Ten Things Meme

[erikred]

I'll credit this one to narwhale, because even though she wasn't the first, she was the one who tipped the scales.

Ten things that I have done that people on my friends list probably have not.

1. Bungie-jumped in Thailand.
2. Canoed down the Shimanto River.
3. Climbed Mt. Fuji.
4. Chased away gypsies in Florence.
5. Hiked fifty miles, half of them with coral poisoning.
6. Mock-fought the entire student body of Xiamen University at midnight on New Year's Eve.
7. Rescued a man from an overturned truck that had kerosene tanks in the back.
8. Led sixty people in the Hokey Pokey.
9. Built eleven fully operational and online computer labs at eleven Recreation Centers throughout Oakland.
10. Entered a holy mountain shrine through the Torii gateway and neglected to exit the same way.

Comments

[erikred.livejournal.com]

Hehe, now that sounds like a positive experience. In our case, we were rushing to the train station to catch our overnight to Paris. I looked back to see two gypsies doubling up on Yoko; the lead had her attention, while the other one was actually beginning to untie her backpack. I ran back, roaring at the top of my lungs and they both looked startled, then pissed, then just turned and left empty-handed. Pretty good composure for two 4'10" women being shouted at by a 7' bearded maniac.

[narwhale.livejournal.com]

How'd you manage to get coral poisoning?

[erikred.livejournal.com]

It was when I was around 14. We were hiking around the northern tip of Okinawa, and we took a detour to check out the reef. I was running to catch up with the other folks, and I tripped and skinned both of my knees on a large outcropping of coral. The scoutmaster, well-meaning soul, poured iodine on the wounds to clean them out; turns out coral thrives on iodine. By the time we reached the extraction point, I was somewhat feverish and out of it.

The irony was that my parents headed out to Korea the next day, leaving me with the scoutmaster and his family. The coral poisoning went into overdrive immediately after they left, leaving the poor scoutmaster and his wife to take care of me as I ran a huge fever, got huge red streaks down the insides of my arms, became somewhat delusional, and couldn't eat anything but liquids for the better part of a week.

The lesson here, kids? No iodine on coral wounds!

Coral

[0rion.livejournal.com]

You use vinegar to kill the coral. I used to have to do this quite a bit in Guam while either swimming or snorkeling or diving. It HURTS when you pour it on because it's the coral in its death throes, but it's FAR better than the coral continuing to live and grow inside your body....

[0rion.livejournal.com]

1. Never went bungie jumping, but I DID go para-sailing while in Thailand....
2. The only place I've been in a CANOE has been at Disneyland....
3. Nope, but I saw it from a distance a bunch of times. Actually, we were going to go when I was deployed to Japan, but they told us we could only go halfway up due to the weather and that sort of killed it for me wanting to go and not being able to do the whole thing.
4. Never been to Florence but I DID chase away flocks of little kids in the Phillippines (sp?).
5. I've hiked (well I guess you could call it that) that far before, but no not with coral poisoning.
6. I don't have anything that competes with that. I wonder at your intoxication level on that night.
7. No, but I did help fish this Japanese guy who had apparently drowned in the ocean while fishing in Guam and gave him CPR until the paramedics arrived.
8. I was in a leadership position during that nasty fire we had on the Gompers. I don't think it was quite 60, but it sort of FELT like the hokey pokey at times.... Actually, a better example is during the final part of Wog Day my friend and I lead about 30 people in a round of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" since we had to sing a song for King Neptune.
9. So is that 121 labs you did or 11? /snicker. Nope, can't really compete with that one.
10. Not sure what a Torii gateway is, but I've been to quite a number of holy shrines across Asia. I think at least one of them we left a different way than we came in.

[erikred.livejournal.com]

See, we're living parallel lives.

Re: 6.: This goes without saying. I was plastered in a very good, Imperialist Western Capitalist sort of way, and I was just wandering through this crowd of students gathered at the University sports arena, when suddenly guys started whacking me on the head with rolled-up newspapers and magazines (again, in a good-natured sort of way, not violently). I grabbed one of the weapons and started giving back. I'd rush this way at the crowd, and they'd fall back a little and then regroup and try to hit me, at which point I'd run the other way toward the other half of the crowd, swinging, and, well, you get the picture. At one point I leapt into the stands and then rushed back; at another point I was doing aikido shoulder rolls (on concrete!) as I rushed the crowd. By the end, we were all roaring with laughter... and my shoulder was sore for some reason. Heh, and that was just midnight.

Re: 9.: You're a baaad man.

Re: 10.: Torii gate looks like this:



entering through one is considered like entering into the spirit world; as long as you exit through another one, you're supposed to have returned to the real world. I was drunk (again! Notice a theme?) and purposely left the shrine through some woods on the side. So where am I now? Hm.