Quirky fact traits

[greatbear]

I got tagged by bikerbear. I guess I should answer the call.

Each person starts with eight random facts, traits, or quirks about themselves.
LJer's that are tagged get to write on their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
At the end of your blog, you get to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

1- (quirk) I totally love the smell of new electric motors or transformers. The varnish on the windings to me is a wonderful perfume. The first times said motors/transformers are put into use and become warm, the smell intensifies. However, if these items overheat and burn out, the very distinctive smell becomes one of the worst ever.

2- (trait) I have a photographic memory. This is a blessing, and occasionally a curse. I can daydream in Technicolor, complete with THX sound. But I can sometimes be haunted with unpleasant images as well.

3- (fact) I have been electrocuted in varying degrees over so many years that I could never tally them. Hundreds. Such is reality for an electronics geek since age five. Even been struck by lightning. This has not only made me very respectful of electricity, but has made me very comfortable working with it. I have no worries working in live equipment and electrical panels. But I still cant stand static electric shocks.

4- (quirk) I am an automatic proofreader. I can spot errors in pages of newspapers often by casually leafing through them. I get a sense something was wrong a page or two prior, then turn back and find the error buried in text I did not actually read. I still dont know how this happens. On a related note, I never use spellcheckers. With my ham-fisted typing style, I make errors relatively often and occasionally miss them.

5- (quirk) I have a habit of building things with no plans whatsoever. It could be a building, an electronic circuit, rooms, wiring harnesses, plumbing or any other field I am proficient in.

6- (fact) I cant stand peanut butter or liver.

7- (fact) I used to build what would now be considered 'boomboxes' before my teens, before such things existed. Most often mono, and made either in wooden enclosures I would build myself or repurposed speaker cabinets, these would consist of amplifiers of at least 5-10 watts of power, running on a pair of 6 volt lantern batteries, with an am/fm tuner stuck in and a jack for a tape recorder to patch through. Through middle school, I provided the crankinest rock and roll that could be heard throughout the fields at recess and outside gym classes and games. I wish I had thought of patenting those things.

8- (fact) I have intermittent tinnitus. See #7.

I tag...

anziulewicz
bbbuster
bitterlawngnome
devcubber
jrjarrett
notdefined
progbear
ursuspersonatus

And anyone else who wantsta.

Comments

[excessor.livejournal.com]

I knew you had a photographic memory—I'm sure it's a curse as much as a blessing.

I totally get the proofreading skill. I don't spot problems like you do (in unread text) but I can still find them easily. It pisses me off most of the time when people who should know better (like The New York Times) make simple mistakes. Although I do enjoy the little Superior Dance I can do as a result of having found them.

I'm with you on the liver thing, although I adore peanut butter.

[kdotdammit.livejournal.com]

RE #4: OMG you must SO HATE READING ME. I am total queen of typos. My writing is such a mess. It's not that I don't know how or what the right word/punctuation is. I just write so fast that my writing is always all fucked up with typos. Please will you be my own personal automatic proofreader??????? I'm desperate.

Regarding most of the others . . . YOU'RE SUCH A BOY.

XO

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

I catch errors while reading too, though I don't pick up mistakes in stuff I haven't actually read - that's a little scary. ;)

Peanut butter is my life. It was one of my earliest real foods, and something I have always eaten a lot of. (Would you believe when I was a wee little cubling, my mother actually made me plates full of tiny little "sandwiches" consisting of two Cheerios and a blob of PB?! It's true! And I still eat Cheerios with peanut butter!!)

Have you considered trying vinpocetine or Hydergine for the tinnitus?

[msclwolf.livejournal.com]

Oooh photographic memory AND auto proofreadin hmmmm fab :) On top of the general fabness (yes I think I have just made that word up!) that is your good self. I could be more specific, but half the fun is in the guessing n'est pas?

Anyways the memory n proofreadin reminds me of 2 things:
1: Chatting with fellow students (years ago) they talked of someone in their study group who could SEE written information in colour such that any related info was the same colour. He essays were VERY easy for her to do as ALL the relevant info was simply the same colour! I said "HA! wait for the exam where she has no reference stuff and relies on what is in her head" She discovered this was NOT what everyone could do when she walked in on frantic work colleagues looking for an accounting error in reams of paperwork. She simply pointed straight to it. Aghast they asked how she did this, her reply......that is red everything else is green!!!Then she realised not everyone saw it as she did! (sceptical she had NO idea til then..ah well)

2: Synthesisia - a fascinating situation whereby an individuals senses are literally not wired in the brain as the masses. Literally smelling music, tasting visual stimulus etc and any combination thereof...produces amazing individual expressions on the world!