So, there is this meme on the Web where you share 7 things about yourself and then tag 7 of your friends to each share 7 more things. Well, I’ve been tagged by 2 of my comrades, Keith Casey and Shaun Farrell. Here it goes:
- I love theater acting. – Ever since I was little, I’ve always enjoyed acting. I was always in our church plays, when I was a child. I did most of our high school musicals. (Yes I can sing and dance.) I found this photo of me from high school, when I was in The Music Man. Recently, I’ve taken classes at the Shakespeare Theater Company here in Washington, DC: Basic Acting, In the Moment 1 (improv), and currently In the Moment 2.
- I love cooking. – I definitely have a love for eating… eating all kinds of things. This turned into a love of cooking probably because I get to eat what I cook. During my summers home from college, my mom would have me cook one meal a week. Now on my own, my culinary life has gotten even more adventurous, especially with getting to travel a lot. I’ve even cooked two Thanksgiving dinners. One day I hope to open my own restaurant or gastro pub.
- I’m interested/grew up in politics. – Since before I was born, my dad has worked in politics, mostly at the State level in Michigan. When I was 7 or 8 years old, I started going with him to events, like going door to door for campaigns. At age 13, I was one of the top volunteers for one of our state’s gubernatorial campaigns. In college, I was Chairman of our College Republican chapter. I even got a minor in American Politics. Now I work in the Washington DC area and do nothing related to politics… heh.
- I’m a Conservative Republican. – I’m a firm believer in the role of government to protect my ability to pursue happiness but I don’t believe that the government is a source of hope and happiness. Ronald Reagan was right on when he said “Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.” Creating new laws and government programs may temporarily force/encourage people to change their behavior but it will never change their hearts.
- I was captain of our varsity high school golf team. – During my high school years, there was a stint where I played a lot of golf. Due to the fact that I attended a small high school and there were not a lot of folks to play sports, I was automatically on the golf team. By my senior year and after A LOT of practice (playing everyday), I became the captain of the varsity team. Probably my best score was around a 43 on 9 holes.
- I was a guest judge at a wine competition. – In college, to take a break from tech and politics, I took a lot wine classes. During the 2nd one I took, our professor offered us the chance to be guest judges at a local wine competition. My buddy and I jumped at it. It was AWESOME. Learned a ton from some hard core wine guys.
- I started making Web sites when I was 13 years old. – I remember when I was 13 (1997). My dad told me about this online class that AOL (2.o) was doing about how to make Web sites with HTML. From there on out, I saw how the Web had changed my life and could change the lives of others. People started paying me for doing it and it just stuck.
So yeah… now you all know me just that much better. Heh… feels like I wrote a lot. Now here are the 7 people that I’m going to tag to go through this exercise also:
- Wes Thorp – my dad
- Adam Jones – my brother-in-law
- Lauren Hager – dad’s former boss, family friend, and candidate for State Senate in Michigan.
- Matt Raymond – director of communications at the Library of Congress.
- David Russell – close friend and digital pastor at National Community Church
- Hooman Radfar – fearless leader and CEO of Clearspring Technologies
- Saul Colt – jedi master of customer relations and head of magic at FreshBooks
Oatmeal Stout - Justin Thorp's blog 