live (Chinese), The Notebook, Densha Atoko (Japanese), A League of Their Own, Gone with the Wind, Lost in Translation, Legends of the Fall, A Beautiful Mind, Lust for Life, Moulin Rouge, Raise the Red Lantern (Chinese), Begin Again.
Books:
Jesus Among other Gods, by Ravi Zacharias, Beyond Opinion - Living the Faith We Defend, by Ravi Zacharias, The Man Who Loved China - by Simon Winchester, Walking from East to West - God in the Shadows, by Ravi Zacharias, The End of Reason - A Response to the New Atheists, by Ravi Zacharias, The Bible, Broken Music, by Sting, Wild Swans - Three Daughters of China, by Jung Chung, Japanland - A Year in Search of Wa, by Karen Muller, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Daj Sijie, Dear John, by Nicholas Sparks, Empire Falls, by Richard Russo, Little House in the Big Woods, Farmer Boy, Little House on the Prairie, On the Banks of Plum Creek, Little Town on the Prairie, By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter & These Happy Golden Years, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt. Straight Man, by Richard Russo, The Big Short, by Michael Lewis, and The Harbinger, by Jonathan Kahn,
Bands/Musicians:
U2, Sting and The Police, Alison Krauss, Kings of Leon, Fleetwood Mac, Globe, Michael Buble, Led Zepplin, The Eagles, Glen Campbell, A Flock of Seagulls, Keith Urban, Maroon 5, Rush, Joanna Wang, Utada, Sade, Alexandre Desplat, and Kenny Chesney.
Foods:
Satchmo's Salmon - Blackened salmon topped with crab beurre blanc sauce over dirty rice (Bourbon Street Cafe), Roast beef dinner with bisquits, pinto beans, mashed potatoes, cole slaw, and blackberry jam (Cracker Barrel), Jager Schnitzel and red cabbage (Royal Bavaria), Thai Cashew Chicken and Mango Duck (Thai Delight), Sukiyaki, Sushi, Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce, Fried chicken, Tortellini tre pea (Ristorante Port0fino Pizzeria- Riccione, Italy), and my mother's banana pudding and chocolate pie.
Sports Teams:
Duke Blue Devils (College basketball), Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA), Oklahoma Sooners (College Football).
Vacations:
South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, New York City, Cape Cod, Las Vegas, and Niagara Falls. (Coincidentally, this is every vacation I have taken since age 37).... I lived in Riccione, Italy for two years, which was work related. However, I was in my early twenties, 15 minutes walk from the beach and in a beach resort town, it made most of my days off seem like a vacation. In addition, I was able to visit Rome, Milan, Venice, and the Republic of San Marino during my tour there.
TV Shows: Downton Abbey, This Is Us, Victoria, Mr. Selfridge, The Crown, Frontline, Nova, American Masters, Nature, Finding Your Roots, Who Do You Think You Are, To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters, and American Experience. For my fellow lovers of Korean dramas, I adored these - Love (Marriage & Divorce), Start-Up, Beloved Eun-dong, Descendants of the Sun, 49 days, It's Okay to Not Be Okay, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, I also highly recommend the Chinese drama - The First Half of My Life.
It Might Surprise You to Know:
I believe the greatest question never asked occurred approximately 2,000 years again in present day Israel. In Mark 12:14-17, Jesus was questioned by one of the Pharisees about whether the Jews should pay taxes to Rome, Jesus asked for a coin and asked whose image was on it. When the reply was "Caesar's", He replied, ""Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." I credit Ravi Zacharias with pointing out had the Pharisee been a real thinking man, he would have asked the greatest question next, "What is God's?" In which Jesus could have answered with a question of his own and true to the scriptures, "Whose image is on you?"
Bucket List:
Go on photography trips to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Yellowknife Northwest Territories; Sapporo, Japan; Vietnam, Laos, and to tour Italy again. I dream of taking a sabbatical from my normal life and move to Danshui, Taiwan for at least a year to finish working on a novel. It's my favorite little city in the world. Beyond those things, which are really quite superficial in the grand scheme of things, I would really like to sit down with a couple of beautiful women from my not-s0-recent past and try to make amends for or at least apologize for my role in bridges that were burned between us. It's only too late to say "I'm sorry" and "forgive me" when you've actually kicked the bucket. So, if that happens first, I hope they find this and know it was one of my highest hopes to apologize and let them know my thoughts of them will forever be like the song, "I wouldn't have missed it for the world."
The Shawshank Redemption, Departures (Japanese), Shall We Dance (Japanese), The Road Home (Chinese), Schindler's List, Inception, Eat Drink Man Woman (Chinese), The Dark Knight Rises, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Passion of the Christ, Good Will Hunting, Tokyo Sonata (Japanese), To Live (Chinese), The Notebook, Densha Atoko (Japanese), A League of Their Own, Gone with the Wind, Lost in Translation, Legends of the Fall, A Beautiful Mind, Lust for Life, Moulin Rouge, Raise the Red Lantern (Chinese), Begin Again.
Books:
Jesus Among other Gods, by Ravi Zacharias, Beyond Opinion - Living the Faith We Defend, by Ravi Zacharias, The Man Who Loved China - by Simon Winchester, Walking from East to West - God in the Shadows, by Ravi Zacharias, The End of Reason - A Response to the New Atheists, by Ravi Zacharias, The Bible, Broken Music, by Sting, Wild Swans - Three Daughters of China, by Jung Chung, Japanland - A Year in Search of Wa, by Karen Muller, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Daj Sijie, Dear John, by Nicholas Sparks, Empire Falls, by Richard Russo, Little House in the Big Woods, Farmer Boy, Little House on the Prairie, On the Banks of Plum Creek, Little Town on the Prairie, By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter & These Happy Golden Years, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt. Straight Man, by Richard Russo, The Big Short, by Michael Lewis, and The Harbinger, by Jonathan Kahn,
Bands/Musicians:
U2, Sting and The Police, Alison Krauss, Kings of Leon, Fleetwood Mac, Globe, Michael Buble, Led Zepplin, The Eagles, Glen Campbell, A Flock of Seagulls, Keith Urban, Maroon 5, Rush, Joanna Wang, Utada, Sade, Alexandre Desplat, and Kenny Chesney.
Foods:
Satchmo's Salmon - Blackened salmon topped with crab beurre blanc sauce over dirty rice (Bourbon Street Cafe), Roast beef dinner with bisquits, pinto beans, mashed potatoes, cole slaw, and blackberry jam (Cracker Barrel), Jager Schnitzel and red cabbage (Royal Bavaria), Thai Cashew Chicken and Mango Duck (Thai Delight), Sukiyaki, Sushi, Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce, Fried chicken, Tortellini tre pea (Ristorante Port0fino Pizzeria- Riccione, Italy), and my mother's banana pudding and chocolate pie.
Sports Teams:
Duke Blue Devils (College basketball), Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA), Oklahoma Sooners (College Football).
Vacations:
South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, New York City, Cape Cod, Las Vegas, and Niagara Falls. (Coincidentally, this is every vacation I have taken since age 37).... I lived in Riccione, Italy for two years, which was work related. However, I was in my early twenties, 15 minutes walk from the beach and in a beach resort town, it made most of my days off seem like a vacation. In addition, I was able to visit Rome, Milan, Venice, and the Republic of San Marino during my tour there.
TV Shows: Downton Abbey, This Is Us, Victoria, Mr. Selfridge, The Crown, Frontline, Nova, American Masters, Nature, Finding Your Roots, Who Do You Think You Are, To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters, and American Experience. For my fellow lovers of Korean dramas, I adored these - Love (Marriage & Divorce), Start-Up, Beloved Eun-dong, Descendants of the Sun, 49 days, It's Okay to Not Be Okay, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, I also highly recommend the Chinese drama - The First Half of My Life.
It Might Surprise You to Know:
I believe the greatest question never asked occurred approximately 2,000 years again in present day Israel. In Mark 12:14-17, Jesus was questioned by one of the Pharisees about whether the Jews should pay taxes to Rome, Jesus asked for a coin and asked whose image was on it. When the reply was "Caesar's", He replied, ""Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." I credit Ravi Zacharias with pointing out had the Pharisee been a real thinking man, he would have asked the greatest question next, "What is God's?" In which Jesus could have answered with a question of his own and true to the scriptures, "Whose image is on you?"
Bucket List:
Go on photography trips to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Yellowknife Northwest Territories; Sapporo, Japan; Vietnam, Laos, and to tour Italy again. I dream of taking a sabbatical from my normal life and move to Danshui, Taiwan for at least a year to finish working on a novel. It's my favorite little city in the world. Beyond those things, which are really quite superficial in the grand scheme of things, I would really like to sit down with a couple of beautiful women from my not-s0-recent past and try to make amends for or at least apologize for my role in bridges that were burned between us. It's only too late to say "I'm sorry" and "forgive me" when you've actually kicked the bucket. So, if that happens first, I hope they find this and know it was one of my highest hopes to apologize and let them know my thoughts of them will forever be like the song, "I wouldn't have missed it for the world."