Why are you reading this blog?
Well, hopefully, to be entertained. I guess we'll see. :D
So I guess I'll start with a little bit about me for this first round.
I'm the youngest child in a fairly large family, raised in Woodstock, IL. If you ever want to see what my neighborhood looks like, watch the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. Every time he looks out of the "bed and breakfast" (which was actually a home owned by a family named the Ratchfords when I was a kid, whose family was even bigger than ours) you can see my neighborhood, and more specifically my house. I own three separate copies of the movie - VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray - and it drives my wife a little nuts. Mostly because if I see it on the guide then I have to watch it. :D
I'm married for the second time - our 12 year anniversary is this Sunday, November 6. In those 12 years I've aged about 40, thanks to the three children who were raised in the house - one of whom is still being raised. More on this in a minute.
The URL for this blog - terrymcdannellmonkeypops - contains my Internet Nomme de Plume / Nomme du Guerre (depending on the day, I suppose), a name by which I've become known many places across the Web: Monkey Pops. This is due entirely to my youngest son. When my wife was expecting him, I would refer to him as my little monkey.
My wife would say, "Don't say that! He'll come out looking like a monkey!"
To which I would reply, "Of course he will - he'll look just like me!"
At that point in time I was looking for a new identity to use online. And that's how Monkey Pops was born.
To say my youngest son favors me would be a huge understatement - he's my little clone for the most part. We share in common many things, not the least of which is looks; he looks just like me, but fortunately he appears to have gotten his nose from his mother, avoiding my family nose (you'll understand once I've started posting images).
Unfortunately, he also inherited my genetic defect: Tourette's Syndrome. But since everything in life is a trade off, he received a blessing in exchange for the curse: a near genius level IQ (which is also my trade off).
One of my fondest memories of when he was very young was a conversation I had with him. I can't remember the details; all I know is that as he walked away, my wife laughed and asked me, "So how does it feel to have a conversation with yourself...?"
Pausing for thought for a brief moment, I replied, "Well, at least now I know why people look at me like that."
OK, I guess that's enough for the first post. Thanks for reading and I hope you'll be back for more.
(Here's a picture of my best bud, my youngest son Jacob with me - on the right - and Pro Wrestler and WWE Hall of Fame Hacksaw Jim Duggan, taken in August, 2011)
Good job, T! Look forward to more from you in the future.
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