10 things

[cellio]

There's a meme going around where you list ten things you've done that most people haven't. I think it started out as "...that no one else reading this has done", but I haven't led a novel-enough life for the number of readers I have. :-)

1. Had a pet rabbit.

2. Took graduate courses in music for credit, without being formally enrolled in the department.

3. Flew to another city to spend a weekend with someone I knew only from the net, and it wasn't in any way romantic.

4. As a college freshman, introduced a professor to a new research area (and it turned out to be productive).

5. Got kicked out of a required class for being a trouble-maker, with no academic reprecussions.

6. Built a house to use for Pennsic. (Well, mostly not personally... :-) )

7. Sued a corporation when there was no money in it for me.

8. Wrote a program to monitor the state of a vending machine and let me know when the Cokes were cold. [See note below.]

9. Attended a party where the host had prepared handouts entitled "what to do if the police show up".

10. Entered every major category in a large SCA arts/sciences competition, just to see if I could.

Edited to add: About the Coke program -- this wasn't the Coke program at CMU, the famous one that allowed you to query the machine from any terminal. First, that pre-dated me; second, I wouldn't have had a clue about the hardware interface anyway. What I wrote was a monitoring program that used the output of the existing program. When the machine was "empty" and I was thirsty, I would fire up the monitor so I'd know as soon as someone started to fill the machine. (An "empty" machine actually contained a few cold Cokes.) Eventually I got added to the list of people with permission to just go fill the machine, but that came later.

And the flip side: ten things I've never done that many people I know probably have:

1. Waited tables.

2. Attended a prom.

3. Played team sports.

4. Held a gun.

5. Intentionally consumed illegal drugs other than alcohol.

6. Driven more than 400 miles by myself.

7. Watched a Three Stooges movie all the way through.

8. Ridden a skateboard or scooter.

9. Left North America.

10. Built a fire.

Comments

[rectangularcat]

Great lists! Of your reverse list I share #4, 5, 7 with you! Surprised at #9 and #10!

[aliza250.livejournal.com]

9. Attended a party where the host had prepared handouts entitled "what to do if the police show up".

Hm, I recall a pair of party hosts in Pittsburgh who used to do that...

But more interesting, on your list of don'ts, I seem to have done *all* of them!

[ralphmelton.livejournal.com]

I've done #9, too.
Of your "never done" list, I share #1, #5, and possibly #7 and #8.

[profane-stencil.livejournal.com]

Of the ten on your "never done" list, I'm certain that I've also not done six of them. (I can only say for sure that I've done three on that list- the "Three Stooges" entry could go either way.)

Now that you've listed them, of course, everyone on your fl will step up to say which ones they haven't done, either, so your list will look less and less unique.

(Drugs, guns, and scooters- I feel like Hunter Thompson.)

[eub.livejournal.com]

You wrote the coke software?

[sekhmets-song.livejournal.com]

I've done eight of your "never done" list. I'm not good at handling liquids with out dumping them on other people, so I've never waitressed and I never went to a prom (I went clubbing instead. Turns out I had much more fun than anyone I knew who went to the prom).
Very impressed by the coke program.

[zare-k.livejournal.com]

Hey, I didn't know you wrote the coke program. Neat. I have never done 1, 2, 3, or 8 from your reverse list either.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

We share 7 on your done list.... :-) On your not-done list I've done 2-4 and 6-10.... :-)

[ironangel]

Let's see. I've done 3, 7, and 9 on your "done list", and 2-10 on your "not done" list. :) hmm. wonder what my lists will look like?

[cellio]

Not the software that queried the machine, no. I wrote the monitoring software (using that program's output) that you could turn on when the machine was empty to be immediately alerted when someone started to fill it. :-) (The trick was that when the machine was "empty" there were really two cold Cokes in the bottom of each column. Once the machine was filled, the first few buyers got lucky. Everyone else had to wait four hours or drink warm Coke.)

[cellio]

I didn't write the Coke program; I just wrote a monitor. (See my comment to eub above.) Sorry for the confusion.

[cellio]

Yeah, #10 on the reverse list surprises me too. I've even lived in a house with a working fireplace -- but it was my parents' house and the fireplace was my father's domain, no one else's. As for camp fires, I've never been the one to actually assemble and start it, though I've kept them going.

I would like to rectify #4 someday. Well, I'd like to learn how to shoot; I don't care about fondling. :-)

[cellio]

Wait, have you lived in Pittsburgh?

[cellio]

(Drugs, guns, and scooters- I feel like Hunter Thompson.)

Heh. I hadn't even thought about that. :-)

[cellio]

We share 7 on your done list.... :-)

Duh. Sometimes I forget who's reading these things. :-)

[cellio]

I've done 3, 7, and 9 on your "done list"

I'm curious about 7.

[ironangel]

hmm. I think I counted class-action lawsuits from which I got no money due to the size of the class. I have not *personally* sued a corporation.

now I'm curious about your case, if you care to share?

[cellio]

I was the lead plaintiff on a suit against SCA Inc in 1994. They had just taken some egregious actions and vaguely cited a "financial emergency", but would not open their books to the membership. The bylaws said they had to, but when confronted with that they didn't seem to care. I, and several other plaintiffs, wanted to know just what was going on. (Answer: gross incompetence, not fraud.)

All tolled, the corporation wasted something over $70,000 in a failed attempt to keep the organization's true financial status from the membership.

[mortuus.livejournal.com]

Of the first list, I share number 3 with you. It was a lot of fun. I was very nervous because I'm never sure if in person I will be a great disappointment to people compared to how I am online, but it was great.

Number 9 made me laugh. It's nice that the host was so prepared and all :-D.

[ironangel]

ah. good job! that does seem pretty...incompetent.

[rectangularcat]

Yeah that type of fondling isn't that exciting although now that reminds me that I may have touched a gun when visiting a farm - still haven't shot it though.

I had another thought but alas all I am thinking of is going to make coffee....

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've done none of the things on your done list, and three and a half of the things on your not-done list (2, 4, 9, and sorta 10: I helped a number of fires being built, and I'm not sure if I ever did by myself).

Aha!!!

[dagonell.livejournal.com]

Now, I know who you are! And I'm kicking myself for not realizing it earlier!
-- Dagonell

Re: Aha!!!

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Me. Hi!

Did you guess from context, or did you look me up in the OandA for confirmation? :-)

Re: Aha!!!

[dagonell.livejournal.com]

I got it from "We share 7" and "goldsquare". I confirmed it in the O&A _after_ I guessed. I'm adding you to my friends list.

[cellio]

Of the first list, I share number 3 with you. It was a lot of fun. I was very nervous because I'm never sure if in person I will be a great disappointment to people compared to how I am online, but it was great.

Yeah, I had something similar. I'd been corresponding with an articulate and friendly-sounding Orthodox Jew who said, essentially, "you just haven't really experienced Shabbat the Orthodox way; I'll help". So I figured why not and found an affordable fare, and it was an enlightening weekend. The ten (!) kids were kind of overwhelming, but it was a good visit.

Number 9 made me laugh. It's nice that the host was so prepared and all :-D.

He anticipated the possibility, but so far as I know it was never necessary. But, y'know, pesky neighbors... :-)