Cool!

From a newsgroup post dated January 14, 2014 that was inexplicably pinned out of order, hence the six-years-plus jump. Will be dropping back next time:

So I’ve never had a checklist (I guess the usual term these days is “bucket list”), but I find myself looking back at various cool things I’ve done that I didn’t really expect to ever do.

(At least, I think they’re cool.)

Here are a few:
Flew a small plane.
Climbed the Great Wall.
Had a drink with Mickey Spillane
Dined with Leonard Nimoy at his home.
Scripted a comic book story with Alex Ross art.
Chatted with Roger Zelazny.
Shook hands with Isaac Asimov.
Went skiing. (Didn’t like it.)
Walked through the Circus Maximus.
Watched a storm blow in while standing atop the Eiffel Tower.
Dickered with a silk merchant in Shanghai’s Old Town.
Shot skeet off the tail of a cruise ship.
Drove a ’57 DeSoto up the Jersey Turnpike at 115 MPH.
Pegged the speedometer on a ’69 VW bus.
Handled a Byzantine manuscript that used crushed rubies for its red ink.
Had my stories reprinted in textbooks ranging from fifth grade to college level.
Climbed the dome of St. Peter’s.
Visited the crypts of St. Paul’s.
Rode a maglev train.
Sailed through a big Atlantic storm.
Got drunk with a girl in the Latin Quarter in Paris, and wound up married to her.
Crewed on the America’s Cup yacht Canada II in a race. Admittedly, a meaningless three-boat race staged as a tourist attraction, but still. I was starboard backstay grinder.)

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