Tell us something true about yourself , that we don't already know or wouldn't have guessed

NorthernLight said:
Other than that ... I'm a genius. This is apparently something people would never guess (in person anyway), as most people seem to think I'm stupid.
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I like it when people think I'm stupid. It gives me lots of opportunities. In grad school, a lot of my classmates thought I was stupid because I went to a public university and was from Atlanta.

They got their comeuppance. It was a highly competitive situation. I enjoyed it.
 

I have OCD (though not as pronounced as my granddaughter's) and ADD. Due to the ADD, I usually only watch a show or movie for 22-23 minutes at a clip, unless I'm really intrigued. I will then go to the next show and do the same. I stopped reading books because I wind up never finishing them, not to add they put me to sleep. I read tons of articles on various subjects though. . I used to be really good at starting multiple things and not finishing any of them for quite awhile. I've gotten better at not doing that. But I am easily distracted and usually have a hundred things rolling around in my brain at any given moment.

I find my OCD has "progressed"as I've gotten older. For most items, when I put them away the labels have to be facing out, unless storage wise or esthetics cause them to fit or look better sideways. Everything that goes in my fridge/freezer except fresh produce must be wiped down with disinfectant first. I wash and sanitize my hands an awful lot and always wash my hands (sometimes twice) before I go in the fridge and start handling food. Add the slight germaphobia. and clothes I've worn outside are removed and put in the laundry right away (unless I've sweated, then I let them dry out first). Or sometimes I spray them with disinfectant before putting them away. I do not wear my house clothes outside nor my street clothes in the house. I rewash all exposed skin as soon as I get in. I use facial towelettes on my face and neck instead of the hard tap water. Since my hair must be covered while in public, I remove my scarves and they go into the laundry. I also make sure to wash my glasses before putting them back on. I sometimes wonder if these rituals have kept me from catching COVID. :unsure:
 
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CinnamonSugar said:
“Ben Hur” came out on November 18, 1959 and I remember going to see it with my parents. Considering my birthday is December 1957, I was less than 2 years old to sit through a four hour movie. The scene after the chariot race where Massala is injured and screaming in pain scared the cr*p outta me.
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I saw that one too, as a child.
My mom dropped all 3 of us at a movie theater. She wasn't very bright. We were 7, 8 & 10. "The Pit & The Pendulum."
Then, when we couldn't sleep, she'd beat us.
 

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For those of you who haven't seen my previous post - "Anyone else surprised you're still here:" Enjoy.

My parents liked to take trips to Las Vegas. Mostly my mom liked the Roulette tables. My dad just wanted her happy.
My mom liked Joshua Trees & we always stopped in the desert so she could take photos next to them. When I was around 5 years old, we drove a mile or so into the desert & my dad started taking photos. I had a habit of wandering & petting every animal I found outside. My dad knew that & it was really stupid of him to not keep an eye on me. I found a large snake next to a bush & picked it up. Later, I learned it was a Mojave Green Rattlesnake - one of the deadliest. I remember thinking "He comes with his own built-in toy - how cute his tail was - with those rattles on it." I was handling him for at least 5 minutes & he was wrapped around my face when I heard my dad yell, "Hey...put that down...he can kill ya!" I said, "But he likes me." My dad didn't want to come near me while I was holding him. I gently put him down. To this day, I don't know why he didn't bite me or even rattle. Lucky for me; we were hours from any medical center; it's unlikely I would have survived.

When I was 7, my dad had some kind of door-to-door sales job. He'd take me with him & I'd wait in the car while he knocked on doors. Again, he wasn't smart to leave me alone in that De Soto when he knew I liked to play with every button & switch in the car. Well, he parked on a hill & said, "Don't touch anything," then he started canvassing the block. Of course, when he was out of sight, the first thing I did was press the starter button. I loved the way it made the whole car shake. Well, everything was OK until I played with that pull-out parking brake lever, then the car started rolling down the hill, going faster & faster. I jumped into the back seat. The car went over a curb & hit a tree (luckily). It could have hit a pedestrian. He never yelled at me for that; maybe he realized how stupid HE was.

My mom was a terrible driver. I must have been around 4 at the time. She was driving with me in the passenger seat, eating a candy bar. For some reason, she hit the curb & the car flipped onto it's roof. I ended up curled in a ball on the floor. I must have been crying. When the ambulance arrived, the driver asked me if I was hurt. I said, "No." He said, "Then why are you crying?" I said, "I can't find my candy bar."

A year later, I was speeding down a steep hill on my bicycle when a gardener pulled out in front of me. I slammed into the back of his pickup truck & flew over the entire truck, landing in the street. The only injury was to my right knee; it swelled up huge. I didn't want to tell my mom & dad, so I just ran home & hid, but my knee swelled up so big it was noticeable & my mom found out & took me to the ER. The doctor said, "Nothing broken; just put some ice on it.

When I was 10, my brother & I were playing handball against the side of the house. I was barefoot. As I ran up to hit the ball, I heard a scraping sound. I looked down at my foot & saw that a nail went through the side of my big toe & out the other side. I started to pull it out but it was so rusted, it broke off. When I pulled on the other side, it also broke off, leaving a piece stuck inside the toe. Well, I went into the garage & found a brand new nail & used it to push out the broken piece. I poured peroxide into the hole & put a Band-Aid over each hole. It healed perfectly. "Tetanus?" What's that?

No more serious incidents....until I was 16. I'm swimming at the beach, maybe 50 yards from shore when I felt a tug on my foot - like someone grabbed it as a joke. I reached down & felt something thrashing. I didn't know what it was until it swam away & I saw the fin sticking out of the water - a small shark, (luckily) maybe 3-4 feet. The water was cold & I didn't feel any pain, so I thought it was minor, but when I got to shore, people started gasping & pointing at my foot. There was an open triangle-shaped flap on the top of my foot & every time I took a step, it gushed; that's what was freaking people out. I wrapped it in a towel & drove home with my other foot. When I got home, I couldn't find bandages that were big enough, so I stuck the flap back on & covered it with masking tape. It healed fine - maybe the salt water prevented infection.
 
C50 said:
You want to talk about mean....From the time I was 10 until I graduated highschool I worked off and on at a Mink ranch that our neighbor owned. Nasty, vile, stinky, loud, visicous little creatures. I'm not sure why they were so angry, they had no idea what fate awaited them!
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Few years ago I read about a Russian experiment with mean nasty foxes. A barn full were sorted by degree of wickedness and the lesser mean were allowed to breed with each other. Lots of foxes were produced this way, but only the milder ones were permitted to continue breeding. Over a period of years the progeny got milder and milder and began to resemble dogs in temperament and behavior. This is probably the way that early humanity unwittingly turned vicious wolves into the dogs that to this day love us.
 
I once rolled a car onto its side right in front of Jeffery Dahmers childhood home. This was before anyone knew him but he was living there at that time and is where he killed his first victim. What would have happened if he would have came outside and offered to have me come inside and use his phone? I could be famous...but dead.

Years later (after Dahmers arrest) I would see his dad and step mom at a friend's yearly party. They seemed like nice people but wow what a giant elephant in the room.
 
I have a Masters Degree in applied mathematics, although I spent my career teaching high school level math for the most part, at a community college. I did teach calculus and differential equations for a number of years however, which was a challenge. I loved the more abstract concepts of higher mathematics like infinitely large and small quantities as well as group theory. I actually dislike working with numbers in things like balancing a checkbook - thankfully my wife does that.
 
WheatenLover said:
Here's an article about it. I enjoyed reading it.
https://www.jabcecc.org/rdf
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Thanks for the artical, I love those kind reads. Those are some good looking animals for sure.

Growing up in the country I made pets out of anything I could catch, sometimes they got friendly, sometimes not. My daughter also tried to make pets of everything and we once caught a young red fox, we kept it in a 12' x 12' horse stall so it had room. It did get friendly but not like a dog or cat, it simply tolerated being touched. Eventually we just left the stall open so it could come and go as it wished, after a few weeks it quit coming back.
 
In 2004, Hilary Clinton came to our town as part of her duties as Senator. She gave a talk, I had a reserved seat as part of the local library's interest. Instead of listening to her talk, I decided to go out in the hallway and see if I could get info from her bodyguards. I had a get well card for Bill, as he was feeling under the weather that week. I asked that they see he received it, and they laughed and agreed. They welcomed the interaction with me, and we chatted for 20 minutes, keeping an eye outside on her limo and driver. Need I say the four men were dressed in black suits, in great shape in their 30's, and quite good looking. I never forgot, as I had such good fun that day. Here is a pic I took as she left the room.....before I shook her hand and introduced myself.
Quite a memory.Hillary Clinton 2004.jpg
 
C50 said:
You deed to conduct an experiment to find that answer. Try eating a mouthful of spice and see if you can jump over a Greyhound bus like Oldpop did, except you won't be using a motorcycle. If you're successful I say that proves the adrenaline rush theroy, if you fail I declare the experiment inconclusive.

Then once your bones and bruises heal you need to try again. I believe it takes three failures to conclusively disprove a theory.
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I believe it takes a gullible person to try this three times.:oops:
 
Two things. One, I have been on the trail of a missing person since my retirement. To this day, I am still investigating it. I have been in the local newspapers a few times asking for help and each time I do get some leads, but nothing has panned out. I will stay on the trail. Right now, I have no leads.

The other item is that I was a pretty good baseball player in high school and college. I was drafted late in the rounds by the Dodgers, but didn’t sign. I knew in my heart that I was never going to make it to the big leagues and I didn’t want to waste 8 years of my life floating around in the minors only to be released. I wanted to get on with my life and fulfill my life’s dream of being a State Trooper. My dad supported me, but was somewhat disappointed that I didn’t do it for just 1 year.
 
I was born and raised in a small Massachusetts town. It was ALL white. Outside of TV, I never saw an actual living African American, until I joined the Navy at age 21. The first time I was in the shower, and I was looking at this tall black guy. I guess he recognized the look, because he showed me how the color wasn't dirt and didn't wash off. And he told me to feel his hair. It looked wiry, but it was soft.
Thanks buddy.
 
When I was 4 years old, I was mugged in the street. My mother had sent me to the shop for a loaf of bread and I was walking along with a small purse in my hand. A bigger boy threatened me with a stick and forced me to hand over the money.
 
Not nearly as interesting as some members' stories, but:

- I never saw an apartment til I was 18 years old and visiting an out-of-state family member
- One of my childhood neighbors had been in the German army during WW II
- (if this doesn't gross anyone out) I have no eyebrows- went too far with tweezers when I was a teenager, and since it pulled out the roots they never grew back
 
Alligatorob said:
So what do you do, if anything, for eyebrows?

I knew a woman who had tattooed eyebrows, no hair. I did not notice until she pointed it out. Don't know how she lost her's.
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Admittedly, nothing. For a long time I used eyebrow pencil, but it always looked fake. I'd been considering eyebrow tattoos, but I figure they're probably quite expensive.
 
911 said:
Two things. One, I have been on the trail of a missing person since my retirement. To this day, I am still investigating it. I have been in the local newspapers a few times asking for help and each time I do get some leads, but nothing has panned out. I will stay on the trail. Right now, I have no leads.

The other item is that I was a pretty good baseball player in high school and college. I was drafted late in the rounds by the Dodgers, but didn’t sign. I knew in my heart that I was never going to make it to the big leagues and I didn’t want to waste 8 years of my life floating around in the minors only to be released. I wanted to get on with my life and fulfill my life’s dream of being a State Trooper. My dad supported me, but was somewhat disappointed that I didn’t do it for just 1 year.
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@911, thanks for sharing this with us. As a retired civilian employee for the NYSP I can relate to what you are saying. Once a trooper, always a trooper. Good luck finding your missing person, just can't let go, can ya? I think you made a good choice in careers, but then, I am biased. :)
 
win231 said:
For those of you who haven't seen my previous post - "Anyone else surprised you're still here:" Enjoy.

My parents liked to take trips to Las Vegas. Mostly my mom liked the Roulette tables. My dad just wanted her happy.
My mom liked Joshua Trees & we always stopped in the desert so she could take photos next to them. When I was around 5 years old, we drove a mile or so into the desert & my dad started taking photos. I had a habit of wandering & petting every animal I found outside. My dad knew that & it was really stupid of him to not keep an eye on me. I found a large snake next to a bush & picked it up. Later, I learned it was a Mojave Green Rattlesnake - one of the deadliest. I remember thinking "He comes with his own built-in toy - how cute his tail was - with those rattles on it." I was handling him for at least 5 minutes & he was wrapped around my face when I heard my dad yell, "Hey...put that down...he can kill ya!" I said, "But he likes me." My dad didn't want to come near me while I was holding him. I gently put him down. To this day, I don't know why he didn't bite me or even rattle. Lucky for me; we were hours from any medical center; it's unlikely I would have survived.

When I was 7, my dad had some kind of door-to-door sales job. He'd take me with him & I'd wait in the car while he knocked on doors. Again, he wasn't smart to leave me alone in that De Soto when he knew I liked to play with every button & switch in the car. Well, he parked on a hill & said, "Don't touch anything," then he started canvassing the block. Of course, when he was out of sight, the first thing I did was press the starter button. I loved the way it made the whole car shake. Well, everything was OK until I played with that pull-out parking brake lever, then the car started rolling down the hill, going faster & faster. I jumped into the back seat. The car went over a curb & hit a tree (luckily). It could have hit a pedestrian. He never yelled at me for that; maybe he realized how stupid HE was.

My mom was a terrible driver. I must have been around 4 at the time. She was driving with me in the passenger seat, eating a candy bar. For some reason, she hit the curb & the car flipped onto it's roof. I ended up curled in a ball on the floor. I must have been crying. When the ambulance arrived, the driver asked me if I was hurt. I said, "No." He said, "Then why are you crying?" I said, "I can't find my candy bar."

A year later, I was speeding down a steep hill on my bicycle when a gardener pulled out in front of me. I slammed into the back of his pickup truck & flew over the entire truck, landing in the street. The only injury was to my right knee; it swelled up huge. I didn't want to tell my mom & dad, so I just ran home & hid, but my knee swelled up so big it was noticeable & my mom found out & took me to the ER. The doctor said, "Nothing broken; just put some ice on it.

When I was 10, my brother & I were playing handball against the side of the house. I was barefoot. As I ran up to hit the ball, I heard a scraping sound. I looked down at my foot & saw that a nail went through the side of my big toe & out the other side. I started to pull it out but it was so rusted, it broke off. When I pulled on the other side, it also broke off, leaving a piece stuck inside the toe. Well, I went into the garage & found a brand new nail & used it to push out the broken piece. I poured peroxide into the hole & put a Band-Aid over each hole. It healed perfectly. "Tetanus?" What's that?

No more serious incidents....until I was 16. I'm swimming at the beach, maybe 50 yards from shore when I felt a tug on my foot - like someone grabbed it as a joke. I reached down & felt something thrashing. I didn't know what it was until it swam away & I saw the fin sticking out of the water - a small shark, (luckily) maybe 3-4 feet. The water was cold & I didn't feel any pain, so I thought it was minor, but when I got to shore, people started gasping & pointing at my foot. There was an open triangle-shaped flap on the top of my foot & every time I took a step, it gushed; that's what was freaking people out. I wrapped it in a towel & drove home with my other foot. When I got home, I couldn't find bandages that were big enough, so I stuck the flap back on & covered it with masking tape. It healed fine - maybe the salt water prevented infection.
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Wow! What adventures you experienced when you were young!
 
I didn't have a bike when I was a kid, so I didn't learn to ride one at the usual age. I did make it a point to learn when I was an adult, but that's too late to learn anything like that, at least to learn to do it well. I was able to ride in a nonthreatening location, pretty much in a straight line, but it was pretty terrifying, and I finally gave up the whole idea. It's too bad, because bike riding is the kind of thing I normally would have enjoyed.
 

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