Meme me!

[tahnan]

ambar just invented this meme, so, well, let's see it spread:

"Add a comment to this journal telling me what you remember about first meeting me (online most certainly counts; if you have a choice between online and in person, I'll request the most amusing :-) I'll respond to each comment with my memories of you.

And, of course, if you like it, try it in your own journal."

Comments

[saxikath]

I think I remember meeting you in room 491 or 407 of the MIT student center at a party during an MIT mystery hunt. I don't remember a whole lot about the details, to be honest. I assume it was during the Oz hunt, because it wasn't while I was dressed up as a yo-yo and it wasn't while you were running it.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

That'd be about right: I unfortunately remember somewhat more distinctly being introduced to Kevin, who was standing next to you, since he was introduced as the man who'd written "I Am the Very Model of a Heroine Barbarian." Which is, you know, memorable. But that was indeed the first place we met, and it was the Oz Hunt.

[cnoocy]

I don't remember the first instant I ever saw you (that was 17 years ago) but I do remember that one of our first interactions involved trivia about the current season of Saturday Night Live (unless my memory is really bad.)

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, truth be told, my memory doesn't actually extend back 17 years...

[navrins]

"Hmm, he'd make a good semi-sane gun-waving intellectual."

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

That sounds about right, yes. I remember waving a gun at Bob, in fact; and I can't think when I would have met you before that.

[bookishfellow.livejournal.com]

I first "met" you over the phone, calling saxikath to discuss crash space for a visit (was it the MIT mystery hunt in January '02?). What I most remember is being tongue-tied over too many name options. Between Henry, Codex, Tahnan, Saxifrage, David, and Katherine, I couldn't get a word out.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Whereas I recall knowing you were going to call, so I was quite prepared to say, "This is Codex, isn't it?" Or David, or whatever it was I actually said, but yes.

We met in person not long after, and as I recall you arrived a little earlier than I expected, or else I woke up a little later than I hoped, since I think I was still bathrobed at the time.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Oh, I remember vividly the first time I met you; I could even turn up the actual date with a little research. It was that weekend that ablock and I, and you and Karen, were all visiting Scarp & co. at Rutgers and the whole gang went out to the Japanese steakhouse.

The part I remember is how I had just reread The Mists of Avalon and was therefore inexorably primed, upon being introduced to you, ingenuously to ask "Is that short for Lancelot?"... but unprepared for the resulting blood-curdling howl of indignance. Karen: "What? What did she ask?" You: "'Is-It-Short-For-?'!"

I also remember the second time I met you, a year or so later in rikchik's kitchen. But you've told that story for yourself more entertainingly than I shall. :-)

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Ahaha yes, naturally, Jersey. I could also scrounge up the date if necessary, since it would have been Spring Break of '99, and the week before Passover, both of which were reasons I picked that particular weekend.

I don't think I've been asked that question for a while, thankfully. I still don't know why, but I've always hated being called that.

[sensational.livejournal.com]

I think, and I think, and I realize that my memory is much worse than I thought it was. It was obviously online, and it was probably when I was 17, on PernMUSH.

Unless you count sometime in 1995 or 1996, when I most certainly met you all over again. Why can't I remember this? I imagine I said something to you about linguistics, or we met through Jessica or Mel.

Bah. I'm swiping this meme, anyhow.

[leighjen.livejournal.com]

Okay, everyone knows the story but here it is for the three people in the world who have not heard it:

I met Tahnan during the summer of 1992. He came up with several people from Hotlanta to visit the Hobbit (we disagree on just who was in the car that came up but Cnoocy, Cyllan, the Rabbi, and Tahnan all made it there somehow). Anyway, we all piled into the Kyuss Kar to find dinner and we ended up at O'Chucks. I remember watching this guy with his legs all folded weird on the chair* talking loud and waving his hands all over the place and thinking "Man, what an arrogant prick. He thinks he knows everything."

So, I hated Tahnan the first time we met. And then I got know him better. I found out he does know everything, so that's okay.

* I still have the image in my mind of how he looked that night. If you have ever seen Tahnan sit cross legged in a chair, you understand. If you haven't, you can not imagine how this man can amazingly twist himself into such a position. He still does it and it still amazes me.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Let's be quite clear, too, that the State of Tennessee ate my car keys that weekend, after having hit me in the chest with a rather large tree branch, so I was not in top form that weekend.

[leighjen.livejournal.com]

Everyone else gets charmed by you right away. Are you saying you are less charming in Tennessee? Does your charm vary by location? How charming are you in say, Wyoming? What about overseas? Are you more of less charming in Madagascar?

I do have to admit you were more charming the next time we met when I came up to Carleton. But I still liked Cyllan better. ;-)

Janelle/C'vin/Cat/etc

[willowisp.livejournal.com]

I found your little corner of the meme through sensational, and since a bit of digging revealed that I have, in fact, met you, I figured "what the heck".

I first met you on PernMUSH. While I once knew who you played there, I'm waffling between which one of two people you might have been. I was Janelle there, and my oaf^H^H^Hdragon was blue Lunarth. I definitely remember when you used to hang out on Too as Loomsie. I was C'vin on Too; though I answered to Cat there as well.

Re: Janelle/C'vin/Cat/etc

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Good Lord, that would have been right, although I can't for the life of me recall when exactly it would have been that we met...I was probably Encil at the time, yes?

[mattbeo.livejournal.com]

I first met you solving with Acme at the 2000 Oz Mystery Hunt. I remember your tongue-in-cheek suggestion that the answer for a puzzle that appeared to involve substituting H and B for O (or vice versa) was "handbook" [H and B = O, OK?] and the almost frightening speed with which you solved a cryptic.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Heavens, did I say that? I might've...I certainly remember you being in the next room, writing pastiches of Wizard of Oz songs with your accordion next to you. Of course, so much of the Mystery Hunt ends up blurry.

Do we really want to go here?

[lilisonna.livejournal.com]

Luckily, she drifted into the river, and I was able to pull her out.

Re: Do we really want to go here?

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Kiss?

Oh god what a miserable experience. Although, you know, "She's supposed to die in the end."

Re: Do we really want to go here?

[lilisonna.livejournal.com]

I still maintain my position. Ariel should have died gracefully and well, and then Disney could have gone on to make all sorts of interesting and entertaining movies.

The Red Shoes, for example. Dance the night away in red-hot slippers!

[littleowl.livejournal.com]

You made me laugh. You also took me aback because you were so funny, but so sarcastic too so I couldn't always tell when you were being funny and not. I just remember thinking that you were really cool and that for the first time since I was a little kid, I wasn't afraid of a boy - you were remarkably easy to talk with and made me feel like I had things to say that were worth saying.

The rest of what I remember is better left for e-mail;)

[littleowl.livejournal.com]

Oh and I suppose I ought to mention, July 1988, Franklin & Marshall College cafeteria with Cyndy, for the sake of context.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

I'm always amazed at the fact that other people can remember things. It's sort of like not being able to roll your tongue: you look at people, you see how easily they do it, and you find that no matter what you do you can't even understand how they're doing it when you try it with your own.

Memory is like that for me: I don't doubt that these things happened just this way, and it's not that I have no memories of you at CTY (quite the opposite!), but detail like that, man.

[littleowl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know, I've been scaring people with how much I remember for most of my life;) And to me it's as natural as breathing and I usually don't get it when others DON'T remember as much! *grin*

I can't imagine living without all the points of reference that are tucked away in my brain ....

aha!

[aelfsciene.livejournal.com]

Still wracking my brain over Ambar, but this one, I can do.

I can't recall meeting you before the RenFest outing my frosh year, which would have been...good heavens, 1994. One of the drivers left early, so six people were in a smallish car, and I ended up laying across people in the back seat, my head in your lap. ^_^ Terribly forward of me, meek North Dakotan I was at the time; I don't think I actually looked at you much through the entire experience, or I'd have blushed myself to death, or something.

Re: aha!

[aelfsciene.livejournal.com]

Hrm. Actually, I think I'm wrong. That's my first clear memory of you, but we must have met before; this had to be after freshman year, just at the start of sophomore. And my hair was red, wasn't it? I didn't start dyeing it till spring of '95. Huh. Now I'm all uncertain.

Don't think I'll be doing this in my own journal/blog, if my memories are this foggy!

Re: aha!

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

In fact, summer of 1995 is much more likely, because I believe it was after my ex had moved back to Atlanta. And yes, your hair was definitely red. And your head was definitely in my lap. And while you may not have looked at me much, I'm not sure I was able to stop looking at you for the whole trip back.

Although I think I had seen you in the Arena Theatre, talking to Justin Lazenby; and I wasn't in UNCO in 1995, only in 1993 and 1994. But that was at a distance, at any rate, and I'm not sure if I knew who you were at that point.

Re: aha!

[aelfsciene.livejournal.com]

Heh. At the time, I had no idea of this, I was just highly embarrassed to be in such a position with someone I hardly knew. But I remember you mentioning it later!

And I think I kinda remember seeing you around at UNCO productions, but just in the audience; things between Justin and I didn't last very far into the summer, so I wasn't around the theater quite as much, but I still saw all their shows.

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

Junior high, Atlanta GA, orientation day, 1986. We sat across or next to each other in the cafeteria and discussed Hitchhiker's Guide, and you used the "smatagotako" line when I sneezed.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Details. I just don't know how you people do it.

[silkblade.livejournal.com]

I remember this one!

I first met you in the quad. You were playing Fool's Errand on the computer and I was trying to help.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

In the quad? I remember it must've been David's computer, but, hm, where was that...'hue?

[silkblade.livejournal.com]

David's or Marc's computer, I can't remember which.

And, yup, the proctor. I've always thought of it as the quad since they had all the beds in one room and all the desks in the other, so there were 4 people living there.

I'm pretty sure that really was our very first meeting.

[red-queen.livejournal.com]

Auditions for the summer shows of '00. And you *did* make an excellent semi-sane gun-waving intellectual. And I still think you'll age well, since you already *have*.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Was it as late as auditions? I recall you proposing the play, or at least I think I recall you proposing it, because I know I'd read it before auditions. It's probable that the first time I saw you was when you were performing in Twelfth Night, though now I wonder if I already had some idea who you were (from playreadings?).

[outlawcoon.livejournal.com]

Face-to-face is such a more entertaining story. :)

"You have nothing worthwhile between B and Z." (later amended to B and S)

And then lilisonna restraining me from exploding over the insult to my books. :)

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Yes ah er well we all have our off-moments, really....

[chrysoula.livejournal.com]

Um. College. Borg lounge. You were the loud, amusing one.

I don't remember the specific scenario though, just a general sense of you drifting into my awareness.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

More or less the same, though my earliest memory of you is of you wearing your "Cymru/Wales" T-shirt. I don't think I'd ever seen "Cymru" before, so it stuck in my mind. Definitely in Borg Lounge though.

[drastic.livejournal.com]

I'm certain it involved a rapidfire sequence of puns.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Oh, very likely. :-)

Watson main lounge perhaps? Parr house?

[dtm]

Take chrysoula's entry and back it up a year. I'm pretty sure it involved meeting you as a less redheaded version of Mark. You certainly were part of that Mark-Becca crowd.

Re: Watson main lounge perhaps? Parr house?

[leighjen.livejournal.com]

We are all just a part of the Marc-Becca crowd.

Re: Watson main lounge perhaps? Parr house?

[cnoocy]

We are? :P

Re: Watson main lounge perhaps? Parr house?

[leighjen.livejournal.com]

Yep. There is such love there that we never want to leave.

Two words...

[in-parentheses.livejournal.com]

This thread seems to have died out awhile ago, but I'm only just finding it now and I want to play. So I have 2 words:

DON'T ASK!

(For context: It was spring of my freshman year, so April '97 or some such. I was having some...er, emotional problems, as one does in one's freshman year. I met tahnan through aatish2 and his then-girlfriend, and I made the fine first impression of crying, "DON'T ASK!" at him when he asked me how I was. I'm not positive it's the first time we met, but it's what I remember.)