... or at least eight things that few people at work know about me.  They are having a fun and games contest that include a "get to know your team lead" puzzle game and I was asked to provide a list of eight pieces of data about myself that few if anyone up at work knows about.

 

It took me awhile to come up with a list of things that fit in my self imposed criteria.  Obviously it needs to be workplace appropriate *evilgrin* and it needs to be things that I can handle sharing with a large number of people (not all of whom do I necessarily consider friendly).  Considering there are already a good number of things I have babbled on about, it was a bit of a tough task coming up with things that I haven't already shared openly.

 

I finally came up with eight items that I haven't shared like that.  A couple of them I may have mentioned to one or two people but in general these haven't been conversation topics that I've really gone into while at work.  And more than a few not appropriate threads popped up in my mind as I was thinking about it of course *grin* but those may wait for a different time.

 

The list with comments follows:

 

 

1) My father received his orders to go to Vietnam on the same day I was born

 

- This is something I haven't ever brought up in the workplace because it can open the door into discussions of some of my primary life issues *evilgrin*.  I think saying that I have a challenge dealing with my memories of my father is a subtle understatement.

 

2) I ran track in high school for two years

 

- My favorite comment about this particular thread of experiences is remembering practice for Indoor Track... which we prepare for by running outside in the winter (I always felt that a polish person had to have come up with that).  Very quickly a number of the girls on the team realized how much heat and energy I radiated and I spent much of my downtime with other peoples hands between mine to defrost them.

 

3) My favorite taste sensations is a close race between Thai Peanut sauce and sour candy

 

- *wipes saliva off his chin*

 

4) My mother taught me to drive one handed so that I would have better control over the vehicle

 

- It actually makes sense if you have any experience driving vehicles from the pre-power steering era.  Not only do you get greater range of motion and friction using the ball of the hand as you apply pressure that way rather then holding onto the wheel primarily with your fingers.

  Though admittedly since most vehicles nowadays have power steering this particular skill mostly gets used to facilitate eating while driving and various other one handed moments *grin*

 

 

5) I have watched Fourth of July fireworks in a snowstorm

 

- I have yet to see another firework display that was as interesting as seeing the lights from the fireworks being reflected from all the snow particles in the sky...  in the month of July *grin* in the upper peninsula of Michigan.

 

6) I have had no broken bones or serious physical illnesses

 

- My mom once claimed that she thinks I had mumps "on one side" *shrug*... But no Chicken Pox, Measles, Tonsillitis, Appendicitis, or any other of a slew of "common ailments"  The most serious things I can think of other than maybe a bout with the flu once or twice has been a round robin of strep throat that I kept getting in high school.  I would love to blame that on kissing too many girls but I wasn't exactly that prolific in high school.  *sigh* oh well.

  I've also had inordinate amounts of grace when it comes to skeletal injuries...  I have been hit in the head with a flying baseball bat, stepped on by horses, struck by a car as a pedestrian, and other potentially hazardous situations and the worst I have ever received has been a sprained wrist from one time that I slipped while running on wet grass, or maybe the road rash from my car surfing adventure.

 

7) I have never watched Schindler's List, Titanic, or Saving Private Ryan

 

- *shrug* peer pressure doesn't always work *grin* at a certain point it can become a matter of pride.  though on a similar vein I finally broke down and read the DaVinci Code... For the longest time it was sitting in the same category, it was the lemming rush thing to do.  I'm glad I read it, it was a well crafted novel but it didn't have any of the profound effects upon me that it would have had on other people...  *grin* there were no new and novel concepts included, but then I am rather eclectic in my views and studies.

 

8) I have a fondness for nineteenth century poetry

 

- Oh come on, who wouldn't?  We have William Blake, Coleridge, Dickinson, Emerson, Keats, Kipling. D. H. Frickin' Lawrence (who has to have some of the naughtiest poetry a young boy can read *evilgrin*), Poe, Shelley, Tennyson (oh I'm having a literature orgasm from all the quotes running through my mind right now), Whitman, and Wordsworth!

  If you want to look at the early years of the twentieth century then I can add Alfred Noyes (I still can't believe that I had to explain how "The Highwayman" was romantic to a young lady I was seeing) and TS Eliot.

  Oh yes... I do miss some aspects of those honors English classes.  "Gettin' High!  On Lit-tah-chuh!"

 

And that's my random babble of the day.  *grin*