Cor, knowing you guys makes this one hard.

[camwyn]

Ten Things I've Done That You Probably Haven't:

1. Walked among the ashes of 9/11 while the fires were still burning. (I sincerely hope you haven't.)
2. LASIK. Without Valium or other sedatives.
3. Been one of 750,000 people at Garth Brooks' free concert in Central Park
4. Been one of a similarly enormous crowd when the Dalai Lama was the one in Central Park instead
5. Rollerbladed through the Holland Tunnel
6. Jumped up and down on a glass panel that was the only thing separating me from a 113-storey drop to the streets of TorontoTried to contact somebody whose graffiti in the CN tower was written entirely in Chinese, except for their ICQ user ID
7. Had something I'd written presented as the introduction to the Fellowship Festival 2005
8. Opened and operated a hurricane shelter for close to a hundred people as a Category 4 storm bore down on our location
9. Caused the Singaporean manager of a Chinese restaurant to stare at me and say "You ate that without knowing what it was?", although I share this distinction with mountainspeak as she was with me at the time
10. Put my hand in the waters of the Yukon RiverGone naked in Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, twice

ETA: Almost forgot. Accidentally removed a piece of meteorite from a major museum. In the words of Ross Geller: "Rachel, that's millions of years old. People are looking for that."

Comments

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

#6 I've done. More than once, in fact.

[camwyn]

Well, poop.

[sundre.livejournal.com]

#10 I've done. I've been swimming in it, actually, though I wouldn't recommend that.

Er. Sorry?

[camwyn]

swimming in it? Jesus... of course you probably did it at a sane time of year. I visited in September. It was so cold then that I didn't even feel pain, I just felt a sudden, horribly intense near-absence of finger.

Lemme think about this one.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Had I been at Torcon, I'd have taken people there to filk!

[sundre.livejournal.com]

VERY sorry. But it was within walking distance from my home and school. I took a few ill-advised dips in Schwatka Lake (the resevoir bit above the hydro dam in Whitehorse), and below the dam there were a couple sheltered/slow places where one could immerse in frigid water. Really not recommended, and not something I plan to repeat.

I've seen idiots jump off the bridge into the river, which isn't that deep in that area. Not legal, very stupid, but true.

I'm working on my own ten things list. Between you and the guy I went to school with who reads my LJ, I can knock off most of my northern stuff. So it's taking a while.

[skalja.livejournal.com]

As did I, wheeee.

[camwyn]

No, it's okay. It's just that at this rate I'm going to have to join the Polar Bears or something to keep ahead of the curve.

[pelogrande.livejournal.com]

I've been part of a biggish crowd (filled our college's basketball arena, but probably nowhere near 750,000) for the Dalai Lama. Neat guy. Not in Central Park, though.

And I've huddled in a family home as a Category 5 hurricane beat the living shit out of us. I had a hamster at the time and she (Josie, as in Josie and the Pussycats) ran in her wheel for the majority of it. Although I'm not really sure if it was a he or she.

That's as close as I come, though.

[silly-dan.livejournal.com]

Couldn't jump, as there were little kids crawling all over it, but I have a cool picture of my foot suspended over nothingness.

[little-birdy.livejournal.com]

You are so much cooler than me.
That is all.

[midnightlurker.livejournal.com]

Here's another #6 on the fire. (Born in Toronto, left at 7 yrs., been back occasionally.)

[almeda.livejournal.com]

I sat in my mother's best-childhood-friend's apartment a block from the park, while the Simon and Garfunkel Reunion Concert thing was going on, reading Robert Asprin novels from his bookshelves, and listening to the amplified music drift in the windows ...

[lasa.livejournal.com]

I've done #2.

I've also heard the Dali Lama, but not in Central Park and not with that many people, too.

But there's some other pretty amazing experiences there. I'm now imspired to write my own list.

[maps-or-guitars.livejournal.com]

1. literal ashes, no. My wife did, being 3 blocks from the towers when they went down (she works at 40 Rector and there was landing gear on her corner) But I breathed that junk for months, and got married that October in a space in the West Village. We could still smell it when we went outside.

Please tell us the story of #5. I blade 3rd avenue regularly in the warm months, but I have yet to brave a tunnel. I didn't know you even *could.*

[camwyn]

Well, at least I've got the bit of meteorite iron to make up for losing the LASIK uniqueness... I swear, I didn't mean to get it, it just came off in my hand!

[camwyn]

For #1, I was working for the Red Cross as a sysadmin at the time. I was installing a patch to our antivirus software when the planes hit the towers. One of the volunteers and I were in the ERV and on our way within an hour; we were at the Greater NY Chapter on Amsterdam Avenue by noon. I believe we were the first Red Cross vehicle through the tunnel that day. I spent most of the day by the ERV on West Broadway and Duane Street, feeding cops, firefighters, and the occasional soldier or reporter- this is where my innate inability to take the tv show 24 seriously comes from. See, there was this huge billboard directly over the building across the street from our truck, with Kiefer's face on it and the slogan 'get ready for a day you'll never forget'… Anyway. I didn't actually go down to the site until, oh, around 10 or 11 PM. I didn't want to be accused of being a ghoul. The volunteer was down there, though, and when he came back he said I had to see and basically marched me down there. I'd left the office so fast that morning that, while I had my Disaster Services shirt, I was still in my office pants and shoes. Which meant that when I got down to the site- and I mean the site itself, the actual block where the gutted, burnt-out remains of ambulances still had lights flashing and stuff- I got asbestos/concrete yuk all over my actual feet as well as in my lungs. I didn't actually get a mask that day until someone in a white lab coat and scrubs handed me one at the site while I watched the firefighters…

As for #5, some years ago the MS Society had an in-line skating based fundraiser event. Two, five, ten, or twenty five miles of skating, I think it was. If you signed up for five or more miles and got pledges for at least $100, your route included a trip through the… soryr, the Lincoln tunnel. One of the tubes was closed off specially for us that day. It's a damned surreal experience, as the first third or so of the tunnel slopes down, so you've got several hundred people all rolling at the same speed and nobody so much as moving a foot as you whiz through the place you've only ever seen from the car.

[maps-or-guitars.livejournal.com]

Ai.

You've got me beat as far as 9/11 cred is concerned, though I think my wife's seen more. No, I know she has, but it's not something she talks about. There was a lot from the planes scattered on west street and she'd have seen most of it.

Skating down the tunnel sounds so, so cool. It's making me miss my "3rd Avenue Aggression therapy" a lot right now.

[lasa.livejournal.com]

The meteorite more than makes up for it, yes!

[lasa.livejournal.com]

I did hear the explosion when the plane hit the Pentagon, and went down there within the first 24 hours to bring food, etc, to the workers, so I saw it up close and personal pretty quickly, but didn't get nearly as close as you.

When we lived in California, about 15 years ago now, there was a major highway that opened (I forget which one) and the day before it opened, they opened it for bicycles only. It was incredible. Every exit, the towns had booths set up selling food and crafts (and portapotties). It was a great party - families with kids, serious bikers... It's something they should have continued every year. It was really great. But it was totally surreal riding a bike down the center of a 6 lane divided highway.

[camwyn]

I saw part of one of the engines of one of the planes. Beyond that all I saw was building remains, blasted bits of rescue vehicles, and about a hundred years' worth of archaeology laid down on the street in a single instant.

I was back on the second day. I didn't see anything new, thank God. But the smell... the first day it just smelled like airbag. On the twelfth there was another smell, like BO and horribly ineffective deodorant, that was nearly as strong as the airbag smell. I'm pretty sure that was the morgue.

Anyway.

The tunnel was fantastic. It's been years since then, alas. I should see when Empire Skate Club starts their weekly Central Park skates next, now that I work in the city.

[maps-or-guitars.livejournal.com]

Those were bad days.

On the other hand, I just saw the pictures of the Somerville Gates, and had a nice chuckle.

not-rocket-science.com/gates.htm

[maps-or-guitars.livejournal.com]

Though it would probably help my vision a lot, I just can't get behind me doing LASIK. For one thing, as I understand it, I'd still need specs for reading (lots of astigmatism.) But mainly, it's just that the procedure hasn't been around for long enough by my lights. I don't want to be seventy and read a news article about how people who had lasik done back in the nineties are having their eyes spring leaks, or something. Maybe I'm just a wuss.

[camwyn]

My parents were convinced to give me $3000 in savings bonds to get it done after a friend's daughter had the surgery done- a daughter with a reputation for paranoia and research. Me, I was happy with the Department of Defense long-term study results on LASIK'ed Navy personnel. When you're 20/400, you're willing to accept a good deal if need be.

[lasa.livejournal.com]

I had astigmatism and it fixed it. they can do that now.

Gotta say, after having glasses or contacts my entire life, it's wonderful not having to worry about it anymore. And it honestly doesn't hurt a bit. It's a little freaky when you think about your eye being cut, but I just went off to my 'happy place' in my brain and it was over before I knew it, and then I was actually /seeing/ the holes in the acoustic tile above me.

[maps-or-guitars.livejournal.com]

"Department of Defense long-term study results on LASIK'ed Navy personnel"

Do you by any chance have a link to this?

[maps-or-guitars.livejournal.com]

ooo. Acoustic Tile.

Well, that's all good argument afaict.

Now I just need to sell more maps.

[camwyn]

Alas, no. It was described in a book I got from the library on laser vision correction surgery, and I can't even remember the title of that book. *scowl* I do know that the study was enough to convince the DoD that they no longer had to bar laser vision patients from the majority of military jobs, just deep-sea diving and high-gee Air Force ones. (RK patients, however, are still Off the List.)

[lasa.livejournal.com]

Here's a link to the Air Force policies on it.

http://www.aviationmedicine.com/lasik.htm

Back when my husband was active duty, I know that they were conducting a 'pilot' program for (ahem) pilots to study the effects and that they were considering allowing it for anyone active duty. The army now offers it as part of their health care program for qualified active duty personnel.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

Heh. When I went all OMG WE'RE DOOMED during 2004's first hurricane, I appointed myself Unofficial Helper-Outer of the hurricane shelter. Because they needed it

[camwyn]

Bet they appreciated it, too. 2004 was one ugly hurricane season in the Atlantic. I just got my service pin from the Red Cross for the truck-driving that I did for them during Hurricanes Frances, Gaston, Ivan, um, I think I forgot one... Jeanne! That's it.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

Except for the part where I thought the house was going to be washed away (I don't know what kind of drugs the local news people take) the shelter thing had lots of fun aspects.

[lwood.livejournal.com]

You're thinking about the last stretch of CA 85 to open over in Mountain View. 8-)

-- Lorrie

[lasa.livejournal.com]

Yes I am! That was great, great fun.

[innerbrat]

*waves*
Esk-mun here.
I just wanted to point you towards this icon, and as someone who identifies far too much with Ross, waggle a finger at you sternly.

[camwyn]

Heh. It's a piece of the Ahnigito Meteorite at the Museum of Natural History, and it's slightly smaller than the pinky-nail on my right hand. There's an informal custom among many museum-goers of placing coins on top of the thing- there's a mirror over the meteorite, so people can see the upper surface, and I think that encourages people to leave coins up there. Some years ago I placed a quarter on one of the upper surfaces. As I took my hand away I felt something move under my fingertips, and grabbed it before it fell. It turned out to be a piece of the meteorite. I was too shocked to do anything, really- I mean, I couldn't bring myself to go up to a guard and say 'excuse me, this pebble came loose from the giant space rock, could someone glue it back on?'.

[innerbrat]

*lol*

I should probably let it go. After all, I've completely mangled type specimens, so I'm hardly one to start waggling fingers about museum etiquette.

BTW, you're the first person I've found, other than the person who introduced me to them, to know and like the Arrogant Worms.

[camwyn]

Nothing gets New Yorkers to giggle like hearing someone walking down Fifth Avenue singing "Canada is Really Big" at the top of her lungs, except for three someones singing it together with at least a basic nod in the direction of harmony.

[innerbrat]

I might have to try that down Oxford Street.

Me, I prefer The Last Saskatchewan Pirate myself.

[camwyn]

*happy sigh*

Last Saskatchewan Pirate forever holds a place in my heart for being the song I launched into at a housefilk and got my first actual compliment for. (I'd spent several years a little cowed because my high school chorus teacher told me after my first year that I didn't have to be in the chorus any more. This never happened at my school. Turned out she couldn't hear me independently 'cos she had me sitting next to a tone deaf person so she assumed both of us were.)

[dragonwhishes.livejournal.com]

You. Are. Awesome.

I want to meet you in real life one day just so I can fangirl you. And talk your ear off.

[trinityday.livejournal.com]

I think I'm the only one who hasn't done the original #6. Well, not true, but a bit weird considering I've lived within an hour of Toronto my entire life and have no once been to the top of the CN Tower.