Yet another purloined meme

SamauraiFrog strikes again:

1. Started my own blog
Hmm. I started about five of them.

2. Slept under the stars
A lot as a kid. We used to go camping. I never much liked camping because of the bugs, but being under the stars was nice.
Actually, my favorite "under the stars" story involves my father driving us, just the two of us, from Binghamton, NY to Lake George. We hit a wrong turn and ended up out of gas near a place called Speculator. My father went to someone's house and got us enough gas to get to the next town. But before we drove off, we just sat on the car looking at the stars, which seemed HUGE in this rural area.

3. Played in a band
Technically yes, but only once or twice in junior high. I was playing percussion. I haven't the patience for it. You wait 72 measures then hit the gong or the triangle.

4. Visited Hawaii
No, and it's probably a contributing factor to my breakup with my now wife in the mid 1990s. She'd gotten some important insurance designation and it was going to be awarded in Hawaii. She wanted me to go. I wanted to go. But I had a boss that wasn't even going to let me go to the ASBDC (work) conference in New Orleans at the very same time because there'd be too many of us (3 of 7) out of the office. At the very last moment, boss let me go to N.O., mostly so I could help schlep the equipment for boss's presentation. Girlfriend thinks that if I had petitioned to go to Hawaii, I would have been as successful; I knew boss well enough to know that was not the case.

5. Watched a meteor shower
Yes

6. Given more than I can afford to charity
Occasionally

7. Been to Disneyland/world
No, and I've been to Orlando.

8. Climbed a mountain
1994, in Utah, on the spur of the moment, unprepared. Got to the top, literally almost died. Came down, tore the meniscus in my left knee about halfway down. Practically crawled back to the hotel.

9. Held a praying mantis
No.

10. Sung a solo
Often as a child. I sang "I Love You Truly" at more than one wedding at the church I grew up in. But I'd prefer singing harmony - singing harmony by oneself seems to make some people uncomfortable.

11. Bungee jumped
Not gonna happen.

12. Visited Paris
I'd like to.

13. Watched lightning at sea
I was on the shore in Galveston, TX but yes.

14. Taught myself an art from scratch
Almost certainly not

15. Adopted a child
No, though when we were "trying" and it wasn't happening, we talked seriously about it, and in fact even went to some event. I STILL get their e-mails.

16. Had food poisoning
Oh, yeah.

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
Never been there, though I've been by it on the Staten Island Ferry.

18. Grown my own vegetables
Yes, mostly tomatoes, though not recently. I used to help my grandparents with their extensive garden.

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
Only online.

20. Slept on an overnight train
I've been on a train that gets to Charlotte, NC about 4:30 a.m. I slept, but not in a sleeping car. I love trains.

21. Had a pillow fight
With the daughter.

22. Hitchhiked
It was my primary form of transportation from 1971 to 1978. The stories I could tell...

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
Well, I have 139 sick days available. So, evidently not too often, or not often enough. I have taken off a day when I wasn't ill, but was just dragged out, but not so I could go play instead.

24. Built a snow fort
Must have

25. Held a lamb
Think so

26. Gone skinny dipping
Yeah and almost got arrested once.

27. Run a Marathon
No, just a 5K.

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
Never been to Venice.

29. Seen a total eclipse
Of the moon, yes.

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
Often. The one benefit of my current office is if there is a visible sunset (as opposed to just gray clouds), i see it.

31. Hit a home run
Yup.

32. Been on a cruise
No.

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
Yes, more than once, the first time with my parents and sisters. then we went to see this floral clock.

34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
If by my ancestors, you mean my great-great-grandmother, then yes. My grandmother lived in that house when I was growing up in Binghamton, NY.

35. Seen an Amish community
Yes, mostly in Pennsylvania.

36. Taught myself a new language
My high school French is awful.

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
The question presupposes that money is the root of satisfaction. I'm not as poor as I was, when I had no health insurance, so, sure.

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
No.

39. Gone rock climbing
Yes.

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
In pictures, yes.

41. Sung karaoke
No.

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
Only on video.

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
Well, pizza and sandwiches, yes.

44. Visited Africa
No.

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
Yes.

46. Been transported in an ambulance
Yes, when I was 19.

47. Had my portrait painted
No, but a caricaturist has drawn me.

48. Gone deep sea fishing
No.

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
No.

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Only in my dreams.

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
Snorkeling once, in Barbados, on our honeymoon.

52. Kissed in the rain
Yes.

53. Played in the mud
As a kid.

54. Gone to a drive-in theater
A LOT as a kid.

55. Been in a movie
Not the kind you see in the theater.

56. Visited the Great Wall of China
Only by watching TV.

57. Started a business
Well, technically, yes. I sold my comics but never really did anything else and dissolved it.

58. Taken a martial arts class
No.

59. Visited Russia
No, but my wife's been to Ukraine.

60. Served at a soup kitchen
Yes, years ago.

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
Yes, got suckered by some niece or girlfriend's daughter.

62. Gone whale watching
Yes, and saw a whale.

63. Got flowers for no reason
Yes.

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
Yes, I've had my blood drawn so many times now (16-gallon pin last month) that I've actually developed scar tissue. I do it for the need. I never watch, though. And I do it despite the bigotry that bans gay men from donated, as I discussed at length a couple years ago.

65. Gone sky diving
It never made sense to me to jump out of a perfectly working airplane.

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
No.

67. Bounced a check
Yes, not intentionally, and not lately. I keep too much in my checking account as a paranoid response to this.

68. Flown in a helicopter
No.

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
No.

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
Yes, more than once. More impressive in person than I imagined.

71. Eaten Caviar
Yes. Don't like it.

72. Pieced a quilt
No.

73. Stood in Times Square
I lived in NYC for four months in 1977, so yes.

74. Toured the Everglades
No.

75. Been fired from a job
No.

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
No.

77. Broken a bone
2008- rib on the middle of my left side.

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
No. A slow motorcycle, yes.

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
No.

80. Published a book
I worked for a company (FantaCo) that published several books.

81. Visited the Vatican
No.

82. Bought a brand new car
No, but Carol's last car (not the current one) was new; she bought it from the company after she left her job.

83. Walked in Jerusalem
Yes.

84. Had my picture in the newspaper
When I was 5 or 6, I was singing "O Come All Ye Faithful". When I was 8, I was marginally involved in some worthy case. More recently, the Times Union sometimes excerpts my blog in the print paper and that comes with a picture.

85. Read the entire Bible
In 1977, 1980-something, 1996. I'm overdue to do it again.

86. Visited the White House
No.

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
No.

88. Had chickenpox
Yes.

89. Saved someone’s life
Performed a Heimlich on a woman choking on some meat. Ran out into traffic, scooped up some toddler and ran back. So maybe.

90. Sat on a jury
No, I went down to the courthouse but didn't make the cut.

91. Met someone famous
Earl Warren, Rod Serling, Anita Baker. Briefly: Nelson Rockefeller, Randy Newman. Probably others. Been in the same room as Mike Tyson and Jack Nicholson at the same time. Is Alex Trebek famous?

92. Joined a book club
For a time, but I'm lousy with negative option (they send you the book/record unless you say no), so not anymore.

93. Lost a loved one
More than a few of them.

94. Had a baby
By "having a baby", does this mean that I actually bore the child, then no. But I did see my daughter being born.

95. Seen the Alamo in person
No.

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
No, but I have been to Salt Lake City.

97. Been involved in a law suit
Only those cool class action things. Once got a check for $4.

98. Owned a cell phone
Yes. But I don't use it. I don't give out the number. I don't even KNOW the number without looking it up. It's for emergencies or to tell the wife or work I'll be late.

99. Been stung by a bee
More than once, and on one occasion, multiple times as a kid.

100. Ridden an elephant
No, but I would.

ROG