Name Five Things You've Done That Others Probably Have Not

[Storminator]

1. Designed algorithms for a major piece of military hardware
2. Skydived (skydove? whatever)
3. Graduated college without graduating high school
4. Threw a paper airplane off the Space Needle
5. Drove my car off a cliff

PS

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

On the whole B.U.B.B.A. thing...I did undergrad at the University of North Texas, where the administration only narrowly averted naming the student radion station KUNT after someone finally let them in on the joke.

OMG...that's hilarious!

 

[NewJeffCTHome]

1) Climbed the Great Wall of China; drank Starbucks coffee bought while touring the Forbidden City (seems kind of wrong, doesn't it? But I needed the caffeine...); had watery eyes while viewing the Nanjing Massacre memorial

2) Met quite a few NBA stars while they were in high school, including Kevin Garnett, Lamar Odom, Elton Brand, Stephon Marbury & others.

3) Had an article published in a national sports weekly (ok, not a big one, but it was still national)

4) Was twice a guest on an early evening sports talk show on a 50,000 watt radio station.

5) Flew round trip from Hartford, CT to Beijing, China (via Cincy, LA and Shanghai) and back from Shanghai to Haerbin to LA to Atlanta to Hartford with an 18 month old child and didn't once lose my temper and didn't suffer any serious jet lag.

 

[Voadam]

1 When I worked for the audubon society I did live animal demonstrations using bats I had previously captured in my attic and given to the audubon society animal sanctuary. Also did demonstrations with live snakes and huge snapping turtles. Its funny because my two brothers are phobic about bats and snakes respectively.

2 Have a 100% win record in trials for the brief time I did work as a public defender.

3 Been to the U.S. Supreme Court to listen to oral arguments as a journalist to cover a story.

4 From about fifty feet away saw the paris police blow up an abandoned backpack at the airport.

5 Shot rabid raccoons.

I was going to put down saved a kids life when I was a lifeguard, but it does not stack up to the combat medic stories and I think multiple people here probably did something similar.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

1. Competed in collegiate-level forensics (best ever finsih was 5th in the nation in "After Dinner Speaking"; my wife did much better and has several national championships to her name).

2. Coached a student to 1st in the nation in a forensics event.

3. Got Sandra Garrity to sculpt me a mini at GenCon 2001. Details here.

4. Was present in the OR for the ceasarean births of both my children.

5. Ran into Quentin Crisp on the streets of New York City in 1983.

6. Saw a movie in NYC with Ed Koch (ok, ok, we were in the same audience....)

7. Won a $20,000 scholarship to the University of Texas for graduate school.

8. Broke my ankle ice-skating--requiring two surgeries and two pins a screw in said bones for three months.

But, most importantly:

9. Played Synnibarr. Twice.

 

[Bloodstone Press]

1. Skipped my entire 8th grade year of gym class
2. Took my high school world history exam while heavily intoxicated... and received the highest score out of all 100+ students who took it.
3. Seen a friend nearly die from alcohol poisoning
4. Went to high school with several of the guys from the Guy Smiley Blues Exchange (http://www.gsbe.com/).
5. I know Henry Higginbotham (check the credits in your PHB, DMG, and MM)
6. Had an article proposal accepted to Dragon, but never sent the final article in to them
7. Bench-pressed twice my own body weight… well not quite. I weighed 127 and benched 250 lb.
8. Been in the same building at the same time as Al Gore... could have signed up to take a class from him, but decided not to.
9. Dated a wealthy, hot, blonde, cheerleader, private school girl.
10 Dated 2 girls at the same time… IYKWIMAITYD
11. Met some guy from a bad 70s band... don't remember who he was or the band's name now... it was Journey or Foreigner or some group like that. I think he was bummed out that I wasn't impressed to meet him...
12. Run a successful online publishing company

 

[FoxWander]

1. Flown in an F-16 over the Grand Canyon and the Arizona Meteor Crator
2. One of the founding (and one of only two) members of the "Official Jawas Club" formed during recess on the jungle gym, 3 days after seeing the original Star Wars on opening day!
3. Shot "Expert" with the M9 Baretta on the first time I ever touched a handgun. Also, I correctly disassembled it so fast the instructor's eye twitched as he said "And the second step in the breakdown is..." ( I've also gotten "Expert" with the M-16 three times)
4. Circumnavigated the globe! By air and for free! Though not all at the same time, it took me 7 years in the Air Force to close the final gap (Japan to Saudi Arabia).
5. Nearly gotten my little toe broken off by a pissed off blue crab.

 

[DarrenGMiller]

This is an excellent thread! I have greatly enjoyed reading it. I know I will think of other things once I post my list, but here goes:

5. Since meeting famous people seems to be big, I have met Tom Petty, Mickey Spillane (author, creator of Mike Hammer detective stories - I went to high school with his daughter), caught a ride home from a bar from NASCAR legend David Pearson, had dinner with Pete Rose and his son Pete Jr. at an Italian restaurant in Florida, shaken hands with James Young (of STYX), taken classes from Francis McBeth, Robert W. Smith and Dr. Tim Lautzenhiser and performed on-stage with Rocky Fretz, Red Rodney, Roger Pemberton and Jamey Aebersold (those names only mean something to band people and jazz people respectively).

4. Back in 1997, I was stalked by someone who was hired to do personal harm to me (never found out if their job was to kill, injure or just destroy property). Thankfully, I noticed the tail, made some evasive maneuvers and when I couldn't shake them, I happened to come upon a convenience store that was just robbed with 3 police cruisers out front. They had to go 140 mph to catch the guy who was after me (yes, he fled when he saw the police, but was dumb enough to circle the block to see if he could find me again). He was contracted by the parent of one of my students, who had attempted to assault me in my office a few hours before. I had to spend the night at a hotel in another town while the police watched my house, then spend a week with police surveillance (a cruiser parked behind my house). The student was expelled and I got a restraining order for their entire family, but was young and naive and was persuaded by the school distirct not to press criminal charges, as it would bring "unwanted negative publicity" to the district.

3. Named Teacher of the Year for my high school and semi-finalist for my school district for 2005-2006.

2. In the early 90's, I was in the band Slightly Used. We opened a festival in 1992 whose line-up included the lead singer from Guadalcanal Diary as well as Hootie and the Blowfish.

1. Conducted a concert at Cernegie Hall last year (2004).

On the lighter side: Stephen King lived at my house for a summer when I was a teenager, I taught and gamed with Dave Thomas and taught Janet Jackson. However, they were not the famous people, just people who shared the same names.

DM

 

[reveal]

1. In 1999, I was lucky enough to be in a private tour group of the Tower of London and got to drink with the Beefeaters. They were impressed because, while all the other lady ordered Pimms, my wife ordered a Strongbow. She then proceeded to down the pint in one long drink. They took her in as one of their own.

2. I also was privileged to tour the Black Museum inside of Scotland Yard. Neat stuff.

3. Lived through one of the worst earthquakes of all time in a crowded area (7.7 in the Philippines and I was less than a mile from the epicenter at the time) AND one of the worst volcano explosions of all time (Mt. Pinatubo).

4. Volunteered to help Vietnamese refugee children speak English so they could come to America to prosper.

5. Flipped off a guy who pulled on a gun on me as I rode in a car with bulletproof doors and windows.

6. Had a squirrel eat out of my hand in a forest and not in an area with a lot of people normally in it.

7. Sat in the Captain's chair and did a bad Kirk impression to make my Mom laugh the first year the Star Trek exhibit was in the Smithsonian.

8. Moved (as in packed up all my stuff in boxes and moved it to another location) a total of 18 times in my life. (I'm 30)

9. Pulled over, had M-16s pointed at me and been frisked because I "broke red" on an Air Force base flightline.

10. Drank so much tequila that, while cognizant of everything that was going on around me, I physically could not move.

11. Performed the wedding ceremony for two friends in Anchorage, Alaska. It was completely official even though I'm not a religious or government representative.

12. Sat in the grass next to the Pentagon, turned on the radio and listened to the music play in sync with the fireworks going off near the Washington monument on July 4, 1992. That is something that can never happen again because of 9/11.

13. Led over 100 Vietnamese children in a rousing rendition of "B-I-N-G-O!"

 

[Pramas]

I did this for my blog in March, when the meme was 10 Things.

· Gotten married in a castle.
· Had my neck slashed open by a maniac in Brooklyn.
· Roadied for a French punk band (Scraps) on a two-month tour of Europe.
· Gone on a business trip to Skywalker Ranch…twice.
· Enjoyed a five-hour dinner at a private club atop the tallest building in Seattle.
· Had my writing translated into French, Spanish, and German and soon Polish and Italian as well.
· Gotten Susan Sarandon angry by charging her late fees for her videos (hey, they were late…).
· Been the lead singer for two obscure punk rock bands (Ex-Teenage Rebels and Adverse Possession).
· Shared limousines with Sophie Aldred ("Ace" on Dr. Who for you non-nerds) and Jello Biafra (former lead singer of the Dead Kennedys for you non-punks).
· Designed the new edition of one of my favorite roleplaying games of all time (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay).