Eight random facts

From Heather at Errant Thoughts:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
3. Tag eight people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs.

Eight random facts. Hmm…

1) I learned roleplaying at lunch time, at school, in a game run by two teachers: Mr. Reid and Mr. Martin. It was a zany 1e dungeon crawl. Mr. Martin is my dad.

2) I like to learn things in spurts. I’ll happily read fiction or work related stuff for six months, then I’ll suddenly go on a self improvement kick and decide to learn about something new, often a period of history. The most recent kick was China; I enjoyed a few histories and a solid memoir, Wild Swans, which did a great job of showing life over the previous three generations of China. While I enjoyed the broad sweep of history books, Wild Swans grounded me. Seeing the cultural revolution from a teen’s point of view was powerful.

3) The learning spurt I was on when I met Jennifer was America’s revolutionary and founding era. I waded through about half of the Federalist Papers. Interestingly, I found that reading the Federalist Papers made me very curious about the anti-Federalist papers, because so many of the strongest papers seem to be responses to specific anti-Federalist paper claims.

4) I’m taking the California Structural Engineering exam in October. It’s two eight hour days of tests (Friday, Saturday) and man is it draining. It’s doing a good job of reminding me why we use computers to cut out so much of the tedium…

5) I visited Germany between junior and senior years of high school. I enjoyed staying with three different sets of relatives (mostly my Grandparent’s generation) and seeing the country. The memories of Germany are a bit hazy now, but I remember thinking how different it was in climate, city layout, politics, etc. I still have a favorable impression, though I wonder how much of the good was enhanced by the fact by my inability to comprehend TV speed German.

6) The first book I loved and read to death was a “kid detective” mystery. I still remember the main plot and several turning points. (Including the big reveal, how the rock star was being bamboozled by his manager. The kid detective figured this out because the rock star didn’t know enough to not write an open ended check.)

7) I like boardgames and have an extensive collection. I no longer play most “roll and move” games or “conquer the world” games. I prefer the mechanics and style of most Euro board games with their short playtimes and strategic thought.

8) I am a sink (or a spur, depending on your imagery) when it comes memes and chain letters. I take them in and participate, but rarely tag new people or pass along the letter. (Particularly annoying or suspect chain letters get a search on snopes and a return mail to the sender. That’s worked to good effect only once.) Or you can think of me as a rebel… see how I’m breaking rules 3 and 4?