Tuesday, August 29, 2006

The obligatory n things

I am married to the only woman I ever dated.

I once wrote a budget that was in excess of 17 million dollars, for a project that was never funded.


I have a doctorate in Molecular and Medical Genetics, but I nearly failed introductory molecular biology.


If I had been born a girl, I would have been called Rachel.


I have been mentioned twice in a major electronic music magazine.


I once played the part of Sid Sawyer in a musical version of Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer.


I worked for three years in a place where I had access to a variety of controlled substances.


I have traveled to only eight of Canada’s ten provinces, and none of the Territories.


I have never been east of Paris, or west of Vancouver Island.


I once used a microscope belonging to a Nobel Prize Laureate.


As far as I know, I have never broken a bone.


I have written a piano waltz, a jazz quartet, and a piece for solo clarinet. None of these has ever been performed on the instruments they were intended for.


I live only a few minutes from a very large amusement park, which I’ve never visited.


I lived in Wales for a year.


I have never had a nickname that I didn’t give to myself.


At the age of eight, I was a fairly decent soccer player.


At the age of 16, I was a very slow cross-country runner.


I have been on local television.


I was once in charge of maintaining two websites.


The worst sports injury I have ever had was sustained in a non-competitive, recreational softball league game.


I could have entered university as a clarinet major.


There exist recordings of me playing synthesizers, piano, harmonica, electric, acoustic and bass guitar, and bongos.


I love using the Oxford comma.


In the past, I have done research on antibody genes, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease.


I am a published author.


I have two budgies that are older than my children.


I studied the behaviour of millimetre-long nematode roundworms for a while.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

"I am married to the only woman I ever dated"

That's pretty impressive.

Did I ever tell you that the Elder Pawn ((also) called Rachel) plays clarinet?

Richard Wintle said...

No, you never told me that. Good for her. Mine has been stashed under the stairs for a while, unfortunately.

Mrs. R'pus and I started dating in, um, er, [counts rapidly on fingers and toes} 1984 I think it was.

ExAfrica said...

Please- Tell me what the Oxford comma is! I have to know! I am quite concerned about grammar, despite my current writing abilities...

Rik said...

You lived in Wales? You poor sod...

Whereabouts? Did it have any vowels in it's name?

Richard Wintle said...

exafrica - this will help:

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutother/oxfordcomma

rik - Benllech on Mona for a month or so, then in Bangor for the rest of the year. Good place when you're seven years old (castles and things).

Rik said...

Bangor... Who knows, we might have even met in the past...

Crivens!

See how many thins you remember on my post about the area...

http://rikaitch.blogspot.com/2005/07/gwyliau-cymreig-continuing-adventures.html

WyldWoods (WW.N) said...

I now know more about you... like the fact that you started a blog. (I must have missed the annoucement.) Although I cant let one of the items go...

"If I had been born a girl,..."

This almost makes it sound like you weren't born a girl, you became one some other way... I'm assuming that's wrong and you were born, and remain, a male.


Oh, thank you for the link. I just might see what I can do about changing the "Seldom updates." The thing is after sitting in front of a computer all day (with MANY company-wide restrictions lately) I don't really want to sit in front of one after I get home... We'll see though.

zoe said...

bloody hell. this is worth keeping - put it separately, do.

i used to play the clarinet too - badly - and still have it upstairs. no reeds, though.

you've only shagged one woman ? holy moly, you should be called cliff.

Richard Wintle said...

Wyldwoods - sorry, I was going to post a comment on your blog pointing you this way, but, um, forgot... no offense meant by the 'seldom updates' comment though.

Zoe - ta. If I can figure out how to stuff this post somewhere... ah, the permalink. That'll do the trick...

rik - will look at it... it was 1974 or thenabouts.

exafrica - bugger, blogger ate the URL. It's the optional comma in a list of things, like the one after Zoe in this sentence:

I like blogs by Wyldwoods, Zoe, and Scaryduck.

Grammatically correct although many people don't think so.

/grammatical propeller hat

Anna said...

So that's who the mysterious Ricardipus is : )

WrathofDawn said...

You LIKE the Oxford comma??? Well, that does it. We're no longer friends. I have to have some standards.

vw - swmrudop - Sounds like something a Motown group would sing.

The Aunt said...

If this was in Wales, would your nematodes have been Elegans, see?

Hahahaha.

I'll get my coat.

#Debi said...

I, too, like the Oxford comma, and all things obscurely grammatical. (Although I didn't know that it had a name...) Just yesterday, one of my professors "corrected" my grammar, and I had to explain to her the notion of the "dangling preposition" and how it is bad, very bad...

WrathofDawn said...

Ooo! Marianne made a science funny! Very good!

WrathofDawn said...

/lab coat

WyldWoods (WW.N) said...

Ricardipus: No offense taken. I know I don' update a lot, not even as often as I intend. And don't worry about the pointer, I found you quick enough.

Richard Wintle said...

Yes indeed, well done Aunty Em.

Dawn - '/lab coat' *giggles*

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

After that list, this is the one that sticks, call me a hopeless romantic, "I am married to the only woman I ever dated."

WrathofDawn said...

*sigh* Yeah, that really grabbed me, too. I got fired. Or time off for good behaviour - not sure which.

Anonymous said...

We're a special breed.


apzya!

hima said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.