pthalogreen did this, and it seemed like a good thing to do, so I'm copying it. 25 things which I have accomplished in my life (in no particular order):
- When I was 10 or 11, I took the entrance exams for a couple of private schools, and got accepted into both. One of them offered me a scholarship based on my very high mark in my maths paper (I ended up going to the other one; my parents didn't actually tell me about the offered scholarship until several years later).
- In GCSE (standardised national exams, at age 16) maths, we had a teacher who was a really nice guy, but not the best teacher in the world. So, in the areas where he wasn't clear, I taught myself from the textbook, and then taught it to the two people I sat next to in class. I ended up with an A*, and I think they both got As.
- 6A*s, 1A and 3Bs at GCSE, then 5As at A-level (exams at age 18) has to be worth something.
- I got a place at one of the world's top universities (Oxford; specifically, Oriel College). I may have dropped out after a couple of terms, but getting in was an achievement.
- When I was 15, I was on my school's chemistry team, that came second (by one point) in a regional competition.
- When I was 17 (I think) I appeared on the quiz show, "15 to 1 schools" where my school's team won our heat, but didn't get enough points to reach the next round (despite my embarassing inability to tell the Mary Rose from the Mary Celeste.
- I still remember enough French to be confident of being able to communicate with a monolingual francophone, despite not having to actually use any of my French in 8 years.
- I had a letter published in the Young Telegraph when I was young.
- I've managed to get out of bed every day now for over a year.
- I did various LJ volunteer type stuff, and helped to make syndication and documentation suck less than they otherwise would do.
- I have 8 exes, 1 current and a couple of nevers, and none of them hate me. Or if they do, they hide it very well.
- Provided that I manage to pass the exams I'm currently taking, I've completed 1/2 of a master's degree (MPhys). Considering it took me three attempt to get beyond a couple of terms, that's definitely worth something.
- I achieved sufficient notoriety on parts of Usenet, that I'd relatively often meet people who knew who I was, when I didn't know them.
- I raised something like £100 for Comic Relief a couple of years ago by doing Daft Things.
- 24 full revolutions around the sun and still not dead.
- I learned perspective and proportion (and I'm not talking art here).
- I finally learned to realise just how damn cool I am, without developing a big head (I think).
- When I was 17, I went on holiday to Iceland with a couple of friends, and we actually went a fair way off the beaten track. Not too far, but fairly impressive for a group of 17 year olds.
- I've managed to go most of the way towards beating depression. And good riddance, I say.
- I've made people think.
- I've made people laugh.
- I won a prize for being one of the best three physicists in my year at my uni last year.
- When I was bullied in school, I actually managed to both tell teachers about it, and do what I could to avoid the people in question.
- I learned to stop giving a damn about the opinions of most people, but to pay extra-close attention to the opinions of people who mattered.
- I managed to use the word "floccinaucinihilipilification" in an actual conversation as an actual word, rather than just an example of a long word. (Yes, this one is silly, but thinking up this many accomplishments was tough.)
<laughs out loud at the idea of chemistry as a team sport[1]>
[1] In a stereotypical throwing-things-that-stink-and-go-bang-a
You certainly made me think about manylots of things over the years, and you still do :)
I think you've done a lot. I'm always impressed by you.