Currently, there’s a meme traveling around Facebook entitled “25 Random Things About Me” where you list 25 things about yourself and send it to 25 friends. Then they send theirs to 25 friends (including you) and so on.
I don’t plan on doing this myself because everything about me is random. Instead, I plan to explore 10 things about my life that I’ve never done. This is not to say I will never accomplish these things but, as yet, I have not done these things in my life to this point.
I admit some of these are unbelievable – the fact that I haven’t done them but, to the best of my ability, are true.
So, to this point I have never:
Ridden in the back of a stretch limo – I have been to several weddings and funerals where one of these vehicles was present. I have looked in the back of a stretch limo but never ridden back there. At a party one time a limo was ordered and I thought to myself “this could be it” but it was basically a modified Lincoln Towne Car and would definitely not qualify as a stretch.
Been out of the country as an adult – I qualify this one with the ‘as an adult’ rider because my family and I once traveled to Canada. To quote The Simpson’s “it’s like America, but cleaner”. I remember camping there and looking at their currency as if it was play money but that’s about it. One of these days I’ll get out of the country for a few days just to say I did it.
Gone skydiving – Pretty simple, really. I have done bungee jumping but I understand it’s just not the same.
Piloted an aircraft – One of the guys I used to work with relayed a story of going on a surprise trip (he didn’t know what was about to happen). He got increasingly nervous as they went further and further out into the country, to flat open lands. He was pleasantly surprised by a trip in a glider plane. Lifted by a tow plane into the sky, their trip was over 4 hours but he said it felt like 5 minutes. He even got the chance to pilot the broad-winged craft for about an hour.
Had a star sighting – I know I’ve talked about this before. What I’m talking about is a random, chance meeting of a celebrity. If I pay for a ticket to see this person and somehow run into them inside or outside the venue, I don’t consider this a star sighting. Years ago, some friends were staying in a hotel in California when they see Rob Reiner get off one of the elevators and walk through the lobby. THAT is a star sighting.
Kissed a girl of color – All of the women I have dated were of the “generic white girl” variety. No African-American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian or other women of any nationality were harmed in the making of my life. The closest I came was a British girl – her father was American, mother was from the U.K. If she didn’t speak, you’d have thought she was just a midwestern girl from Chicago. Just thinking about the way she said my name gives me chills.
Gotten anything published – I don’t know why this is on the list, but it is. I’m very secretive about the creative works that I’ve done. On one hand, I want people to know how talented I am but on the other, I don’t want someone to say that I plagiarized some part of my art. I also don’t want the scrutiny of the critics because there are ALWAYS critics of anything that’s done. I’d rather keep them to myself and pass them on to my heirs.
Auditioned for a Broadway play – This is just one of those things that I wanted to do just for fun. I wouldn’t care if I got the part (I probably wouldn’t) but I always wanted to stand on that stage and give it a try. In an episode of “Friends” Monica and her friend audition on a whim and get two notes out before they get the heave-ho. That’s the opportunity I want.
Won an award as an adult – Again, I qualify this one with “as an adult” because I won an award when I was very, very young. I was so young, in fact, that I barely remember the event. I still have the trophy, but it’s just not the same if it happens to you as an adult. I have been awarded certificates but it’s of the “everyone gets a certificate” variety.
[Edit: I may have to remove this one. I just now remembered that I won an “Employee of the Year” award with the company where I was working at the time. It was the first time the award was given and I was the first recipient. I guess the award I’m talking about above is on a much grander scale. Yea, let’s go with that.]
Learned a new language – When I was in junior high school I wanted to take German but, by the time I signed up, there were no slots left. People are usually amazed by the fact that I never took a second language in any of my school years yet still graduated. I suppose it wasn’t a requisite at the time. When I was working with some Spanish-speakers at work I tried to teach myself but that’s probably not the way to go. I just wanted to be fluent enough to carry on a normal conversation with a native. That’s all.
I don’t plan on doing this myself because everything about me is random. Instead, I plan to explore 10 things about my life that I’ve never done. This is not to say I will never accomplish these things but, as yet, I have not done these things in my life to this point.
I admit some of these are unbelievable – the fact that I haven’t done them but, to the best of my ability, are true.
So, to this point I have never:
Ridden in the back of a stretch limo – I have been to several weddings and funerals where one of these vehicles was present. I have looked in the back of a stretch limo but never ridden back there. At a party one time a limo was ordered and I thought to myself “this could be it” but it was basically a modified Lincoln Towne Car and would definitely not qualify as a stretch.
Been out of the country as an adult – I qualify this one with the ‘as an adult’ rider because my family and I once traveled to Canada. To quote The Simpson’s “it’s like America, but cleaner”. I remember camping there and looking at their currency as if it was play money but that’s about it. One of these days I’ll get out of the country for a few days just to say I did it.
Gone skydiving – Pretty simple, really. I have done bungee jumping but I understand it’s just not the same.
Piloted an aircraft – One of the guys I used to work with relayed a story of going on a surprise trip (he didn’t know what was about to happen). He got increasingly nervous as they went further and further out into the country, to flat open lands. He was pleasantly surprised by a trip in a glider plane. Lifted by a tow plane into the sky, their trip was over 4 hours but he said it felt like 5 minutes. He even got the chance to pilot the broad-winged craft for about an hour.
Had a star sighting – I know I’ve talked about this before. What I’m talking about is a random, chance meeting of a celebrity. If I pay for a ticket to see this person and somehow run into them inside or outside the venue, I don’t consider this a star sighting. Years ago, some friends were staying in a hotel in California when they see Rob Reiner get off one of the elevators and walk through the lobby. THAT is a star sighting.
Kissed a girl of color – All of the women I have dated were of the “generic white girl” variety. No African-American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian or other women of any nationality were harmed in the making of my life. The closest I came was a British girl – her father was American, mother was from the U.K. If she didn’t speak, you’d have thought she was just a midwestern girl from Chicago. Just thinking about the way she said my name gives me chills.
Gotten anything published – I don’t know why this is on the list, but it is. I’m very secretive about the creative works that I’ve done. On one hand, I want people to know how talented I am but on the other, I don’t want someone to say that I plagiarized some part of my art. I also don’t want the scrutiny of the critics because there are ALWAYS critics of anything that’s done. I’d rather keep them to myself and pass them on to my heirs.
Auditioned for a Broadway play – This is just one of those things that I wanted to do just for fun. I wouldn’t care if I got the part (I probably wouldn’t) but I always wanted to stand on that stage and give it a try. In an episode of “Friends” Monica and her friend audition on a whim and get two notes out before they get the heave-ho. That’s the opportunity I want.
Won an award as an adult – Again, I qualify this one with “as an adult” because I won an award when I was very, very young. I was so young, in fact, that I barely remember the event. I still have the trophy, but it’s just not the same if it happens to you as an adult. I have been awarded certificates but it’s of the “everyone gets a certificate” variety.
[Edit: I may have to remove this one. I just now remembered that I won an “Employee of the Year” award with the company where I was working at the time. It was the first time the award was given and I was the first recipient. I guess the award I’m talking about above is on a much grander scale. Yea, let’s go with that.]
Learned a new language – When I was in junior high school I wanted to take German but, by the time I signed up, there were no slots left. People are usually amazed by the fact that I never took a second language in any of my school years yet still graduated. I suppose it wasn’t a requisite at the time. When I was working with some Spanish-speakers at work I tried to teach myself but that’s probably not the way to go. I just wanted to be fluent enough to carry on a normal conversation with a native. That’s all.