Today I will share ten things about myself that I think are interesting. But the question is, just because I think they're interesting, will you? That's for you to decide.
For your inconvenience, these ten things are posted in random order and the details of each are quite lengthy. The first sentence of each one is the main point, and is in bold type so you can just read those if you don't have the time or desire to read all of the details. Many of you who know me in person (and aren't able to run away fast enough) will already know some of these things. But you will agree that these things are "interesting" and so uniquely "Eric."
1. I have only owned three cars in the entire 40 years that I've been driving. Because I'm not what you'd call rich, coming up with money to purchase a car is not easy, and I'd prefer not to do so if I can avoid it. I do take care of my cars, which helps them to stay on the road well past the time when they'd normally need to be hauled off to the junkyard. My first car was a used 1975 Oldsmobile Cutlass that I drove for almost five years; my second and first new car was a 1983 Toyota Supra that I drove for 19 years and put more than a quarter-million miles on it; my third and current car is a 2002 Honda CR-V that is pushing 14 years old (got it on 2/2/2002—too many twos to not remember that date) and still going strong with well over 200,000 miles on it as of this writing. I'm not counting four of the cars that my wife and I have purchased together because three of them were for her, and one was for Diana.
2. I have ridden more than 100 different roller coasters. By an enthusiast's standards, that's not so significant because most enthusiasts travel all over and ride coasters everywhere they go. Many enthusiasts have racked up hundreds if not thousands of coasters around the world. I don't travel very much, so the vast majority of the ones I've ridden are not too far from home. But I have ridden them as far away as Florida, which isn't too bad, I suppose. I need to get on more wooden ones, though, before my body says "QUIT RIDING THOSE DAMNED THINGS!"
3. I have visited all but 43 states. My own daughter has been to more states than I have—at least twice as many by my count, and she's less than half my age! Fortunately, there's room to grow here, so I'll keep working on this one.
4. I've edited two different newsletters in my lifetime. Two? Where's my Pulitzer? I edited our church youth group newsletter, The Good News, for all two or three issues it lasted. I guess the people in our youth group weren't interested in reading a newsletter when all they had to do was to attend our events and *GASP!* talk to the others in the group! (It also didn't help that I had no money to buy paper to print on, so I started the newsletter on a subscription basis. Bad idea...)
In the mid-'90s, I joined the United States Power Squadrons, a national boating organization. I'm not a boater nor do I own a boat, but these are nice people and it was a good social outlet. A friend from work wanted me to join and suggested that editing the group's monthly newsletter would be a good way to jump in and earn an annual merit mark. Earning 25 of those merit marks entitles those who earn them to receive free membership for life. Unfortunately, about 2006, I became ill and unable to continue doing this task. (See the link in Number 8 below). But the squadron got ten years' worth of The Helm before I handed the editorial duties over to someone else.
5. I have created my own job. Back in 1993, the company I worked for at the time decided to close and combine with a sister company some 100 miles south. It was up to the company to decide who they wanted in the new place, and my name wasn't on the list. Not long before the last day of operation, one of my co-workers (Chris) stopped into my area and told me that her husband (Mike, who used to work at the same company) might have some work for me. The company he worked for at the time used a different CAD program than we did, so I'd have to learn that first. That same day, I got a call from a former co-worker (Ngoc) inquiring how I was doing. I told her that my job was history and that I'd need to learn the new drawing program. "I have it on my computer," said Ngoc. "You can borrow it to learn and I don't need it back anytime soon." All I had to do was to go get it. After a round trip to Pasadena later on, I had a computer all set up with the latest version of AutoCAD. I spent every day going through the manual to learn it, and in just a couple of weeks I was at a proficiency level where I could approach Mike about work. And you know what? I got the job, got to set my own pay rate, and ended up doing that for nearly three years. It was a good run.
Having been out of work since 2010 is making me wonder if I can do something like this once again to get back into the game. We'll see...
6. I have a lifelong interest in buses. Definitely not a run of the mill thing among people. I owe my interest in buses and public transit in general to Grandma McCormack. She never drove, so she took the bus everywhere she went. One fine Sunday afternoon after church, Grandma asked me if I wanted to go on a bus ride. I thought it would be fun, so I said yes! And fun it was! Over the years Grandma and I went to downtown L.A., Hollywood, and the west San Fernando Valley a number of times. When I got a bit older, I started taking my own trips all over the Valley, to downtown, Long Beach, San Bernardino—wherever the RTD went. These days, I don't ride the bus much anymore, being that where I live has fairly limited bus service. But I do belong to a group on Facebook dedicated to transit here in Southern California, and they have lots of pictures posted in the group.
7. I didn't learn to ride a bike till I was nine years old. My folks tried to teach me, but for some reason I just couldn't do it. Finally after a lot of trial and error (mostly the latter), I was able to get on a bike and get going. Not long after that, I got a paper route with the old Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, which required a lot of bike riding.
8. I have been taken to the ER and admitted to the hospital in critical condition. Those who know me already know this story, but for some of the new people I've met since then, it's been a bit of a shock. In this case, my wife drove me to the hospital (no ambulance ride; maybe next time), but being labeled "critical" left me a bit startled. I won't go into that story here. If you want to read it, click here.
9. I built a working model roller coaster on our dining room table. I was going to be the next Anton Schwarzkopf! (Yeah, I know, who's that? Read this.) My model was built entirely out of toothpicks and I used Plexiglas® balls as the ride vehicles. I even had my dad drill holes in the balls so I could fill those holes with glow-in-the-dark paint. The lift system was an elevator raised by turning a wheel with your hand. (To lower it, just let go!) The ride was named "Odyssey" because...I liked the name at the time and it seemed to fit while watching the ride operate in the dark with only the glowing balls rolling on the track. Because this ride did not feature steep drops or any inversions (it was sort of like Space Mountain with a slightly inclined track over a long course), I never had to worry about the balls getting stuck at the bottom of a drop (what coaster mechanics call "valleying" in real life). They did on occasion leave the track, though...
My folks didn't mind me taking up the dining room table so much while this project was under construction, but I couldn't keep it there forever. At some point it was moved to the garage, where it slowly fell apart and was eventually scrapped. One regret that I had was that I wasn't smart enough to take any photos of it. I started to build a second coaster sometime after this one, but one of our cats walked through it while under construction, so it was never finished.
10. I write with my left hand, and what's left I do with my right. What? Sounds like some kooky riddle, huh? No, actually, at some point I must have noticed that my older brother picked up a crayon with his left hand and start writing with it, so I did the same. But all of us kids were taught to do things like throw, kick, bowl, etc. by two parents who were fully right-handed. I can't think of anything else I do left-handed except for writing. Thanks to this little quirk, however, I can eat with a fork and write at the same time. How many people can do that?
It looks like tomorrow I'll be writing about a place where I'd like to live but have never visited. Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment