1. There are few things that are O-C about me. One, I like keeping all the closet doors and drawers closed. I don’t like seeing glasses and coffee cups lying around anywhere else in the house except the kitchen. And, every once in a while, I microwave the kitchen sponge to kill the bacteria thriving in it’s damp recesses. 10 seconds will do.

2. I fear i will be the first person on earth to have died of severe arthritis.

3. The best thing that ever came out of reviewing for the GRE is learning how to cross-multiply.

4. I have three names. From 1973 to 1984, most people would call me “Happy”. From 1984 to 1989, some would call me “Benito” or “Tobs” (ugh!). From about 1989 to 1996, I was back to “Happy” but from 1999 to about 2009 (the last 10 year or so), it’s been firmly “Benito”, unless you’re someone I knew from a different period. A fourth, “Moo”, is what my wife calls me.

5. I grew up in the shadow of my brother, who is far more intelligent and a faster reader than I am. So, to compensate, I played more sports, told more jokes, and worked at having more friends than he did. I’m still on my toes.

6. Blue, not green, is my favorite color.

7. My biggest regret is not having said sorry to people I owe apologies to; and to not have returned a book I borrowed from someone, not because I liked it or anything, but that I lost it. I was 9 man, give me a break!

8. Growing up, I drew mostly ships and airplanes.

9. People who unapologetically use obscure acronyms annoy the heck out of me.

10. If I had a time machine, I’d go back to the day I tore my anterior cruciate ligament and instead decide to stay home that afternoon and watch Voltron.

11. I used to mispronounce the words “assuming”, “youth” and “ocean”. Now, I just struggle with French words.

12. A few things I miss about Philadelphia: Trader Joe’s, clean city streets (what?), trains that run on time, and knowing that, if you want to, you can drive thousands of miles and still get somewhere.

13. I used to be a Christian youth leader. Then, I discovered that the Devil had the best music.

14. The other day, I ate homemade key lime pie. My dad grew the limes, and my sister-in-law knew what to do with them.

15. A strong fear that I have overcome: early onset male-pattern baldness. It just didn’t happen!

16. Words I truly live by: why put-off for tomorrow what you can completely avoid doing?

17. When I was in college, I painted nearly 50 different chickens in an untrammeled fit of Karel Appel-ness. It may have something to do with how I helped tend, and slaughter, chickens in our backyard.

18. I have artificially inseminated a cow.

19. I have tipped a cow.

20. I am, overall, right-handed. But there are some things that I can only do with my left hand (like cut the toenails on my right foot — weird, no?)

21. I too have t-shirts that are gossamer-thin from wear. One of them, I’ve had since 1992 — and still wear almost every week to this day.

22. If there was one fruit left on earth, I’d want it to be the banana. (Hey, you said random!)

23. I avoid watching romantic comedies on film, but I did like “Zack and Miri” and “Enchanted”. And, yes, “She’s The Man” — Amanda Bynes has good comedic timing.

24. Nagpagupit na daw si Moly! Hindi na sya mukhang lesbian!

25. “Benito Vergara” is a name I share with my brother and father (who obviously lacks creativity). We also share the name with a ETA terrorist (alias “Demonyo”) which got me on the no-fly list. A friend once quipped: “You should explain to the TSA that you are alias “Happy”!”