Eleventy-Three

Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
-Thomas Paine

Generally I post about things that "interest" me which I've encountered recently.  Sometimes though, I just want to go along with a blogging meme.  It makes me feels like I'm contributing some and I don't have to think too hard.

Today I came across some blogs that are participating in a particular meme where they ask/answer/reveal 33 things (3 sets of 11 questions).  First the bloggers reveal 11 things about themselves, then they answer 11 questions posed by another, and then they rap it up with 11 questions for you to answer.  That's a lot, almost eleventy-three things according to my internet math.

Eleven Random Things About Me:
1) I can only speak English.  Having had years of Spanish and years of living in Germany I find that I can pick up words and phrases quickly, but I can only comprehend foreign languages, not replicate them.  Instead I tend to speak a conglomeration of known foreign language words and phrases.  For example, one time in Germany I asked "Wo ist der quatro de bano" when looking for the bathroom.

2) I am unnaturally lucky.  I've won more than my fair share of dumb-luck contests and things usually just have a way of working out.  If I forget to do something or screw up a major project it more often then not it doesn't matter.

3) I've always believed I'm just a little bit psychic, which is why I'm unnaturally lucky.  Sometimes I get weird premonitions, some of which I can remember and others stick in the back of my mind becoming an interesting déjá vu.  There is always one large aspect of the premonition that is way off though and when the events occur I'm always trying to figure out what isn't right.

4) I'm descended from German royalty.  My Great-Great Grandfather was some Baron or Duke who fathered my Great Grandfather illegitimately.  When my Great-Great Grandmother died he was orphaned and pretty much dumped onto the streets while his infant brother was taken in by family.  I still have relatives in Germany which I never visited.

5) As a young child I was kidnapped by a religious cult.  The shock statement is much more powerful than the actual story, so we'll just leave it at that.

6) I used to collect Non-Sports Trading Cards.  I still have some cards and for a while I got into collecting promo-cards instead.  My problem is that I was a completionist, which meant I had to get every card.  When there was a redemption chase card I had to get both the chase card and the redeemed card.  My most "valuable" card is one that isn't supposed to exist and I doubt I could sell it if I wanted to. Back in 1993ish I picked up the WildC.A.T.S. cards and found a chase card for a Jim Lee autographed special card.  The thing was that the chase cards were not authorized and only a few cases were printed with the possibility of receiving a chase card.  A couple of industry magazines, like Non Sport Update, helped me get the card redeemed.  Since the card isn't supposed to exist, it doesn't even show up on price guides.

7) I've had to get stitches six times, twice on under one eyebrow, once on the other eyebrow, once on the chin, and twice on my right leg.  All but one were from before I was five and the last one was when I used my leg to "break" a new pocket knife across my leg so I could close it.  The action was too stiff and the knife was really sharp, slicing right through the meat of my thigh.

8) As a child I had a physically abusive step-father.  He was a sick bastard that died of a heart attack when I was five.  I don't have one single good memory of him, and I'm not sharing any of the bad ones here.

9) I have three tattoos. My real-life friends know of them for the most part since I don't try to hide them.  I do hide them around impressionable kids, or I used to.  When visiting my family I tried to hide them from my young nieces and nephews because I didn't want them thinking they were "cool". I got them for me, not them.  The tatts are of an Eagle Feather bundle, a stylized Indian Head, and a ROMAD skull.

10) I'm an Eagle Scout and a Vigil Honor member of the Order of the Arrow.

11) I won the German "National" Advanced Dungeons & Dragon's Championship in 1996.  My prize was an all-expense paid trip to the European GenCon where I had a top 10 finish. When I got back I had a trophy mug made as a reminder.

Eleven Specific Questions About Me:

1. What is your dream job? Professional QA/Playtester for an RPG company.
2. What is the farthest (furthest?) you have traveled from home? I believe Udari Bomb Range Kuwait
3. Do you think you can you have more than one best friend? No, best is a superlative.
4. What is your favorite cuisine? Anything not Americanized
5. Who is the first person you want to share news with? Whoever is closest
6. What are people likely to ask you to help them with? Advice
7. What are you likely to ask someone to help you with? Advice
8. Why do you read blogs? Like reading someone's diary
9. Who knows you the best? My wife
10. Do you believe in karma? Only in the traditional sense, not the payback sense.
11. What’s something you are really interested in, that most people don’t know about? (that you are interested in it, not the thing itself) Photoshop

Eleven Specific Questions For You:

1. What is your favorite movie?
2. What would be your last meal?
3. If you had to lose one of your senses, which is the one you could do without the most?
4. If you could go back to any one point in your life and tell yourself to take a different course of action, where/when/what would that be?
5. What is the best Christmas present you ever received?
6. If you could change one physical aspect about you what would it be?
7. What was your proudest moment?
8. If you could meet any famous person from history, who would it be?
9. What would you like to be most remembered for?
10. If you could only listen to one musical artist for the rest of your days, who would it be?
11. Who would you choose to be the lead in your made-for-TV autobiography?