The Challenge

Anyone who knows me will attest to that fact that I like useless bits of information. Most of it's pointless stuff, but it's there in my head nonetheless.

I can remember my parents's car registrations from day one (PKX913R, ALK133Y etc), Iknow that Hong Kong Phooey is actually Penry the mild mannered janitor, not Henry as most people assume (it's short for Penrod Pooch in case you doubt my pedantry). I know that Wellington is the most Southerly capital in the world, that DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc (not Video of course), and the dog in The Fraggles was called Sprocket

I also notice things that others don't. I notice at work that on one side of the building the voice in the lift is female, and on the other side it is male. I notice that the scene in Terminator on the motorbike has far too many gear changes (most motorbikes have 5, and there seem to be closer to 10). I notice spelling miskates too (that's one right there, and if you didn't spot it then shame on you).

I remember things and I notice things - so what? Well, it's a bit of a curse actually. I love to pipe up in a discussion with a fact or two, or even a string of logic argument as to why something isn't how someone else thinks it is, because I know. Don't we all? The difference is that I actually care about some of these banal discussions, and people spot this as my weakness. Example - if I tell you one of the Wombles was called Bungo, you might look at me quizzically. After all, if you can't remember one called Bungo, then there probably wasn't one. I mean, really, who would remember something like that? So do you challenge it or accept it?

I was told the other day that a wasp isn't an animal - it's an insect. Now, where many people would roll over and say "Oh really, I never knew that", I have to fight to the bitter end to convince them of their utter wrongness. They of course fight back, but I'm always the one who get accused of being stubborn, never admitting I'm wrong, like a dog with a bone etc etc. And that's the part that gets me. Because it's a game of two sides.

It's a game of Challenge. I am a reasonable person, and therefore I won't even begin to engage in a pointless discussion unless I'm absolutely positive that I'm right - and I am at least 90% of the time in these cases. This being the case, people see it as a challenge to try and prove me wrong, outdo me. Anything to have the chance to say "Ha!! Loser!! You're wrong and I proved it!! Hey everybody! He's wrong - I got him real good!". Which, on occasion when it does happen, I think is a little unfair. I don't do this when the shoe is on the other foot, I simply accept my tiny victory with grace and a smug inner smile.

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong - fine, I will honestly hold my hands up and bow down to your greatness and knowledge. Just prove it to me with facts or logic. It's the only way my tiny brain works, and that's how I'm fighting the battle goddammit. Please don't enter into a pointless discussion with me for half an hour, and then say I'm the one who's stubborn, when you're the one who won't let it lie - and usually the one who is wrong. Well, 90% percent of the time anyway.