Dave (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} raptortheangel) wrote,@ 2009-02-06 22:53:00 |
|
25 Things (Cross-Pollinated from Facebook)
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things. At the end, you choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.
1. I'm addicted to baby-cut carrots. I include them in my workday lunches and they are my favourite thing to eat. This made #1 because I'm eating them right now.
2. I HATE HATE HATE people who drag, shuffle, or otherwise fail to lift their feet off the ground when they walk. Outside of bad driver behaviour, this has to be my #1 pet peeve. It's like nails-on-a-chalkboard for my sensibilities.
3. I have a phone phobia, but only for making outgoing calls. This doesn't make for being a very sociable Dave.
4. I have a love-hate relationship with technology. I love tinkering and building and making things work my way. I hate it when suddenly for no good reason that I can tell things stop working right; that's when I want to throw things out a window.
5. I'm an urban nerd. I love all things cities, from skyscrapers to mass transit, from parks to bridges, from public art to architecture.
6. I never feel like I'm really connected to a city until I ride its mass public transit. The subway in Toronto, the Transitway in Ottawa, the trams in Gothenburg, etc. Somehow I find these things to be the absolute most real and raw thing about any city that one can experience.
7. Apparently I have a problem with heights. I didn't think I used to, but for some reason I seem to have developed one. It's not as bad as I've seen it in some people, but bad enough that I couldn't bring myself to go all the way across a catwalk under a steel bridge (which bounced every time a vehicle went over it) over a rushing river.
8. I seem to have a surprisingly green thumb. I've done very well taking care of several plants at work and at home (though Jenn looks after those ones too), even diagnosing problems with some of them and bringing them back to health.
9. I have something of a gift when it comes to figuring out low-level intricacies of a system (all kinds of systems) based only on a high-level understanding of that system. I seem to be able to figure out with a surprising degree of accuracy how individual subsystems work based on just that high-level view of the system itself.
10. I'm very nonreligious, but I have my own spiritual beliefs. I probably associate most closely with Buddhism, but refuse to tie myself to any religion.
11. Chickadees are my favourite birds. I miss waking up to their songs and sounds from when I lived by the river in St. Albert.
12. I often think up scenarios in which I would be forced to use the kung fu I know, and - in spite of that - find myself strangely terrified of the thought of ever having to use it.
13. Someone once told me I had latent interior design skills. I think those skills are starting to emerge: I'm taking a lot more notice of colours, textures, layouts, fixtures, and the like when I enter a space, and often think about what I would do with that space myself.
14. I have a budding interest in architecture. I don't know that much about it yet, but I'm learning a lot, and learning to appreciate different styles and materials and even learning to appreciate buildings I never paid attention to before.
15. I have memory issues. My short-term memory doesn't always translate to long-term memory. It's a bit like Memento, but less severe, less backwards, and has less Carrie-Anne Moss. Needless to say this has caused me problems, but realizing that it is a problem has helped. I write things down a lot more now, and ask for just about everything by email at work.
16. I also have hearing problems. My hearing range itself is excellent (despite mild tinnitus), I can even hear pitches as high as dog whistles. I can't filter very well, though; if someone is talking to me though a degree of background noise, I can't easily pick up what they're saying. Sometimes I find myself just smiling and nodding rather than ask "what's that?" a second time, because it can be a little embarrassing.
17. Speaking of tinnitus, I didn't even know what this was until a few years ago. I always thought that ringing I hear when in dead silence was perfectly normal, and have had it for as long as I can remember.
18. Pointless negativity is one of my newer growing pet peeves. There are some people out there who's mood range only swings from "cynical" to "downright poo-poo head." Unfortunately, Edmonton seems to be home to a great number of them, as this city seems to have a disproportionate number of people who constantly downtalk, bad mouth, and otherwise seem to wish no good things upon their own city, or make a conscious effort to find any possible bad thing out of a good thing that they can, no matter how irrational or illogical.
19. I like to read, but I'm a slow reader, and I don't often make a conscious effort to sit and read (unless I'm on the bus). I have a good dozen books I have yet to read through still. I just finished "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman, and started "Skinny Legs and All" by Tom Robbins.
20. I often wonder if I'm doing everything I want to be doing in my life, but when I look back at the last 10 years, I realize how much awesome stuff I have done already, and I feel pretty satisfied with a lot of it so far. There's lots more to do, but it all seems to happen at a pace that I'm comfortable with.
21. This April will be seven years since my dad died. It's not something I talk about very much, and in fact, not something I like to think about much. It has come up a couple of times recently talking to Jenn (as she has been meticulously reading my old LJ entries), which is the only reason it's on my mind while coming up with 25 things to write. His death was extremely traumatic for me, and came at an already particularly low point in my life. All I can about it all is that it's true that what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger.
22. The place I'm living in currently will be the second place I've lived that will be torn down for a new infill development. Thankfully it likely won't happen for several more years.
23. I have never lost a key in my entire life. No one not ever. Seriously, if you ever need someone to hang onto your keys for you, that's me.
24. My wardrobe consists almost entirely of blue jeans and black t-shirts. Only recently have I started wearing button-down shirts, and most of those are short-sleeves. Despite the apparent lack of style, I love having and wearing stylish shoes. My current pair of T.U.K.s are wearing out (they were cheap), and now I'm thinking about / looking at some New Rock shoes. I have bought New Rock boots in the past and loved them.
25. I've seen Chinchillas before and thought they were neat, but I never thought I'd be living with one, to say nothing of getting so attached to one. I never thought I could love a rodent, but Jenn's fuzzy little guy is so cute and sociable and adorable, I just can't resist loving him.
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things. At the end, you choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.
1. I'm addicted to baby-cut carrots. I include them in my workday lunches and they are my favourite thing to eat. This made #1 because I'm eating them right now.
2. I HATE HATE HATE people who drag, shuffle, or otherwise fail to lift their feet off the ground when they walk. Outside of bad driver behaviour, this has to be my #1 pet peeve. It's like nails-on-a-chalkboard for my sensibilities.
3. I have a phone phobia, but only for making outgoing calls. This doesn't make for being a very sociable Dave.
4. I have a love-hate relationship with technology. I love tinkering and building and making things work my way. I hate it when suddenly for no good reason that I can tell things stop working right; that's when I want to throw things out a window.
5. I'm an urban nerd. I love all things cities, from skyscrapers to mass transit, from parks to bridges, from public art to architecture.
6. I never feel like I'm really connected to a city until I ride its mass public transit. The subway in Toronto, the Transitway in Ottawa, the trams in Gothenburg, etc. Somehow I find these things to be the absolute most real and raw thing about any city that one can experience.
7. Apparently I have a problem with heights. I didn't think I used to, but for some reason I seem to have developed one. It's not as bad as I've seen it in some people, but bad enough that I couldn't bring myself to go all the way across a catwalk under a steel bridge (which bounced every time a vehicle went over it) over a rushing river.
8. I seem to have a surprisingly green thumb. I've done very well taking care of several plants at work and at home (though Jenn looks after those ones too), even diagnosing problems with some of them and bringing them back to health.
9. I have something of a gift when it comes to figuring out low-level intricacies of a system (all kinds of systems) based only on a high-level understanding of that system. I seem to be able to figure out with a surprising degree of accuracy how individual subsystems work based on just that high-level view of the system itself.
10. I'm very nonreligious, but I have my own spiritual beliefs. I probably associate most closely with Buddhism, but refuse to tie myself to any religion.
11. Chickadees are my favourite birds. I miss waking up to their songs and sounds from when I lived by the river in St. Albert.
12. I often think up scenarios in which I would be forced to use the kung fu I know, and - in spite of that - find myself strangely terrified of the thought of ever having to use it.
13. Someone once told me I had latent interior design skills. I think those skills are starting to emerge: I'm taking a lot more notice of colours, textures, layouts, fixtures, and the like when I enter a space, and often think about what I would do with that space myself.
14. I have a budding interest in architecture. I don't know that much about it yet, but I'm learning a lot, and learning to appreciate different styles and materials and even learning to appreciate buildings I never paid attention to before.
15. I have memory issues. My short-term memory doesn't always translate to long-term memory. It's a bit like Memento, but less severe, less backwards, and has less Carrie-Anne Moss. Needless to say this has caused me problems, but realizing that it is a problem has helped. I write things down a lot more now, and ask for just about everything by email at work.
16. I also have hearing problems. My hearing range itself is excellent (despite mild tinnitus), I can even hear pitches as high as dog whistles. I can't filter very well, though; if someone is talking to me though a degree of background noise, I can't easily pick up what they're saying. Sometimes I find myself just smiling and nodding rather than ask "what's that?" a second time, because it can be a little embarrassing.
17. Speaking of tinnitus, I didn't even know what this was until a few years ago. I always thought that ringing I hear when in dead silence was perfectly normal, and have had it for as long as I can remember.
18. Pointless negativity is one of my newer growing pet peeves. There are some people out there who's mood range only swings from "cynical" to "downright poo-poo head." Unfortunately, Edmonton seems to be home to a great number of them, as this city seems to have a disproportionate number of people who constantly downtalk, bad mouth, and otherwise seem to wish no good things upon their own city, or make a conscious effort to find any possible bad thing out of a good thing that they can, no matter how irrational or illogical.
19. I like to read, but I'm a slow reader, and I don't often make a conscious effort to sit and read (unless I'm on the bus). I have a good dozen books I have yet to read through still. I just finished "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman, and started "Skinny Legs and All" by Tom Robbins.
20. I often wonder if I'm doing everything I want to be doing in my life, but when I look back at the last 10 years, I realize how much awesome stuff I have done already, and I feel pretty satisfied with a lot of it so far. There's lots more to do, but it all seems to happen at a pace that I'm comfortable with.
21. This April will be seven years since my dad died. It's not something I talk about very much, and in fact, not something I like to think about much. It has come up a couple of times recently talking to Jenn (as she has been meticulously reading my old LJ entries), which is the only reason it's on my mind while coming up with 25 things to write. His death was extremely traumatic for me, and came at an already particularly low point in my life. All I can about it all is that it's true that what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger.
22. The place I'm living in currently will be the second place I've lived that will be torn down for a new infill development. Thankfully it likely won't happen for several more years.
23. I have never lost a key in my entire life. No one not ever. Seriously, if you ever need someone to hang onto your keys for you, that's me.
24. My wardrobe consists almost entirely of blue jeans and black t-shirts. Only recently have I started wearing button-down shirts, and most of those are short-sleeves. Despite the apparent lack of style, I love having and wearing stylish shoes. My current pair of T.U.K.s are wearing out (they were cheap), and now I'm thinking about / looking at some New Rock shoes. I have bought New Rock boots in the past and loved them.
25. I've seen Chinchillas before and thought they were neat, but I never thought I'd be living with one, to say nothing of getting so attached to one. I never thought I could love a rodent, but Jenn's fuzzy little guy is so cute and sociable and adorable, I just can't resist loving him.
