My non-shared environment

There is a theory of personality psychology that says (in rough terms) that the differences between siblings are fundamentally connected to their non-shared experiences (or non-shared environment). This almost seems axiomatic, but the implications are interesting. Experiences unique to a child do more to define that child's personality or psychopathology than those experiences shared with other children of the same parents. Unique experiences are powerful. It stands to reason, I believe, that the more homogeneous the experiences of a group of siblings, the more powerful the non-shared experiences are in determining differences in personality.

When I look at the six children in my parents' family--my three sisters and two brothers and myself--I see some definite similarities and definite differences. Considering that the only likely readers of this will be my relatives, I'm going to list some of my unique experiences that jump out at me as odd. I'm not sure the ones that strike me as odd are any more or less significant than ones that are so routine that I can't remember them, but they're the ones I remember and care to mention. I also don't pretend to know how these experiences make me different (if indeed they do have any measurable impact on me). I only list them because they are for whatever reason memorable to me. Why have I had some of these experiences, how did I get myself in to them, and why did I make the choices I did?

I doubt any of these are terribly interesting, but here they are anyhow. The sole criterion I rely on is that these experiences happened to me without any of my siblings present.

1. As a teen, I ran on the tracks down a dark tunnel late at night in the Paris subway, inches from the third rail (with high current) to avoid having to wait for the next train.

2. When I was five, I piled a huge amount of styrofoam against a certain hotel in a certain town in Switzerland and lit it on fire with matches I had taken from a box behind the concierge's desk. A man chastized me, but didn't stop me.

3. As an adult, a sweaty, stinky co-worker grabbed me from behind in a bear hug (we had been chasing a nerf basketball down the hall and he was caught in a frenzy of excitement apparently when I beat him to the ball). I was so repulsed that I turned around and punched him repeatedly in the stomach.

4. I missed the bus home as a sophomore in high school and rather than pay thirty cents to take the city bus, I walked 10 miles to my grandmother's house, where I asked her to drive me the last few miles home.

5. When I was about 8 or 9, I dropped my dues for Cub Scouts in tall grass on my way to den meeting and spent the whole meeting looking for the dues rather than go to the meeting. I never found them. The dues were a dime.

6. When I was 3 years old I witnessed my neighbors' house being robbed and gave a statement to the police.

7. When I was 10, I pushed my 6-year old neighbor on a space trolley and he fell about 15 feet and hit his head on some rocks and had to get stitches.

8. When I was 14 I piloted a large yacht across Long Island Sound in a storm.

9. When I was 14 or so, I walked home about .8 miles from my school bus stop with my eyes closed in rural part of the Tucson desert and opened my eyes to find three coyotes standing there staring at me--two in front and one behind.

10. When I was newly married, I hit and killed a javelina (peccary) with my car.

I just realized I have countless of these silly little experiences. Some are a little sad and I don't mention them, though those are sometimes perhaps the most profound psychologically (such as getting lost).

Maybe my dear relatives reading this are nodding their heads knowingly and saying to themselves, "Now I understand!" Perhaps they are also stroking their chins and squiting as they nod. In fact, there are all sorts of cliche behaviors they could be engaging in.

So, my question du jour: what cliche behavior are you engaging in at this very second? If none, please describe what cliche behavior you would be engaging in if you were engaging in cliche behavior.