Oh my gosh! I’d started the draft of this post back on 12/14/2006, and just recently remembered it.

Ganns, the Official Superblessed Blogger of Journey Inside My Mind, posted a ten things that begin with the letter ___ meme. Here’s how it works: When you see this meme and want to participate, post a comment requesting a letter (as I did at Ganns’s site), and the blogger will respond in the comment form with a letter of his/her choice. Then you go back to your blog and post about ten things that start with that letter.

In response to my comments, Ganns, who says I’m one of the “most creative men [he's] ever had the pleasure of knowing“, has given me an “E.” These were the top 10 things that came to mind, in no particular order of importance:

1. Encouragement. I have been told that I have a gift for encouragement. I have the ability to see something good about something or someone and point it out. In college I used to call up friends and leave encouraging messages on their answering machines.
2. English. Not only is this my native language, but I was very good in it in school. I could one day become an English teacher, and the English teachers I had in school had a profound impact on my life.
3. Expressive. This word really describes my work personality. For example, at work I am gregarious and outgoing. I draw motivation from social interactions and relationships with others. As a result I help to make the company a better place to work.
4. Empowering. This word describes my leadership style. I am encouraging and motivating, and I help others reach their goals and dreams. People see me as a good mentor for my patience and talent for giving direction.
5. Elves. It’s Christmastime, and there is a lot of talk about elves, especially a certain jolly old elf that pays a visit to girls and boys this time of year. I have been fortunate to have worn the suit at different occasions in my life, and I have the opportunity to do that again this coming weekend. But don’t tell my daughter that, okay?
6. Emmanuel. God with us. We remember the birth of Jesus Christ at any time during the year, but especially during this time of the year. God invaded our world, grew up into a man, showed us how to live, and gave his life, enduring suffering to show us the extent of his love for us, to reconcile us back to him. Were there enough clauses in that previous sentence?
7. Eternity. God has set eternity in the hearts of all men. Everyone thinks about what will happen once they are gone. We can have eternal life with God through Jesus.
8. Evanescence. A couple years ago, while working at McDonald’s, Evanescence’s song “Bring Me To Life” came on over the stereo system being piped through the restaurant. Those familiar with the song will know that there is a crescendo as it builds up to the chorus. Well, it was during a busy part of the day on crew, and that song came on, and when the chorus first broke, I really got into it. I got into it so much that I yelled the chorus. The manager, who was in the far corner of the building in the back, came out to see what was wrong. I was a little overzealous, I guess.
9. Ed’s Mixed Bag. This is one of my favorite independent music podcasts, and Ed, as the Official Audio Commentator of the Journey Inside My Mind Podcast, has become a great friend.
10. Elvis. Back in the early 1990′s, Mojo and Skid has a song called “Elvis is Everywhere”. I was living in the Detroit, Michigan area, and I rented a video camera and made a music video of me singing this song. Lip-syncing it, actually. If I remember correctly, the chorus goes something like this:
    

    Elvis is everywhere
    Elvis is everything
    Elvis is everybody
    Elvis is still the King
    Man oh man
    What I want you to see
    Is that the King
    He lives inside
    You and me

Related tags:

journey+inside+my+mind journeyinsidemymind jimm dan+johnson ganns deen work personality leadership style christmas santa emmanuel evanescence ed’s mixed bag elvis is everywhere mojo nixon skid roper memes