That Facebook 25 Things Meme

[firstfrost]

1. I have a really poor memory for names. Actually, I have a really poor memory for stuff in general; I remember many anecdotes from college, fewer anecdotes from high school, and very little from before that (though I do remember Jennifer, who tagged me).
   
   
2. Despite #1, I've never taken any mind-altering drugs, except for alcohol. I didn't even really drink until after college.
   
   
3. My parents' favorite story about my college years is that when I came home from MIT the first year, I learned how to knit. The second year, I had learned to pick locks.
   
   
4. I am scared of many things, mostly irrational (centipedes, heights, noises in the dark), some semi-rational (loneliness, change).
   
   
5. I am one of those people who pronounces Mary, merry, and marry the same. This is true for most words of those type. This is probably why why my attempts at fake accents all garble together.
   
   
6. I read about 50 books a year. I have about 200 books in my to-read pile, but I keep buying them. The reason I review them on LJ is because of point #1.
   
   
7. I used to be a cat person, but turned out to be allergic, so I've been training myself to be more aloof from cats. I'm a little sad about that sometimes. Jerry makes up for it, though.
   
   
8. I had an epiphany a few years ago (thank you, Clint!) that it wasn't that I was bad at thinking like a scientist, it was that I was good at thinking like an engineer. I often wonder what would have happened if I had had that epiphany back during my undergraduate years, when I was supposed to figure that sort of thing out. I probably would have been course 6.
   
   
9. I got a PhD in immunology, despite having the Worst Thesis Ever. No, really. It basically said "I looked for this thing. I tried to look everywhere, except there was this one place that I failed to look at despite trying a whole lot of times. Regardless, I didn't find the thing I was looking for. I suck." You can see how this one and #8 go together, though.
   
   
10. I am not competent to walk and drink at the same time.
    
    
11. Despite those previous couple of points, my mortal sin of choice is Pride. Gluttony comes in second.
    
    
12. Following up on #11, running Hippocratic Oath is the thing I'm proudest of.
    
    
13. I work in customer service / tech support. Despite this being perhaps the third-most-vilified profession, behind telemarketers and lawyers, I am proud of doing a good job at it. (More #11!)
    
    
14. I like knitting, but I'm less interested in wearing what I've knitted. I like cooking, but I'm less interested in eating what I've cooked. Is this a flaw?
    
    
15. I like modelling diferent people in my head to understand them. I think I've gotten pretty good at this, though there are still a few people who are space aliens I don't have good models for yet. Being a space alien doesn't mean I don't like you, it just means I don't understand you. (Conversely, just because I understand you doesn't mean I like you. Though it helps.)
    
    
16. Following up on #15, I like theories that explain why people are different from each other, rather than theories that explain why people are all the same. One of my favorites is the "Five Love Languages" theory. I haven't read the book, but Meg reads books so other people don't have to. I'm all about Gifts and Acts of Service. This probably explains #14.
    
    
17. I may be the only person I know who doesn't have a cell phone. (Do I count as a person I know? Is knowing a reflexive relation?) I may finally give in this year.
    
    
18. I can banish warts with the Power Of My Mind.
    
    
19. It is easier to make me unhappy than angry. And I almost never stay unhappy overnight.
    
    
20. I played bass trombone in high school and college - at MIT, my favorite trombone story is that I played the cello solo in the first MIT G&S performance of Patience. After college, my trombone was stolen by Rodney, the Worst Roommate Ever, who also stole DaveM's anniversary spam can.
    
    
21. I'm going to London next week! I think this may be the first vacation in my life that I caused rather than went along with someone else's plan (and even this one had to do with Jerry's work constantly sending people to London). It otherwise never really occurs to me to take vacations.
    
    
22. I'm very good at multitasking, to the extent that my canonical superpower is "multiple timelines." This makes me efficient at work, though it seems to have a side effect of clearing out my short term memory pretty quickly. Don't ask me about something I did ten minutes ago...
    
    
23. Anyone who hasn't already seen the craziness that was Octopus Wars should go look now. Trust me, this one is about me too. It's also apparently about "Your friends have too much time on your hands."
    
    
24. I really have a hard time thinking of twenty-five things. Thus, I'm going to cheat a bit.
    
    
25. I have asked several people for one thing about me, and they say the following.
    • I am the evil twin
    • I like onions
    • I can drink and walk at the same time. Even with a straw.
    • I celebrate Christmas multiple times with various families.
    This actually seems like one of those logic puzzles about the truth-tellers, but after some clarification, it appears that one person is lying, one person can't type (but thinks the same way I do), and two people are telling the truth.

Comments

[ckd]

Enjoy London! It's one of my favorite cities.

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

I've been there once before, for harrock and my honeymoon, and I really liked it.

I love Boston, with an affection I have never had for any other place, and London was like meeting an older relative of a loved one - enough resemblance to be immediately attractive, and enough difference to be interesting.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

What a gorgeously apt comparison.

[desireearmfeldt]

14. No, it's not a flaw, it's a logistical inconvenience. Or an opportunity to leverage yourself into a vast source of Gifts and Acts of Service, which you seem to have down to a well-tuned system now.

17: False. You know me and fredrickegerman. Sounds like we may beat you to the "last people on earth without cellphones" title. (Though I'd kind of be tempted at this point, if I weren't so cheap. :) )

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

17. Ah, oops. I think I had thought you ended up getting one within-recent-memory, like tirinian, but I don't know why I thought that.

[desireearmfeldt]

My tragedy is that I am the sort of person other people would like to be able to call on a cellphone. (I would also sometimes find it convenient to call people using one, but I think not as often.)

I suppose that means that if I got a cellphone with one of those plans where you buy X minutes and refill if necessary, it might not be stunningly expensive.

(I also have this old-fashioned attachment to the idea that locations have phones. I have no problem with phones that are attached to people, rather than locations. But locations that have no phone attached are weird, because sometimes the thing you want to talk to whoever (if anyone) is there, not to all people who might sometimes be there but probably aren't right now.)

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

I agree that locations should definitely have phones, though I suppose I will give a pass to the residences of people who live by themselves.

[countertorque.livejournal.com]

Some of the colleges in the SF Bay area are ripping the phones out of their dorm rooms (that's what the article said; it seems more likely to me that they are just turning them off). No one uses them. The students think they are quaint works of retro art, like lava lamps.

[unclenomer.livejournal.com]

I'm also among the cellphoneless.

[hr-macgirl.livejournal.com]

thanks for the heads up on your vacation. I'll try not to expect too much from those who fill in for you. They never live up to your high standards.

[remcat.livejournal.com]

I have #7 too. Sigh. I loved my childhood cats, but living with them made me congested. Now, if I cuddle a cat, it makes me itch and have a runny nose and red eyes. Not fun. So, I have convinced myself that dogs are soooo much better! :)

Allergies

[baronet.livejournal.com]

When I spoke with an specialist about allergies (an allergist?) about 10 years ago, he said that I could come in for shots once a week for about 6 years to overcome my allergy to cats (and some other stuff), although I'd have to religiously avoid exposure to my allergens for awhile. I was under the impression that I wouldn't be around this area for 6 years, and it didn't seem worth the hassle, so I didn't start the treatment.

It might be worth the hassle for you. It even be possible.

Re: Allergies

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I think I'd find six years of weekly shots more sad-inducing than not petting cats as much as I used to. :) Allegra works reasonably well when I remember to take it before going to visit cats.

[ironrat.livejournal.com]

I am still immensely pleased that I caused an epiphany in someone. :)