First, credit to ms_hijikata for self tagging and inspiring me to do so (and grumpy glaring eyes at my "friends").
A number (I'm not sure if it will be 10, let's see at the end of the blog) of things you may or may not have known about me:
1.) This is a two-fer. Yea a two for one. First off I'm a descendent of a witch. Yes, Martha Carrier is approximately my 10x Great Grandmother who was tried and hung as a witch on August 19th 1692. Cross me if you dare and I'll put a hex on you and such.
I kind of also figured I'm a pure Caucasian descended from I dunno... England or something, maybe German, Polish whatever. A mutt if you will. But I'm also 7th generation Mohawk Native American. In fact my late grandmother was the last of my direct lineage who would have been able to get support from the tribal council.
2.) I was an altar server at my local church for about 10 years. Ok no biggie, but my very first service I took the position as was on Easter Sunday, the most holy day of the year in Catholicism. I had no training, no idea what I needed to do, but was told to fill in for my brother who broke his ankle a few days before. Kind of scary being in front of hundreds of people that age on such an important day not knowing where to go, when to bring out so and so. "Baptized by fire" they say...
3.) I'm now a 7th Kyu in Shotokan Karate, that means I'm an orange belt. I have applied my karate knowledge directly one time in the past year to subdue a person who stole a girls phone on the subway in NYC in the past year.
4.) I'm also currently a second degree Mason. Yes, a Freemason. My 3rd degree event is coming up June 20th where I will be made a Master Mason. My father and two uncles and my grandfather all are Masons as well.
5.) I will be starting my 5th year of Graduate School come September. Someone please save me!
6.) I know the guy who invented that secret layer of armor in between the outer and inner layer of tanks.
7.) Speaking of knowing people. I've met Bill Cosby, Matthew Fox, King Abdullah of Jordan, Dan Brown, Jeffrey Wright and Dr. Drew Pinksi. Bonus points if you know how or why I know/have met these people.
Ok... 7 is enough then.
Comments
@IpodHero176 - No, it's not a secret society, but a society with secrets. While I can't tell you what they are, they are just the things and lessons learned in the Lodge. It's not the Illuminati that operates in the shadows. Hell you can look up where a given Lodge is in any state or country. Being a member is not a secret, otherwise it would be one of the worst kept secrets.
@Lightfellower - How to explain... Originally the Masons were a society that kept actual knowledge of masonry (the only real construction discipline for the previous millenium). I guess you could have called it a union of sorts back in the middle ages. It's evolved from actual applied masonry to now what we term speculative Masonry, which doesn't actually focus on building real material buildings anymore.
@Garrison_Ford - Not really. Perhaps higher ups do. But then again I'm only in a local Lodge that might not have access to ancient building documents. Besides, even if I wanted to tell you, I just don't know if there are any documents saying "Press the third brick from the top at noon to reveal the secret chamber" sort of like in National Treasure. After the lodge meetings some guys go out to the bar, and on weekends and stuff we do charity dinners, blood drives, so on and so forth. In fact the Masons as a whole donate 3 million dollars a day to charity. I suppose what you see in the movies gives a distorted view of the Masons, for good or bad.
#6 is pretty cool, do you know any more secret you'll like to ..., Oh God what is that thing heading your way!
@3KingdomsRandy - Official Lodge meetings have a bit of rigor and ritual, which is where the actual secrets of Masonry are passed along. That's stuff I'm not supposed to talk about because, well it's the part of the whole fraternity thing and is emblematic of what actual applied Masonry used to represent. Freemasons used to be a group of actual masons, you know stone workers. Now it's more of a fraternal group which uses the signs and rituals of Masonry to promote character and growth within a man and towards all mankind. Outside of the lodge there is stuff like fundraisers, benefit dinners, the Relay for Life, food drives, blood drives, and parties. It's not a secret society. It's a society with secrets. Any man 18 years of age can inquire about joining, you don't have to like save a Mason's life or be related to one to join. Oh, you have to not be an atheist and believe in a monotheistic supreme being, while it does not ascribe to a specific religion, the belief in a higher power, or the "Supreme Architect", be it God, Jehovah, Allah or whatever you would call the supreme being, that's one of the few requirements.
GodModeEnabled
Some cool little factoids though, even with Karate knowledge you should be careful when you use it you never know when you could get a blade in your ribs or god forbid worse drawn on you. hoenstly I would have let the guy run off with the purse, though thats just my two cents and im not trying to discredit your obvious heroism.