I volunteered to be a guinea pig

for a meme where you only get tagged if you do volunteer. The idea is that once you have offered up yourself as a sacrificial lamb, the person to whom you made the offer gets to ask you any five questions they want.

I did this because one thing I wanted to ensure when I started blogging was that I didn't just write about the same things all the time. There are plenty of people who are interested in the same topics that I am and who have both the patience and time to research them and write very eloquent, in-depth posts. Me, I'm more of a stream of consciousness guy; there's not a post on my blog that took me more than 15 minutes to write although I sometimes do spend that much again editing them.

Anyway, the questions are courtesy of Michael at Oleh Musings (that's two times I've mentioned his blog in a week, so he owes me one). The answers are courtesy of me. Anyone who wants to volunteer to put themselves in the firing line is free to indicate so.

1) You have kids. What do you love most about them, and what is the one thing they do that really just makes you want to sell the to the lowest bidder?

What I love most about my kids is being able to watch them grow up into real people with personalities of their own. Sometimes, though, especially with my younger son, it makes me sad because I know I won't be having anymore (snip, snip) and I try really hard to cherish the moments that we have and to remind myself that they're only young once so I'd better take the time to appreciate them now.

What makes me want to sell them to the lowest bidder - and it's not just my kids - is the sense of entitlement that children in our society seem to have these days. I've worked hard to get it through to them that very few people are as lucky as we are but then they have friends who are even luckier and whose parents are even more indulging so it's kind of difficult. It not only comes from parents but from the school system which is so absorbed with shit like self-esteem and the idea that all children are the same instead of preparing kids for the real world.

2) You live in Canada. Is hockey really genetic for Canadians?

Yes. I'm writing this while I wait for the overtime to begin between Vancouver and Anaheim. I was born in the US and actually prefer baseball but the only Canadian I know who doesn't like hockey is my wife. That, however, is not why I married her and she doesn't like baseball much, either.

3) If you could change one major world event from the last 100 years, what would it be, and why?

I'll even narrow it down to a single day - January 30, 1933 - The day Hitler was declared Chancellor of Germany by Paul von Hindenburg. It would lead not only to the Holocaust but to millions of deaths around the world and, eventually, the cold war.

4) If you could have the ear of a one world leader for 10 minutes, with a garauntee that your advice would be heeded, who would it be, what would you say, and why?

I'm willing to bet that fully two-thirds of people in the western world right now would answer that question by saying George Bush and then going on a rant about Iraq.
I'm not one of them.
I'd want the ear of Chinese President Hu Jintao and I'd tell him to bring a democratic system into China because together, the western world, China and India would comprise more than half the world's population and could do wonderful things for the future of humanity. I think China has the ability to be a great country or to hasten the doom of mankind and right now its politicians are leaning the wrong way even though its citizens would probably go the other way if they had the choice.

5) Who are the 3 most important people in your life?

Easy. My wife and my two children. Talk about a softball question. Thanks Michael, although you can lob me another one if you want.

Now back to the hockey game.