Well, I do plan to live forever or die trying…but yeah, 2023 minus 1953 is 70 years.
I am not a professional race car driver. Never was. Never will be.
Did I win the regional cub scout Pinewood Derby in 1965? Well, since you asked…yes, yes I did.
Did I come in 3rd place? No, I did not come in 3rd place.
Did I come in 2nd place? No, I did not come in 2nd place.
Did I come in 1st place? Yes, yes I did come in 1st place. Numero Uno. The cub scout who left all other cub scouts in the dust. Winning really wasn’t a big deal for me. Maybe to others, it was a big deal, but not for me. For me, it just seemed kind of expected. No big deal really.
Did I cheat in order to come in 1st place in the regional 1965 Pinewood Derby? No, not blatantly. Sure, I did covertly drill a small lead weight into the wooden body of my Pinewood race car to give it a little extra gravity-assist—a little kick in the pants. I certainly don’t expect accolades for my sneaky ingenuity at such a young age…though I suppose it was kind of ingenious. I’ve never been one to brag and being a genius kid isn’t such a big deal.
Do I believe coming in 1st place in the regional 1965 Pinewood Derby is as important as, say, curing cancer? No, of course not, that would be silly. I mean, sure, I suppose it’s almost as important as curing cancer, but not exactly the same. Have any prominent cancer research scientists won the Pinewood Derby? Probably not. But, maybe they have other worthy skills.
No big deal…for a kid like me.
My playing can be found on a track from this compilation, which also features such luminaries as Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Roy Ayres, Lonnie Liston Smith, Idris Muhammad & more.
Have they ever heard of me ? No.
Still gives me a short ego trip though.
Examples of a humble brag:
“Jeez, since I turned 60 I have gotten so much weaker. I can barely do 50 pushups any more.”
“I’m an average driver. I only came in third in my last pro race.”
“I wish I was smarter than I am. Then maybe I would have graduated higher in my class at Harvard.”
A humble brag isn’t bragging about a small thing, it’s about exhibiting false humility that is actually a brag.
I am aware of this. I wanted a snappily named thread where one could brag about triviata “humbly, or less so”.
“I’ve never been very good at crosswords so the NYT one took me half an hour this weekend. That’s so far off the world record.”
On Wednesday of last week, my wife lamented the shortcomings of the radio in her 2009 Toyota Matrix. By Sunday, I had a new unit purchased and installed despite never having done anything behind the console of a car before. It was both easier than I feared and a little harder than it needed to be due to third party parts build to a tolerance of “close enough”.
I’m sure for some people it would have been completely rote and “back in MY day…” but I’m pleased with myself regardless and my wife is tickled to have access to maps, Spotify, Bluetooth phone and other such futuristic luxuries in her otherwise stock vehicle (it has crank windows for heavens sake).
That fly that’s been plaguing us all day. I killed it with one blow.
@Dr_Paprika you didn’t mention which day of the week’s NYT crossword - is it safe to assume it was a Sunday puzzle?
I once completed a whole week’s worth of NYT crossword puzzles (Mon - Sun) in ink.
This is so. I’ve done better, but usually do quite a bit worse.
Cecil said in a column many moons ago, in response to those claiming to complete their crosswords in ink, said “I do one better. I type.”
I don’t understand why that even means anything. If you get a letter wrong you just write over it. Plus it is less messy than watercolours.
I do every Sunday NYT crossword in ink (I don’t know why that matters, either; I just hate writing with a pencil). I complete almost all of them, though I do not time myself.
I can also recite the alphabet backwards as quickly as most can recite it forwards.
mmm
We just spent 10 weeks traveling to celebrate my wife’s retirement. A large part of the trip was to re-acquaint with various relatives who’d become (sort of) estranged, due to the last several years.
Our “bury the hatchet” tour was surprisingly successful. We plan to continue these contacts. Too much sand has fallen thru the hourglass and too little is left.
Come on he was just a baby rat in 1323. Ask about 1328.
Mea culpa. You’d think someone with an Einstein level IQ, such as myself, wouldn’t make a stupid mistake like conflating a humble brag with an insignificant brag, but I do just that on rare occasion. Guilty as charged!
But your re-creation of the event was brilliant piece of prose. I’m still chuckling. And by the way, your little ‘cheat’ was minuscule compared to the kids with fathers that took over the project and basically built the kid’s car for them.
(Hey, I was in a Pinewood Derby with a Tibby…did you graduate to Post 21 and help build a raft that spent nine days floating down the Mississippi?)
See, now that on the other hand is a sneak-brag…
.
You have GOT to start a thread on that!
Have any of you ever read a book by A. J. Jacobs?
His is the image that will appear in dictionaries next to the word humblebrag.
username checks out
About 3 months ago I came back from a 2-week trip to Tasmania.
At the baggage carousel, my bag was first out. My wife’s was 3rd.
I have mastered travel.