In random order:
1. Although me and my brothers grew up in the same house by the same parents, I was born in a completely different hospital from them. My mother was a nurse at Alexandria Hospital when she got pregnant with me, and delivered me there.
2. I attended Georgia Tech for a year. I was a legacy applicant, both my father and my uncle graduated as Electrical Engineers. Since leaving: two of my cousins have also attended, one of which has already graduated and is working in Chattanooga a block away from me.
3. I have a scar on my chin from when I was in first grade and tripped while chasing a kickball at recess. 7 stitches.
4. I’ve never broken a single bone in my body. Neither have either of my two brothers.
5. I am an Eagle Scout, and have been in the Scouting program since I was 6 years old as a Tiger Cub. This should come as no surprise to anyone that has known me for more than a week.
6. The thing I miss the most from living in Virginia was coming home from Elementary School and playing outside with my brothers and the other neighborhood kids until it was dark.
7. My first computer was a Commodore 64. I had one in my room and taught myself simple BASIC programming before I turned 10 years old. I haven’t had any true interest in programming since beyond troubleshooting errors.
8. I went all throughout High School without having a girlfriend. Spring semester of my only year in college I asked out my best friend and she said yes. I’ve been dating her ever since.
9. The indoctrination of children (even if unintended) is the biggest killer of free thought: I am proud of my parents for letting me decide my own beliefs and being good debaters even when I am admittedly unfair sometimes.
10. I am the co-owner of RockShow DJ Entertainment Services with my younger brother, Robert. We have never taken any share of any profits because it all goes back into the business.
11. My paternal grandfather died when I was a baby, so I never knew him. My father and uncle are the best grandfather figures I could ask for, and I thank my father for pulling the double-duty.
12. I’m twenty-two years old and I still call my mother and father “Mommy” and “Daddy”. I always will. I refer to them as “My Mom” and “My Dad” to other people, however.
13. Even in 3rd grade I was pegged by my teacher to be a computer savvy businessman. At the end of the year she did the “Most likely to …” awards, and I was “Most likely to own a computer business”. I’m not quite there yet, but my full time job deals with computers and I do own a business.
14. I failed out of Georgia Tech; the motivation wasn’t there. Nothing was catching my interest and all I could see was sitting at a desk in a cubicle for 35 years after I got out. You get two attempts when you fail out at GT, and I’m saving my second for when I need it to advance my career so I will have the drive to complete that (currently) useless degree.
15. My father is 68 years old. I was his first child at age 46. I share my name with him. Rial Fisher Sloan II. I have no doubts that my first son will be named Rial Fisher Sloan III.
16. I was a smoker from about a month after I turned 18 until shortly after my 22nd birthday. I wasn’t a heavy smoker (4 a day was my peak average), mind you, but it’s the worst habit I’ve ever had. I’m glad I’m rid of it. I also “quit” multiple times cold-turkey, withdrawal symptoms were a runny nose and only lasted for a couple days no matter how heavy I smoked up to that point.
17. I have no idea where I want to be or what I want to be doing in 2 to 5 years, and I’m comfortable with that. In most cases, I like to take things as they come. I think in leaving Tech I changed the way I set goals and determined failures, it certainly helped me deal with stress in a lot healthier manner (aside from the smoking at the time).
18. It’s not your first impressions you have to worry about with me, it’s your 3rd and subsequent impressions that shape my opinion of you. On a semi-related note, I get irritated really fast when dealing with ignorance when there is no excuse for it (and I consider myself fairly lenient when it comes to determining an excuse for ignorance).
19. I typed the first 15 answers to this completely naked in my desk chair at 3am. I have a hard time falling asleep when I am on-call. I only put on pants because my legs were starting to get cold.
20. My biggest fear is that I am not or will not become a good role model. Considering my biggest role model is my grandfather (as gathered through my father and uncle) this translates to my biggest fear being that I will not become a good father. The bar has been set very high.
21. I am really bad at not keeping up with my own calendar to the point that I “double-book”, and am likely to cancel my closest friends’ appointments first. I feel that this is due to the fact that I’ve built my reputation with them enough that our friendship could handle my misappropriation of time. This has put a lot of strain on an already stressful long-distance relationship with my girlfriend of nearly 4 years. I want to break the habit.
22. In the past, I have undertaken quite a few responsibilities that were not in my best interest only so my friends wouldn’t be at a disadvantage. None of these responsibilities ever appear to put me as at much of a strain as they really do, but I don’t regret them even if they make me miserable sometimes.
23. I sit down to pee if there’s any chance that the toilet will be used by a female. Actually, the only time I stand to pee is if I’m outdoors, at a urinal, or the toilet seat already has some splashing on it (the guys that do that need to learn to control your stream and collateral damage).
24. Since I got to High School, I came to the realization that I do not regret anything I’ve ever done. There is always a valid explanation or a positive outcome that sets the situation free from discrimination. I think this is why I don’t take things personally very often, and even laugh when people try and make fun of me; about the only thing that gets to me is when I feel like I’ve been devalued.
25. All throughout my elementary and middle school standardized tests I would be 97th or above percentile in all math and science areas, and never lower than 90th percentile in language and reading. I took the SAT in 7th grade and scored above the 70th percentile of 11th graders. I have been in the “Gifted” program in every school system I’ve attended.
When not spending time behind a computer screen bringing you his latest blog posts; you might catch him playing video games on his PC; eating/cooking something in the kitchen of his house in North Chattanooga; watching movies from his Netflix queue; volunteering for the Boy Scouts of America; fueling his wilderness interests by hiking, camping, backpacking, rafting, kayaking; sustaining his established hobbies in videography, photography, or music; running his DJ business with his brother as a partner; or hanging out with his friends doing any number of fun activities. 