1. Name/initials: Richard Behling (RWB)
2. Where do you live: All over central California, currently in Stockton, California
3. How many other places have you lived: Washington state, Utah, Hawaii, New York, Illinois.
4. How many other places in the world have you visited: Went on a cruise once to Ensenada, Mexico (hate cruise ships & not impressed with Ensenada.)
5. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? New Zealand and/or Australia.
6. Name something physical you like about yourself: Lean and trim physique.
7. Name something non-physical you like about yourself: Very subtle (ok, slightly warped) sense of humor.
8. How many kilts do you have: Currently 16, unless I’ve miscounted. Now I know where all my closet space went!! (How come we’re not counting sporrans, too?) http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/shanna...m2.VEBgZfxRqTX
9. How many kilts are you planning to acquire in the next year: Acquire – 0; Construct – 5, 6, or more. It takes a couple weeks for a cotton or cotton/poly kilt on the sewing machine, and a couple months for a hand-sewn wool tartan kilt. Besides, who can spend all his time on kilts when there are all those belts, sporrans, and tartan diaper bags that need to be made also? Plus, all the time haunting the thrift stores looking for raw materials. I have a day job, too… (whine, whine…)
10. What got you started in this in the first place: The necessity to find something more comfortable for backpacking. Articles and sightings of the Mountain Kilt (so-called) impelled me to make my own outdoor attire. It’s the one called “original” in the album above.
11. Where was the last time/place you wore one of your kilts?: At home, all the time. Last Saturday wore my painter kilt (plain unbleached canvas) to Wal-Mart on an errand. One woman put her hand to her mouth and snorted in (surprise? disgust? appreciation? fear? desire for such a hunk? laughter?) I report, you decide.
12. Favorite time to wear a kilt: Day hiking, backpacking, company parties, church activities,… (oops, sooo many favorites! Kinda like asking me what’s my favorite cookie, pie, ice cream… dang!, there I go again…)
13. Last person who gave you favorable feedback about your kilt wearing: Every person who sees me in one – I can see it in their eyes!
14. Last person who gave you UNfavorable feedback about your kilt wearing: My unmarried daughter. But, then, what dad has never embarrassed his kids by his quirky or outlandish dress or behavior?
15. What’s in YOUR sporran? Depending on the outing, my “siller poke” (or, silver bag) - a money purse made of bull scrotum, a regular wallet, the wad of keys, prescription sunglasses, Chapstick®, trail snacks, airline tickets, jewelry, etc. My skunk sporran can hold quite a bit. (BTW, can someone tell me, a non-drinker, what else can be put in a sporran flask that won’t harm the lining?) (Another BTW, sporran banter is as fun as kilt banter. When someone, other than a small child, tries to pet my skunk, I tell them NO ONE pets him while I’m wearing it!)
16. What do you like to do OTHER THAN wear/talk about/obsess over kilts: In my Peter Parker personality, I read, hike, camp, bicycle, plan the next big bicycling vacation, sew, upholster, attend to family necessities, and… oh, yeah, did I mention I have a day job? The army camo is my cycling kilt – it goes on when I get out of the saddle. Women stare and whistle at the bike shorts, they only stare at the kilt.
17. Name one thing you have done that others might think a bit insane (like bungee jumping etc): In process of riding my bicycle across the USA in stages – so far California(for years), Nevada and Utah(’02), Colorado(’04), and Kansas(‘05); still to go – Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Virginia.
18. Say something totally random about yourself: My wife’s convinced I have ADD. How smart do you have to be to get into MENSA?
19. What question would you like to answer that hasn’t been included in the list: Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou? To my wife’s plaintive cry, I can only mumble in reply, “This ain’t no fairy tale.”
20. Do you think X Marks the Scot is the best kilt discussion group in the world? It’s the only one I’m in. Does that define it as the best?