The Friday Five

[cjsmith]

I got it from klwalton...

Where were you born?
Riverside, New Jersey, USA.

If you don't live there, do you want to move back? Why or why not?
No. I have no memories of the place, not much idea what it's like, and no particular desire to move there.

Where in the world do you feel the safest.
I don't, particularly.

Do you feel you are well-traveled?
Somewhat. I don't know many people who've seen the Aswan High Dam, for example, or any other American-born thirty-year-olds who have lived in any country where English was not widely spoken. However, I've never been south of the equator in my life, and because of my dietary restrictions I may never visit any Asian country at all.

And then there's the question: does "well-traveled" simply mean rich and/or idle? When I was little, yes. Those were family vacations. When I lived in France, no. I was working my butt off at a job that barely paid the rent. Today, yes, and it's a sore point.

What is the most interesting place you've been?
Wow, I have to pick only one? Here are a few that come to mind:
Tumbling through the air near Mount Diablo, in an aircraft that had lost flight-surface control.
Deep underground, in a muddy cave passage only a few inches larger in girth than my body.
MIT.
In the left seat of a full-motion B737 simulator at Continental's flight training facility. No, wait: the right seat is actually more interesting.
Boot camp.

I'm sure I could go on... None of them are really specific to geographic location, I note. Wonder what that says about what I consider interesting.

Comments

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

Wonder what that says about what I consider interesting.

It says that what you consider interesting is different from what I consider interesting, thus making what you consider interesting interesting to me, since it's different.

:D

Have I mentioned that I love reading your posts?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Why thank you! :-} I love reading your posts, too -- even (perhaps especially) the ones to which I just have absolutely nothing useful to say in response.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

It says you're pretty interesting.

(Oh, and Kathy's comments? I could have written them but she already had done so.)

Boot camp. Well, it was interesting for some value of the word. I still have the occassional dream that I'm back there ...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I still have the occassional dream that I'm back there ...

Wow, I'm not the only one!

There are times I wish I were still in the military. Every time I have to wait for a bunch of civilians to deplane, for example. :-)

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Oh, lots of people have bootcamp stress dreams. One of the episodes of Sharpe's Rifles even takes advantage of the classic form of the dream, where you're back there under cover to unearth some wrongdoing. If you can find the video of Sharpe's Regiment it's well worth seeing. It's also great for seeing what bootcamp was like for the British Army in 1805.

And I hear ya about the civilians deplaning babe. It's enough to induce tail biting in monkeys.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

And I hear ya about the civilians deplaning babe. It's enough to induce tail biting in monkeys.

Yeah. Isn't it nasty? In a large enough group, soldiers too have their faults; but they sure can haul ass. It's refreshing. I wonder whether, in Switzerland (where every able-bodied adult male has military experience), civilians on the whole would tend to be more efficient and prepared and clueful.