Uniqueness
My friend Vince is resurrecting a meme along the lines of “Ten things I’ve done that you probably have not.” I thought I’d jump in, although ten things is a minor challenge because my life is rather normal.
- Was born in a country that no longer exists – Burma – child of a military embassy attaché.
- Created and fed keypunch cards into an early mainframe computer.
- Learned to flyfish at 10 and prospect & pan for gold at 14
- Self-administered my own allergy shots for two years.
- Went cliff diving at midnight in an eastern Washington lake with friends.
- Rode in a ski patrol toboggan down a black diamond mogul-studded run – with a shredded knee. (Oh, and ski-bummed for a winter, too!)
- Married a man with the exact same first and middle name as me, creating a couple with identical names. (And divorced a man etc…)
- Rode a snow machine up the Yukon River at sunrise on the last leg of a business trip.
- Traveled above the arctic circle a few times. (OK, not all that unique given my Alaskan background and friends.)
- Swam an open water mile, sans wetsuit, in cold water.
What about you? What have you done that’s unique?
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Note: this post is part of my commitment to WordPress’s Post a Week 2011 blog initiative. You can also do a post a day, but that’s probably not realistic for my busy self.
My friend Stephanie, aka @agenticecream, alerted me to the challenge – I look forward to seeing the year through with her.
January 3rd, 2011
I’ve done #2 and #6 but down a blue run. I haven’t had coffee this morning, so I’ll have to think about 10 things. This one springs to mind – I’ve been a civilian passenger aboard a fast attack submarine, at depth, and participated in an emergency blow to the surface.
January 3rd, 2011
Gave yourself shots? (shudder) But then you know how much I love needles. And cliff-diving? Brave woman.
January 3rd, 2011
1. Built a cabin in remote Alaska
2. Caught a shark in my shorts in the dark (I was in my shorts, the shark was in the water)
3. Bitten by a muskrat
4. Wore a tie in Barrow
5. Navigated from New York to Alaska at 10 years old
6. Read every book in a school district library system about Alaska
7. Lost a toe
8. Designed and built (part of the construction team) 8 houses before I was 18
9. Shot a ptarmigan out of the air with a pistol
10. Found a wife on a blind date
January 3rd, 2011
I kind of like the original implication of item 2.
I have a friend who wore a tie and leather soled shoes to a business meeting in Kotzebue in winter. Silly man – a one-time mistake.
January 6th, 2011
I’ll have to think about this. My mind is completely blank!
-bm
January 11th, 2011
Well, I can steal Bill’s #10 (10? Really, Honey?), as I am said wife. As for the remaining nine:
1) I had dessert with Art Buchwald at a journalism convention in Chicago
I have been stranded overnight on a small cresent of beach with the trail on either side of said small beach well under water.
2) On a single trip to Kauai, I saw Coach (Craig T Nelson), James Bond (Pierce Brosnan), and two of the lesser Hobbits (one of which starred in Lost).
3) I have ridden aboard an ice-breaking oil spill response tug in the Acrtic Ocean on the last day before the ice close water response capability.
4) At the tender age of 23, chucked it all and moved to Alaska. On my own. Everything fit in 23 Hammermill paper boxes.
5) I have two masters degrees.
6) I am a purple belt in Karate. (These don’t expire, do they?)
7) I’ve driven parts of the Haul Road – take that Ice Road Truckers!
9)With the support of an extremely understanding and loving husband, I walked away from a perfectly good job to start my own business. In financial planning. Just as the Recession began.
Sometimes I forget the cool things that have happened to me. Take time and remember at least 10 right now!