Interesting Facts About You That Few People Know About

[An Officer]

I once appeared on a show which aired in 86 countries... one of the funny things I remember is a colleague of mine who was working in Peru at the time, said she dropped her breakfast when she saw me playing in the background (I guess she didn't expect me to follow her to Peru).

I am unbeatable in Test Drive Unlimited but can't drive an actual car.

 

[JustKate]

JustKate: Nice to see a fellow Red Green fan! Dare I ask what *your* favorite baseball team is though?

Sure - but you won't l-i-i-i-i-i-k-e it. The Angels (personally I still think of them as the "California Angels," though I realize that's two names out of date). I grew up in Southern California, and my dad and big brother were always Dodger fans, but I'm a baseball apostate.

Now that I think about it, a few years back I guess being an Angel fan might have been something to confess in this thread - there weren't that many of us in those days.

But if I can forgive your Yankeeness (which I pretty much can), I hope you can forgive my Angelicness. In any case, keep your stick on the ice...

Who said you're not supposed to play with your food?

People who say that live boring lives. I assure you.

Too true, I'm afraid.

I also like to dig tunnels in my watermelon with a spoon. Why? Well, because, that's why.

We have been getting the biggest moths recently. On these balmy summer evenings () I like having the big windows open and candles lit, obviously turning my place into a moth magnet. These things have been huge ~ 3-4 inches wide with plump, thick bodies. Now I have convinced myself that they are just night butterflies I find them beautiful.

My son's friend, the ultimate teenager Keifer, totally freaked out though ~ never seen a kid climb over the back of an armchair so fast

First of all, moths are totally harmless. They can't bite or sting. In fact most don't eat at all, having been "charged up" like a battery when in larva form.

Second, the description "night butterfly" is a good one, after all they are closely related critters.

Moths get confused by the light, they orient themselves by moon-glow and any really bright light confuses them and they fly twords it. If the moths are getting to be bothersome just dim your light or put a shade on the side facing the window.

I know they're harmless. You aren't under the mistaken impression that I believe this fear of mine is rational, are you? Because I know perfectly well it's not.

I grew up in the Mojave Desert. We've got scorpions and tarantulas (which aren't actually very poisonous, thought they look fearsome), we've got flying ants that are an inch long, we've got...let's see...I think it's three different kinds of rattlesnakes (which are most definitely quite poisonous), we've got tarantula hawks (an enormous wasp that preys on tarantulas), we've got black widow spiders...

And I'm afraid of moths. Yep. I am actually not crazy about scorpions, either (tarantulas and snakes don't bother me at all), because they look so horrible and because they can scuttle up walls as though gravity doesn't affect them, but I dislike moths far, far, far more.

 

[An Officer]

^

You've immigrated, I take it?

 

[JustKate]

Away from the Mojave Desert? Yeah - quite a few years ago now. (Not because of scorpions, though!) It was a cute boy who drew me here to the Midwest, and he's still pretty cute although he's no longer a boy.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I have never been to any part of America, and have never seen the Atlantic Ocean.

 

[trekkiebaggio]

I got a ladies confession published in Nuts

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

JustKate: Nice to see a fellow Red Green fan! Dare I ask what *your* favorite baseball team is though?

Sure - but you won't l-i-i-i-i-i-k-e it. The Angels (personally I still think of them as the "California Angels," though I realize that's two names out of date). I grew up in Southern California, and my dad and big brother were always Dodger fans, but I'm a baseball apostate.

Naw, I have no problem with the Angels, even though they stole Bobby Abreu away from the Yankees.

Except for that stupid name they have to use. 'The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim'? What the hell? Literally translated, that means "The The Angels Angels of Anaheim". Since they're not even IN LA, they should go back to being either the Anaheim Angels (which is the most accurate, since that's exactly where they are) or the California Angels (which is my favorite, it just sounds cool).

You remember what Angel Stadium looked like in the 80's? Pretty horrible, wasn't it? At least they "de-remodeled" it when the Rams moved out...

 

[JustKate]

^ It is a stupid, stupid name - a classic example of marketing trumping common sense. I keep hoping it'll go away, which is why I haven't even tried to internalize it. The only big problem with this approach is that it still makes me blink a little bit when I go to check the standings and have to remember that that "LA" team in the AL-West is the Angels.

I actually have only been to the old and horrible Big-A - I left SoCal before it was demodeled (I do admire your term) and just don't seem to make it to games when I go home for a visit. For one thing, I try really hard not to visit during the summer because my hometown is in the Mojave Desert, a.k.a., "Your Gateway to Death by Dehydration," so I very seldom visit during the season. But I will one of these days - I yearn to.

I also want to go to Yankee Stadium, of course. I've been to Fenway Park, though.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Ooh! I trip to Yankee Stadium sounds like fun! Let's go.

 

[Kestra]

And Kestra, I really like the person you are inside, the exterior isn't everything.

Thank you.

 

[Gryffindorian]

Posted by JustKate:

I know they're harmless. You aren't under the mistaken impression that I believe this fear of mine is rational, are you? Because I know perfectly well it's not.

I grew up in the Mojave Desert. We've got scorpions and tarantulas (which aren't actually very poisonous, thought they look fearsome), we've got flying ants that are an inch long, we've got...let's see...I think it's three different kinds of rattlesnakes (which are most definitely quite poisonous), we've got tarantula hawks (an enormous wasp that preys on tarantulas), we've got black widow spiders...

And I'm afraid of moths. Yep. I am actually not crazy about scorpions, either (tarantulas and snakes don't bother me at all), because they look so horrible and because they can scuttle up walls as though gravity doesn't affect them, but I dislike moths far, far, far more.

Flying ants? Tarantula hawks? Scorpions? Oh, my!

I've seen flying ants before (I didn't even know what they were called until you mentioned the name). They look harmless with their long and thin wings. As for tarantula hawks, I've never seen them (I googled the picture). Moths are more of an annoyance to me, and I quickly try to swat them when one tries gets in the house.

When I was living in a rural area in another country (I actually grew up there), I was afraid of all kinds of bugs, which there were an abundance of--moths, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, mantises. I could NEVER ever stand common house cockroaches, which were up to two inches long and came out mostly at night. From time to time, I would hear some rustling in my room at night only to find a cockroach crawling on the surface of a plastic bag. I'd grab this four-inch thick, ten-pound dictionary at my desk and haul it across the room, killing the roach instantly. Then I'd grab a can of RAID and spray it all over the place (though I had to leave my room for the night). The next morning, there'd be five dead cockroaches on the floor.

 

[AstroSmurf]

I have another one that people might be surprised with...

I don't like guns, never have. They scare me. But when I do have one in hand, I could part a sparrow's hair a half a mile away. My accuracy with a firearm is just plain scary. What is even scarier is the fact that I have never been taught how to shoot. I just instinctively know how.

(And just to marry this with my previous post, I shoot left handed. I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with the right.)

 

[Gryffindorian]

My dad has owned maybe two or three handguns in his lifetime (not counting the BB rifles he used for shooting birds). I remember holding a .38 caliber when I was a teen and being very scared of it (although it was unloaded). I have never gone to a shooting range and never fired a gun my whole life. I'm not opposed to other people having them; I just don't want one for myself.

I am, however, interested in getting a crossbow.

 

[Cakes488]

^ And why would he shoot birds? For what purpose...? Merely target practice? That's really fucked up and I don't like it! What birds was he killing.....which ones? I don't care if it was house sparrows...now you've gone and gotten me upset.

 

[Emher]

I have another one that people might be surprised with...

I don't like guns, never have. They scare me. But when I do have one in hand, I could part a sparrow's hair a half a mile away. My accuracy with a firearm is just plain scary. What is even scarier is the fact that I have never been taught how to shoot. I just instinctively know how.

(And just to marry this with my previous post, I shoot left handed. I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with the right.)

I can't hit very well if I'm trying to hard. At least not with a pistol.

A couple of my buddies thought I was bullshitting them so when I got my Airsoft gas-powered (as in gas, not gasoline) Beretta M5 we went out and we put out some cans and I tried real hard to hit them at a distance. That went okay, hit about half when just trying with one shot each. But then I told my buddies that I'd turn the other way and reload the gun while they reposition the cans. That done and them back in safe distance I spun around and quickly shot all of them. Not one miss. I have since repeated this same task.

Maybe all those years of FPS games are paying off, huh?

 

[JustKate]

^ And why would he shoot birds? For what purpose...? Merely target practice? That's really fucked up and I don't like it! What birds was he killing.....which ones? I don't care if it was house sparrows...now you've gone and gotten me upset.

To eat, maybe?

 

[trampledamage]

I have another one that people might be surprised with...

I don't like guns, never have. They scare me. But when I do have one in hand, I could part a sparrow's hair a half a mile away. My accuracy with a firearm is just plain scary. What is even scarier is the fact that I have never been taught how to shoot. I just instinctively know how.

(And just to marry this with my previous post, I shoot left handed. I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with the right.)

Your real name isn't River Tam, by any chance?

 

[Cakes488]

Dupe...

 

[Cakes488]

^ And why would he shoot birds? For what purpose...? Merely target practice? That's really fucked up and I don't like it! What birds was he killing.....which ones? I don't care if it was house sparrows...now you've gone and gotten me upset.

To eat, maybe?

But it's so unnecessary that I won't believe it's for food. A squirrel would yield more meat ( I dont' like squirrel killing either!) There are much more sensible game animals then birds. I'm telling you I bet you it was "for fun" and a lot of people do it. It really upsets me.

 

[JustKate]

I can understand that, and I know it happens. All I can say is that I've known people who ate birds - and squirrels - - and rabbits - not because they were bloodthirsty but because they wanted to have enough to eat. Deer season and wild turkey season only last so long.

Not that I'm speaking from personal experience - this isn't an "interesting fact about me." I don't actually care for the taste of wild game very much. I prefer my meat thoroughly domesticated.

Oh, I can also remember my husband telling me that they used to shoot starlings (I think it was starlings - something that likes to nest in barns, anyway) because there'd be so many that their droppings would ruin the hay, making it unfit to for livestock. Euw.