First lines meme

Punked from firesign10! Post the first lines from your 21 most recent stories.

I've picked randomly instead of going with the most recent, because I can and because it's more fun that way. The first line is an incredibly important part of any story, so it's interesting for me to look at the various ways I've started stories in the past.

Sooo, how many of them do you recognize (without checking)? Which ones do you like best?

( Call me Ishmael )