A Good Thriller discussion

Sarah wrote: "Hi Everyone,
Have really been enjoying reading everyone's facts about themselves so thought I'd give it a go. Here goes;

1. I am a keen surfer although having a 'encounter' with a shark deterred ..."

Sarah, that is such a unique list! And Castiel is a lucky dog!

Kimber wrote: "I may as well jump onto the bandwagon.

10 Random Facts About Me

1. When I eat pancakes, I prefer to skip the syrup.
2. When I was in the 6th grade, there were 5 Kims one of my classes. Three of u..."

Kimber, I like cake without frosting, too. Ever try sprinkling cinnamon/sugar on the batter before baking a chocolate cake? Yum!

I'm also an introvert. I could easily become a recluse.

Brenda, my husband sometimes accuses me of being a recluse!

Here's 10 new ones for me:

1. I like big, epic songs by symphonic power metal bands, like this one: Reign Of Terror - Rhapsody of Fire (with Sir Christopher Lee): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is8vm...

2. I also like similar sounding classical music, like the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony a.k.a "The Ode to Joy"

3. I hate Für Elise. I think it's boring as hell, except for a rendition like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnc4T...

3. You can credit (or blame) my parents for the fact I'm such a musical geek.

4. I still miss my dog, Buttercup.

5. She drooled on my knees every time she heard the classic intro for the POWERPUFF GIRLS.

6. I giggle when I see Leonard Nimoy's turn as Sherlock Holmes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRAIq...

7. I miss LIBERTY'S KIDS on PBS

8. I started reading Tolkien in 2nd grade and reread both LOTR and The Hobbit every year.

9. Drank enough coffee my freshman year as a Northern Arizona University Lumberjack to STILL be burned out on it.

10. I hate chocolate chip pancakes.

Okay, these are interesting to read. Here's my 10 Random facts.
1. I have four kneecaps
2. I have been pet by a Giant Pacific Octopus at a depth of about 80 feet, Puget Sound, WA.
3. Mediocre cook - fantastic baker
4. High school drop out, but I have a Ph.D.
5. The farthest I've traveled away from the West Coast of the US (where I live) is Tanzania and the Island of Zanzibar
6. I always have to look up furthest and farthest to remember which is which.
7. I went to the high school where "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" was written about, and now live where "Twin Peaks" was filmed.
8. I once acted in a show in NYC (and got good reviews)
9. When I was a kid I wanted to be an astronomer
10. There is a river in my backyard. Technically, my property runs under the river, so I can actually say "A River Runs Through It"

Awesome list, Elena! How on earth does one get four kneecaps?! :-)

Brenda wrote: "Awesome list, Elena! How on earth does one get four kneecaps?! :-)" crazy right? Under my normal patella is a second, smaller patella that just floats underneath the big one. It never gives me any difficulty, but I was having an x-ray for another reason, and the doctor found it. He was so surprised, he did an x-ray on the other leg to see if I had a matched set. I do!

Welcome Elena,

thanks for sharing

Sean wrote: "Welcome Elena,

thanks for sharing" Nice to be here!

1. I've set foot in all 50 states.
2. The farthest north I've travelled is the North Cape of Norway and the farthest south is Cape Horn.
3. My first novel, Raven One, peaked at #29 on Amazon.
4. I was at the Pentagon on 9-11, eighty yards from impact.
5. Using pencils and q-tips, my drawings are so detailed people think the image is a black-and-white photograph.
6. The fastest I've been is 1.68 mach.
7. At a major league baseball game I caught a pop foul ball and handed it to my 10-year-old son sitting next to me.
8. I once flew jets from ships, day and night. It's been a few years, but I'm confident I could still get aboard day and night.
9. Heights make me nervous.
10. I have been shot at, without result.

Those are ten pretty impressive facts! You should write a book ;)

Ten Random Facts - in random order and revealed with varying degrees of pride!

1. Flew a Cessna through the North-South corridor over LAX and watched 747’s take off below me
2. Saw Pele score 2 goals for FC Santos against HSV in 1962 in Hamburg Germany and then played competitive soccer for 51 years until age 67 when my left knee wore out
3. Played basketball on a team with Jeffrey MacDonald (the former Green Beret still in jail for the murder of his wife and children), including a charity exhibition game vs the LA Rams (Fred Dryer, Jack Youngblood, Merlin Olsen, etc,)
4. Got (legally) high on cocaine administered intranasally by a 7th Day Adventist surgeon fixing my nose broken in a rugby match
5. Presented a randomized controlled trial on a treatment for Restless Legs syndrome, a study designed and supervised by myself, at the World Association of Sleep Medicine meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil 2009
6. Had 2 inches of my (too long) hair snipped off on the spot in Blantyre, Malawi by airport authorities who otherwise would have denied me entry into the country
7. Got my jaw busted in a fist fight in a beer hall (Matthaeser Bier Stadt) in Munich, Germany
8. Rode a camel in the Kalahari desert while participating in a roving medical clinic treating Bushmen
9. Worked over 10,000 hours as an ER physician, 16 months as a medical missionary, and over 35 years as a specialist in Infectious Diseases including 2 years with the CDC.
10. Authored an infectious diseases thriller novel “Yellow Death” that incorporates a few of my experiences and that has won 3 book awards: 2016 National Indie Excellence Award (Winner – Best Medical Thriller), 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Award (Finalist – Best Thriller), 2017 Independent Press Award (Winner – Best Medical Thriller).

You've led a very adventurous life!

I have indeed and I'm looking forward to new adventures when I do retire. I was fortunate to have parents who not only were very healthy and active into their late 80's but who also liked to travel themselves. They also had the means to support my education so that I was not debt-ridden as so many are nowadays. Being a physician also opened many opportunities for travel which were easier to take advantage of early in my career when I was single or at least had not had children. Older authors such as myself I think have a distinct advantage in having a richer life experience and many more memorable people from our past to enliven our stories. I based several characters in Yellow Death on people I've met along the way.

Here are my 10 Random facts:

1. When I left school, I was going to join the army, but went to work in an office instead.
2. I used to be a Sunday School teacher.
3. In the 1980s, I played a game of darts against Eric Bristow and also Alan Evans (both well known UK professional darts players) - I lost!
4. I like fresh coconut, but hate dessicated coconut.
5. My favourite colour is blue.
6. I'm the shortest in my family.
7. Cooking and ironing are two household chores that I will quite happily leave for other people to do.
8. I've always wanted straight hair.
9. Two of my toes on each foot are webbed - no I'm not a duck lol.
10. I graduated with my BSc Hons degree at the ripe old age of 43yrs.

Interesting facts! ☺️

Any more, I do enjoy reading these and getting to know our members

Ha, this is an excellent idea and, reading some of the others above, also slightly intimidating! Ok, here we go. Ten random facts in no particular order:

1. As a teenager, I worked the bars and nightclubs as a doorman and bouncer a long time before I was actually old enough to legally be inside.

2. I have an Australian Cattle Dog who is my best mate.

3. I have two cats who aren't.

4. Whilst in the Army, I was involved in a bad accident where the open top vehicle I was traveling in rolled over several times. As a result, I was partially scalped. Every now and then I still get a small bit of gravel or debris work itself to the surface of the scar on my head...almost twenty years later!

5. I'm certain that baked beans and coffee flavoured chocolates are the staple diet of the Devil and therefore definitely are NOT meant for human consumption!

6. I was once working in a nightclub and was involved in a large fight with a famous rapper. He, his entourage and his bodyguards pulled out a whole host of weapons including a cut-throat razor and baseball bat having just robbed someone. Luckily enough, at the end of the fight, there were no serious injuries but the floor was covered in loose dreadlocks from one of their heads. The dreadlocks were auctioned off on a local radio station the very next morning.

7. I actually found it quite hard to write some of the scenes in my debut novel. They stirred up some deeply buried memories I'd forgotten about...very strange.

8. I once traveled through Greece, back into Kosovo, in a stolen bus.

9. I was an idiot at school and messed around all the time. As a result, I have no real academic qualifications to speak of and have had to work much, much harder to get to where I am today. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, who'd have thought that the teachers actually knew what they were talking about!

10. The beard that I'm currently sporting isn't actually the colour ginger, it's definitely the colour Mexican sunset!

An excellent list, Lee. Thank you! ☺️

I love 2 and three!

Ha ha, they're a nightmare together!

I'm NOT even gonna ask about the stolen bus!

Great list, Lee! Yikes on the scalping, though!

See what great fun it is to read, I do enjoy these.

I wish we could persuade more members to add to this...

Amber wrote: "I'm NOT even gonna ask about the stolen bus!"

Ha ha, that's a...complicated story.

Brenda wrote: "Great list, Lee! Yikes on the scalping, though!"

Sounds worse than it was Brenda. Ha ha

That's why I'm not asking about it.

It's hard to come up with ten that are PG rated! 🤔

Annie wrote: "Here are my 10 Random facts:

1. When I left school, I was going to join the army, but went to work in an office instead..."

Annie, I did the same thing except it was the Air Force. Glad my parents were smarter than me!

Wasn't hard for me, Lee. Check it out. It's the 254th message on the thread. And all 10 are rated PG. I think that's page 5.

1. I am a middle child and every anecdote you’ve ever heard about us is probably true.

2. I once convinced my older sister that bird droppings were chocolate-chip ice cream and she (deservedly) ate it.

3. I nearly always avoided a whipping (yes, children once received these as punishment) by making my parents laugh.

4. For a drama class assignment, I smashed a pie into a bully’s face, not knowing (tee-hee) the shaving cream filling would burn his eyes.

5. In my travels, I’ve learned that most people want to be anywhere else.

6. As an author, I’m always surprised when a friend is convinced he or she was the inspiration for one of my characters or that through my writing they’ve discovered some deep, dark secret about me.

7. I love dogs and tolerate cats (please, no hate mail).

8. I’m a multi-genre author because there are just too many ways to tell a story.

9. I hate chocolate. Please hide the coconut cakes.

D.B. wrote: "1. I am a middle child and every anecdote you’ve ever heard about us is probably true.

2. I once convinced my older sister that bird droppings were chocolate-chip ice cream and she (deservedly) at..."

Ha ha, the question you have to ask yourself in relation to answer seven is...could you trust a cat as a business partner??? No, the dishonest things are always scheming behind your back!

Lee wrote: "D.B. wrote: "1. I am a middle child and every anecdote you’ve ever heard about us is probably true.

2. I once convinced my older sister that bird droppings were chocolate-chip ice cream and she (d..."

That's what cat people say about dogs, you know?

Uh-oh, I've done it now.

Ha ha, I don't dislike cats Amber. I have one and a half of my own... but you've got to admit, you can't trust them. 😉

Funny isn't it, how you find the different camps. My kids were adamant they didn't want a cat!

Thanks for those random facts! I always enjoy reading 📖 them! 😃

How do you have 1-1/2 cats?

Amber wrote: "How do you have 1-1/2 cats?"

Ha ha, because one is only a kitten so it doesn't qualify as a whole cat!

Oh. Duhhhhhhh. LOL.

1. I was named Valerie because I was born on Valentine's Day.

2. I have four rescue dogs.

3. I used to be 5'11¾" but due to health issues, I feel like I've become the incredible shrinking woman, ha!

4. I'm pescatarian, but don't eat much fish. Closer to vegetarian, I guess.

5. I worked for a dentist in Hollywood many moons ago. We saw more music people than actors and actresses, which I loved.

6. My husband is my third husband, and I'm his fourth wife!!! (We've been married 33 years. I guess we just had to find each other!)

7. LOVE coffee.

8. My favorite thing to do when I was a child was to sit in the elm tree in my backyard and read Nancy Drew.

9. I prefer vegetables over fruit.

10. My dream was to be a flight attendant, until I got too tall. (They were called airline stewardesses back then.)

1. I HATTEE cheese
2. I was in the audience of The Ellen Degenerous show once
3. I just started to read e books and listen to audiobooks in the last year.. whole new world to me!!
4. I’m terrified of mice
5. I’m married to my high school sweetheart.. 3 years August 8th
6. I have never tried Tequila
7. Hate wearing shoes.. if I could go around barefoot 24/7 I would
8. I’m obsessed with the show The Bachelor/ Bachelorette.. guilty pleasure
9. Love going camping (in our trailer)
10. Love to cook... baking isn’t my thing though

I wouldn't try tequila if I were you, Amy. There's a t-shirt somewhere out there that reads "One Tequila Two Tequila Three Tequila...Floor!"

A Valentine's day baby named Val-love it! Can you name some famous people you've seen inside their mouths? :D

Amy, also a Bchl/ette fan hiding in the closet. And in August B. in Paradise!

Perri, let's see. Glen Frey, Eric Clapton, Minnie Riperton, Smokey Robinson (He was a FLIRT!), David Carradine, Barbara Hershey (And their son, who was called Free back then!), John Barrymore Jr, Mac Davis ... and that's all I can remember off the top of my head. It was 44 years ago, and some of these are no longer with us.

Somehow the office where I worked ended up seeing a cult called the Aquarians, and one of them asked me to join the cult and be his mate, lol. They had one of the first health food restaurants, on Sunset Blvd. (And they took care of their teeth! They refused local anesthetic, although they happily accepted Nitrous!)

Definitely the most fun office I ever worked in. :D

Thanks, ladies!, 😀

Val wrote: "Perri, let's see. Glen Frey, Eric Clapton, Minnie Riperton, Smokey Robinson (He was a FLIRT!), David Carradine, Barbara Hershey (And their son, who was called Free back then!), John Barrymore Jr, M..."

Just shows celebs are just like us-getting their teeth cleaned! I can imagine Smokey as a flirt :)

Sadly this has gone quite lately...

Such fun to read

10 is too large a number. How about two?

My dad was given a pet turtle when he was a boy, and it lived for 30 years.

My dad taught me to target shoot when I was six and I've enjoyed and respected firearms ever since.

I hope many members here will add their ten facts, so interesting, we all have amazing stories to tell.

When I added my first ten facts, I was married 35 years.

Now married 39 years, March next year will be 40 years.

10 (okay only 9) RANDOM FACTS
1/ I’m hugely allergic to cats. I don’t even have to touch them; if they are anywhere near me, within 30 minutes, I’ve got red, itchy, puffy eyes and a congested nose running like a firehose.
2/ If I could go back in time and do anything over, I would be a better husband and father.
3/ I didn’t go to a doctor for 10 years. I didn’t have any health issues so I saw no point in going.
4/ I quit smoking in 2016 after almost 50 years of smoking. I did it cold turkey – no drugs, no counseling – and had no withdrawal symptoms.
5/ If I could afford it, I’d have a 10-car garage stocked with classic hotrods and muscle cars.
6/ My children have never given me a moment of doubt or worry.
7/ I love going out and clearing my driveway after a snowstorm.
8/ I’ve been driving the same truck for 25 years and have no plans to replace it.
9/ I live 4 miles from the house I grew up in.
10/ ??