Eight Random Things Most People Don’t Know

Nordette from the confessions of a jersey goddess blog (here) asked me to do a meme of Eight Random Things Most People Don’t Know.

1. The English website for the wonderful research project I’ve been working on the last three years is almost up and running. Amongst other tasks, I was responsible for coming up with the ideas for various school projects (here). Even though the students (grades 1-13) did all the work, the initial ideas for the projects usually were my colleague’s or mine. Click through the various projects under mixed-reality, mobile learning, and web cooperation (on the left) and try to figure out which of the projects were mine (creative engineer) and which were my colleague’s (complicated art pedagogue). (Note: I’ve only done a quality control test of the school project descriptions and video films today. The errors will be ironed out over the next two weeks.)

2. We don’t own a television in our household. This is not out of altruistic political conviction for the well being of my children, but because if we had one, I’m convinced I would undiscriminatingly watch too many silly shows and waste too much of this short and precious life of mine.

3. I read War and Peace in its entirety, without skipping one description of a wheat field, when I was sixteen. This was during my Russian phase as a voracious reader; somewhat like a blue phase of various artists.

4. I missed puberty by spending all my time between my twelfth and nineteenth birthday in ballet studios. This sort of experience (one shared by nearly all professional athletes, musicians, and artist) usually leads to an inordinate amount of intellectual and physical maturity at an early age, and insignificant emotional and sexual maturity in adulthood.

5. Two friends and I (on foot) were chased one evening through the streets of Cannes by a police patrol car. We had participated in a prank-gone-bad. The police did not find us.


6. We have five computers in our household, which is shamefully too many. On the other hand, we are all rather tech savvy and create as well as consume.

7. I believe strongly in the benefits of occasionally having dessert before dinner. Otherwise, we usually have no dessert at all; just a super delicious dinner is enough.

8. The jury is out on memes with me. This means that I will occasionally answer a meme, but do not pass them on. I am a devote chain letter breaker. As far as I can figure, memes are not chain letters, so therefore I can chose to participate as and when I wish. Therefore, dear Nordette, you have to come up with a ninth person on your list in order to fulfil your eight-person request.