Meme
Tagged by Xrlqy Wrlqy: list eight habits or facts about yourself, then tag eight more people.
1 – I have bungee jumped exactly 380 times. Which is two times more than I have seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I have never been sky diving though.
2 – I don’t really own a lot of guns.
3 – My legal name is unusually long. I have two middle names and a suffix. Additionally, due to various degrees and certifications I have an additional four suffixes. Because of (or in spite of) this I always go by the nickname my dad gave me and last name. It’s a lot of names. So, technically, you people who know my name really don’t. Due to two middle names, I received two forms for selective service at age 18 and had to go explain to the .gov that I was not actually two people. It’s also created issues with a couple financial items and for my Q Level security clearance when I did some consulting for a large governmental entity.
4 – I am one of the less than 1% of people who has (had) a nerve that ran over the top of the jaw bone instead of under. This nerve was severed when I had my wisdom teeth removed. I cannot feel the inside right half of my mouth (including the entire right side of my tongue). It explains why I like food that is rather, err, strong. And I’ve made lots of money on bar bets by putting cigarettes out on my tongue.
5 – For a skinny dude, I can drink a whole lot.
6 – I’m the first person in both my mom’s and dad’s family to get a four year college degree. And the first to get a graduate degree. My dad has a two year degree and he was the first in his family to go to college. My mom was the first in her family to finish high school.
7 – My wife proposed to me by spelling Marry Me at a game of Scrabble. Technically, I had a big weekend planned and was going to propose to her on a trip we took. However, I got wind from someone that she somehow knew that. To surprise (and, apparently, frustrate) her I held off. When we returned from the trip, we played the game. When she did that, I got the ring and officially proposed.
8 – I used to take pride in the fact I didn’t kill things. Ever. I never killed bugs. I would instead escort them out. Yeah, big bad gun nut isn’t too keen on killing anything. That changed when I had kids. I will kill any thing that bites or stings on sight (and other nefarious things). I’ve even killed bees by grabbing them out of the air and squeezing them. It hurts. But I can’t imagine Junior or The Second getting stung or bitten. Amazing how kids will change you. And bugs creep me out. I can’t stand to feel a bug crawling on me and will throw a full-blown arachnoleptic fit.
If you wanna play along, consider yourself tagged.
July 22nd, 2007 at 11:46 am
[…] I’ll just borrow ideas from Uncle: […]
July 22nd, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Didn’t know you were RHPS fan.
Interesting…
I haven’t seen it THAT many times, but I would say dozens.
July 22nd, 2007 at 4:09 pm
What’s curious to me is not that he’s seen it that many times, but that he knows exactly how many times that has been. I confess to seeing it at least a hundred times myself, but I have no idea about the exact count.
Is bungee jumping on the 380th time still enough of a thrill to be worth the fee? I’ve never gone before.
July 22nd, 2007 at 8:23 pm
You might not like AZ. I’ve been stung twice by scorpions, and regularly throw tarantullas out of my office.
Bee stings are easy to deal with (I used to be a beekeper). The bee leaves the sting in you, and a little black venom sack (thoughtfully accompanied by a pumping mechanism. You scrape it out with a knife or, failing that, a credit card. Scraping gives a better chance of avoiding squeezing the venom sack. Get it out very quickly and you don’t even feel the sting. Get it out after it starts hurting and you get a mild ache for maybe five minutes. Works with ants, too.
July 22nd, 2007 at 8:44 pm
SM, i recommend bungee jumping at least once.
July 22nd, 2007 at 8:47 pm
My mama never raised anybody dumb enough to bungee jump, however she did raise one son that ran straight at men shooting at him, twice. Both times after I had been hit.
I too escort bugs outside, except spiders. I would shotgun them if I could. The only real fear I have ever felt has been spiders and when any of my children or grandchildren were hurt. I still get bees and wasps to land on my hand and take them outside. Snakes and I have a deal, don’t bother me, I won’t bother you, except for cottonmouth watermoccasins, they are too aggressive to be allowed to live in proximity to your loved ones. It is against the law to kill them where I live. I do and will anyway.
I own a genius IQ, but have managed to keep it hidden so well, even I don’t believe it.
I have completely healed broken bones in less than three weeks, but teeth which are made of the same stuff have a serious aversion to me, hence I have only a few. Go figure.
I went to college off and on for thirty years, but have no degrees. I could never stand the dumbing down necessary to “belong”. I truly do count my college hours as wasted although my last turn was at 4.0, in one class I had actually accrued more credit than supposedly was possible.
I taught myself enough engineering to outperform our entire company’s engineering staff. Boy, was that a mistake!
My mother graduated from college at 18, my father didn’t graduate from high school, but at the time he entered the Army Air Corps he had the highest IQ ever recorded in this country. He was a romantic. He wanted to be a romantic rogue, but reality got in the way.
I cry at sad movies and displays of courage. I am not ashamed, though my family is embarrassed by it.
I have been the friend that would go to the wall for a friend, but only ever had one, who is now deceased. He was a drunk and the smartest man I ever knew, bar none. He had a fourth grade formal education, and a PHD in “angles”. I miss him. We took some awful chances together and survived them all.
I like sweet movies, I’ve seen enough of the other side of life. I am consciously hanging onto naivete. I wish I were a cynic, instead of a skeptic. A cynic doesn’t hold hope for mankind’s better nature, a skeptic thinks it could be better, but he bets the other way because of the consistency of failures tell him the odds are against it. So, he wins more bets than he loses, but regrets and resents every single one.
I guess I had better stop now, I hate being maudlin. Too late, I know.
July 24th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
[…] up the meme from SayUncle and Robb Allen, here […]
July 25th, 2007 at 12:54 am
Coming here from that xrlq entry, I am glad to see that some of the weblogs that were there, when I was more active in, and aware of, the Blogosphere, are still around. I hope that your past entry links still have the same urls, and that the entries still have the same content, including comment posts.
I remember you being an excellent blogger – and independent of the Bush administration, and the GOP Establishment. Perhaps they should pass a law, that bloggers like that are not allowed to change any of the above, on their sites. I think that Mr. Claybourn would get the maximum sentence.
It’s hard to keep up the blog update-rate, year after year after year, but we need you guys to do so. Please keep up the good work.