25 things

This chain letter of sorts has been passed around facebook for sometime now. At first I ignored it, then I read a few others' but haven't had time to sit down and do something like this until now.

1.) In all the time I've lived by myself I have never paid for internet, TV, or a home phone. I pride myself on doing without cable TV (though I do love the new digital picture from the converter box!) finding WiFi places, and not needing a landline.
2.) I'm about to give in on the internet one because I can't stand not being able to go online at night and on weekends when away from work.
3.) I used to drive trams and give tours at NASA. Sometimes I secretly miss that job and wish I could go back and do it for a weekend. But that's becauase I only remember the fun parts and forget how badly I wanted to quit that job.
4.) Come next month it will have been one year since I played cello in an orchestra. I can't believe it's been that long and I'm itching to play again.
5.) I prefer sitcoms to reality TV. That is why "The Office" is my favorite show. It's sitcom making fun of reality TV - a bold statement that contrived real life situations will never be funnier than clever writing and quality character acting.
(6-9 all go together)
6.) I used to think that if I ever had a girlfriend who was in high school we would stop dating when either of us went to college so that college would be a fresh start.
7.) I used to think I would probably wind up marrying a fellow musician (but not a cellist - I'm not homosectional . . . . . sorry) simply because in college those are almost the only people I met in classes, so the odds made it seem likely.
8.) I am engaged to Jordan Bailey. She loves music but isn't a musician per se. We started dating when she was in high school. I'll be able to tell people I went to my wife's senior prom and high school graduation.
9.) Jordan and I are already kinda related. My dad's first cousin is married to her great grandfather's nephew. That makes her my first-cousin-once-removed's mother-in-law's nephew's eldest granddaughter. But we're so much closer than that. Don't worry, I've gone over it dozens of times, and we don't share any common blood, we just have two distant family members who married one another.
10.) Jordan doesn't yet realize that it's not easy having a last name like "Flippin" in a post-1980s world. Marla got to get married and change hers. I've had a lifetime to build resistance to people constantly commenting that it's a funny name. Jordan is going to need some time to get used to it. Just for the record, there is no missing "g" on the end of it. 'Flippin' comes from "Phillip" which comes from "Phileo" meaning "love" as in "Philadelphia - the city of brotherly love."
11.) My niece was born in August of 2008. She is showing signs of being the smartest baby anyone has ever seen. Ever.
12.) I teach orchestra at Katy High School. I'm doing what I've wanted to do since the 6th grade or earlier. How many 6th graders do you know who can tell you what their career will be?
13.) I've made a resolution to not define myself by what I do for a living.
14.) I am left handed.
15.) If my parents hadn't been able to pay for my college, I would have gone anyways. Plan B would have been to find work riding my unicycle and juggling. Plan C - Air Force.
16.) I like collecting strange hats.
17.) I am legally allowed to perform wedding ceremonies in the state of Texas and several others. No takers so far.
18.) Some summer I am going to drive a convertible up the PCH from San Diego to San Francisco, stopping to see a game at every Major League Baseball stadium in California.
19.) Two years ago my dad took me to a Yankees v. Red Sox game in the original Yankee Stadium.
20.) It has now taken me 4 sittings, and I'm not done with this list.
21.) Some of my favorite classes in college were the Music History courses, and someday I intend to teach college level Music HIstory - in Europe!
22.) I believe this rule: All posts titled "My 25 Random Things" should have 25 items. Each item should be numbered and contain a beginning, middle, and an end. The only exception