I feel almost arrogant posting, I don't really have enough presence on this board to feel "relevant" to the local culture. Actually, I
am arrogant come to think of it.
So here goes:
iGav said:
Some really interesting stuff folks...
No serial killers though... interesting.
Careful what you ask for...
1) I've known several people who died (or worse) under extraordinary circumstances:
A close friend committed suicide by threatening police and forcing them to shoot him. The theory as to why he would not do this himself revolves around the fact that he was catholic. I guess he thought there was some suicide loophole in catholic law (I know nothing more about it, apologies to any catholics who know otherwise).
A friend from high school disappeared a short while after I bumped into him at the university we both attended. His body was found years later, and it wasn't until he appeared in the newspaper that I discovered he was a homosexual. The running theory is that he was targetted for that reason.
An aquaintence who I hadn't seen in a year or so appeared in the national newspapers; he burned synagogues and murdered homosexuals. He seemed eccentric but harmless at the time I knew him, though we were not "friends" he was over at my house and I at his from time to time. He eventually hung himself in prison. (There was also speculation that this guy killed my other friend; the case isn't solved last I checked).
Sorry for the morbidity; the rest is more cheerful, I promise!
2) Though I do seem to have a knack for attracting "eccentric" people. I've known at least 4 people who were members of religious cults that made "saving" me their personal project. A simple "no thank you" was far from sufficient. That's just the beginning; I've got more than 20 items of "crazy people" stories alone, but I don't talk about many of them.
3) I don't have a favorite color, but I like to keep orange around. (Perhaps it helps me find the happy place?)
4) I've practiced judo for many years. I still suck at it though.
5) My favorite drink (based on volume) is "Stash Double Bergamot Earl Grey Black Tea". It's good with chocolate.
6) My favorite foods are fish and chocolate. Strangely, I did not realize this until age 28; I was on an Alaskan ocean cruise and the impeccably attentive head waiter pointed out that I always order fish, chocolate, or both.
7) I'm more flamboyant and outgoing than your typical engineer; I'm more nerdy and bookish than your typical
anyone else.
8) I don't like intelligence quotients. Perhaps it's because I can't quite hear the difference between "IQ" and "penis length".
9) This one is actually posted somewhere on this board, but I felt it was apropos for this crowd: The first computer I ever laid eyes on was an Apple II something or other. I was in 3rd grade. I begged and pleaded for an apple under the christmas tree but got a TRS80 because Apple was too expensive (not complaining). I spent the next 20+ years wanting an Apple, but buying other computers for various reasons. I'm still saving up for my first Apple, a 15" powerbook (2.5 more weeks!!!)
10) I started programming in 3rd grade, because there was no permanent storage on my first computer. Any program I wanted to use had to be typed in first; I had a college ruled notebook full of software for quite some time before I got my first storage device, a printer.
Still years later I got a floppy disk drive, which of course facilitated retrieval as well.
11) I can't remember what it is like to
not know how write software. It feels as natural as speaking, or writing an essay (or posting on macrumors). Same for math; I taught myself algebra in 4th grade as part of a personal programming project. I didn't realize that it was algebra until 7th grade when I took the class (got an A
).
12) Every english teacher I ever had seemed to genuinely dislike me, except my last one in college. That was the only english class that I got an A in; the whole class was based on one massive paper we had been discussing all year; I wrote it the night before it was due. I swear I am not making this up.
13) Virgo.
14) Interestingly, like a previous poster I was also trained by a navy seal; my training was in target practice though. But I don't want to own a gun (see #2), so I'm probably not going to improve at it. Maybe I should get him to train me in SCUBA....
15) I love pressed coffee (as opposed to percolated/filtered). I roast and grind my own beans* in a frying pan on the weekends and boil the grounds to create
really good coffee, better than I can buy anywhere around here except the Ethiopian restaurant.
* OK, my wife does it; but she's the nurturing sort. And I'm not a morning person.
16) I have an extremely underdeveloped creative side that I long to exploit. Particularly drawing and other visual arts. I'm just beginning to dabble in photography, but I have no time for it.
17) I'm a serious user and proponent of open source and libre software; I think #10 is a major contributing factor to this mindset.
18) I'm not an atheist or a Christian. Agnostic isn't far off, but that isn't quite right either.
19) I've always wanted to act. I took a theater class in college and loved it, even performing a few scenes of Shakespeare in public. My father was utterly surprised when I mentioned my aspirations recently, in spite of the number of times he sternly told me to "stop being so dramatic" while I was growing up.
20) When I watch "that 70s show" it's like replaying my childhood. I was Eric, My dad is still Red, my mom is still Kitty. Seriously, I'm sure that this is not an uncommon experience but it's utterly unbelievable the resemblance...especially between my dad and Red.
Wow, sorry mine was so long.
-kev
