It’s backwards because, yes, I am a guy. Looking at the whole M/F as Yin/Yang.
I chose the name because she and Athena are my two favorite personalities from Greek Mythology, and Anetha just doesn’t have the right ring to describe me.
I’ve used Simetra for every message board I’ve posted to so far. So if you’re out and about, and see Simetra. Good chance it’s me.
It also has some sentimental applications that I shant go into, save to say that they are there.
VB steps up to the mic, amid the loud hum of momentary feedback:
“Hhhhi. (Is this thing on?) Ummm…I’m Vestal Blue, and and and… I’m an odometer watcher…thankyouverymuch…”
VB returns to his chair, sweating and staring at the floor, to the sound of light, sympathetic applause.
“Ho jeez…”
Yeah! And doesn’t your head hurt?
As I’vce never owned a new vechicle until this one I had the pleasure of rolling over from single to two digits on the test drive, the 100th mile soon after, etc. I missed the 10k mark as I was talking to my companion on the way back from the Vegas DopeDebauch. Seeing the 100k mark is no novelty to me so I’ll let someone else have that pleasure.
I’ve always considered myself a math and science phobic based on my early educational anxieties and struggles in both areas. And yet…I spend a lot of mental energy looking for mathematic patterns in everything from phone number to dates to radio station frequencies to odometers. Damnit, I get so excited about those things sometimes too–like getting all the numbers in a date to form an equation of some type. PLD thinks that I actually have math-science talents and it’s just the phobia that makes me think I can’t do it.
BTW, (not that you asked) I never actually got lower than a C or C- in my classes related to these area, but it was the total frustration (pulling your hair out, throwing the book across the room kind) I felt in trying to do the homework and the fact that I was devastated when they dropped me from the “honors” track to basic over a C in Alegebra that convinced me.
While not nearly so accurate as Satan, I have occasionally watched the odometer/tripodometer to see if I’m exactly on target with the Mapquest directions.
Well, I’m home… and, of course, I missed my momentous mileage moment. And why did I miss it, you might ask? Because some idiot on the radio was reading a sappy poem and I got so aggravated about it that I drove .8 miles past the milestone.
I should be happy because my sweetie is getting home a day earlier than expected, but instead I’m hacked off at that radio commentator who took some drivel that he probably got in e-mail and distracted me! What a moron!! I’m going to stop listening to his station!! I’m going to listen to books on tape instead - that’ll show him!!
uh… sorry…
Think I’ll go defrost something for dinner now.
<sigh>
Hi. My name is purplebear, and I watch odometers and numbers. ::Polite applause::
WOW. I’ve done these things for years. Always thought I was the oddball for it too. Mr Bear and li’l bearcubs have always told me how strange I am for doing it. When I traded in my last 3 vehicles, I handed over my little notebook containing every tank <or partial tank-rare occurance> of gas, every oil change and date, and anything else I deemed noteworthy on the vehicle. And I do the numbers on license plates too, and phone numbers <did I tell you I’m called the walking phone book?> and many more.
I love your comments, Satan. I don’t believe I’m quite that bad, for which my kidlings are no doubt very grateful. 
<Shuffles quietly back to her seat, to listen in fascination at the other stories>
I empathize; Mrs. Blue says the same thing about me. An Algebra book has the capacity to terorize me, and yet I can do it verbally, with her asking the questions. Oh well. I too get a little thrill out of noticing number combos.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. At last I can tell Mrs. 'rath that I Am Not Alone. It really started back when I was driving from Atlanta to Cincinnati and back once or twice a month to see her and started doing mpg, trip time (elapsed/remaining), etc., in my head to stay awake. So it’s really her fault, not mine, right? And I can stop any time I want to.
I also like to pretend that ALL license plates are vanity plates, and make up secret meanings out of the letters and numbers.
Since we got the new car, we have taken to watching the odometer, just so we can brag about how many miles are on our car. For example:
We are now up to 815 miles!
No more new car smell, though. Evidently there is a three month limit on that.
Yes, yes, there are others! Not only do SO cygnus and I never miss an opportunity to watch the odometer turn over to interesting combinations, if we are apart when it happens, we’ll communicate the momentous occasion by phone (“Guess what, I finally saw 111111 this morning!”). A couple months ago we had a vehicle about to make a significant turn, and not only did we make a pointless drive through the country so we could watch it happen, we pulled over to the side of the road and took a (very blurry) picture of it. Distressingly, there is apparently some genetic component to this, because last year when we paid a weekend visit to the 'rents, a car of theirs was about to turn over the 100000 mark. Granted, we did not make the trip to see them specifically for this occasion, but not only did the four of us watch the odometer all the way to the grocery store on the magic trip, but we set the self-timer on the camera and took our picture in the driveway as soon as we got home (saying “We’ll know what the occasion was.”).
Oh, and the clock thing? Of course!!!
shucks, I’m feeling all warm and squishy inside now - I’m not alone in this
<sigh>
My lady friend and I took photos of her car at 123,456.7 miles Glad to see we are not alone.MTS
Ohh I don’t do some of that stuff (first off I don’t have a car…) but I always go around when driving long distances I’ll look at the signs to where we are going that tells me how many kilometers we are away and I’ll figure out how long we have till we get there (in my head no less) My Dad insinuated that into me by asking me whenever we went on driving trips and now I do it out of habit… I also go around looking at lisence plates and figuring out what words can be made by sticking in a letter or two in place of numbers or inbetween letters…
This is cool…
When I was 15, my family was taking a trip, and I was driving. I noticed that the odometer was about to turn 100,000 miles, and announced same to the rest of the family. As I counted down the tenths, my heart started to race, I could feel myself sweating slightly, and the anticipation was so bad I felt I was going to explode. As the odometer got to 100,000, my ears were pounding, but just after it rolled to 100,000.1, I remember thinking, “What? That’s IT??”
I don’t know what I was expecting…fireworks? A brass band? A certificate of honor delivered by a factory representative? I remember exactly where we were when it happened, too. Just outside of Tracy, CA, about a half mile east of Patterson Pass Road, on Interstate 205.
Me? I watch the odometer, sure. It’s only normal to want to take a picture of it as it rolls over from 99,999 to 100,000 miles (I guess).
None of you had the combinative scrota/ovaries to mention the way you look up and see 12:34 on the clock almost every day.
For the last 30 years, I have had this uncanny ability to look up and see the clock at 7:27, 7:37, 7:47 and 7:57. I swear, if they made one that read 7:67 and 7:77, I’d spot those times too. I guess I should have the middle name of, “Boeing”.
Gotta Jet,
Zenster
xizor– i do that too! Especially on long trips. a couple of months ago I went on a 13,500-mile trip and averaged 38.4 MPG. My minimum was about 32 (West Virginia) and my maximum was 44.9 (Colorado). Saving the receipts also provided a nonscientific sample of gas prices around the country. (Lowest: Ohio; highest: California).
As for the odometer: at 100,000 miles I was due for an oil change, so I timed it so that I pulled into the jiffy lube at exactly 100,000 miles just to see if the guy would comment on it (he did.) At 111,111 miles I took a night-time picture of the odometer. At 150,000 miles I pulled off to the side of the road and took a picture (I happened to be in Sublette County, Wyoming.)
Oh, I also count the number of counties in which I have driven my car (currently about half of the 3,141 counties in the USA).
I really need to get a life. :rolleyes:
Um watching the road can be interesting too…
I usually only notice the palindromes, when all the numbers read the same, and the milestones (1K, 5K, 10K, etc.). It seems I’ll get in the car at 14994 and notice it, but then forget it until I look down to see 15002. I guess I don’t have the gift.
Hey Zenster, I have a similar clock timing thing, only for me it’s 12:34 on my digital clock. I can not be looking at the clock for hours, then glance up all of a sudden - 12:34!
I call that ‘Ramones Time’ - if you’ve ever seen them live you’ll get that one…silly, that’s me!
The odometer reading on my car is 67236, it was 67236 yesterday and it will be 67236 tomorrow. The damn thing hasn’t worked since the day I got the thing, I guess thats because the speedometer doesn’t work either. I used to watch my o-meter in other cars I owned, just to remember when to change the oil. Now I look at license plates on other cars. I passed one tonight on my way home from work that read 969 MWY, I turned off before I could see who was driving but I wonder if the plate was intentional or just a happenence or just my tired dirty little mind.