The rassnfrassn "things you haven't done" meme, and an alternate

[firecat]

I have been having an "oh geez, I'm not one of the kewl kids" reaction to this meme, and originally had it included in my list of "things you haven't done," but then I began to see other people saying they had the same reaction, so it came out.

Several things I've done that you might not have done
more or less in chronological order:

• Played bass guitar in a production of Godspell.
• Left a drive-in showing of The Blue Lagoon because of a sandstorm. In Detroit.
• Had a paying job gluing googly eyes on small copper nuggets.
• Slept out for Grateful Dead tickets before I had ever seen the Grateful Dead.
• Got credit in a psychology class for learning to draw.
• Have a letter written to me by Jacques Derrida.
• Met Jon Singer in an Afro-Cuban drumming class.
• Was pull-quoted without my permission in a major newspaper, supposedly anonymously but identified in such a way that anyone with any knowledge of my work situation knew it was me.
• Watched a usability test for a computer manual, in which the user held the mouse upside down for 20 minutes. (We rewrote the manual.)
• Was swimming in a pool during the 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake, whose epicenter was 25 miles away.
• Got my name in the HyperCard 'About' box.
• At the age of 40, went to England to meet my teenage rock star crush and got a hug and smooch from him.
• For several years, have maintained a fat friendly health professionals list on the web.

Alternate version via nellorat:
Eleven unusual things I've done that at least one person on my friends' list may also have done

1. Had to quit piano lessons because I got such a huge obsessive crush on my piano teacher that I couldn't bear for him to touch me (he touched my hands to show me how to hold them on the keys).
2. Took six hours a day of tennis lessons for a whole summer and by the end was still pretty awful at it.
3. Saw Tom Petty, Cheap Trick, and The Runaways on the same bill. With The Runaways headlining.
4. DJ'd a punk rock/new wave radio show.
5. Saw the Apple 1984 commercial during the 1984 Superbowl.
6. Owned an original 128k mac in 1984.
7. Went on a tropical vacation on the spur of the moment with a woman I had only met a couple of times (there was no romantic interest involved on either side).
8. Taught shamanic journeying and healing techniques.
9. Wrote a polyamory web page that appeared briefly on MTV.
10. Helped 100s of cats and dogs find new homes.
11. Attended an Esalen benefit lecture by John Cleese.

Elaborations on request, and do comment if you have done any of these.

Comments

[kightp.livejournal.com]

I have such interesting friends!

(I'm sorry to see this one invoking a "I'm not one of the kewl kids" response in several people, and I'm really glad you did it, anyway. I think every single person has a fascinating story, and this particular meme reveals that fact in ways most of them don't.)

[firecat]

I agree with you; I was chagrined at my reaction because I usually do feel that everyone, including me, has interesting experiences, regardless of whether others have done similar things.

Re: The rassnfrassn "things you haven't done" meme, and an alternate

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

sorry you had such a negative reaction -- for me this meme is one of the very few i did, not because i thought it was about personal kewl points (i didn't just include positive things on my list), but because it was way nifty to see what an amazing variety of relatively unique things people had done and it supports my view that each person, no matter how non-kewl zie might think zie is, has fascinating things to tell. most memes that swirl around LJ are hideously boring IMO in part because they are so damn alike. this one is wonderfully diverse.

i'm glad you did it! there's stuff in both lists i didn't know about you.

let's see, what of those have i gotten close to:

i've helped some large number of dogs, cats, and various other animals find new homes; i have no idea how many. and i spent a weekend vacation sight-seeing in munich with a woman i had just met in passau (also no romantic interest); we remained pen pals for a long time thereafter. lots of usability test observing, but nothing quite as amazing as those 20 min of mouse confusion. :)

Re: The rassnfrassn "things you haven't done" meme, and an alternate

[firecat]

I really enjoyed reading other people's lists, for the reasons you mentioned.

[nellorat.livejournal.com]

Well, I haven't done anything on either of your lists! I do think the meme is more interesting the less it defines coolness and the more it defines uniqueness.

[firecat]

Yep. Coolness is highly overrated!

[liveavatar.livejournal.com]

I think I did #5 on your second list, but that's the only one. Agreed with everyone that the uniqueness and richness of everyone's lives is the point. Absolutely everybody has done things that make me say "Wow."

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Googly eyes onto copper nuggets -- now that's nifty! :-)

[firecat]

Yeah, it was an interesting job all around.

[abostick59.livejournal.com]

I was astonished when asillyruca, whom I would have expected to come up with an unusually interesting list, commented to my (non-LJ) version of the meme (http://www.spicejar.org/asiplease/archives/000330.html) that she didn't think she could come up with ten.

What I really like about the meme is the way it accentuates individuality. It's a democratizer of cool.

[firecat]

Yes, there doesn't seem to be a strong connection between whether someone can actually come up with a list and whether they thinks they can.

[jenk]

#5...

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

Took six hours a day of tennis lessons for a whole summer and by the end was still pretty awful at it.

I've done this one!

In terms of "not kewl", let me tell you that I actually tried to come up with 10 things and failed. That is why my 10 things are fictional. Which is ok by me; some of the most fun times in my life have been spent in fiction. But it is seriously not cool, y'know?

[boxofdelights]

Watched a usability test for a computer manual, in which the user held the mouse upside down for 20 minutes. (We rewrote the manual.)

Ball in the air, you mean? Hunh. Did zie move the cursor at all? Did zie eventually flip it over?

At the age of 40, went to England to meet my teenage rock star crush and got a hug and smooch from him.

Awww!

I've had to quit contra dancing because I got such a huge obsessive crush on the designated teacher-to-newbies that I couldn't bear for him to touch me. Seven years later, he still makes my heart beat alarmingly fast whenever I run into him.

[firecat]

No, upside down so that when zie moved the mouse down toward zir, the pointer on the screen moved up. Zie even noted this and said "I wonder why they designed it that way." I think we eventually couldn't stand it any more and told zir to turn the mouse around so that the cable pointed away from zir.

[boxofdelights]

That makes much more sense.