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What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby uNkNowN ElEmEnt » Thu 08 Feb 2007, 16:28:43

Youngest senior figureskater (level below pro) in CFSA history (doubt it still stands).

Saved a guys life when he got his head punched through a plate glass window and had his throat turned into hamburger.

Have three kick ass kids that are so polite we've had older people come to our table in restaurants and ask if they could reward them with money.

Learning how to love.

Thinking for myself, being a real person, and not visiting the neglect and trauma my family laid on me onto others.

Having survived death twice. Buying my own home as a single mom and doing most everything in my life on my own with little to no help.

Learning how to knit socks continental, play guitar, garden and fill my own soul.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby edpeak » Thu 08 Feb 2007, 18:23:38

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Free', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cynicalheretic', 'Y')ou guys make me feel so depressed. I have accomplished nothing, zero, zilch, nada. I am still working on my first degree.


I second that.

Really some quite impressive achievements...


Before you get too depressed, see what Hein. wrote:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')However, people, list anything you're proud of personally, without regard to what others might think. Including corporate-cube stuff.


Not all the posts here have been (quite entirely)
within that spirit. But Heineken, if you meant
the above, I think the word "greatest" (and
the word "achievements" too to some extent)
are not the best words to use to get at
what you seem to have been after.

How about "the most deeply satisfying and fullfilling things
I've done"?

Or how about "the 5 or fewer things
I've done/chosen so far in my life, that I think
on my deathbed, I'd be the most happy that I did/chose"

Neither of those are perfect wordings, but something
along the lines of either of them, would come
closer to what you seem to have meatn Heineken..the word "achievement" and even more so "greatest"
focus one towards other (not completely
unimportnat mind you, but other) directions...a new
thread w/new title..?
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby oowolf » Thu 08 Feb 2007, 18:33:46

"You're a downwardly-mobile maverick intellect. Congrats for escaping the megalith of lies and bullshit that passes for contemporary society..."

R. Crumb

Letter to yours truly, dated Feb. 9, 1993.

Crumb doesn't often hand out kudos.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby Aaron » Thu 08 Feb 2007, 19:07:49

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oowolf', '"')You're a downwardly-mobile maverick intellect. Congrats for escaping the megalith of lies and bullshit that passes for contemporary society..."

R. Crumb

Letter to yours truly, dated Feb. 9, 1993.

Crumb doesn't often hand out kudos.


wow

Image
The problem is, of course, that not only is economics bankrupt, but it has always been nothing more than politics in disguise... economics is a form of brain damage.

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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby Grifter » Thu 08 Feb 2007, 19:54:32

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aaron', '
')
Escaping from corporate cubeland



I did that too, and it is possibly the bravest thing I ever did.

I'm good at gardening too and that's a close second.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby PenultimateManStanding » Thu 08 Feb 2007, 20:39:38

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Heineken', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', 'I') finally, at long last, beat my older brother in ping pong. For me, that was a big deal.


I'll never forget finally beating my older brother at chess. He never played against me again. What a jerk.
At 8 years old, I could beat my older brother at chess. I even beat my dad. They wouldn't play me after awhile either. But all through childhood, I could never beat my brother at ping pong. He was glad to beat me there and I kept trying. He'd beat me again and I'd say ok, play me at chess and he would decline. So one day in my twenties I came home from working in the oil patch and beat him at ping pong!

But I have to tip my hat to oowolf. A personal letter of such warmth from R. Crumb. wow! Better than a photo of oneself with the President, any President, for certain.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby thuja » Thu 08 Feb 2007, 21:19:54

Hmm let's see-

Carving my own path in life which has included botanist, herbalist, acupuncturist, social worker and counselor.

Building and rebuilding the house I live in.

Marrying the woman I love and bringing a new daughter into this world. (With a fair bit of fear on that last one.)

Getting really deep with my yoga practice.

Writing a couple books and contributing to almanacs, magazines...

Creating a wonderful community of friends who I love and respect.

Having good relations with my family and my wife's family.

Traveled the world and lived in each place for a while- France, Britain, Thailand, Australia, Ecuador, Mexico and Guatemala

Went crazy for a few years. Glad to be back.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby PenultimateManStanding » Thu 08 Feb 2007, 21:30:34

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('thuja', '
')Went crazy for a few years. Glad to be back.
that's the interesting part. How is it you left the realm of "normal" and came back? That's what I'd like to hear about. What I want to know is how people deal with dire circumstances and survive. Forget the accomplishments, nobody cares. It's how you looked into the abyss and came back that matters.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby cynicalheretic » Thu 08 Feb 2007, 21:35:51

He can't tell you or the gnomes will get him
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby dunewalker » Fri 09 Feb 2007, 01:18:45

What a fun thread, thanks folks! Guess I'll add my few bits to the effort here--looking back on 60 years, these make me feel good:

While on active duty in the U.S. military during the height of the Vietnam war, writing a letter to my commander requesting a discharge on environmental and political grounds, and getting it within a week under honorable conditions.

Last time I was in an airplane was before astronauts landed on the moon.

Having never used an ATM.

The only time I ever had a credit check run by a major bureau, the result was: "this person does not exist in our data base".

After reading Thoreau's chapter on economy in Walden, I built a cabin spending less $ than did Thoreau (in modern dollar equivalent) out of mill scraps, etc. This cabin still exists some 25 years later.

Building a real house in violation of local building codes, carrying all materials up a forest trail, getting it "red-tagged" by the building inspector, discarding the summons, then many years later, re-visiting the site & discovering that the new owners had remodeled & added on to the original house, making it one of the most elegant dwellings in the area.

Celebrating my 50th birthday by running a 50 mile mountain trail run in less than 10 hours.

After a lifetime of back-to-the-land fantasies, finally realizing my dreams of owning a homestead with no debt, with a complete alternative energy power system (solar & wind) and understanding how to manage it.

Surviving the hand-digging of my well after dowsing its location, using only a shovel, bucket, block & tackle with tripod, and a ladder (depth 17 feet).

Living in a dome tent for almost 2 years on a platform atop a giant redwood stump, including experiencing a 7.1 earthquake in the middle of the night.

Probably the best was participating in the Diablo Wheelmen's 1976 Super Tour & Grand Tour of California (bicycling). The first 8 days involved riding 1,000 miles of northern California's mountainous northern region, including bicycling 210 miles of coastline in one day, from Humboldt Redwoods State Park to Bodega Bay on rt. 1, followed in the next 7 days by traversing all the 13 roaded passes in the Sierras, from Yuba on the north to Tioga on the south, an additional 1,000 miles.
"Wilderness is another civilization apart from our own." - H.D. Thoreau
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby threadbear » Fri 09 Feb 2007, 02:00:37

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('thuja', '
')Went crazy for a few years. Glad to be back.
that's the interesting part. How is it you left the realm of "normal" and came back? That's what I'd like to hear about. What I want to know is how people deal with dire circumstances and survive. Forget the accomplishments, nobody cares. It's how you looked into the abyss and came back that matters.


That's something I can relate to. When I was a teenager, I contracted a neurological illness. Very little was known about this illness at the time, so failing grades and unstable personality were considered the result of laziness, craziness etc...

It WAS devastating psychologically and I won't go into too much detail, except to say, I saw the inside of a few psych wards when I was a teenager. Thankfully, I was properly diagnosed by an infectious disease expert, close to 2 decades later, several years after it had gone into muscle and nerves of my body.

Hopefully, PMS, I've come through it somewhat intact. Some people walk down the street and observe the wealthy and accomplished and agonize that they're not them, miserable at what could have been. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. I walk down the street and see hookers and panhandlers and think how close I came to being one of them and how narrowly I missed becoming another suicide stat.

There are many many hookers, coke and heroin addicts who are coping the only way they can. They have real physical and emotional issues that prevent them from competing in the work world. I only managed to avoid this because what I had left of my brain worked amazingly well. Intuition took over where linear thinking got slammed.

So I guess--My greatest accomplishment?--I'm not a hooker! :) But how will that look on my obituary?

This awkward moment in self revelation isn't meant to take anything away from those who have struggled in other ways. People struggle through university, through raising children. We all struggle just to maintain dignity through a life that seems designed to be one long exercise in mundane annoyances and assaults on the ego. These are all worthy accomplishments, and I feel proud to share the forum with people who had the fortitude, stamina and grit to get through it.

I just wanted to speak up for the homeless schizophrenics, drug addicts, hookers and others who might be considered life's losers. For people battling major demons of one kind or another, just being able to face the day after waking up in a psyche ward, under a bridge or in a hotel that rents room by the hour, is testament to profound courage. It all depends on your perspective. It's one thing to face the abyss and come through it, it's another to face it in perpetuity.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby threadbear » Fri 09 Feb 2007, 02:08:17

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Shannymara', '.')

Chasing tornadoes before it was cool (2 years before Twister, you yahoos).

.


Now there's an exercise in spin. :lol:
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby mmasters » Fri 09 Feb 2007, 03:00:24

I suppose just the extreme range of experiences, I don't feel like I'm 27

Teenage years:
    dropped out of high school
    became a serious druggie for a few years
    spent some of those years in mental hospitals
Early 20s to current:
    did construction work
    financed my own college education through market trading
    went to community college then ended up getting a computer science degree from the U of Maryland
    during college discovered myself, resolved my psychological issues and in part did it with the aid of experimental psychedelics
    Decided on a whim after watching Donald Trump's "the Apprentice" to move to NYC and do corporate business projects. A couple months later I was sucessfully consulting on a project at Goldman Sachs (world's top investment bank)
    Sucessfully transitioned from IT to the business side - currently a mid-level business analyst specializing in high net worth client data for a large international bank
    Have managed to survive well and hold my own in NYC for about 3 years
    In the past 2 years have traveled to Mexico, Brazil and Jamaica
    Have no debt
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby cynicalheretic » Fri 09 Feb 2007, 03:11:47

Stupid younger than me more succesful than me jerk. I hope you eat a bad taco and spend 3 weeks on the crapper :P
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby Madpaddy » Fri 09 Feb 2007, 03:43:55

woodcutter wrote,
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hile on active duty in the U.S. military during the height of the Vietnam war, writing a letter to my commander requesting a discharge on environmental and political grounds, and getting it within a week under honorable conditions.

Last time I was in an airplane was before astronauts landed on the moon.

Having never used an ATM.


You see, I admire and envy that. Some of my achievements ie. pilots license, parachuting etc. actually embarrass me now in light of my PO re-education. I'm also a serving army officer. Somehow though, I think you and me would get along. My army peers certainly see me as a bit of a hippy. I take that as a compliment.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby Narz » Fri 09 Feb 2007, 04:52:22

Heinekan,

That ELS(D) sounds really interesting.
I'm on unemployment right now and am trying desperately to avoid returning to the "corporate cube!"

What kind of job did you get with that degree. I tried looking it up on google but did not come up with anything.

Can you please give me some info about the degree?

My college major was Lit. and I feel lost as to how to make money outside of the "cube."
“Seek simplicity but distrust it”
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby Narz » Fri 09 Feb 2007, 05:25:55

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mmasters', 'I') suppose just the extreme range of experiences, I don't feel like I'm 27

Teenage years:
    dropped out of high school
    became a serious druggie for a few years
    spent some of those years in mental hospitals


Early 20s to current:
    did construction work
    financed my own college education through market trading
    went to community college then ended up getting a computer science degree from the U of Maryland
    during college discovered myself, resolved my psychological issues and in part did it with the aid of experimental psychedelics
    Decided on a whim after watching Donald Trump's "the Apprentice" to move to NYC and do corporate business projects. A couple months later I was sucessfully consulting on a project at Goldman Sachs (world's top investment bank)
    Sucessfully transitioned from IT to the business side - currently a mid-level business analyst specializing in high net worth client data for a large international bank
    Have managed to survive well and hold my own in NYC for about 3 years
    In the past 2 years have traveled to Mexico, Brazil and Jamaica
    Have no debt

I can relate to alot of that (except for the corporate success bit.

By the way, the post above this one was my GF posting via my account (I told her to sign up for her own).

To answer the poll topic...
  • I survived thru a lonely childhood, five "alternative" boarding schools (one since closed by the Massachusetts Department of Social Services). Also a couple of psych wards for depression when
  • I dropped out of public school at fourteen and another at eighteen when I decided to take a few hundred pills after being homeless for a few weeks after going AWOL from my last boarding school.
  • Getting my GED and a good SAT score and getting into college a few months after.
  • The friends I made in college.
  • Being a bike messenger in New York for 9 months in 2000-'01 (that was fun!). :)
  • Winning a couple of chess tournaments (nothing special, Under 1500 rated)
  • My various, mostly failed entreprenuerial ventures : the most fun being selling books in NYC
  • Getting $25 total from three bored kids in the MidWest for a shareware game I made when I was twelve (uploaded via AOL when I was fifteen).
  • All the people I've met online (my current girlfriend included)
  • Not being afraid to move places, try different jobs, living situations (including living in a van for a few months, I had it set up pretty comfy actually and had access to electricity and running water nearby).
  • All the mental and emotional exploring of myself I've done.
  • All the books I've read.
  • Admiting my current weaknesses but not resigning myself to them.
  • Everything nice I've ever done for anyone.
  • Any time I ever stuck up for someone being teased/bullied.
  • Being a good "father" to my two cats. :-D
  • All the times in my life I've had fun :) (what is a bigger accmplishment than that, to gain the world but not enjoy it would be quite a waste)
“Seek simplicity but distrust it”
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby Bas » Fri 09 Feb 2007, 07:08:06

landing safely after my parachute wouldn't open on my 2nd ever jump (needless to say I quit after that)

finishing scientific preparational highschool in the required six years while being depressed and strained because of an alcoholic and stalking father.

Overcoming subsequent mental problems and the fact that I had to go to rehab at one point. (I'm glad other people posted similar things because I still find it difficult to talk about)

Going back to university after having to quit over said problems.

Backpacking on my own around Europe and absolutely loving it...

Not much yet besides these things :oops:
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby Heineken » Fri 09 Feb 2007, 11:40:39

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Narz', 'H')einekan,

That ELS(D) sounds really interesting.
I'm on unemployment right now and am trying desperately to avoid returning to the "corporate cube!"

What kind of job did you get with that degree. I tried looking it up on google but did not come up with anything.

Can you please give me some info about the degree?

My college major was Lit. and I feel lost as to how to make money outside of the "cube."


It is not a degree, Narz, it's a certification. Here's the link to the website of the organization that issues it:

http://www.bels.org/

Earning an ELS(D) is fairly involved (click on "Interested in Becoming a Board-Certified Editor?" and go from there). The first step is ELS, not ELS(D).

After 27 years of doing it (including a 7-year stint at Science mag), I finally dropped out of editing (and retired). Although I was something of a whiz at manuscript editing, I ultimately found it frustrating and unfulfilling. I often turned authors' papers from garbage into gold, but they got all the credit and all the glory and often failed to acknowledge my contributions. An amazing number of people out there think that all editors do is correct spelling and "fix the grammar." Nothing could be further from the truth.

I got into a huge argument with Rockdoc over this subject some years ago. He felt that only geologists should be allowed to edit other geologists' papers. He couldn't grasp the value of having input from an experienced wordsmith. He really pissed me off with his ignorance on the matter, and I actually put him on ignore, where he's been ever since.

Anyway, I second all the comments saying in essence that things like overcoming adversity, nurturing children, growing food, saving lives, and hiking in the wilderness matter most in the list of accomplishments.

Some extraordinary posts in this forum, BTW. I've come to think of people like Threadbear, Woodcutter, Madpaddy, and so many others as virtual mentors. How I wish we all lived in the same town, or on the same farm. Utopia . . . maybe.
Last edited by Heineken on Fri 09 Feb 2007, 12:00:02, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?

Unread postby Heineken » Fri 09 Feb 2007, 11:43:54

P.S. The high quality and general braininess of the members of this site make me especially fearful for the future, since most of us are doomerish.
Last edited by Heineken on Fri 09 Feb 2007, 12:01:39, edited 1 time in total.
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