Tell me something about yourself that is Amazing, Unbelievable, Surprising or Odd. =)

[KenECoyote]

I think of myself as very unique (odd? ) for many reasons and I used to regularly surprise people whenever there's a game of "Tell me something surprising about yourself", so I'd love to hear from all of you fine TRF members.

I'm SURE there are a lot of good stories here!

I'm not shy, so here's one of my many...

My father was a Street fighter in Hong Kong. My aunt told me that when she asked him why he fought so much, he said he had to in order to feed our family. He taught my brother and I to fight at a very young age and had my brother (who was 2 years older than me) fight-wrestle me almost every day...absolutely brutal. No rules except don't break anything and no marks on the face (otherwise mom would find out). My dad left us for a remote job after a while, but my brother kept fighting me daily (he was a beast) until I started winning around middle school. As a teen I fought off 3 attempted muggings...one against 3 gang members. Fun childhood lol.

Nowadays I can get hurt getting off the couch or leaving the shower...those things are DANGEROUS.

 

[jadebox]

I once touched Matt Groening's shoulder.

 

[K'Tesh]

I used to load nukes... Somehow, I managed to become an Aircraft Armament Systems Specialist in the USAF (not bad for someone on the autism spectrum*).

*I was (clinically) diagnosed High Functioning Autistic at the age of 30. However, a psych student at my dad's Alma Matter diagnosed me at the age of 17 in less than 15 minutes one day while we were listening to an outdoor concert... She was the first person to put the words "Jim is autistic" into a sentence, despite me seeing shrinks and councilors since I was four (the diagnosis had always been "Jim is very smart"). My dad shut her down, and quickly drummed her out of his circle of friends.

 

[KenECoyote]

Here's another one not so "Spartany"...

When I was a young teen in NYC, on my walk to my Middle School, I would pass a Chinese food supply company that was on a sub-level from the street, so their sign appeared almost at waist-level as you pass and you can touch it from their stairs leading down to the entrance.

One day I saw someone had drawn some really cool graffiti and it kept drawing my attention for some reason.

After a few months, I saw that the company was no longer in business and starting to empty. I then planned to take the one left panel portion of the white plastic (acrylic?) sign with the graffiti when the time was good.

But I was too slow or they were too fast...eventually the sign was smashed and demolished. Oh well!

Later the graffiti artist became world famous...and then died.

The graffiti? An original early Keith Haring "radiant baby".



(Like this, but no signature and on white acrylic.)

 

[tsmmiller]

I have a quite famous movie star cousin.
My ex Mrs is a seamstress, for a number of years she did the costumes for a WWF wrestler known as "Crush" and a couple for Randy Savage and a few others.
I had to try on one of Crushes costumes to see if the pattern was correct. It was tight on me. I dont see how he got in it as he had a hundred pounds and a few inches more in height on me.
Now I am just a boring ol man.

 

[jsdemar]

I woke up this morning.

 

[mh9162013]

If I go to sleep with a credit card in my pocket (or any other card with a magnetic strip) or wear an analog wrist watch, after a few days, neither will work properly anymore.

 

[lakeroadster]

#TheNFLSucks

 

[dhbarr]

I went all the way around the world once in three weeks.

I have a Bacon number of 2.

My kid and I set the Airfest tent on fire with a g64 blowby. Bystanders were horrified to see pad-manager-me stomping out some poor kids rocket.

 

[BigMacDaddy]

I worked in corporate for about 10 years in sales and marketing, "retired" and took 2 years off to travel around the world, met my wife in Mexico during my travels (she actually did the last 4 months of traveling in Asia with me), we came back to USA and I got my PhD, taught in universities for 15 years, and am now considering best next steps for my professional life (something between/across entrepreneurship and academia).

 

[neil_w]

My great claim to fame (?) is that I have both bowled a 300 game and gotten a hole-in-one in golf.

The hole-in-one is funny because I suck at golf, it was pure luck. But I got it!

 

[Scott_650]

I nearly offed myself - unintentionally, of course - totaling a Triumph Spitfire, then a few months later my dad’s Jeep J-10 pickup, before I even had a driver’s license. And to make it extra odd the truck was crashed with no one driving and my possible demise would’ve been via decapitation.

 

[Huxter]

A Kevin Bacon score of 2 - that's pretty damn low! Bet there's stories there?

 

[n3tjm]

I hit the side of a Boeing 737 with the Poop truck once... That was a crappy job anyway.

 

[KenECoyote]

I once jumped off my racing bike while at a full speed flat out sprint to catch up with another rider and do a high speed pass...he then stopped and turned in front of me. I braked hard, but when the rear went ahead of the front, I jumped off the bike (with pedal cages!), ran to a stop and turned around in time to see my bike do two somersaults in the air and crash down. Only damage was ripped handlebar tape and a torn seat.

Edit: BICYCLE

 

[KenECoyote]

If I go to sleep with a credit card in my pocket (or any other card with a magnetic strip) or wear an analog wrist watch, after a few days, neither will work properly anymore.

That is very odd! Maybe it's some bio-electrical or magnetic thing with the cc. I do seem to have a ton more static in cold environments than anyone else I know. Once got a burn mark on my thumbnail (and saw an orange arc and smoke) getting out of my office chair.

 

[dhbarr]

A Kevin Bacon score of 2 - that's pretty damn low! Bet there's stories there?

Not as exotic as one might hope -- a couple of days as an extra in a movie one summer. I was "additional non-descript male". Furniture with a shirt, basically.

 

[mh9162013]

That is very odd! Maybe it's some bio-electrical or magnetic thing with the cc. I do seem to have a ton more static in cold environments than anyone else I know. Once got a burn mark on my thumbnail (and saw an orange arc and smoke) getting out of my office chair.

It is odd.

The weirder thing is the watches will still work after they've been "broken" by me. But the moment I put them on my wrist, they become slow by a few seconds after just a few hours. But I take them off and reset them? They keep perfect time if they're not next to my body.

 

[KenECoyote]

It is odd.

The weirder thing is the watches will still work after they've been "broken" by me. But the moment I put them on my wrist, they become slow by a few seconds after just a few hours. But I take them off and reset them? They keep perfect time if they're not next to my body.

A lot of things are still unexplained and when you start getting into string and Quantum theory it blurs the lines between superstition and science. It may be that you're time entangled.

 

[tsmmiller]

It is odd.

The weirder thing is the watches will still work after they've been "broken" by me. But the moment I put them on my wrist, they become slow by a few seconds after just a few hours. But I take them off and reset them? They keep perfect time if they're not next to my body.

I had the same issue with Timex watches. Only Timex. I could wear a Timex for 15 minutes, it would stop, and never run again. Any other watch brand I had no issues with.

 

[KenECoyote]

I had the same issue with Timex watches. Only Timex. I could wear a Timex for 15 minutes, it would stop, and never run again. Any other watch brand I had no issues with.

Now that's very surprising since us oldies recall their famous slogan.

 

[tsmith1315]

My dad shut her down

I think that’s pretty typical, even today.

“There’s nothing wrong with my child.” is the sentiment I’ve seen/heard. And that’s true, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being autistic. In many ways it’s a gift. But owning and understanding is very helpful in existing with others. Mothers seem to be more willing to accept it than fathers.

I’ve never been tested, but pretty sure I’m there.

 

[K'Tesh]

FWIW... My Bacon score is also 2. My friend*, a stunt man, costumer, SFX props designer, worked on a movie with him. And through him, a lot of my Hollywood scores will likely be low.

Oh... to add to my file... Add:

My website (Klingonfood.org (at that time it was .com but someone pirated the URL from me)) changed Star Trek... My recipe for Rokeg Blood Pie made an appearance in DS9. However, Rokeg appeared in TNG, but wasn't identified as Rokeg in the episode. So, I created my own recipe, posted it, and a-year-and-a-half later I see Jadzia Dax serving it to her husband (Worf), Major Kira, and the Mirror Universe version of Bareil.




Later I found out that the TNG version was beets in pumpkin pie filling (with food coloring).

More Hollywood connections... I once got a drink of water from Annette O'Toole (and sold a pack of "Gift Checks" to her in the process). I had no idea she was A) a neighbor, and B) who she was at the time. She was just a nice lady who answered the door, and offered a poor Boy Scout a drink of water as he tried to do his sales pitch for Gift Checks... My mom was stunned when she saw her name on the list of customers.

Jack Elam nearly ran me over (he was a LOUSY driver of a huge caddy) who drove down the middle of Normal Ave., Ashland Oregon. I had to dive out of the way as the SOB caught me riding my bike with cars parked on both side of the road.

Ginger Rogers was one of my first neighbors. Patrick Duffy later bought the ranch my family owned (which was adjacent to hers).

Back home, I have the home phone number of a Star Trek Captain (Captain Walker Keel). I met Jonathan Farwell in a Bloomsbury Books, Ashland, Oregon. He was thrilled to be recognized. I got his autograph, and his phone number (he was advertising acting classes on the local TV station at the time, and I'm sure he was hoping I'd sign up).

*friend, as in... I have his phone number, and he answers my calls (occasionally... (he's really busy)). My first generation casting B5 PPG came from him. I promised him I wouldn't re-mold it, and I've held to that. Fortunately, he didn't ask for that about the Klingon Padd he gave me (but I still haven't molded that one either).

 

[Tyeeking]

I Heli-skied with the band members of Pearl Jam.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

I walked 500 miles across the north of Spain. We started in France, hiked over the Pyrenees, and continued west across Spain to the city of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.

 

[AcadiaRockets]

I had a run in with modern day pirates on my first big sailing trip. When I was 16 I spent a month on a pair of 47 foot Stevens with other camp teenagers in the Windwards. Our routine was to pull the boats up to small atolls and anchor fore and aft. I had taken to sleeping on deck. I also proved myself more capable than the rest of the kids and had been put in charge of the tenders.
One morning just before dawn I heard the captain telling at the VHF “VANESSA ROSE, VANESSA ROSE!” Then running on deck grabbing me by the neck, shoving me over into the tender and ordering me to go to our sister boat in the dawn light. He was yelling “Vanessa Rose TURN ON YOUR RADIO!!”
This was 1988, before cell phone, LED lights and all those things that save electricity on sailboats. So as a matter of course we did not keep the radios on overnight.
I fired up the tender and started toward the Vanessa Rose, waking up and gathering my wits. That’s when I could see the anchor line of the Vanessa rose was cut and she was drifting into the crashing waves on the reef. I could also see nearby a barge with a half dozen island natives with machetes watching us.
We dashed up on the Vanessa Rose, pounding on her hull as some of the dreary eyed crew stuck their head up the companionway. We ordered them to fire up their engines and get themselves away from the rocks which they did in short order.
My captain then gestured for me to go over to the barge. We need to talk to those guys he said.
The barge crew stared at us with malintent as my captain talked with them in in a broken version of their French patois. They claimed we were in their fishing area, and they were just defending it.
It should be noted the barge was covered in yacht parts; booms, rigging, heaps of sails and lines, outboards, sail boards and sad inflatables, even a whole torn out nav station heaped on top. There was not a stitch of fishing gear. I think the fish they spoke of were us.
After a time we motored back to our Stevens 47 the Grenadine Passage and the captain gave them a box filled with mostly worthless EC (Eastern Caribbean) currency and some US dollars to compensate them for their lost fishing.
Then we all got the hell out of there.
The first island we got to with an authority that cared we reported what happened. They said they it happened regularly, and they always targeted boats traveling in pairs. One boat goes up on the reef and the crews flees to the other boat. Then they strip the yacht for parts.
As this part of the world had no real Coast Guard of any fashion there is no one to stop them.
At cocktail parties I like to say that before the Johnny Depp movies but after the ride in Florida I fought real Pirates in the real Caribbean but it was more like negotiating with pirates in the Caribbean.
Be safe out there.

 

[boatgeek]

At about age 10, I fired an AK-47 in the air at a wedding in Pakistan. It was on single shot, not full auto. The kite was undamaged by me or anyone else taking a shot.

 

[dr wogz]

Driven to Vancouver BC (from Montreal) 7 times; vacation / for fun (fastest was 3.5 days!)
Drive to Florida about a dozen times. also for vacation (Various routes, most westerly was thru TN & KY)
Visited 9 of Canada's 10 provinces

 

[tsmmiller]

@K'Tesh - I can't comment on Jack Elam's driving. His sister however was my bus driver for a number of years in Mtn. Home, ID. When he was visiting his sister he would occasionally ride the bus and regale us with colorful tales of his youth and Hollywood.
Looking at the "Bacon score" ( had to look that one up, new to me!) Many, many, many other than the cousin. Living and working in Sun Valley and Ketchum/Hailey, ID met many of the stars living there, and even did some work for a few of them. Had a huge crush on Mariel Hemingway.

 

[bobbyg23]

I had brain surgery so I have an extra hole in my skull that's about 3\4".