One
Behold, the Caesar's Bath meme! List five things that people in your circle of friends or peer group are wild about, but you can't really understand the fuss over. To use the words of Caesar (from History of the World Part I), "Nice. Nice. Not thrilling . . . but nice."

Editor's note: This peer group consists of friends home and abroad, and the Japanese population.

Concerts
Especially rock concerts. I like to hear bands live, sure, but more often than not it's not worth my sixty bucks to stand someplace I can't see. I could buy six CDs for that.

Politics
I'm aware that it's important. I do what I can to stay on top of matters. I vote, usually informedly. However, there is far more to life than Red/Blue, Con/Lib.

Travel
It's nice to see new places, do new things. It's also really expensive and exhausting. I'm not a guy who would find joy in a last-minute trip to Thailand.

Clubs
Echoing Krupa here. Can be fun, I suppose, but far, far overrated.

Cute things
Being cute is not an inherent good. I'm sorry, Japan, it's just not.

I pass this on to Amy, and Silliman, but only provided he can respond in a manner in which it will take me at least ten minutes to realize he's responded once I've read it.

Two
From Roy:
Rules
a. Leave me a comment saying "interview me".
b. The first five to leave a comment requesting to be participants will be interviewed.
c. I will respond by asking you five questions.
d. You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions.
e. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
f. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. (Write your own questions or borrow some).

What do you want to do when/if you retire?
If I haven't been published by that point, I think I'd put some concerted effort into that happening. Also, I have a hope that maybe I'd have grandkids at some point, so I'd spend a good deal of time telling them about what things were like back in the aughts. The rest of my time will be spent in a rocker on my front porch hurling epithets at neighborhood children.

Name a philosopher with whose principles you most identify.
If I have to pick one, it's probably Kierkegaard.

Compare and contrast High School Freshman Will, College Freshman Will, and JET Freshman Will.
High school: If there was a word for me socially, it would be "poser." I had my group of friends with whom I was increasingly trying to fit. This is what led to the Will who spent over an hour every morning straightening his hair with a blow dryer. At this point in my life I was utterly convinced that medicine was where I was headed in life. Awkward and unpopular with the ladies. I was doing a lot of theatre, and was a complete band geek. I hated reading. Music choices: Mostly ska and They Might Be Giants. Religious tendencies: Evangelical Protestant.
College: Platonic Will. I was in the best shape of my life. I had a closely knit group of good friends, and a huge extended network of other friends. I could still do well in all my classes without even trying. I was pretty confident and comfortable with who I was as a person. My future career plans at this point were something in biotech, probably genomics. I would stay up all night but could still stay awake in most (though not all) of my classes. I was dating the second woman I ever loved, first since I was nine years old. I took a role as Claudius in a completely student-produced outdoor production of Hamlet. This was the first year I took the bagpipes seriously. I was having a fabulous time going to school at the same time and place as my sister. The one thing I'd change was that I was really bad about keeping in contact with my folks. Music choices: Alternative rock and old-school rap. Religious tendencies: Questioningly Evangelical Protestant.
JET: This is harder to describe since I don't really have the kind of semi-objectivity from the passage of time. Also, I've gone through several different stages since I've been here. I've had my depressed, lonely, eat-nothing-but-chips-Snickers-and-beer phase. I've had my I-have-friends-now-I'll-be-entirely-social-and-nothing-else phase. I've had crests and troughs of loving it here and hating it here, which sometimes intersect, depending on the aspect of life one is asking about. A few things I know: I am glad I am here. I have met some great people. I believe I am growing. I don't study enough. My future is still vague and somewhat frightening. I wish I were in better shape and am working towards that. I'm getting better at trying to simply accept fate, whatever that may be, but I'm not sure if I'll ever get there. I like living in my own place. I like the States, but don't think they're any better or worse than a lot of places in the world. Music choices: Alt and indie rock, piano and acoustic rock/pop, and generally just things I haven't heard before. Religious tendencies: Anglo-Catholic, carrying with me my Evangelical background.

When did you become firm in your religious beliefs, and why?
This actually consists of several spectra. I've never once truly doubted God's existence, or even Christ's nature, so in that way I've always been firm. I became particulary firm in my faith when I had a mystic experience in high school. That's the faith side of things. Religion is another issue entirely. Once I left for college, particularly beginning sophomore year, I began to evaluate the religious aspects of my faith, regarding things such as practice, and less significant doctrines. I was firm enough senior year that I was confirmed as an Anglican that April, but there are still (and always will be) things with which one must deal.

Describe your favorite tie.
I've had it since I was a kid. It's navy, and covered in watercolor flowers. Except, the colors of the flowers are essentially different earth-tones. So the flowers look dead. It's my dead flower tie.

Till then.