red robot

Bracer, i too put nutritional yeast on my popcorn. Lately, i've just been popping it on the stove with safflower oil and then salting it. Yum for popcorn!

I also don't own a car, and i haven't driven in years. i use my bike as my primary transit mode, then public transit. Why are you car free? Have you used city car share?

lunachick

1) I'm always happy when I can get away from the farm early. It's boring out there. No horses to ride.

2) I'll be 40 next May, and I'm not all that happy about it. It means ticking a whole new age-group box when answering demographic surveys. I'm just too young to be nearly 40. (I'm lucky in that I look much younger than I am).

3) The worst day/night of my life - and one I still occasionally have nightmares about - is helping rescue people in a landslide in the Arab Quarter of Jerusalem from about 2am in the pouring rain till well into the next evening. The cemetary on the hill became so rainsoaked it slid in the Arab cafe further downhill, right behind the backpackers hostel I worked and lived in. Sometimes, I still get the smell in my nose for no apparent reason. The night the dead buried the living. I will never forget it.

4) I've had many, many best days in my life.

5) I love eccentric people, and will talk to almost anyone - stranger or not.

6) I tend to make friends easily.

7) I love the arts and write poetry. I'm a moderator on a creative writing site.

8) I have hedonistic tendencies, and am completely sensual.

9) I love the water, and I'm a strong swimmer.

10) I'm a HUGE music fan.

Edited to add bonus point: I lived in a squat in Holland for a little while, with about a dozen other people. It got bulldozed while we were out looking for work one day. All we could do when we got back was sit on the rubble and laugh. The pub across the road felt very sorry for us all, and gave us free beer all night and put us up till we found alternative accommodation.


oooh, ooooh, while I'm on a roll: I was a poor english junkies first mugging in Amsterdam. I made him cry, and helped him get to a drug and alcohol abuse centre. But not until I gave him my five guilders (all I had on me) and smoked a joint with him by the river. Poor kid.

[ November 09, 2002: Message edited by: lunachick ]</p>

JennaD

1. I think that the cult of media and consumerism in North America is equally dangerous to religious influence.

2. In the third grade I could read at an eighth grade level.

3. A cult horror movie was filmed in my home town.

4. Two years ago my father lost the use of his eye after being shot in a hunting accident.

5. I once lived in an old Greek Orthodox church converted in to condos.

6. My Grandmother is a professional water-colour artist (but you have never heard of her).

7. I once locked my newborn daughter in my car with my keys and had to ask a stranger to help me break in to it.

8. My first Cat was named Grover and my first dog was named Vixen.

9. I have not knowingly or willingly consumed meat since 1995.

10. The Christians lost me when I was nine and told me that I had to love Jesus more than I loved my parents.

Bracer

I confess that over the last couple of years I've fallen into the sacrilege of microwave popcorn (Newman�s Own, light butter). I got hooked on sprinkling yeast over it back in college, when I was a member in a food co-op (I discovered tempeh the same way. Mmm, tempeh�).

Well, about a year after I moved up to the city (I had been living down in Burlingame) my car, an ancient Ford Tempo, finally up and died on me. Since I didn�t have the funds to buy another one right away, I made do with walking and public transport, and to my surprise I discovered I could get along just fine. Better than fine, actually. When you live in a city that�s only seven miles on a side, the inconveniences outweigh the practical benefits. Besides saving on insurance, gas, maintenance, etc., I don�t have to worry about my car getting vandalized (which happened twice), finding a homeless guy sleeping in the back if I forgot to lock it (also happened twice), or spending upwards of half an hour finding a place to park every night. Even better, since I�m (technically) a freelance journalist, if I really need a car for some reason, I can usually just find a story to cover somewhere, rent one, and expense it.

And no, I�ve never used car share.

So what�s your story?

Bracer

oooh, ooooh, while I'm still reading this thread: I think this is one of the coolest stories I've ever heard! Thanks for sharing!

Defiant Heretic

Hmm...night person, dog person, doesn't like mornings, country music, or the mainstream?

WELCOME!

irishajo

1. I have never been on an airplane.

2. Despite my screen name, more of my ancestors hailed from England and Scotland than Ireland.

3. I like peanut butter sandwiches without the jelly.

4. I was in love with Ricky Schroeder when I was seven years old.

5. I am deathly afraid of ghosts even though I don't believe in them.

6. Rain is my favorite kind of weather.

7. I’ve seen every Seinfeld episode multiple times and I still laugh at most of them.

8. I have had a part of my body other than my ears pierced.

9. My college majors include Engineering, French, Comparative Literature, Audiology, English, and Information Technology but I still don’t have a Bachelor’s degree.

10. My mom tells people she named me after characters in “Little Women,” but truthfully I don’t think she knows why she named me what she did (she was under the influence of a lot of medication at the time).

Grizzly

1. I used to work as a roofer, a security guard, a day laborer, and a painter before I became a professor.

2. I am shaped like a keg of beer.

3. For the last 3 years, I only watch 2 hours of TV a week.

4. I watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

5. I taught my four year old son that farts were funny. I regret that now....

6. I am related to Captain Sticky, a real life corporate crusader from the seventies who used to shoot peanut butter out of a bazooka at corrupt corporate offices.

7. I can put both my feet behind my head. At the same time.

8. I make my own horseradish and brew my own beer.

9. I once ate dinner with two Nobel Prize winners - while sitting at a cardboard table and using chairs that were meant for children.

10. My son was born at home with the aid of a midwife. After 58 hours of labor.

[ November 09, 2002: Message edited by: Grizzly ]</p>

Bubba

Okay, ten things about me.

1. Used to do volunteer work as a flagger in the SCCA (sports Car club of America).

2. Used to work on a race pit crew.

3. I drive a car that's ten years older than I am. The scary thing is it gets going easier than I do in the morning.

4. I really do look like my name should be Bubba.

5. I've traveled to Russia, the Ukraine, France, Israel, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Macao, The Bahamas, Taiwan, Hawaii, California, and a lot of other places I've forgotten about.

6. I love reading childrens books and young adult literature even though I'm 37 years old.

7. As an electrician I've worked in the largest IBM computer room of its type in the world.

8. One of the favorite things I've done in my life was working at a homeless shelter in Chicago.

9. I like clasical music.

10. We have an old home video of Stevie Wonder playing music on my uncle's piano.

Bubba

red robot

Well, the saving money and not having to find parking/find people in my car, etc. has been a bonus of it all. I've found the same thing as you, that i can get around the city quite easily without a car.

plus, i love riding my bike. I get free exercise on my way to work in the morning!

plus, plus, i really think that autos should not be allowed in the city (except for deliveries, public transit, disabled people, etc.). The city could be a much better place, i think, and i wouldn't get nearly killed every_single_day. seriously, people should have to be licensed to drive! ... oh yeah, i guess they are ... hm.

RR