LOL! I think I even amused myself when filming it! Being in Bangkok was totally coincidental and just made for a great opportunity to come across as more exotic than I am!
The thing I've found is that you can pretty much get away with it. I try to find somewhere with as few people as possible, but then you just go for it.
I do have a serious video in editing where someone that I passed waves to the camera behind my back though...
Ah yes - but who'd want to kill me anyway? I imagine the paperwork alone wouldn't be worth the hassle. As with all death threats there's a big gap between words and actions.
Yes! I'm a bit curious to see what people come up with!
Great to see a bit of footage from your current travels! =)
I relate to fact 1 a fair bit, hehe..But in practice I plan routes before going places if I haven't been there so it is really only on my spontaneous journeys that I can end up going in circles or the like ;)
LOL! It was actually the incident where you and I were standing outside the Galleries Victoria in our home city trying to figure out which way to turn to get down to Circular Quay that prompted Fact 1!! I'm also a great one for advance planning, so I think we've both found the same solution.
Loads more footage to come. Now to just deal with that pesky editing...
Oh, I can navigate OK if I have maps & stuff - in fact I'm pretty good at it. It's just when I don't have any help, I can never figure out what direction things are. I think my brain is too easily distracted to remember where stuff is!
Well, I remember the way to things based on what was said while we traveled there at certain points and odd buildings/signs/objects along the road/street. That's how I do it at least. Kind of like photographic/audio memory.
Oh, I've heard that's a good way to remember stuff. I saw a documentary about people with great memories, and they all have some unconventional way of associating things that lets them remember stuff.
Yay for the video! Somewhat related to the first quirk you mentioned, lately I've had a hard time locating the cardinal directions after a while on a trip. I want to buy a compass =) According to your channel's flag you are in germany now. Hope everything is going ok, remember to take lots of footage!
Yay! Thanks Fabian, yeah, I have a lot of footage, the trick is to figure out how to put it into coherent stories. I think I might post them out of order.
(chuckle) A great video, Michael. But, uh, I think you can probably pick milk up at the local grocery. You needn't go to Bankok for it. Funny stuff, my friend. And a wonderful choice of A.S.Angelo as a tag. I shall enjoy seeing what the Maestro determines to be quirky as apart from 'the norm'.
1) I tend to wear black in those circumstances. It stops people from talking to you.
2) Hell yeah. I have a stash of Cohibas sitting in a humidor at home as well as some Montecristos and Romeo y Julietas.
3) If I worked in a building that needed nuclear blast doors I'd probably be pretty serious too. To be fair, the Canadians working there were funny - one of them was responsible for the 'Cheyenne Valley' line above.
1) You're kidding - I would have thought people who didn't get to see the sweet natured guy underneath would cross the street to avoid talking to you! I learnt when travelling that wearing a mid-blue shirt meant I'd talk to strangers all day, and weraing a black one meant I'd never talk to anyone.
2) Yes - um - of course. We'd all hate to break that dumb-ass law.
3) Hell yeah. I still see Corner Gas as a documentary series. (I lived in Canada for a year as a kid.)
Sooo cool! Wow, you have some quirky facts hahaha, I had no idea you had no sense of direction, from what I assumed I thought you had full sense of where you were going all the time!
Guantanamo bay is over-rated =P, aren't cuban cigars even banned in America? haha
That's so cool that you were threatened for your life too haha, that's definitely something that doesn't happen every day..
I suppose I'll post my response to this eventually.. I'll try to make it as entertaining as possible also..
LOL! Nah, I just poke my head up every once in a while to see where I am. Sometimes it's interesting.
The rules for Americans/Cuba are weird. You can physically visit there but can't spend any money as that's 'aiding the enemy'. That includes hotels, taxis, food etc so it's effectively a ban. You're right about the cigars, you can't import them.
LOL - maybe to you it doesn't... ;P rofl!
No panic with the response. Do it if you feel like it. Seriously, no pressure.
Aha! Good evil plan there Ash! Actually Americans just go in via Canada or Mexico. The Cubans deliberately don't stamp your passport, so as long as you aren't carrying incriminating stuff back with you you'd probably be fine. I heard that since 9/11 they're more strict about lying to US Immigration though.
LOL! You've missed the point. There ARE no direct flights from the US to Cuba on commercial airlines. In fact, even me as an Australian can't be flown on a US airline if Cuba is on my ticket. United couldn't fly me from say LA to NY if two weeks later I was going to Havana on the same piece of paper. So if an American wants to go to Cuba, they HAVE to go through a third country.
LOL! I think I overdo the atmospheric airport scenes a bit in upcoming videos. I think I have about 12 flights within 4 weeks (3 flights to go), so there'll be a lot of them coming up!
I thought you might like the Angelo one - now to see if he does it! ;D
1) Cool, but let's always take along a navigator if we meet up.
2) I know! Most Americans have shutters that come down if you mention you've been to Cuba. I'd have thought they'd have been more curious about it considering the rest of the world has no restrictions on visiting.
3) Yeah, like I said above, it really focusses your attention on the subject at hand.
Yeah, I seriously hope she is fine. I need to figure out how to let her know I've posted this. Rickmue seems to be in contact.
bookmarked two of your external links for use in my novel about the formation of the CIA. you would make a good prototype character for a spy or counterspy. No one would ever suspect someone who spends time in hotel rooms with Emmy Pirate as being involved in secret warfare. ROFLMAO You could get away with murder and no one would suspect you. Lucky guy. Did you see The Recruit? I recommend it if you haven't already.
LOL! Yes, my incompetence would be my cover! The Australian spy agencies recruit fairly openly, so it is something that has crossed my mind, but I have a terrible memory for detail, so I figure I'd be pretty bad at it.
Again, flitting between countries makes everything possible. I travel with two passports anyway, which lends an air of the James Bonds to border crossings. This week I tried for 5 countries in a day. The reason I failed will be in an upcoming video!
A spy with a horrible sense of direction. That could be a comedy film starring Chevy Chase LMAO! I shouldn't laugh though, when the sun goes down, I need assistance ;)
I bought a GPS unit last spring and I love it. I do well with a map, but the GPS is a lot easier to carry around. I can navigate via VOR too (in a flight sim, of course).
Him: "There are three important rules here. 1) Photography is prohibited. 2) Don't wander off. 3) The use of deadly force is authorized within this facility."
Me: "Sorry, could you repeat the first two again?!!"
Nah, this was before all the TSA stuff. This was just your run-of-the-mill pre-911 death threat from the US military. It sure worked though!
LOL! Yeah, flying is a little easier because you're basically over a big map. Walk out of a building & ask me if we need to go left or right and it's a different story!
Guantanamo was just a private tour we organised to go look at the US base, but you have to get permission and pass through the Cuban base to get there.
Cheyenne Mountain was through a friend of my Dad who was one of the facility commanders. They used to do public tours but we scored a VIP one which was pretty cool.
Yes - that's exactly the one. I saw War Games years before I went there, so it was pretty awesome to go there in real life. The engineering in the facility is amazing (follow the Wiki article 'external links' for more info).
I asked them about their 'nuclear proof' bunker & said it must be the biggest target in the world. They said because they were an early warning center, their job was over in the first 5 minutes of the war, after that the Russians would turn them into 'Cheyenne Valley'.
Haha Cheyenne Valley. Nice prospect for the employees there :D
I love that film War Games. It was the film that first sparked off my interest in computers.
I saw a documentary about it on Discovery once. The whole fascillity is mounted on giant springs for shock absorbance. It's an amazing little city inside a mountain.
Ah yes! The ancient one he uses in the movie that seemed so cool at the time! It was actually a real computer, just not many were made. I couldn't believe how long it took him to get the hint from Ally Sheedy though.
Yes - no rigid part of the building touches the mountain. It's all on giant springs and all pipes have big flexible connections. It is truly amazing. The survival systems there are cool. Big water storage like a lake, huge banks of enormous deisel engines for power etc.
"...something's gone terribly wrong..."
Haha! Love it.
OceanB333 3 years ago
LOL! I think I even amused myself when filming it! Being in Bangkok was totally coincidental and just made for a great opportunity to come across as more exotic than I am!
zebidee55 3 years ago
I wish I could have the guts tot talk to a camera in public. :/
paisleyduck 3 years ago
The thing I've found is that you can pretty much get away with it. I try to find somewhere with as few people as possible, but then you just go for it.
I do have a serious video in editing where someone that I passed waves to the camera behind my back though...
zebidee55 3 years ago
I want to hear the whole story about fact three straight from your mouth on skype/msn/stickam. :D
ThreeofThree 3 years ago
Oh hell yeah Ash! Will do. Like I said somewhere else, the problem I had was narrowing down to these facts, so feel free to ask me anything anytime.
zebidee55 3 years ago
Yay!
ThreeofThree 3 years ago
anything?
mwaha.. ;D
blueastcoast 3 years ago
LOL! Ash, not you! ;DDD
Actually, you know the same goes for you.
zebidee55 3 years ago
and you say I'm cheeky?
hahahaha =P
blueastcoast 3 years ago
Ah - cool! Will do. Wow you live in a pretty part of the world then.
Coincidentally at the moment I'm back in the part of Germany where I think you said you were stationed before.
zebidee55 3 years ago
5 Quirky stars!
And a Howdo, Do you do?
Regards from the sea,
Morgan
InsatiableBlonde 3 years ago
5 big thankyous Morgan!
I do very well - life is interesting.
I think I might stick around.
Regards from the mountains,
Michael.
zebidee55 3 years ago
Quirky, indeed, my friend. I'm glad the guy found no reason to kill you!! I'm looking forward to your taggees' responses, too.
dancegypsy 3 years ago
Ah yes - but who'd want to kill me anyway? I imagine the paperwork alone wouldn't be worth the hassle. As with all death threats there's a big gap between words and actions.
Yes! I'm a bit curious to see what people come up with!
zebidee55 3 years ago
Great to see a bit of footage from your current travels! =)
I relate to fact 1 a fair bit, hehe..But in practice I plan routes before going places if I haven't been there so it is really only on my spontaneous journeys that I can end up going in circles or the like ;)
TheRavenOfPoe 3 years ago
LOL! It was actually the incident where you and I were standing outside the Galleries Victoria in our home city trying to figure out which way to turn to get down to Circular Quay that prompted Fact 1!! I'm also a great one for advance planning, so I think we've both found the same solution.
Loads more footage to come. Now to just deal with that pesky editing...
zebidee55 3 years ago
All I need is a map and road signs (sometimes there are none but I manage). I'm Michelle's navigator in the car. :D
ThreeofThree 3 years ago
Oh, I can navigate OK if I have maps & stuff - in fact I'm pretty good at it. It's just when I don't have any help, I can never figure out what direction things are. I think my brain is too easily distracted to remember where stuff is!
zebidee55 3 years ago
Well, I remember the way to things based on what was said while we traveled there at certain points and odd buildings/signs/objects along the road/street. That's how I do it at least. Kind of like photographic/audio memory.
ThreeofThree 3 years ago
Oh, I've heard that's a good way to remember stuff. I saw a documentary about people with great memories, and they all have some unconventional way of associating things that lets them remember stuff.
zebidee55 3 years ago
Oh! I wanna see that. I've always that the audio part of my memory of directions is odd. :D
ThreeofThree 3 years ago
Odd but cool. I keep coming across people with synasthesia where they see numbers, words and letters as having colours. Very interesting.
zebidee55 3 years ago
Hm... I know I don't have that. haha For people I think of colors but that's do to outside factors. :D
ThreeofThree 3 years ago
Yay for the video! Somewhat related to the first quirk you mentioned, lately I've had a hard time locating the cardinal directions after a while on a trip. I want to buy a compass =) According to your channel's flag you are in germany now. Hope everything is going ok, remember to take lots of footage!
ZachrielCL 3 years ago
Yay! Thanks Fabian, yeah, I have a lot of footage, the trick is to figure out how to put it into coherent stories. I think I might post them out of order.
zebidee55 3 years ago
Wow, great facts. I am lucky I have great direction and I never get lost.
Blizzeekitty 3 years ago
That'd be a great superpower! I'm impressed. You get to lead at all future gatherings then.
zebidee55 3 years ago
You scallywag! Do you know how hard it was for me to track you down?! All good now though. ;P
Haha! I've thought about doing one of those '50 Facts' videos you sometimes see, but I think I'll save them up for more games.
rofl! Funny thing is I was busily filming and had just been fed before arrival, so I only grabbed a drink off it!
SO pleased you're still around. Huge hug.
zebidee55 3 years ago
(chuckle) A great video, Michael. But, uh, I think you can probably pick milk up at the local grocery. You needn't go to Bankok for it. Funny stuff, my friend. And a wonderful choice of A.S.Angelo as a tag. I shall enjoy seeing what the Maestro determines to be quirky as apart from 'the norm'.
harleynanda 3 years ago
LOL! Yeah, I just thought it was a great way to illustrate the point. Come to think of it, I never DID wind up getting that milk.
Yes! Like I said in the info panel, because of the circumstances, playing the game is entirely optional, but he should have a few interesting ones!
zebidee55 3 years ago
So exactly what did you see at Area 51? come on, admit it, you were there lol
Pippilly 3 years ago
You'd have to pin me down and tickle me to find out Pip!
When you walk into a room in that facility, they do tend to look like they've shoved the aliens into the cupboard and are waiting for you to leave.
Hmmm - Area 51. I'll have to add it to my list...
Good luck for 888 - I'm so jealous! Booked my hotel room for Munich last night.
zebidee55 3 years ago
1). Be sure to wear neutral colors if you're ever in a rough neighborhood.
2). Did you score any good cigars?
3). Sounds like those guys have no sense of humor.
DILLIGAF333 3 years ago
1) I tend to wear black in those circumstances. It stops people from talking to you.
2) Hell yeah. I have a stash of Cohibas sitting in a humidor at home as well as some Montecristos and Romeo y Julietas.
3) If I worked in a building that needed nuclear blast doors I'd probably be pretty serious too. To be fair, the Canadians working there were funny - one of them was responsible for the 'Cheyenne Valley' line above.
zebidee55 3 years ago
1). It has yet to work for me. What am I doing wrong?
2). I like Romeo y Julietas. I mean, the Domincan ones, because, you know, you can't get Cubanos here. Because that would be illegal. Yeah.
3). Canadians are responsible for some very good comedy over the years.
DILLIGAF333 3 years ago
1) You're kidding - I would have thought people who didn't get to see the sweet natured guy underneath would cross the street to avoid talking to you! I learnt when travelling that wearing a mid-blue shirt meant I'd talk to strangers all day, and weraing a black one meant I'd never talk to anyone.
2) Yes - um - of course. We'd all hate to break that dumb-ass law.
3) Hell yeah. I still see Corner Gas as a documentary series. (I lived in Canada for a year as a kid.)
zebidee55 3 years ago
1) Never does that for me. I wear black all the time. :D Must be different for females.
2) At least not that openly... ;)
ThreeofThree 3 years ago
LOL! Yes, being 'a cute chick dressed in black' would certainly counteract the simply 'dressed in black' effect for you Ash!
Oh, and of course I'd never encourage you to break the law (at least not in a public forum!)
zebidee55 3 years ago
hahaha Still think it's the female thing. :D
*coughs* Mhmmmm. Riiiiight. ;D
ThreeofThree 3 years ago
LOL! Aren't most 'cute chicks' female?
Oh and *cough* yeah... ;DDDD
zebidee55 3 years ago
I'm astonished at you Michael. You forgot the transexuals/transgender people. They can be cute chicks as well. :D
Mhmmmm. ;)
ThreeofThree 3 years ago
LOL! You are of course right again Ash!
zebidee55 3 years ago
Sooo cool! Wow, you have some quirky facts hahaha, I had no idea you had no sense of direction, from what I assumed I thought you had full sense of where you were going all the time!
Guantanamo bay is over-rated =P, aren't cuban cigars even banned in America? haha
That's so cool that you were threatened for your life too haha, that's definitely something that doesn't happen every day..
I suppose I'll post my response to this eventually.. I'll try to make it as entertaining as possible also..
blueastcoast 3 years ago
LOL! Nah, I just poke my head up every once in a while to see where I am. Sometimes it's interesting.
The rules for Americans/Cuba are weird. You can physically visit there but can't spend any money as that's 'aiding the enemy'. That includes hotels, taxis, food etc so it's effectively a ban. You're right about the cigars, you can't import them.
LOL - maybe to you it doesn't... ;P rofl!
No panic with the response. Do it if you feel like it. Seriously, no pressure.
zebidee55 3 years ago
hehe Then I'll bring along a friend from another country and they'll rent the room and I'll pay them my half. :D
ThreeofThree 3 years ago
Aha! Good evil plan there Ash! Actually Americans just go in via Canada or Mexico. The Cubans deliberately don't stamp your passport, so as long as you aren't carrying incriminating stuff back with you you'd probably be fine. I heard that since 9/11 they're more strict about lying to US Immigration though.
zebidee55 3 years ago
Thanks for the tip. But I think my way is less hassle. ;D
ThreeofThree 3 years ago
LOL! You've missed the point. There ARE no direct flights from the US to Cuba on commercial airlines. In fact, even me as an Australian can't be flown on a US airline if Cuba is on my ticket. United couldn't fly me from say LA to NY if two weeks later I was going to Havana on the same piece of paper. So if an American wants to go to Cuba, they HAVE to go through a third country.
zebidee55 3 years ago
And my education continues... ;D
ThreeofThree 3 years ago
Interesting quirky facts and great tags!! Nice atmospheric airport scenes too!!
Hope you have a great week :)
Sunbeam :)
xxxSunbeamxxx 3 years ago
LOL! I think I overdo the atmospheric airport scenes a bit in upcoming videos. I think I have about 12 flights within 4 weeks (3 flights to go), so there'll be a lot of them coming up!
I thought you might like the Angelo one - now to see if he does it! ;D
zebidee55 3 years ago
1) Me too
2) Wow!
3) Yikes!
I love your reasons for uploading this. Hoefully Shauna will be okay.
OhCurt 3 years ago
1) Cool, but let's always take along a navigator if we meet up.
2) I know! Most Americans have shutters that come down if you mention you've been to Cuba. I'd have thought they'd have been more curious about it considering the rest of the world has no restrictions on visiting.
3) Yeah, like I said above, it really focusses your attention on the subject at hand.
Yeah, I seriously hope she is fine. I need to figure out how to let her know I've posted this. Rickmue seems to be in contact.
zebidee55 3 years ago
whoa, interesting
ouREvilone 3 years ago
Thanks Rich. It was tricky picking facts that counted as 'quirky'. I had a lot that were just plain weird...
zebidee55 3 years ago
I look forward to that video.
anon2U224 3 years ago
Hopefully it won't fall into my usual black hole of videos to be edited!
zebidee55 3 years ago
bookmarked two of your external links for use in my novel about the formation of the CIA. you would make a good prototype character for a spy or counterspy. No one would ever suspect someone who spends time in hotel rooms with Emmy Pirate as being involved in secret warfare. ROFLMAO You could get away with murder and no one would suspect you. Lucky guy. Did you see The Recruit? I recommend it if you haven't already.
anon2U224 3 years ago
LOL! Yes, my incompetence would be my cover! The Australian spy agencies recruit fairly openly, so it is something that has crossed my mind, but I have a terrible memory for detail, so I figure I'd be pretty bad at it.
Again, flitting between countries makes everything possible. I travel with two passports anyway, which lends an air of the James Bonds to border crossings. This week I tried for 5 countries in a day. The reason I failed will be in an upcoming video!
zebidee55 3 years ago
A spy with a horrible sense of direction. That could be a comedy film starring Chevy Chase LMAO! I shouldn't laugh though, when the sun goes down, I need assistance ;)
hopper1 3 years ago
LOL! From someone that makes his living driving around unfamiliar roads, that can't be a good thing.
I SO love the invention of in-car GPS. Pity I don't own one though...
zebidee55 3 years ago
I bought a GPS unit last spring and I love it. I do well with a map, but the GPS is a lot easier to carry around. I can navigate via VOR too (in a flight sim, of course).
hopper1 3 years ago
I've borrowed a few and had them in rental cars & they're brilliant. They do try to make me take expensive toll roads though.
LOL! All those weird clocks in planes just confuse me, so I look out the window.
zebidee55 3 years ago
So what happened with that thing in Colorado when you were 21. Did he kill you or not? ;)
Immigration office FTW!
anakin1814 3 years ago
Turns out he didn't have to after all!
The exact conversation went:
Him: "There are three important rules here. 1) Photography is prohibited. 2) Don't wander off. 3) The use of deadly force is authorized within this facility."
Me: "Sorry, could you repeat the first two again?!!"
Nah, this was before all the TSA stuff. This was just your run-of-the-mill pre-911 death threat from the US military. It sure worked though!
zebidee55 3 years ago
What, you have no sense of direction?? That's not good for a pilot. Remember me not to let you fly me around, we'll run out of gas and crash :p
How did you get to visit all those cool secret bases and stuff? Sounds very exciting!
EddyBergman 3 years ago
LOL! Yeah, flying is a little easier because you're basically over a big map. Walk out of a building & ask me if we need to go left or right and it's a different story!
Guantanamo was just a private tour we organised to go look at the US base, but you have to get permission and pass through the Cuban base to get there.
Cheyenne Mountain was through a friend of my Dad who was one of the facility commanders. They used to do public tours but we scored a VIP one which was pretty cool.
zebidee55 3 years ago
Is Cheyenne Mountain the same as NORAD control? The nuclear-strike free bunker that featured in the film 'War Games'?
EddyBergman 3 years ago
Yes - that's exactly the one. I saw War Games years before I went there, so it was pretty awesome to go there in real life. The engineering in the facility is amazing (follow the Wiki article 'external links' for more info).
I asked them about their 'nuclear proof' bunker & said it must be the biggest target in the world. They said because they were an early warning center, their job was over in the first 5 minutes of the war, after that the Russians would turn them into 'Cheyenne Valley'.
zebidee55 3 years ago
Haha Cheyenne Valley. Nice prospect for the employees there :D
I love that film War Games. It was the film that first sparked off my interest in computers.
I saw a documentary about it on Discovery once. The whole fascillity is mounted on giant springs for shock absorbance. It's an amazing little city inside a mountain.
EddyBergman 3 years ago
Ah yes! The ancient one he uses in the movie that seemed so cool at the time! It was actually a real computer, just not many were made. I couldn't believe how long it took him to get the hint from Ally Sheedy though.
Yes - no rigid part of the building touches the mountain. It's all on giant springs and all pipes have big flexible connections. It is truly amazing. The survival systems there are cool. Big water storage like a lake, huge banks of enormous deisel engines for power etc.
zebidee55 3 years ago
Well he was sortof a nerd wasn't he and they take a long time to get hints from girls :)
EddyBergman 3 years ago
LOL! Don't we all... ;DD
zebidee55 3 years ago
Women are a lifetimes study :D
EddyBergman 3 years ago
LOL! That's my plan. I just tend to flick to the pictures though... ;DDDD
zebidee55 3 years ago
That was awesome, I'll watch it again when I'm home (dinner's waiting :).
EddyBergman 3 years ago
Seriously, that's a MUCH higher priority! I wish dinner was waiting for me here *sigh*
zebidee55 3 years ago