Modern Vespa

In Hawaii a man should offer a roast pig and his penis in that situation. Poi afterwards...........

I took jewelry class during my senior year of high school.

Yes, back then, public schools allowed teenagers to work with molten metal and cyanide (in plating solution).

I designed and cast a ring that won best original design ring in regional competition. I was invited to compete in the statewide competition in Texas, but didn't.

I never did jewelry design again. I still regret it.

You can start again, you know? A friend went to a continuous learning course on jewelry making and has been making her own ever since.

Oh, and if you start plating again, wear a mask!

Just one word...

Nerds.

You? Or us?

No surprises there.

Well, possibly all of us in a broader sense, but the comment was about myself.

And my past, and my day job.

And there's a reason I put it down in the plural form, with an 's' at the end - Nerds - and not the singular nerd.

Don't mean to be one-upping you, Trotter, but you reminded me of a story.

I went to high school with Richard Dreyfuss (he is one year older than me). The surprising part is how I gave him his first break in show business.

I was 11 and had the leading role in the Hanukah play at our synagogue. Rick was my understudy. I goofed off and wasn't learning my lines, so I was demoted to a supporting role and Rick got the lead.

The rest is history.

He later passed this forward, kinda.

Our high school drama teacher was John Ingle. He taught for many years at Hollywood High School, then at Beverly Hills HS. When he retired, Dreyfuss challenged him to put up or shut up - that is, try to be a working actor himself. So he did.

I saw him in commercials and heard him in voice-overs until he took over the role of Edward Quartermaine on the soap opera, General Hospital. One day I was in an ER waiting room looking at the television, and General Hospital was on. They were having a memorial service for the character. Turns out Ingle had died the week before and they were retiring the role.

I had the feeling that all the loving things they were saying about the character were really about the actor.

I am relating to a lot on this thread.

I also have a mild form of prosopagnosia which can be very embarrassing at times and has resulted in my having some social anxiety. I never recognize celebrities and often can't connect names with faces, even with people I know fairly well.

I qualify for Mensa based on test scores (three deviations above the norm) but never felt motivated to join. In high school I scored in the 99th percentile in all eight subject areas on the Iowa Test of Educational Development. I got mixed grades, however, and ended up being an elementary school music teacher until I went back to school in my thirties and became a psychotherapist.

I am a sesquipedalian.

I am an American and my high school senior prom was held on the 2nd stage of the Eiffel Tower, Paris. Dinner and dancing up there in the Jules Verne restaurant. Even as teenagers - we all knew that this was pretty cool - and that few would believe us in years to come.
Afterwards, we split up and went to the Lido, or the Moulin Rouge.
O.S.

Martha Wainwright?

Yeah, my mom is pretty much Japanese all the way back. My dad was more mixed - 21% Native American, which suggests that they came over with the conquistadores, and quickly mixed with the native North/South American tribes... The rest are Iberian peninsula (Spain/Portugal), and lots of other odd bits mixed in. Part of me is wholly Asian, the rest is mostly Native American after the 1600s, with remnants of a lot of European ethnicities thrown in there. And even some African (Mali?!?).

Hybrid vigor!

At least by modern understanding. I went to the Museum of Tolerance in Mexico City a few years ago, and they had an exhibit on the history of anti-Japanese racism there. It's bad enough that we had a strong eugenics movement here in the 1920s (poped open a National Geographic from that era and they were all over it. ).

Anyway, they showed a poster contrasting Mexican vs. Japanese-Mexican mixture. There was a robust 14-y.o. Mexican "mestizo" vs. a 15 y.o. Japanese-Mexican who looked anemic and thin. Somebody clearly missed the glaring irony there.

I would have thought that Asians would have had a better time of things there, but apparently not. Chinese were apparently just good for building North American railroads....

Sarah Mclachlan???

Here in California, at least my part of California both the city I live in and in my hometown Many Barbers do use straight razors.

You're not alone but still it's impressive that you kept the tradition!

Well, my kids are even more mixed. My wife is of Finnish & Norwegian descent, so our two kids are ScandinAsianExican!

very cool at that age I am sure! did you live in Paris and were your parents in the diplomatic service?

B my summary includes that i have 75% more neanderthal genes than most. Gotta go and find out where i hid my club.

My memory needs de-fragmenting...

Anyone know a really reliable medium to back up my operating system and data storage before I do so?

That makes filling out those racial categories on forms a real treat.

I'm beginning to doubt those DNA sites. I know for a fact that both sets of my grandparents came to the U.S. after they were married, around 1900- 1905.
One set came from Italy and the other from Armenia. Most of my DNA report makes sense, but how did I get 1% Native American?

Personally, I don't backup the OS. I do backup my files and my profile on a network connected disk (WD MyCloud) using Acronis. I use mostly portable apps, so reinstalling an OS and getting back to work* wouldn't be too hard.


*I'm retired, so back to work means reading MV!

I worked in corrections for 13 years and because of that I have the perfect answer to the job interview question "Tell us about a time you were in a high pressure situation and how you handled it"

Last time I was asked, I answered " Well there was this time when I was in the middle of this riot.."

They stopped me there and said I got full points on that question.

In my mind every number, letter and color has a gender. Either male or female.

I set up the first Burn Center in Saudi Arabia back in 1982 and i was only 28, 8)

I used to speak to Jim Jones in Guyana via Amateur Radio when I was in High School. He invited me numerous times to visit him.
Ah... Good thing my Parents didn't' let me go.

Information if your saying... Who is Jim Jones?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones

Keith (DE K4KAL)
Marietta, Georgia

Never did like Kool-Aid.

K when i went to Guyana i actually went to the place where his compound was. Barren wasteland with a memorial marker for all the people who lost their lives that day. Very sobering. I stayed on a "ranch" down in the southern part of the country. A woman still ran it and she was in her 80's. Her parents immigrated there years before. Very remote and i can't remember how i found it. She gave me some money to put in the bank for her and had me do a few errands for her. I love being places where people rely on one another rather than steal from each other.

On first reading this I thought you set up the first "Bum" centre! Thinking, do they really have that many bums over there?

May I say, well done on that one. Much needed I'm sure. My own family doctor in the 80's also went to Saudi Arabia to help set up a new hospital. He spent some years out there and enjoyed every minute.

Everyone's got one...do the math!

bum doctor = proctologist

Joined 10years ago...
78 posts total...
And that was 1 of them!
What others are out there?

1.
Took "clothing & textiles in 7th Form (year 12)...
school tried to "recommend I took another subject", as I'd never done it before.
Mum taught me to; sew, tailor, pattern make etc...
I aced the class! Not too bad for a non-gay guy!
Side NOTE; went to public school in 5th form (year 10), after being at Boarding School ... played cards in Maths for entire year.. Aced it!
Screw you public school system!

2.
My memory is CRAP... I can't remember much at all & almost in my mid 40's!
I worked pumping LEADED petrol/gas for 4 years when I was about (I guess) 16-20yo... when they changed to UNLEADED I found I had terrible headaches EVERY DAY... About 15yr later I "clicked" that if unleaded gave me a headache I must have passively sniffed a LOT of leaded petrol! I was recently given a script/referral to get an urgent extensive (4-5hrs) memory test ... lost the referral & completely forgot about it till doctor asked for results!

it's VERY tricky (& kinda scary to know it... like knowing you have alzhiemers, but not being able to do anything about it, besides waiting) at times, but I (am bright enough to) use logic to pretend I know the past & remember stuff (like what I had for dinner 3 days ago) & I hardly ever use names when greeting people.

3.
Brought Speedy (bog standard, out of a barn, non-running '69 VBC 150 Super 2-port) 25yr+ ago ... my 2nd scoot... now I've owned about 40 scoots (& 30 cars, incl 18 Minis)... paid: 2 bottles of Scotch... now: EVERY part in motor (except CASES) has been "upgraded" & generally full race, with extra customisation... motor is 3-port & with TWICE the original HP... TWICE the TOP SPEED... & no one else will ride it!

Also; it's in a different country, been written-off once, painted 4 times, most other bits have been modified / upgraded/ customised or generally screwed with, (still with original frame)... and (I guess, but don't keep count) broken down at "well over" 300 times ( more likely the 500 mark!)... & I STILL love it & "treat it like I stole it" every time I ride - Fuk Yea!

Ohh, & it's NEVER had a key. After I stripped Speedy I put as much as possible on the "new scoot", hence why the scoot I used for the 3(or so) years it was off the road after accident & on the same license plate was called AN-A-KEY!

That's enough from me for now.

My mother and sister both knit, so learned from them. Got serious when I wanted knicker sox for cross-country skiing and being freakishly tall (at least for clothing suppliers), couldn't find any, so knit my own....purple for some stupid reason. Still have them!

Pictures or it never happened!

When I was a Jr. in high school my dad arranged for myself and a pal to play hooky and hang for a day on the set of Knight Rider. We were allowed full access to all 17 versions of KIT, and spent most of the day with David H.. He was very down to earth, gracious and blond. They tinted his hair each day before filming.

I have a 4 years old autistic son. We don't know yet where is he on the spectrum. Not too low (communicate, speak - not like children in his age -, friendly with adults - doesn't care about children, etc.), but he is too young to see, what will he able to. Now he is very calm and - as far as we can see - happy boy.

What topics do you have talents?

Be careful what you wish for!

Bring it!!

(Or them as the case may be).

Three Things:

1. 1960, As a six year old I was peeing in the toilet, when our house was hit by lightening. Well, specifically the water faucet which was on the outside wall of our house. It was so traumatic (shocking, really.....really!) that I blocked it out of my mind and never remembered it till my family brought it up to my wife after we were married.

2. 1983. My wife and I were stranded for 14 hours in my 17 foot Boston Whaler, 20 miles from shore, in the Gulf of Mexico.

3. 2012. I crashed sky diving. My instructor brought us straight down, with no effort to flair out. Meaning, he never pulled the strings to have any horizontal movement toward landing. 100 yards of manicured landing area, and we landed back in the weeds. I "only" broke my leg, but it could have been my back, or neck.

2015. So against all previous inclinations, I bought a Vespa. Figured I'm a pretty lucky guy. I might as well enjoy life.