Random randomness

[stessier]

For my 16 score, I have:

Broken a bone x2 (foot, arm)
Been in a Limo (on the way to my wedding reception - it broke down and we completed the trip in an airport shuttle bus)
Gotten a ticket x3 (65 in 55 - this probably saved my life, was in a blizzard and I really was going too fast, 60 in 55, and 30 in 25)
Ridden a horse

[Skinypupy]

What celebrities have you all met?

Mine are almost all musicians. My two favorite were (and I'm sure I've told these before):

1. Anthrax and Public Enemy in 1990. We scored backstage passes to the Anthrax/Public Enemy show at the Air Force Academy when I was 16 (1990). It was the first "real" concert I'd ever been to. We wound up hanging out with them in the dressing room that afternoon before the show. The guys were all incredibly gracious, making awkward small talk with these three dorky kids who had somehow wandered into their dressing room. They apparently thought we were actually Cadets at the Academy, because they kept asking us "Which one of your flies the helicopters?" I think Scott Ian finally just felt bad for us and offered us all beers. That was about the time the huge security guard slapped us on the shoulder and said "OK, time to go". I actually ran into Joey and Scott on the 70K cruise 20+ years later and told them that story. Joey thought it was hilarious.

We briefly met Chuck D and Flavor Flav as well. Chuck was super cool, Flav was as completely insane as you would expect. it wasn't an act with that dude...he was literally nuts.

2. Mrs. Skinypupy bought me "meet and greet" passes when Ogre (Skinny Puppy singer) came to SLC a couple years back. They say you should never meet your idols because you're likely to be disappointed, but he was the real deal. Just a wonderful human being who was a complete joy to be around. Spend about 2 hours with him and the band pre-show, just shooting the shit, talking about all his tour experiences, musical inspirations, etc. It was an amazing afternoon.

And, given our general age and gender, how many have piercings.

I had lots of piercings when I was younger. I don't have them any more.

[Isgrimnur]

What celebrities have you all met?

I met the one in the middle and the viewer's right.

[Smoove_B]

What celebrities have you all met?

Also musicians, though mostly minor ones and at small events. Probably the biggest musician was Natalie Merchant in the 1990s. I worked stage security for one of her shows; got her gigantic dog a big bowl of water. She was a genuinely nice person and very soft spoken. It was weird then to see her get on stage and belt out music. Briefly met Barbara Eden at Disney in the early 1980s on a monorail. Ernie Hudson. Erin Gray. Gil Gerard (all at conventions, but I actually spoke with them all - not just a photo or signed autograph). I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but I can't think of a time when I was absolutely star-struck (other than Erin Gray, I guess).

[Daehawk]

New Zoo Review! Loved that show. Also Emily Peden in those skirts and fine legs. They are still married. wow.

Wow Erin and Gil. Woulda died to meet them.

I met John De Lancie (Q) at a Star Trek convention in about 1991. It was a small one in Chattanooga so had time to talk and shake hands along with the autograph. He is actually damn funny in real life and sharp as a tack.

Met baseball guy Rick Honeycutt at a basketball game. He has a house down the road and seemed to like high school bball like me and my wife and showed up at some of them back in the 1990s. Only spoke to him at one though.

Guess this doesn't count as meet but did see Kenny Rogers in a Waffle House once as he was passing through

Dont know if this counts either but met, know, and was friends with Richard Fisher. He is a lawyer here in town and former state prosecutor that helped convict our former Governor Blanton. He was in the movie Marie but his part got cut. He is featured prominently in the book. My wife worked for him in about 90 in his campaign and he was my lawyer later in civil court. Nice guy and a damn good lawyer.

Think theres others but my mind is drawing a blank as I just woke up.

[Isgrimnur]

New Zoo Review! Loved that show.

Doug Momary and Emily Peden. Married in real life, they're based out of Las Vegas and were my youth group leaders before we left town.

[Daehawk]

New Zoo Review! Loved that show.

Doug Momary and Emily Peden. Married in real life, they're based out of Las Vegas and were my youth group leaders before we left town.

Just saw they were still married when I tried to look her up. Her skirts showed off fine legs in the day.

[Kraken]

What celebrities have you all met?

I met quite a few scientists and astronauts when I worked at the Museum of Science. IDK if most people consider them celebs or not, but surely Stephen Hawking and Jim Lovell should count, and science nerds would recognize some other names as well. Also hosted a number of authors during my bookselling career, and met a few actors over years of attending plays. I peed with Alfred Molina -- well, almost. He was coming out of the men's room as I was going in. I complimented him on that night's performance but declined to shake his hand.

[Jaymann]

I met Susan Polgar (who later became the Women's World Chess Champion) at a chess tournament in LA. She was observing a game I was playing and did some analysis when it was over.

[Blackhawk]

I'd skipped conventions, as that's usually less 'know' and more 'greeting #486'. But there was one that stood out. This is a little more niche, but I met Tracy Hickman a couple of years ago. We'd just taken part in the final Hickman's Killer Breakfast at GenCon 50 (I got to be on stage with him and Margaret Weis, which was cool.) Afterwards you could find Tracy out in the con and he'd sign your character sheet (he was the GM for the event.) My friend had an injury that restricted him to a wheelchair, so after the show held back I asked Tracy if he'd be willing to sign my friend's sheet there. He said sure, then we hung out for 20 minutes while he regaled us with stories about him in Gary Gygax.

[Skinypupy]

I'd skipped conventions, as that's usually less 'know' and more 'greeting #486'. But there was one that stood out. This is a little more niche, but I met Tracy Hickman a couple of years ago. We'd just taken part in the final Hickman's Killer Breakfast at GenCon 50 (I got to be on stage with him and Margaret Weis, which was cool.) Afterwards you could find Tracy out in the con and he'd sign your character sheet (he was the GM for the event.) My friend had an injury that restricted him to a wheelchair, so after the show held back I asked Tracy if he'd be willing to sign my friend's sheet there. He said sure, then we hung out for 20 minutes while he regaled us with stories about him in Gary Gygax.

I met Tracy at the Salt Lake FanX a few years ago, and didn't even realize it until after the fact.

There was booth near the back of the convention hall that had a bunch of Dragonlance books. There was no one else at the booth, so I was thumbing through them and the guy sitting behind the table said, "You like those books?". I proceeded to launch into a whole long explanation about how I would read them over and over as a kid, how they were my intro to fantasy and D&D, how much I adore the story, and how my copy of Dragons of Autumn Twilight is so beat up the cover is held together with duct tape. The guy was nice and simply nodded along as I spewed out my story. After about 5 minutes, he says "Great chatting with you, I gotta run." I shook his hand and said "I'm Skinypupy" and he says "Good to meet you, I'm Tracy". Still didn't click until about 10 minutes later when my brain finally went "wait a second...". Googled his photo and sure enough, it was Hickman.

Really wish I could go back and redo that conversation.

[LawBeefaroni]

What celebrities have you all met?
I met a popular children's show host when I lived in South Calif named Engineer Bill.
I also met Tina Louise and I used to ride bikes with Rob Walton.
Altho I didn't meet them I got to within six feet of President Nixon and VP Gerald Ford. Nixon stopped at our air base after a trip to the USSR and gave a speech.

Celebs I've met and actually had an organic conversation with (met outside of a celebrity function/charity event/paid engagement):

Scott Spezio
Tim Roth
Ryan Dempster
The guy who plays the jerky teen on Stranger Things
Ann-Margaret (she dated my dad way back in the day and I filed as an exaggerated family legend until she was in town and we went back stage to meet her and she confirmed it all directly to me. Never seen my dad so beaming and my mom so pissed.)

Celebs I've actually had a drink with:
Billy Bragg
Kim Deal
Kelly Deal
Chris Chelios
Lots of minor actors (example: Jessica Cauffiel who used to work at Tower Records in Ann Arbor and let me park my car at her place for work. Went out for drinks a few times.)


There are a ton I've bumped into at events. Two weeks ago Otis Wilson asked a friend and I if he could cut in front of us in a food line at a charity event. That kind of thing happens all the time. Not really noteworthy and I forget most of them in short order.

But some random retired teacher at a bar tells me about the time he met Bootsy Collins pumping gas for his limo driver at gas station in Toledo, that I remember forever. Weirdest thing.

[Daehawk]

Ann-Margaret mmmmmm .

[Z-Corn]

My celeb meetings have pretty much been all musicians.

I hung out and did a ton of drugs with the Butthole Surfers. It was the '80's, that's what we did.

I hung out and smoked hash with Cro-Mags. And Slymenstra from GWAR. Both times hash but many years apart. Slymenstra was comfortable enough to pee in front of me.

Hung out with Kurt Brecht from DRI twice.

Got my foot stepped on about 15 times in one night by a very drunk Jack White. Meg was there too but she just sat at the bar and let people buy her drinks.

That same show that the White Stripes were hanging out at we got in for free because Wayne Kramer of The MC5 told the guy at the door we were with him and his date. It was our first time at The Magic Stick and we didn't know where the door was so I struck up a conversation with this cool older couple having a smoke outside and it ended up being Wayne. He said, "Stick with me kid, I'll get you in trouble..."

I was thinking of asking Wayne to ask Jack to stop stepping on my foot.

[Rumpy]

I met quite a few scientists and astronauts when I worked at the Museum of Science. IDK if most people consider them celebs or not, but surely Stephen Hawking and Jim Lovell should count, and science nerds would recognize some other names as well.

I'd like to think they definitely count. Seems you and my Dad would share quite a few things in common. My Dad was head of the astronomy department at our science centre, and got to schmooz with a lot of big science related celebs. Got to meet Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau and American astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmidtt. He's also good friends with David Levy (famous for Shoemaker-Levy 9 that plunged into Jupiter).

More recently, in 2009, my Dad and I both got to meet Alan Bean, the Apollo 12 astronaut. In 2015, we both met Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield.

[Kasey Chang]

I may have met a famous HK actor once... He was catching a redeye flight with his family and it was 20+ years ago, midnight, in SFO.

I am distantly related to Amy Tan the author, though I've never met her. Her aunt is my grandma's sister. So she's technically my aunt too.

[Kasey Chang]

Argh, sometimes I hate my dad, that I basically put him in ignore mode.

He's had some problems with Medi-Cal, the state version of Medic-aid. We sent documents in, it's being evaluated. Yesterday someone called from that office and asked him to call back, except he won't answer... he's in the middle of a Mahjong session. So he asked me to call back for him. WTF.

He called himself this morning, they told him they don't know what he's talking about, no one would call an applicant, blah blah. He wants me to write to the email address that we sent the documents to and demand an update. Fine. Pretty sure it's a read-only address. But never hurts to do it.

Then suddenly he remembered a letter he got a week ago, that he wanted me to look over. I told him it doesn't say anything important. It's to acknowledge he had sent in some documents and wants more. We've done that. Except he wants the letter back (huh?) and he's sure we missed something (we didn't) and it's obviously my fault. (WTF)

He left, then came back 1 minute later, with something else to rant about, about how he's taking care of me (he bought me lunch yesterday, instead of me running out to buy lunch for both of us for all the OTHER days). Sheesh. Then he claimed I wasn't taking care of him by eating both portions (he didn't say anything about saving a portion for him) and he's 70+ and basically I was a lousy son. WTF.

I need a job soon, if only to get out of the house regularly so I don't see his face.

[Kraken]

I met quite a few scientists and astronauts when I worked at the Museum of Science. IDK if most people consider them celebs or not, but surely Stephen Hawking and Jim Lovell should count, and science nerds would recognize some other names as well.

I'd like to think they definitely count. Seems you and my Dad would share quite a few things in common. My Dad was head of the astronomy department at our science centre, and got to schmooz with a lot of big science related celebs. Got to meet Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau and American astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmidtt. He's also good friends with David Levy (famous for Shoemaker-Levy 9 that plunged into Jupiter).

More recently, in 2009, my Dad and I both got to meet Alan Bean, the Apollo 12 astronaut. In 2015, we both met Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield.

I also met a bunch of space shuttle astronauts, none of whose names you'd be likely to recognize, and a cosmonaut. But Lovell was the best. I'd always felt a weird connection to him: The Apollo 13 explosion on April 13 happened to be on my 13th birthday. I met him when I was 39 (3*13). Between his afternoon book signing and before his evening talk, I escorted him through the closed exhibit halls to our Apollo exhibit. He climbed into the command module model and excitedly pointed out various features and put personal stories behind them. It was one of the high points of my life. Hard to believe he's one of the last ones standing now.

[Daehawk]

Kasey maybe your dad is starting to get dementia.

[dbt1949]

My wife got a letter from Social Security saying that the state is no longer paying for her medicare and they're taking money back out.
Went to Social Security who said it's not their problem so now we have to go down to DHS (Medicaid) to see what's going on and to straighten it out if possible.
I assume she's been kick off.
Her mind is pretty well gone but fortunately she has a good personality underneath.

[Kasey Chang]

Kasey maybe your dad is starting to get dementia.

He's always like this. One more reason my brother moved out decades ago and got married and all and my mom's in a different state. It's never his fault, etc. etc.

[Skinypupy]

Wonder Twin 6.8b came home with a note in his backpack today. It read:

Dear [Wonder Twin],

I like you.
I love you.
You are smart.
You are kind.
You are my crush.

Your friend,
[Girl]

With a hand-drawn picture of Girl and Wonder Twin holding hands on the back. Gotta admit, I'm impressed with both the moxie and the completely straightforward nature of the note. Nice work Girl!

He's completely embarrassed, but I can also tell he totally digs it.

[dbt1949]

A collection agency sent my wife their standard threatening letter. Except they have the wrong person.
I sent them a letter telling them so and threatening my own lawyer.
I don't know if a lawyer could sue them for us or not but it sounds good.

[Daehawk]

Can you believe its been 10 years since Tron Legacy? A full decade. Ive still not seen it...just YT clips. The first one was 82 and iwas 13. 10 years later 92 I was 23. Big jump. But it sure doesn't feel like 10 years since 2010.

[Blackhawk]

Can you believe its been 10 years since Tron Legacy? A full decade. Ive still not seen it...just YT clips. The first one was 82 and iwas 13. 10 years later 92 I was 23. Big jump. But it sure doesn't feel like 10 years since 2010.

Novelty. Between age 13 and 23, everything was new. Every experience was novel. Every day was fresh. Our brains stay busy when there is novelty, and they remember all the little bits and pieces. Between 2010 and 2020, you (and most of us) didn't do nearly as many novel things. We played games that were similar to old games. We read books on topics we already mostly understood. We went to places we had been before. When we repeat experiences, our brain tends to sort of 'average' them out, and we lose most of them.

As an example, you go to a new diner and order eggs and bacon. You're likely to remember that in detail. The next day you go to a different diner and order pancakes. Then, three times a week for the next year you go to that same diner and order pancakes. Your brain doesn't bother to separately record each and every trip there into long term memory. It sort of mashes them together, and you lose track of whether the last time you saw a certain waitress was a year ago or four years ago.

So, when you look back at 13-23, you have a ton of unique, individual memories. Points on your timeline. So many new things happened that each one is stored, and there are a huge number of memories in that period. When you look back at the last ten years, though, you have mostly repeated experiences that are blobbed together. Fewer actual memories. There is less 'stuff' in your memory from the last ten years, so it seems like less happened, and like time went much, much faster.

The moral of the story: If you want 2020-2030 to feel like ages 13-23, do new stuff. Not a new routine, but new stuff. Go to new places. Eat different foods. Indulge in a new hobby. Try a different form of your old hobby. Pick up a new genre of game, TV, or fiction, or start reading about a new subject. Spent the last 20 years studying WWII in your spare time? Start studying Roman warfare instead, or take up cooking. Do your shopping in a different town, or a different store every week.

I went through this and did some of this research a while back, and realized that if I didn't vary my own routine some, I'd end up with every day between now and the end of my life mashed together into a dull memory blob, and that time would seem like it went by in a flash. I'd rather the last third of my life (hopefully more) feel more like the first third.

[dbt1949]

New experiences are bad.

[Hrdina]

I'm at 16. The original post suggested being a double-digit-er was some type of accomplishment. That seems unlikely to me.

I'm at 2....

I have never gotten a piercing or a Tattoo but yes to the rest.

Edit to add: Dear God I've done some...ok most of these all at the same time.

I'm at 14.

Geez, I'm only at 13.

The ones I have done:
Fired a gun, been in a limo, ridden a horse, gotten a ticket, been on TV, met some celebrities, been drunk

The celebrities that I can recall offhand: Grace Hopper, Neil Peart , some hockey players, soccer players, and baseball players.

[Kasey Chang]

My wife got a letter from Social Security saying that the state is no longer paying for her medicare and they're taking money back out.
Went to Social Security who said it's not their problem so now we have to go down to DHS (Medicaid) to see what's going on and to straighten it out if possible.
I assume she's been kick off.

Chances are you or her missed an annual REQUIRED report stating your income so you can stay eligible. State medicaid is a stickler about those. If you don't send it back, they assume you're not eligible even when you're 80 and wheelchair bound. Or at least it feels like that. My dad ran into something similar.

[Kasey Chang]

I'd just burn the ends a little to seal it. Done that before. 25 ft of 3/16th shockcord in "OD Green" is 10.32 on Amazon. Looks like the right color too. I'm sure I can find some use for it. But then I have a ton of things I thought I have use for but never end up using them. I have a roll of soft sheet magnet, a roll of hook-n-loop, and two more vests. (A puffer vest and a larger tactical vest). From before that, I have a 5.11 range vest (pockets huge enough to fit HUGE maps, even full-sized keyboards) among other things.

Got the length right, got the thickness wrong. *sigh*. AND the color wrong too. The "OD Green" should be dull green, but what came was virtually black.

And 3/16th feels more like 3/8ths. It barely fit through the regular holes on the vests, no way it fits through the springlock button. So I need some other sort of lock to keep them in place.

OTOH, the vest is wearable now. And that's with just one side replaced.

[dbt1949]

My wife got a letter from Social Security saying that the state is no longer paying for her medicare and they're taking money back out.
Went to Social Security who said it's not their problem so now we have to go down to DHS (Medicaid) to see what's going on and to straighten it out if possible.
I assume she's been kick off.

Chances are you or her missed an annual REQUIRED report stating your income so you can stay eligible. State medicaid is a stickler about those. If you don't send it back, they assume you're not eligible even when you're 80 and wheelchair bound. Or at least it feels like that. My dad ran into something similar.

We never got a letter letting us know about this. We did know that they had stopped my wife's nurse from coming out. We went down the DHS and filled out a form immediately about that. Turns out she was applying for Medicaid again.
Altho we didn't know she had been kicked off of Medicaid. Got a letter today saying she was back on and retroed back to 1/1/20. Was quite a relief for both of us.
But what's going to happen at the end of year?

[Daehawk]

I filled my State stuff out and sent it in last month. First time I ever had to do that. I dont get medicaid checks but I do have the part that pays my co-pays. My wife used to handle all this.

[morlac]

What celebrities have you all met?

Meet quite a few. The two who have meet and done multiple things with on this list are Christopher Reeves and Woody Harrelson.

[dbt1949]

Procrastination works!

[Holman]

What celebrities have you all met?

Top of the list for me would be Jimmy Carter.

In my bookstore author-events days I met a bunch of mid-to-highly-famous writers. The most famous were probably Anne Lamott, James Ellroy, Sherman Alexie, Cornel West, David Sedaris, Bret Easton Ellis, and Jonathan Lethem. I also got to moderate a conference panel with SF writers Gene Wolfe and Frederik Pohl, and I was at a dinner party with Samuel Delaney.

In grad school I met a bunch of literary/history scholars who were hugely famous internationally, but only to a small number of specialists.

Oh, and I danced with Michael Stipe at a club in Athens, GA for about five minutes!

[Daehawk]

Oh, and I danced with Michael Stipe at a club in Athens, GA for about five minutes!

Who lead? And did he hold you tight?

-----------------------------------

I need to get in a shape other than lousy.

[Kasey Chang]

OTOH, the vest is wearable now. And that's with just one side replaced.

Replaced both sides last night. Got a LOT of length left over on both sides, but that's what happens when you put in 150 inches of stuff in what used to be 88 inches of material. I think I'll just thread them and use the cord tie to hide them around the vest. I'd tightened it up so it's snug, but not uncomfortable.

Right now it's a completely empty vest, no pouches. And I have surprising amount of pouches and stuff I can fit on there.

My only complaint so far is It has stiff shoulders due to it having adjustable shoulders there, so it has a velcro patch there to adjust the shoulder size. Right now it's let all out, but if I raise my arm, I'm basically shoving that thick stiff shoulder into side of my neck. :-\

[Z-Corn]

that's what happens when you put in 150 inches of stuff in what used to be 88 inches of material.

Reminds me of my honeymoon...

[Holman]

Oh, and I danced with Michael Stipe at a club in Athens, GA for about five minutes!

Who lead? And did he hold you tight?

He was with a supermodel date, but he danced with me and then fell on the floor. I think he was high.

This was actually at the Indigo Girls concert filmed as Live at the Uptown Lounge. I think you can see us in a couple of shots.

[Daehawk]

You were too much for him. Sounds like a crazy night though.

[AWS260]

What celebrities have you all met?

Danny Glover. I coordinated this photo shoot (PDF).