Facetious & Proud Of It

Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2003 - 12:03 a.m.

A couple of days ago, Paul told me I was 'facetious'. Which is fine by me, because in this day and age, not enough of us are. I'll wear that adjective with honor.

But then I had to go and be a smarty pants and a showoff. Why?... Explanation to follow.

My mouth opened, and I actually heard myself say the following words: "Did you know that the word 'facetious' has all of the vowels in the alphabet in the correct order?"

Paul paused. For a very long time. "What?" he finally asked.

I repeated the question, apparently to a less-than-appreciative audience of one.

"Why is your head so -full- of this stuff?" Paul asked.

And the nearest answer I can come up with is that there is a certain type of person out here in this strange world; we -like- to learn weird stuff and what's more, we like to retain it.

We are Fact Packrats.

We always beat everybody at Trivial Pursuit -- usually because we sat up several evenings in a row when we first got the game and actually read all of the cards. We kick all of your asses in Scrabble. We win nearly every bar bet we undertake. We know what Sam the butcher's last name was on the Brady Bunch. We know how many tribbles got into the grain bin.

And we're damned proud of this.

In a few days, I'm going to have my revised travel plans to Utah all finalized; I plan to call Paul with this information, and when I do, I'm going to hear him do what he usually does whenever I besiege him with a complicated maelstrom of numbers and names and whatnot.

He'll say "Wait a minute, let me get a pencil."

And I'm going to say "Did you know that the lead in a pencil isn't actually lead? It's a combination of Madagascar clay and graphite."

Thanks for asking me to visit, Paul. I'm looking forward to meeting you.

John says you're not allowed to send me home early. :)

---

---

6 of my readers commented on this entry

rich
My head is full of useless trivia. Like x-rays have shown there are actually like 3 different versions of the Mona Lisa painted under the current one.
---
hysmith
When faced with the quizzical stare, I like to refer folks to an obscure Heinlein quote: "... an absolute mine of useless information." I'm so enamored of filling my head with irrelevant data that at the top of my favorites list is the "random URL" link. I'll spend an entire lunch hour spinning aimlessly from one to the next, just to see what's interesting out there.
---
Bindyree
You know what, Scott? One of the highlights of the time I spent with you was when you once referred to herding penguins in Siberia and I scolded you for suggesting that there were penguins existing in nature above the equator. You came very close to literally dancing around when you said "Oh my. Oh my. You're the only person I've ever said that to who CAUGHT that!"...
---
Jess
Greetings from another Fact Packrat!!
---
k
i have a lot of useless facts as well. but i HATE trivial pursuit. i've never seen a more aptly named game. other thing about mona lisa: it is said to be a self-portrait of homeboy as a girl. i dont play scrabble or trivial pursuit, so good luck kicking my ass at it. in fact, i dont really do games or sports or other such activities. if i'm going to waste my life in a pointless activity, i prefer to do it on the internet. like now.
---
Old Buddy Dave
Perfect name for folks like us - I can whip everyone I know at YOU DON'T KNOW JACK, I can recite comedy routines from memory, etc. etc.
---

---

what you missed - what's next - leave a note - email the pope
first post - random entry - cast page - my diaryrings - top ten

THE LEGAL STUFF: All content on this site that was created by me is copyright 2003-2009 Brin-Marie McLaughlin. Steal my stuff and I'll squash you like a bug. All incoming email is subject to publication or other distribution by me in whole or in part at my sole discretion. This diary features the sole opinions and experiences of one person, namely me, the person who is paying for the space. Anything else on these pages including any comments belongs to whoever created it. In the interest of safety and accountability, no anonymous comments will ever be allowed here, ever, for any reason in the entire history of ever. The comments section is part of my paid presence on the web, and is used by my readership to supplement the things I have written here with relevent information in a polite manner. Comments that do not fall in that category are subject to deletion at my whim. Your use of my comments section constitutes the understanding of this statement. Anything else on these pages including any comments belongs to whoever created it. All external links are current as of the date of the entry in which they are featured. News excerpts used here are for educational purposes and are permitted under the Fair Use Doctrine.