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sen_no_ongakuI guess this is most fun for me, because I get to tell stories about myself, and have some idea of what you think I have and haven't done. Hope you folks found it entertaining as well.
1) While in kindergarten, I kicked a 5th-grade bully in the face. True
This was on the bus, and he was from a different school, so there wasn't going to be any complaining to the teachers. As I recall, I had been shoved back against the window of my seat, and he was looming above me -- and his face was perfectly lined up with my foot. It is perhaps still one of the more satisfying moments of my life.
2) I had my First Communion, though a few years later than most. True
My parents, when I was younger, used to haul us to church every Sunday. I was fairly adamantly not religious -- even by first grade, I was omitting "under God" when we said the Pledge of Allegiance in school -- but it wasn't going to change the way I thought anyhow, and I didn't mind going through the motions. I wasn't terribly enthusastic, and dragged my feet a little bit, but it pleased my parents, and I got some money out of it.
3) I could sing along to every Monkees song before I could do so to every Beatles song. False
I could, however, at different points in my life, do both. I had The Beatles covered by the time I was 3 or 4. Then, when I was 8, I think, I tried to stay up with one of my sisters who was taping a 24-hour Monkees marathon on MTV, and became hooked. In fact, the first recorded music I ever spent money on was a Monkees album -- because Rissa wouldn't let me listen to hers.
4) While a catcher in high school, a Toronto Blue Jays' scout came to watch me play. True
But not as exciting as it might sound. It's not that the Jays were scouting me; one of my coaches had a friend who was a scout for them, and asked him to see me play. I was an excellent receiver, a better thrower than any of you may have witnessed when I played local ball, and hit .400, though with little power. As we can see, it came to naught, but it's a fun thing to be able to say.
5) I once petted a female tiger and her cub at a zoo when nobody was looking. True
My grade school science teacher brought me backstage at a zoo manned by some friends of his, to see a tiger who had recently given birth. They were behind bars, in a small habitat, but they came up to investigate. Figuring they were just like regular cats, only bigger, I reached out to pet them. They responded positively, and the mama tiger even nibbled affectionately (I thought, anyway) on my hand for a little bit.
In retrospect, it seems like a pretty dumb thing to have done, but I kept my hand. She didn't even break the skin.
6) I entered Williams as what passes for pre-med there. False
I did fully expect to go into the sciences when I entered college. But with two parents and three grandparents who were doctors, and being a perverse man, I wanted to do something different. (Everyone got this wrong.)
7) One season, in Little League, I went 29-for-30, batting .967. False
A high school teammate of mine did, though. I never actually played in Little League, having not gotten interested in baseball until I was around 12 years old. (Everyone got this wrong, too.)
8) One of my great-aunts was an astrologer to Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, and now lives in Florida. True
I don't know as much about her as I would like, so I can't really elaborate. Maybe they were trying to imitate Ron and Nancy. (Everyone got this right, oddly.)
9) I was in a soul, '70s rock, and Phish cover band. True
This probably would have been much more believable if I had added that this was in high school. It was, essentially, an extension of Jazz Band, and we did manage to play one concert at school and raise money for an AIDS-related cause. It was lots of fun.
10) I composed my first piece at age 7, for string quartet, which I have since trashed. False
I didn't even think composing classical music was something people still did until my freshman year at Williams, and I didn't compose a piece whose parameters weren't assigned to me until my sophomore year.
1) While in kindergarten, I kicked a 5th-grade bully in the face. True
This was on the bus, and he was from a different school, so there wasn't going to be any complaining to the teachers. As I recall, I had been shoved back against the window of my seat, and he was looming above me -- and his face was perfectly lined up with my foot. It is perhaps still one of the more satisfying moments of my life.
2) I had my First Communion, though a few years later than most. True
My parents, when I was younger, used to haul us to church every Sunday. I was fairly adamantly not religious -- even by first grade, I was omitting "under God" when we said the Pledge of Allegiance in school -- but it wasn't going to change the way I thought anyhow, and I didn't mind going through the motions. I wasn't terribly enthusastic, and dragged my feet a little bit, but it pleased my parents, and I got some money out of it.
3) I could sing along to every Monkees song before I could do so to every Beatles song. False
I could, however, at different points in my life, do both. I had The Beatles covered by the time I was 3 or 4. Then, when I was 8, I think, I tried to stay up with one of my sisters who was taping a 24-hour Monkees marathon on MTV, and became hooked. In fact, the first recorded music I ever spent money on was a Monkees album -- because Rissa wouldn't let me listen to hers.
4) While a catcher in high school, a Toronto Blue Jays' scout came to watch me play. True
But not as exciting as it might sound. It's not that the Jays were scouting me; one of my coaches had a friend who was a scout for them, and asked him to see me play. I was an excellent receiver, a better thrower than any of you may have witnessed when I played local ball, and hit .400, though with little power. As we can see, it came to naught, but it's a fun thing to be able to say.
5) I once petted a female tiger and her cub at a zoo when nobody was looking. True
My grade school science teacher brought me backstage at a zoo manned by some friends of his, to see a tiger who had recently given birth. They were behind bars, in a small habitat, but they came up to investigate. Figuring they were just like regular cats, only bigger, I reached out to pet them. They responded positively, and the mama tiger even nibbled affectionately (I thought, anyway) on my hand for a little bit.
In retrospect, it seems like a pretty dumb thing to have done, but I kept my hand. She didn't even break the skin.
6) I entered Williams as what passes for pre-med there. False
I did fully expect to go into the sciences when I entered college. But with two parents and three grandparents who were doctors, and being a perverse man, I wanted to do something different. (Everyone got this wrong.)
7) One season, in Little League, I went 29-for-30, batting .967. False
A high school teammate of mine did, though. I never actually played in Little League, having not gotten interested in baseball until I was around 12 years old. (Everyone got this wrong, too.)
8) One of my great-aunts was an astrologer to Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, and now lives in Florida. True
I don't know as much about her as I would like, so I can't really elaborate. Maybe they were trying to imitate Ron and Nancy. (Everyone got this right, oddly.)
9) I was in a soul, '70s rock, and Phish cover band. True
This probably would have been much more believable if I had added that this was in high school. It was, essentially, an extension of Jazz Band, and we did manage to play one concert at school and raise money for an AIDS-related cause. It was lots of fun.
10) I composed my first piece at age 7, for string quartet, which I have since trashed. False
I didn't even think composing classical music was something people still did until my freshman year at Williams, and I didn't compose a piece whose parameters weren't assigned to me until my sophomore year.
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-28 09:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-01-28 10:01 pm (UTC)Me too. It's interesting how early personalities are formed - assuming religiousity qualifies as a personality trait. Apparently there's some evidence that it's genetic, so atheism could conceivably be as well.