RULES:
Each tagged person must post 8 random facts or habits about themselves on their blog. At the end of the post, choose 8 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment telling them that they are tagged and to read your blog. Have fun!
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1. I *used to be able to* take shorthand at 120 wpm. Still use it some in note-taking and for making Christmas lists my husband can't understand.
2. I can and have trouble-shot just about anything...a scanning electron microscope (SEM), titrators, various lab equipment, arc-spark emission spectrometers, toasters, vacuums, etc. I would've made a great field service technician.
3. I coulda been a contender...in an orchestra as a flutist/flautist.
4. I drive a stick-shift by choice.
5. 160 years after my Irish ancestors left Newport, County Mayo, Ireland, my son was conceived there (actually, in Westport, the next town over). Luck o' the Irish.
6. I was a Larkin dancer...waaaayyyyyy back when their studio was still in their home.
7. I mentioned in the first Meme that I did that I have been in one of the pyramids, but the building I have been in that is my favorite is the Hagia Sofia. Way cool.
8. I have looked down the business end of a few dozen automatic weapons of our friendly US Coast Guard while I was in San Diego. Long story, but I've never been arrested :)
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I tag those people who went to a state or county fair this year. If you don't have a blog, you're welcome to do the meme and put your answers in the combox.
11 comments:
My mother took the most awesomely beautiful shorthand. I learned a bit on my own.
Flute is one of my favorites.
A Larkin Dancer - hmmmm!
My aunt used shorthand for a time when she was working. Supposedly we both learned the Gregg style, but we can't really read each others. Just not the same.
My dad's dad, who died before I was born, used to play an old wooden flute. My father remembers him playing lullabyes to get my dad to go to sleep in his crib. I played flute, in part, because of this. I really wanted to play the sax, but it was quite a bit more expensive and had reeds...ick. I think I would've made a mean sax player! I did teach myself how to play but never owned the instrument myself. I can, or could!, play many instruments except trumpet. Too hard to get enough umph to make any notes!
I was a Larkin dancer for all of two or three years when I was about 5. My husband keeps talking about having my daughter take dance since she's always dancing around. We'll see.
Actually it takes less "Umph" to play trumpet than it does to play tuba (especially the susaphone) or the french horn (I used to play trumpet & french horn back in the "Dark Ages" of high school).
Ha-ha- Adrienne tagged me already - CUTE picture. What the heck is a "Larkin Dancer?"
Re: #8 -- what in the hell did you do? Refuse to give the Coasties part of your keg? Inquiring Minds HAVE to know. If it's too embarrassing to tell in public, email me in private!
AA;
I had a friend who played the tuba...boring parts in most bands. Trumpets always had the good parts :)
Karen:
A Larkin dancer is just someone who took dance lessons with the Larkins. It's a local thing.
And, the Coast Guard story isn't so bad. Pretty tame. I've commented about it on Ma Beck's in the past since she's a coastie. I was 16 and in San Diego with my cousins (and aunt and uncle). They had rented a condo on the beach for two weeks or something. The cousins took my brother and me out in the bay in their boat. We were horsing around having a grand ol' time until the motor went out (we were jumping waves from big ships and slammed down too hard and knocked something loose.) Managed to let another boat know we were in trouble, but they had no way of towing us in (and neither did we!). Big, HUGE CG cutter was out checking ships for drugs and whatever the CG typically does down there. This boat offered to go notify the CG that we were in need of assistance. Great! Our heros! Eventually, the HUGE cutter heads our way. As it pulls up along side us, it nearly swamped us! Envision a gnat and an elephant for a size comparison. We were just in a little power boat, hanging on for dear life! Once we righted ourselves, we realized that standing on the cutter deck from stem to stern are a bunch of coasties with machine guns pointed at us. Hmmmm. Strange way to undertake a rescue mission me thinks to meself! With our hands in the air, they send out a smaller frog boat. These guys board us and frisk us and proceed to search our boat for about, well, an HOUR. Seems they got the idea we were drug dealers or something. Why? I have NO idea. We were just a bunch of goof balls who didn't have an oar or a solitary life jacket between us (way to go, cousins!). Eventually, the dozens of guns were reduced to two or so and we could move about our boat freely. CG then tried to tow us to shore with their frog man boat, but it couldn't do it, so we had to have the big cutter use about every line it had tied end-to-end so we were back far enough to not be completely swamped when they headed into shore. By this time, a bunch of people are standing on the shore watching this, including my aunt and uncle. They had eight kids that they raised during the 60s and 70s, so this really didn't faze them too much. I think my cousin was cited for not having oars and life jackets, but it all ended without anyone landing in the clink or being shot.
What a cute picture! And, you are a gal of many talents. :) My son and daughter play trumpet-my son also plays in his high school honors jazz band..very cool!
Lisa
Lisa:
I haven't played my flute in 25 years and have found I can hardly read music - hard for me to believe it could ever happen after I had been so immersed in music for so long!
Hope your kids stick with the music thing. I have a cousin who just retired from being a professor of music down in GA. She started up local music groups that play. Wish they had something like that around here, but I would have to really practive hard just to keep up!
Sadly, most of my talents are in the "used to" category :( Hopefully, as my kids get older I can pass on some things before I'm really put out to pasture ;}
Dang. That was some episode. I wonder if they had already caught a bunch of drug runners that day? [They do a lot of drug interdiction down here, as you can imagine.)
If your aunt and uncle hadn't been on shore I bet the conversation would have gone like this:
A&U== what did you kids do today?
Kids= "NOTHING MUCH (whispers, "we lost the boat" WE WENT TO THE BEACH
A*U== That's nice.
!!
I've just answered this meme on 'Thinking Love, No Twaddle'. I was going to tag you but I see you've done it (and Karen)
I love the coastguard story!
God bless
shell
mum6kids.wordpress.com
just testing to see if my comments are working.....
Another flautist! I played flute and it nearly got me into college on a scholarship. But then the brakes on the car failed. It seems unrelated, but there it is. God had other plans for me.
I did also play trumpet...it wasn't that hard, but it DID affect my abilities on the flute.
Great CG story. I used to want to be a Coastie. But what was I gonna do...paddle with my trumpet?
:-)
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