Six things you may not know about me

[Pete Zicato]

1) I can wiggle my nose. I wiggled it at Mrs. Z during our wedding to see if I could crack her up. [A bit. She restrained herself.]
2) I can still remember events from when I was 3 and 4 years old - but have trouble finding my glasses these days.
3) I •hate• artificial scents. I refuse to enter a Bath and Body store.
4) I once bought a brand new manual transmission Ford Fiesta without knowing how to drive a stick shift.
5) I laugh out loud when I listen to "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me". I listen to the podcast on my headphones while walking to work in downtown Chicago. So this gets me some strange looks.
6) I did not enjoy high school. I was a geek before geeks were cool.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by Pete Zicato

4) I once bought a brand new manual transmission Ford Fiesta without knowing how to drive a stick shift.

Did you love that car? Mom&Popdigr bought a brand new one in 1978, they could drive a stick-shift though. It was my first car after they were done with it. It was as orange as the day is long.

We all loved that little car.

[glatt]

We had the manual transmission Ford Festiva. Very similar. It was the cutest red car you ever saw. Loved that car. It got like 40 MPG and the hatchback was so big, I fit a lazy boy recliner in there that I picked up at a Salvation Army. Got the hatchback closed, and only had to scootch the seat forward most of the way to drive home. Not all the way.

[Gravdigr]

Festiva. Pfft.

[Pete Zicato]

I did. It was one of the original models made in Germany. That thing ran like a champ for many years.

It was bright yellow. I never had trouble finding it in a parking lot.

So now I challenge you all to post your own six things.

[Clodfobble]

1.) My sense of humor is an absurd mix of highest-high-brow and lowest-low-brow. An obscure literary reference by David Mitchell is enough to dampen my undergarments, yet I also think Tosh.0 is one of the funniest fucking things on television. But a solid, family-friendly joke, which by all logical rights should be funny to me? Meh.

2.) You know Ross Ulbricht, the guy who made an estimated $80 million off his Silk Road website, and is now in jail accused of six murders-for-hire? I found out over Thanksgiving that he's the same Ross who was a friend of my brother's in elementary school. I even have a party photo with both of us in it, circa 2001.

3.) I once tried to dart across traffic when I was way too old to know better. A motorcyclist had to swerve to miss me, and her left shoulder hit my backpack. I totally should have died that day.

4.) My mother sent me to a Jewish summer camp one year as a kid, and assumed (correctly, I guess,) that I could pass and no one would know the difference. I didn't figure it out until years later.

5.) I viscerally hate the flavor of tangerines. I do not understand people who say they taste just like oranges; they taste nothing like oranges.

6.) I am the keynote speaker at our church's annual Ladies' Christmas Brunch this weekend. It's a little weird, but they asked me, and I couldn't really turn it down.

[glatt]

I bet there will be good food at the Church Ladies Christmas Brunch.

[Clodfobble]

Not much that I can eat.

It's not that great, actually. Instead of a potluck, the hostess of each table makes a large egg casserole according to a given recipe they use every year, and then they have fruit/muffins/coffee. They do have a gluten-free table though, started a few years ago when they asked me why I never came.

[orthodoc]

1. I sang the role of Pitti-Sing in my school's production of The Mikado - 8th grade. I was twelve.
2. I had a near-drowning experience when I was 5 or 6 years old (held under water by my older sister), and in spite of officially learning to swim, I have been nervous in the water ever since.
3. I learned to play the violin in 8th grade (using my grandfather's violin) and was privileged to play in a massed orchestra at a Christmas concert in Ottawa. We played the Toy Symphony.
4. I have a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. Not so long ago, I had both my front and side splits. Working to regain that.
5. I met my best friend in 3rd grade. We are still in touch every day or two.
6. My three sons wore my christening gown for their baptisms. It was handed down from my mother's family. My granddaughter was buried in it. (I made my daughter's gown, as she was too big for the family gown when she was baptized.)

[Big Sarge]

I'm sorry. I had no idea you had lost a grandchild

[orthodoc]

Thank you, Sarge. September 4, 2010.

[Aliantha]

1. I sang in the australian national youth choir as a teenager.
2. I once stopped talking to my father for 2 years.
3. I can play the trumpet, clarinet and piano.
4. I want to learn guitar.
5. I won high jump in grade 4.
6. I used to play A grade level squash.

[footfootfoot]

1. I sailed from France to NYC on a 46' yawl. And from Seattle to Ketchikan on a 23' sloop, in the winter

2. I hitch-hiked from Ketchikan to Vermont. Also in the winter.

3. I rode the length of Vermont on a bicycle in a single day.

4. I have perfect pitch.

5. I am ambidextrous.

6. I've lived in over 50 places, by the time I was 5 my family had moved 9 times.

[glatt]

1. Virtually every time I've ridden on a motorcycle, dirt bike, or scooter, someone has gotten hurt or almost gotten hurt.

2. Every time I've gone scuba diving, I've gotten a minor nose bleed from the dry tank air. The blood just sloshed around in the bottom of the mask, but I was afraid to clear it because it might attract sharks. I cleared it anyway, and was fine.

3. I've only seen one shark while swimming in the ocean. It was when I was snorkeling, and I had no nose bleed. I prefer snorkeling.

4. In high school biology, we did these body tests that showed some sort of genetic traits. I was the only guy who was able to put my head against a wall while leaning over a desk chair, pull my head a fraction of an inch away from the wall, and then lift the chair up without losing my balance and smacking my head back into the wall. All the girls could do it and so could I. This apparently indicated that I had a smaller chest than all the guys. But when we did the lung capacity test, I had the highest lung capacity in the class by a wide margin. I'm still curious about that seeming discrepancy.

5. I've been known to throw rocks at rattle snakes.

6. In high school, I often wouldn't start my homework until after David Letterman was over at 1:30 and then I would sometimes fall asleep in school or sleep for hours in the afternoon when I got home from school. My sleep was all messed up for years.

[Undertoad]

I love that #6 about you