Ten Things I’ve Done…

Ten Things I've Done That You Probably Haven't

I usually don't do the internet blog memes, but this one that's going around got me wondering if I could possibly come up with ten non-sexual things. Adding in sex would make it too easy... :-) The tricky thing here is not just coming up with things that most people haven't done, but trying to come up with stuff that really almost no one, or at least no one I know, has done. My friends are too adventurous!
  1. Ridden a motorcycle at night with a stranger up King Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh (somewhat unwise).
  2. Started not one, but *two* arts foundations. In the same year. Because I'm an idiot.
  3. Played Magic: The Gathering on a hilltop tea plantation in Sri Lanka.
  4. Had my skull cracked open (okay, not open, but needing stitches) by a ceramic ashtray -- I was three, the ashtray-wielder was four, and his parents insisted that he was very sorry, but I doubt it.
  5. Danced on the ice when Lake Michigan froze over (seriously unwise).
  6. Founded a magazine, ran it for a few years -- and then walked away, leaving it going strong. Then did it again.
  7. Won third place in the National Catholic Spelling Bee -- and was bitter, because I didn't get to try the real spelling bee, where I would have undoubtedly tanked, given that I got tripped up by broccoli. I'm still not sure I've spelled that right.
  8. Had sixteen job interviews at MLA, eleven of them on one exhausting day.
  9. Got flirted with by Amarillo Slim during the World Championship of Poker, live at Binion's Horseshoe Casino, see more at www.chriscraymer.co.uk.
  10. Curried Spam (perhaps the most unwise of all).
Now if you're very good, maybe someday I'll give you the sex list. :-) Any of you got any of these? Anyone else want to play?

6 thoughts on “Ten Things I’ve Done…”

  1. Is this an invitation to post our own lists here, or do we need to go to our own blogs to do that? (I have never posted “directly” to mine.)

  2. OK, here goes…

    1. Solved a topology problem which had eluded the rest of the world-wide topology community for more than a decade; then did it again. (Not the same as solving an unsolved problem that no one else ever thought of.)

    2. Opened, by hand, a high-density concrete door in the shield of a university research nuclear reactor running at full power, setting off the evacuation alarm for the Physics building at the university where I was a graduate student in physics.

    3. Met Isaac Asimov without asking for an autograph, even though I was holding a newly bought book of his in my hand. I decided I would rather have a conversation with him.

    4. Choreographed an original short ballet, although it was never performed in public.

    5. Had a bone tumor sawed out of my left leg, not knowing whether the leg would still be there when I came out of surgery. (OK, I did not CHOOSE to do this one.)

    6. Even now, at the age of 60, I regularly go skipping accross parking lots whenever possible.

    7. Got a license to operate the nuclear reactor mentioned above.

    8. Piloted an airplane without a functioning electrical system. (Legal, but not terribly smart unless the plane is an antique with no electrical system to begin with, which it wasn’t.)

    9. Started the engine of that same airplane the old-fashioned way, by pulling the prop and stepping out of the way QUICKLY.

    10. Driven accross the Continental US and back alone in a borrowed Ford Pinto with no air conditioning.

    I can think of a couple more, but they might violate others’ privacy, or appear to be merely bragging.

  3. Mary Anne Mohanraj

    Well, there isn’t really an interesting story to it, I’m afraid. I was just curious. I kind of like curried corned beef, and I thought curried Spam was worth a try. It was, however, not good. If you want to try yourself, chop some onions, saute them, add chili powder and Ceylon curry powder, stir in chopped Spam, saute until well-mixed. But it’s better with corned beef.

Leave a Reply to David Bellamy Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *