31-Day Blog Challenge: Day 2 - 20 facts About Me

This one was really easy, because I like talking about me, and I don't mind looking at myself with introspection. I am who I am, flaws and all, and I embrace the whole of it, because it is silly now to acknowledge your shortcomings. 

1. I graduated from Onondaga Community College in 1985 with an A.A.S. degree in Radio-Television Production. I took this because OCC didn’t have a Music Theory and Composition major; and I wasn’t competent enough in the classical sense on any one instrument to be a music major at the time. A lot of the music majors thought I was one of them, though; because I spent all my time in the music department. I often wondered back then if they resented me because I wasn't a music major...
2. I was a terrified, type-B child. I wouldn’t even go borrow a cup of sugar or make a phone call to a stranger like a store or something. That turned around in college when I started getting on stage a lot. I wasn’t always the House-like alpha-dork you know today. If you have stage fright, you fix it by going onstage every chance you can make. Over and over, until you can do it with ease.
3. I’m really much nicer than some people think; I just don’t suffer fools gracefully. I somehow managed to acquire somewhat of a reputation for being a little crusty and unapproachable. I’m way more intolerant of people that are unwilling to learn or try than I perhaps should be. If you‘re trying hard to learn when I’m helping or teaching you, my patience goes for miles. If you're the type that is going to ask me the same question every week for a year because you refuse to try to learn it, well, then not so much on the patience thing.
4. This whole type-B thing was largely responsible for me missing out on a LOT of things, like trying out for Rock Ensemble in high school past freshman year; I thought everyone at school hated me and looked down at me. If you’re this way - afraid of what people think - just stop it. They like you just fine. I found that out, and it was very uplifting when I did.
5. My 1st cousin once removed is John Regan, who was Peter Frampton’s bass player (and best friend) for the last 35 years or so. He was the bass player in Frehley’s Comet, too. He's played with more people than I can name, but Mick Jagger is one. Totally down-to-earth regular, awesome, spiritual guy. Plays in a great new band called Four by Fate now...
6. I have perfect pitch. Contrary to what some people think, it is a skill and sense that varies greatly in intensity and sensitivity with time of day, mood, and how I feel physically. Sometimes it’s sharp as a razor, detecting when something is 2 cents out of tune, sometimes it’s not even close. And also contrary to what some people think, there is no relationship whatsoever between having perfect pitch and being able to sing on key. I tend to sing sharp, as it happens. Its two different skills, hearing a pitch problem and being able to successfully correct it. Perfect pitch is a mixed blessing at best, I think.
7. I am also a synesthete. Synesthesia is a condition where senses overlap; the sensory input of one sense produces output from other senses. The most common one is people see colors associated with letters or words. For me, musical key signatures have colors. Not single notes, but key centers. For you Spinal Tap fans, D minor is indeed the saddest key of all; for me the color is a silvery blue-gray. It's not actual vision, think in terms of a vivid "mind's eye" experience. Imagine how much fun Synesthesia and perfect pitch are. It is actually kind of aggravating some of the time, though it has its perks. But it is an adventure; if I hear a song in a different key than I know it, I don’t recognize it. The synesthesia contributes to the pitch sense, because things will be the wrong color. I even hear some keys better than others.
8. I’m not sure why a lot of people don’t know this, but I’ve been married twice. The first was from 1991 to 1993. The 2nd is from 1996-present. I have no regrets whatsoever from the first one. We were young, we made mistakes. It worked out like it was supposed to, and we're friends now… The second one is working out like it's supposed to, as well.
9. If I could visit anyplace for an extended vacation, it’d be England and Scotland. I have a feeling I wouldn’t want to come home. That, and maybe driving around the Nurburgring in an exotic car.
10. I’m seriously afraid of heights, or rather, falling from them. It's not even so much the fall but the sudden stop at the end - I have an aversion to deceleration trauma. I don’t mind airplanes, but I’m not one of those guys who leans over the balcony on the Empire State Building, either.
11. My life’s dream is to own and operate a big and successful recording studio. Sad and strange that until a few years ago, I’d never set foot in one.
12. My biggest character flaw, in my humble opinion, is a maddening and sometimes frightening intolerance of petty inconvenience. I’ll go out of my way to help people do stuff, at great inconvenience to myself, and cheerfully not think twice about it. But something simple and stupid happens like walking through a doorway and having my phone get caught on it and knocked to the floor can spin me into a complete rage. I have no idea why this is.
13. I sometimes think I was meant to be a prosecuting attorney. I argue like one. Much to the chagrin of my immediate family.
14. My personal kryptonite is hand injuries. Especially burns. I get very queasy and distressed at the sight of a hand injury, so please don’t show me your cool cut or burn. I might throw up on you. I think it’s the musician thing.
15. My favorite smell in the whole world is Constant Comment tea. Though cinnamon brooms might be in the running. And fresh baking bread.
16. I hate my name. I’ve sometimes considered going by my middle name (Grant). It’s not an affront to my late father, who was also named Phil; it is just that, to me, "Phil" is “that old guy with the horn rim glasses that hocks up a lot and smells funny”.
17. I’m a Skip Barber high performance driving school graduate. I beat the instructor in the end of session autocross race. (By 0.06, but a win is a win!) If I were stupid rich, one of my hobbies would be autocrossing. My daughter will be taking this class the moment she gets her license.
18. If I were stupid rich, my new vocation would be to travel around with my family and fix stuff. Like a wandering “Extreme Makeover” minstrel. We’d help people that needed it. It’s so much fun to see the look on someone’s face whose life has been forever changed by a simple gift of help.
19. If you look at my daughter, you’ll see the best of me. (And sometimes, the worst of me, but that’s how it goes). People who don’t have kids but think they know what it’s like to have a child just don’t. I was one of those people. There is no better thing in the world than parenthood.
20. I'm no world class whiz musician; but strangely enough, I have a pretty good "star power" resume: I opened for and played guitar in the backup band with Eddie Money when he was here in 2102; and the same with Bryan White. Both of those things happened because of my association with my dear friend Shelly Starks, a world class country singer; I was her accompanist at the time, and we got to play with both of those folks. I sang backup for Wynona Judd when she sang for Dan Wheldon's funeral. I’ve played with several other Grammy® winners, including Kathy Mattea, Jon Vezner, Don Henry, the immortal Tom Paxton, Al Petteway, and the mighty Janis Ian.