Guess the Truth Game
A coworker I was chatting with suggested a game: I write down 10 things about myself and she would guess whether they are true or false. Of course, I came up with things about juggling:
1. I can juggle 6 balls for more than 100 throws.
2. I was the first person in Israel to juggle [flash] 9 balls.
3. I organized the 1996 Israeli juggling convention.
4. I taught a blind man to juggle 3 balls.
5. I taught my father to juggle 3 balls.
6. I can juggle and think about bananas at the same time.
7. I juggled 5 balls at the Kotel [Western Wall] during Sukkot of 1995.
8. I saved three Dilbert cartoons about juggling.
9. I juggled 5 balls on the airplane on my way to making Aliyah [immigrating to Israel].
10. I practice juggling for at least 20 minutes every morning before work [the terrible thing I still have to do].
I'll post the answers in the comments sometime. Irena should post her guesses first.
Yes, it's very hard to focus at work at this point. I still have a month to go. Thank God for ICQ.
Added January 22: Here are the answers.
posted by Scott Seltzer @ 1/12/2006 03:28:00 PM
12 comments
12 Comments:
All is true.
Irena
I bet she got that right.
Tarmo
1. 6 for more than 100, yeah
2. first in Israel for 9, yeah
3. organized a convention, no, you're not the organization type.
4. blind... iffy, I'm gonna say yes.
5. father, I'm gonna say no.
6. I'm sure you can juggle bananas too.
7. kotel juggling 5 balls - sure
8. Dilbert cartoons - this could be a trick - like there could only be 2 dilbert cartoons about juggling...
9. Juggling on the airplane... I'm gonna say no. the flight staff would've given you hell.
10. Only 20 minutes???
Congratulations on your new blog!!
I'll try.. :-)
1. 6 for more than 100 - yes
2. first in Israel for 9 - ummm.. no, if you count Michael...
3. organized a convention - I think you did (at least the jerusalem one)...
4. taught a blind man - maybe..... yes!
5. taught your father - why not?
6. bananas - I suppose.....
7. kotel juggling 5 balls - yes
8. Dilbert cartoons - yes
9. Juggling on the airplane - yes
10. 20 minutes before work - ummm...no...?
What's the grand prize??? :-)
Ori
Hi Scott,
Congratulations on your new blog, and even more congratulations on your decision to do what's right for you. I made that same decision quite a few years ago as you know, and hadn't looked back since.
As for the "idiots", I don't at all perceive them as such, but you do have to take their psychological standing point into account. You see if a co-worker, or just any "concerned citizen" is in such a point in life that he is frustrated or feels trapped, whether in a relationship or a career or whatever, then he can choose either depression or suppression. Suppressing it means selling himself on the notion that there is no choice, that the "adult" or "responsible" decision is to sacrifice him or herself and their true wishes on the altar of necessity. Thus when they see you undermining this rationale, they have to "fight back" to protect the only notion that is keeping them from falling into depression. It's just an expression of insecurity so don't take it to heart so much.
As for your challenge, let's see:
1. 6 for more than 100 - sure
2. first in Israel for 9 - I'm fairly sure you weren't the first one. I remember Sergei Perepelitzki (sp?) qualifying it in cascade AND reverse cascade with really large balls before you were even doing 7 I think. Besides you would never make such a statement about yourself, even if only because of the doubt that you might be wrong due to ignorance.
3. organized a convention - Of course. People who think you are not the organizing type don't know that you are going to organize next convention's workshops as usual, right? You are, yes?
4. Taught a blind man to juggle - I seriously doubt it. I say no.
5. Taught your father to juggle 3 balls. - Well, if you didn't it's definitely not because you're not obssessed enough. I say yes.
6. Can juggle and think about bananas at the same time. - That's easy. Now let's see you juggle and NOT think about bananas. Think that's easy? Go on, give it a try!
7. Juggled 5 balls at the Kotel [Western Wall] during Sukkot of 1995. - I definitely wouldn't put it past you... I say yes.
8. I saved three Dilbert cartoons about juggling. - Definitely yes, unless it's some kind of silly trick question and you actually saved only two or four Dilbert cartoons.
9. I juggled 5 balls on the airplane on my way to making Aliyah [immigrating to Israel]. - I say no. Too shy AND maybe you didn't even know how to juggle 5 balls back then?
10. I practice juggling for at least 20 minutes every morning before work [the terrible thing I still have to do]. - Huh? You lazy bum? I say not on your life ;-)
Now here's ten of mine, see how many you get right:
1. I managed once to flash 8 balls
2. I have a university degree in physics
3. I ran a pet-grooming shop for a short while
4. I was a successful computer programmer for 9 years
5. I make my living only from performing juggling shows
6. My son and me are working on a duo show
7. I can proficiently play the guitar, saxophone and piano
8. I juggle 10 hours a week on average
9. It took me 5 attempts to pass my driver's license test
10. I bared my butt once in a show
Go for it...
Itsik
So, let's see how I did:
1. Yup
2. I disagree with your definition or at least deem it to be misleading. When you write "the first in Israel" why would that exclude someone who learned it in Russia and then became Israeli? Maybe I should disqualify you on account of your American accent ;-) Anyway if you want to nitpick you never juggled 9 balls in Israel or outside Israel, as you only ever flashed them (12 catches, right?) so don't nitpick...
3. Yup
4. Yup
5. Yup
6. Yup
7. Missed that one
8. Like I wrote - silly trick question, and anyway if you check I think you'll see there actually are about 3 or 4 that mention juggling...
9. Yup
10. Yup
So, I got seven right, one wrong, one unprovable (Dilbert) and the last one a very dubious question indeed. So I'll call that 7.5 out of 9, now let's see you do mine, go on, you know you can...
Response regarding my claim to be the first in Israel to juggle 9 balls:
1. I disqualified people who learned the skill in another country for several reasons. First, it's not right for them to be able to have the distinction for multiple countries. Second, I wouldn't count someone who came to Israel with a travelling circus and was the first to do 9 balls on Israeli soil. Whereas they brought the skill with them, I developed it here myself.
2. Regarding Israeli born versus immigrants, what about someone who came here at a young age - where do you draw the line? I consider my juggling adolescence to have occurred in Israel since I could only do a handful of 3 ball tricks before I got here (and maybe a touch of 4 ball fountain). It was more than 4 years of living in Israel before I flashed 9.
3. Would it be better if I changed the wording to "I was the first person in Israel to learn to juggle 9 balls."
So it still means you did??
What about Mikhail Staroselezky????
You can disqualify him just like that???
And.. what do you mean by "juggling 9 balls"? 18 catches?
I think he is saying that Mikhail doesn't count because he learned his juggling abroad. Tell me Scott, perhaps he only learned up to 8 abroad and then only learned 9 here, does that count? Or perhaps only if you learned 5 abroad? Where do you draw the line? What about having developed your entire senso-motoric system abroad (as you did, in the womb of your U.S. based mother) and then merely applying it to eventually flash 9 balls in Israel?
Your example of "transient circus performer, passing through Israel juggling 9 balls" is completely irrelevant, as we are talking about the "first Israeli to juggle 9 balls".
What you are doing in your definition is making yourself to be more Israeli (or at least more of an Israeli-juggler) than other people because more of your juggling-tuition years were spent here. This is an arbitrary definition. Shai Agnon is "The Israeli Nobel prize laureate" even thogh most of his writing years were spent in Europe, and even though he wrote in Yiddish even after he immigrated to Israel. He wrote those books he got the Nobel prize for while he was Israeli, that's all that counts. Sergei and Mikhail juggled those 9 balls while they were Israeli citizens, that's all they need to count as "Isareli 9 ball jugglers", at least in my book.
And by the way, I don't think that diminishes one bit from your amazing achievement of 12 catches with 9 balls. Congratulations on that!
My point is that they made the achievement when they were Russians. I did it only after I was Israeli.
Itsik, what if Boris Pasternack (a Jew who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958) had immigrated to Israel after his award but before Agnon won in 1966? Would he be deserving of the title of first Israeli Nobel Prize for Literature?
It would definitely make him an Israeli who has won the Nobel Prize, at least in my view. I don't think there is such a thing as an "Israeli Nobel Prize", but there is such a thing as an "Israeli who has won a Nobel Prize". Having had long conversations with both Sergei and Mikhail, in Hebrew, concerning (among other things) their years of problems of finding employment in Israel etc., I consider them Israelis in more than the technical sense.
However, seeing that it is very important for you, I hereby declare you to be "The first person to acquire the abiity to flash 9 balls on Israeli ground" (p.s., what about that Israeli guy who went to Circumedia, learned to juggler 9 balls there and then returned?) (just kidding).
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