Sarah over @ All of the Book Blog Names Are Taken has nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award (Thanks!) and as part of that I’ve been tasked to say 7 things about myself so:
Seven Facts About Me
1 I don’t own a car. I have never owned a car. I have never driven a car (on a public road) and do not have a diving licence. I have never had a driving lesson and have never taken a driving test.
2 Three things happened around the age of 14. My brain ‘woke up’ and I noticed the world around me in super HD vision. I began reading voraciously (having hardly read a thing before that) and became a lifelong gamer. I suspect that all three things are related.
3 When I say to people that I have been a lifelong Atheist I am not exaggerating. I have never had any faith in any Gods or the supernatural. This is not something I decided later in life. It is something as fundamental in my make-up as my gender or my sexuality. It is not something I have acquired. It is something that I simply am.
4 I love debating things. My perfect talking mate would be someone open to new ideas, flexible in their approach and willing to ‘entertain’ ideas without necessarily holding them to be true. Above all else they would need to be able to argue a point without having emotion or personal identity issues associated with the subject at hand. My biggest bugbear is when someone says that they are up for a debate and who very quickly realises that their ideas are most definitely not open to question. It’s probably why one of my heroes is Socrates and why I completely understand why the authorities had him commit suicide to shut him up.
5 I have a reputation for being a rebel as well as for being difficult. Both viewpoints are only partially right. What some view as rebellion is actually only their surface contacts with my natural resistance to social convention. Most conventions I view as essentially harmless or meaningless. I understand why they are there and, generally, simply ignore them. A silly example is that I purposefully wear odd socks. Partially this is for practical reasons – sometimes one sock of a pair wears out first and I see no reason to then throw both of them away. But it’s also my way of saying that I’m not simply going to follow a ‘rule’ just because not doing so makes you look odd. My ‘strangeness’ which, I freely admit, has probably done me some social relationship ‘damage’ is because I refuse to conform to what other people expect of me pretty much no matter the cost. The more I’m pushed the more I resist and, so far, I have yet to reach the end of my resistant nature.
6 I’ve spent most of my adult life alone. This to an extent explains, at least partially, some of the other points listed here. It’s not that I don’t have friends – I do – just not that many. It’s not that people don’t like me – they do – but that I don’t need them as much as most people seem to. It’s strange. I actually don’t understand relationships and people very much probably because I don’t have a great deal of experience to go on. I’m probably on a spectrum of something with an exotic sounding name but I have no idea what that is. I do know that I don’t like being touched without my tacit agreement and people around me seem to have picked up on that. But it does annoy me when someone hugs other people and then just nods in my direction. Hey, I didn’t say that I’m not complicated…..
7 I’m not bothered by spiders, snakes, heights or most of the other standard phobias. I have no problem with clowns, birds, the number 13 or a whole host of the more exotic ones. I do have a healthy respect for water though. Being in a big ship doesn’t bother me in the least but I’m less than happy in water more than waist deep. So you can imagine how I was on a reasonably large boat on the Great Barrier Reef when I was asked to get off my ass and into the water. She was very cute so I said yes. After much cajoling I donned a wetsuit and went snorkelling – never having learnt to swim. After about 10 minutes I started getting used to the idea. After about 30 minutes I started enjoying myself. Then my friend convinced me to join him scuba-diving. I have to say that jumping off that boat in scuba gear was the bravest thing I have EVER done. Unfortunately I was so freaked out after gulping in water shortly afterwards I had to get out of the water and never went back. If I’d gone snorkelling on my own I might just have gotten over my fear of water….
5 comments:
Fascinating list. While we each are very different I can identify with two of your points. 1) I do not own a car and have not for all but nine years of my life; I do however have a driver's license. 2) I have lived alone my entire adult life (since graduating from university).
What impressed about your list was the positive attitude that seemed to surround your interesting commentary. As a fellow reader I appreciate you sharing thoughts about your reading life.
my kind of guy... except for the driving and the water, this could describe me pretty well... hope you win the (competition?, popularity thingie?, whatever it may be...) oh, and except Mrs. M helps me cope with reality and has done so for 35 years or so...
Yay, thanks for posting! I learned quite a few new things about you. The car thing is the one I am "OMG?!" about...But I love road trips so that's probably why I can not imagine life without a car. I'd love life without the car PAYMENT, or car INSURANCE, but not without the car :)
We're alike in a number of ways. In particular, I don't need people as much as they seem to need me. I have a detachment issue. I blame my abusive childhood for that. I get really pissed when people try too hard to get to know me. It reminds me too much of stalkers I've had in the past. I don't like being in water above my waist either, even though I learned to swim as a small child and am a strong swimmer. I've nearly drowned twice in my life, once pinned under a boulder in a lake and once caught in a riptide in the ocean. I also hate to snorkle. I don't panic, but I don't like my face in water. I think it might be PTSD. I'm not bothered by spiders, snakes, 13, etc., but I am bothered by heights, but only on man made objects. This means I have no problem climbing high mountains and hanging off cliffs, just don't get me on a glass elevator or high bridge, I'll start hyperventilating. I believe I must have fallen to my death in a previous life by some poorly constructed man made object. ;-)
@ James: Thanks. I do *try* to be positive as much as possible. I'll post more about my reading experiences in future.
@ Mudpuddle: I've had to deal with what passes for 'reality' on my own (mostly) so I'm pretty tough in some ways. I certainly don't expect someone to magically appear and fix things for me. If I don't fix 'em things stay broken.
@ Sarah: Oh, I manage to get around. I live almost on top of a bus route (into work and town) and 15 minutes away from a mainline rail station to go further. I've never really felt not having a car deprived me of very much in life.
@ V V: I've had a near drowning experience too when I was 8-9. I was pushed into the deep end of a swimming pool and people thought I was messing around when I was actually drowning. The teacher dived in and pulled me out.
I've had LOADS of falling dreams and have 'hit bottom' multiple times. Such things date back to our time up in the trees and it a healthy fear to have if you don't want to end up as passing hyena chow. I certainly have a healthy respect for sudden drops but I'm not paralysed with fear or anything. In fact I've freaked people out by looking over sheer drops that would definitely have killed me if I'd gone over.
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