Getting to know you.
 

I used to play a social game when I gave a large pot luck party back when I was healthy. It was fun. I would ask each person coming to the party to tell me something interesting, something that was unique to them.

Examples: sunk a ship in the South China seas; participated in the Rodney King riots; held up at gun point three times.

These are things that my guests gave me. I would put the items (without names) on a sheet of paper. If my guest was standing next to someone he/she did not know, it was a good conversation starter. There was no prize for filling out who's fact was who's.

So, I thought I would start the game in here. Even though we will all know your name and fact, we may find out something bizarre! And better yet, this bizarre factoid may be shared by another member...

I will start...

My fact:

I went to the school bus stop naked.



ok. I was only about 2 years old. It was wet and I took it off. I then decided to go to meet my 9 year old brother getting off the bus. He was embarrassed BIG TIME. He brought me home and said, "Mother, how can you let her walk around like this?"

I attended Judy Garland's funeral when I was 18 years old. It was in New York City. My mother and I waited on line all day long. people were playing their record players (we used to call them Victrolas).

Dr. Joyce Brothers was interviewing a person two places behind me on line.

I remember hearing the song "Over the Rainbow" being played over and over. I remember going into the funeral parlor and walking past her as she lay there. I remember it like it happened yesterday.

I have been charged by a bull elephant, chased by a rhino, and had a lioness in pursuit of a zebra leap over my car:eek: I kid you not!

I also had close encounters with a different kind of wildlife while working as a goafer for a movie production company in Hollywood during the 70s :D

Well Chemar:

You absolutely and unequivocally beat anybody who posts ANYTHING on this thread.

Anyone who has been charged by a Bull elephant, and chased by a Rhino, WELL, WHO ON EARTH CAN BEAT THAT.

I thought I was doing okay, attending Judy Garland's funeral (I bet lots of people don't even know who she is).

But being charged by a Bull Elephant, and you're still alive???

Mind telling me how you pulled that one off?? lol

:D African safari queen me:p

we were driving along the edge of the river in the Kruger National Park and Mr Elephant was hidden from view as we rounded the bend. tires of car shot some of the stones from the gravelly dirt road at him and he suddenly appeared outa nowhere and charged straight at us. :eek: thank goodness my dad had fast reflexes and sent the car in a major wheelie along that dusty road!

the rhino was in a game park in Zululand. we had rented a bungalow and I walked out of the door to get something from our car. suddenly heard a snorty sound and saw the rhino coming. I proved I could win the marathon that day:eek:


lioness was also in the Kruger Park

Now, I am tempted to make things up!:D

Like...yeah!!! my mom can beat up your mom!:p

The closest I ever got the star "encounters" was with Bruce Jenner (who was once a Olympic Medal star in track and is now somehow connected to the Kardashian family and freakish with too many face lifts). I met him at the Grammy's in 1989.

I was 7 months pregnant, HUGE - looked like twins - and wandering around the pre-party. He and his blond date stopped in front of me. He asked her if she thought I was pregnant or just fat...:eek::rolleyes:

I was too star struck to react.

Aarcyn
That's hilarious about the bus stop! My friend's granddaughter went through a phase of not wanting to wear clothes at that age too. She was horrified when she looked out the front window and saw her granddaughter stark naked and playing happily. I guess you're one of those "free spirits" at heart too. :p

Melody
My husband was with two of his friends and he asked the question "Besides your wife (yeah, right), who do you think is the most beautiful woman in the world?" My husband said Sophia Loren, one friend said Catherine Deneuve, his other friend said "I dunno - Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz?" LMAO! :D

Cheri - Geesh! I thought having to face a racoon was scary! :eek:

I almost married the guy who invented pre-packaged salads (Fresh Express), and I helped him with his research. He was a food scientist, and we tried out different variations of salads. We'd put them in a zip-loc bag and suck out the air with his vacuum cleaner - or use our lungs and a straw. :p We made a lot of them, so everyone in the building got free salad. You'll never see a Fresh Express salad with mushrooms or tomatoes. :D

I couldn't do it, even though he offered me the world on a silver platter. I loved him, but not as a husband. I met my husband shortly after Jerry moved to California. I may be poor, but I married the right man. :hug:

This is fun, Cyn!

My life has been pretty dull compared to our African Queen over there.:o

For three summers (April-Sept) during college, I lived in my two-man tent to save money.

My fifteen minutes of fame was when I was known kind of well in my city as The Crazy Intern at the popular radio station.

Before it got so hard, I used to attend major local trials daily, right through to the verdict.

I once had to transport $35,000 in cash for work. I did not work for an armored car company!:eek:

My first post-college job was as an observer for the fisheries service in Alaska (aka fish cop). If you've seen "Deadliest Catch", that's where I worked - on a 177 ft boat in the Bering Sea. I puked for the first 2 months (most effective, but least pleasant diet I've ever been on...). I was the only woman on board (heck only one of two on the whole island whenever we pulled in) but everyone was always a gentleman. Kinda wondered what I'd gotten myself into when they showed me to my stateroom...which I shared with two men!

I loved that job. Hard work, but it was fantastic at that point in my life. The pictures are amazing!

I jumped out of a plane at 3,000 feet.



I was only 19 years old. Friends decided to do it and called me to join them. We got a quick training and had to wait all day. By then, I had forgotten everything, being pretty hair-brained.

I was supposed to go third in line but #2 chickened out. I jumped out without thinking about the cord to pull in case the parachute did not open.

The number #3 parachute did not open. The boy had to pull his own. He threw up all night.

I had not given it a thought about counting and pulling. I might have been dead.

Crazy fact.

I bet you never jumped out of any plane again!!!

lol

NEVER!!!!!!

ummm, I can't think of anything right now.

well....my BIL (died this yr at about 50) was a CIA agent. He had an office in the Pentagon. It was struck on 9/11, but he wasn't there at the time.

Well, I was SHOT AT during the Rodney King riots!! I was a Paramedic back during those days and I worked in the City of Atlanta for a major EMS service. We were in a housing project called 'Eastlake Meadows' or as we called it 'Little Vietnam'. Someone started shooting at us while we were in the back of the truck. Bullets actually hit our unit. When we got to the hospital, I was shaking like crazy and crying, but I still had patients to take care of. That housing project is no longer there. It is a nice golf course because they tore it down!

My only other thing I can think of to share is that my husband graduated with Julia Roberts from Campbell of Smyrna High School in 1985. I met and shook her hand at their 10 year class reunion. She is as beautiful in real life as she is on the big screen. My husband has year books signed by her and she used to call him 'Bear'....just like all the other girls. I imagine we could make a few pennies off those if we had a mind to sell them but I think we will keep them a while.

Nice to meet you all!

Oh, now we are talking about MOVIE STARS.

ooh, I must share some of my stories.

I was 24 years old. I was at Radio City Music Hall, and I ran into Milton Berle. All 6 feet 3 of him (maybe even taller). He was wearing a top hat, tie and tails.

I will never forget this.

I said "oh my god, Milton Berle", and he just laughed and tipped his hat.

I have also walked down the street with Sidney Poitier (I was 18) he was coming out of a health food restaurant (wearing a kind of fisherman hat on his head and it had all bait things hanging off of it),and I walked with him and I kept saying " DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE??"
Another girl recognized him, and grabbed his left arm. He was carrying two packages. I was on his right.

He just kept saying "hello, hello". Oh my god, I made a complete idiot of myself.

I also chased down Robert Horton (he was on the tv show Wagon Train). He was wearing an orange jump suit, it was on Park Avenue, and I scared the heck of him. He ran for his life.

I also was 10 feet away from Kirk Douglas (this was over 35 years ago). He wore a beautiful full length camel coat. It was breathtaking. And when you see that cleft in his chin up close, well, that made my day.

And for the kicker, there is also an actor in MY family.

Anybody ever see the tv show TAXI, with Tony Danza.

Remember, they all gathered at the bar/restaurant at the end of their workday??

Well, there was the same bartender in all the episodes. He would have a few lines. He had quite a few lines in the episode where Latka is mooning over his lost love Simka.

That bartender was my mom's first cousin, T J Castronova. (They called him Tommy, in the series). He also produced some episodes of Tales from the Darkside.

Wow, it all comes back when you make your memory kick in!!!!

I saw Howy Mandell at "Children's Palace" (like Toys R Us). Wasn't sure it was him then at home while looking in the paper, I read he was in town. (It was before he shaved his head. I like it better before the head is shaved. lol)

I am the walrus coo coo ca choe

former solo parent of two boys now married and survived 5 boys, actually deb survived 5 boys

many moons ago a friend and me kayaked down the Desplains to the Illinois river then to the mighty Mississippi down to mardi gra needless to say we had a ball and got toasted big time.

use to do biathlons

use to rock climb and i mean mountains and or cliffs not those set up indoors with a bungee cords, use to free climb and jumb off cliffs into water moto cross i was a bit dangerous to be next too lol drag racing had some fast cars lots of fun

we wont even discuss my fourth of july achievements :yikes:

Oh yeah...I went to Labadee, Jamaica, Grand Cayman Island & Cancun, Mexico. It was on a East Carribean cruise. It was the largest cruise ship in the world then.(For anyone that might know the ships, it was the Freedom of the Seas.) We went last yr for our 25th anniversary...I'm not sure how to send some pictures, so here's a site my DH made so we could send them to others http://pictures.aol.com/galleries/jkonesni
Look at those plants on Jamaica. In the Mexico pictures you can see the agave plant, used to make tequila.

I've never been on a cruise. When I was 22, some friends sailed on one, and they had a Bon Voyage Party. My first Bon Voyage party.

The girls were giggling (as young girls do, when we are in our early 20's), at all the stewards, and the crew.

I never saw so many good looking guys in my life.

One crew member passed us. He was about 6 feet 4, blond and had a beard and a mustache. He looked like Eric the Viking. So I decided to call him Eric. I said 'Eric??" and he looked at me like I had lost my mind. I never felt so stupid in all my life.

Ah, the memories!!!!

I have never seen snow fall.

you never gone to the high desert? or even globe or flagstaff to see it snow? thats pretty wild, trust me it looks nice as long as you dont have to shovel it:rolleyes:

I have seen snow, I just have never seen snow fall. I have never seen a snowflake.

I have tried to snow ski a few times, never went down on a sled though.

I have slipped on ice...that hurts!

yeah ice hurts ice is not a nice thingy , maybe some day you will be able to see it snow and catch a snowflake on your tongue:)

For Aarcyn

http://bestsmileys.com/christmas4/4.gif
http://bestsmileys.com/christmas3/4.gif

Isn't this beautiful??

http://dl4.glitter-graphics.net/pub/...qhipnaxyyb.gif

I was just working on our pop-up camper, set up in the backyard. That reminds me of something different that happened here a couple yrs ago.
http://bestsmileys.com/camping/1.gif

I was in the house one morning & it looked like rain. So I went out to zip up the windows in our pop up. I opened the door & there was some guy sleeping on one of the bunks. I went in my house & talked to my DD. I thought maybe it was Donny, her BF, but nope. I told her to get out of the shower...I didn't know what was going to happen. I called 911 & two or three cop cars came & the cops went & took the guy away. I later went out & cleaned the pop up. It smell like cigarette smoke & he left his cigarette butt on the floor. But the worse thing was the poop :eek: he left on the counter. Luckily it was on the little dust pan that I kept in there. I threw the whole thing away. http://bestsmileys.com/expressions/7.gif

I was about 7 when we traveled from our home in CA to UT for a visit. We pulled off the side of the road so Dad could put chains on the car so we didn't slide in the snow.

Mom said, "Look at the snowflakes!" I could see it snowing, but couldn't see the snowflakes. Then she pointed at a little itty bitty one on the windshield.

What??? :confused: I was looking for the size of snowflakes that we cut out of folded paper in 1st grade. You know, about the size of a salad plate. It prolly would've weighed about 2 lbs.! ;)

Lor, let me see if I read this right!!

Some guy stayed in a tent on your property, he smoked a cigarette and he left his feces on a counter??

Did I read this right??

Melody

Melody, Yes, we left the camper door unlocked cuz we didn't ever think anything could happen in our backyard. Really... it never occured to me. I hate the smell of cigarette smoke so had to unzip all the windows & air it out. Of coarse I disinfected that counter he left his 'gift' on. The one cop told me he had 'left something'. We don't live in a 'questionable' neighborhood so any of you readers might wanna remember that ANYTHING could happen in your own neighborhood. http://bestsmileys.com/surprised/4.gif

I know exactly what you mean when you say it can happen in ANY neighborhood. I really don't think there are any more GREAT NEIGHBORHOODS (unless of course you live in a high crime area), but I'm speaking generally. Any neighborhood will have it's share of hooligans, criminals, it's just to what degree they are.

I personally know an ex con who served 19 years for beating a guy almost to death. He was in a drug frenzy, he was 18 years old. They would not give him parole until he served 19 years. He was completely rehabilitated, released 2 years ago, has a job (a good job), he just got married and his wife is pregnant. That, to me, is a success story.

There is also a guy (on my block), who, when he was 17, committed assault and armed robbery but because he was only 17, he was treated as a youthful offender, served 9 months upstate, was released on parole (or probation, I'm not sure), refused to work, promptly got re-arrested, and is now in a drug treatment program (his second). He isn't even 19 years old yet.

So I don't know what's happening to the world. It's a much different world and society than the one I was a child in.

And I live what would be known as A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD.

Well, that might have been applicable 50 years ago, but from what I see in the papers, etc. well, I kind of lost my faith in the young people of today.

Very sad.

Last winter we had some homeless people sleeping in a small building that housed the water well. This was over our back wall and in the desert where they had tore down a house to widen the road.

Anyway, we leave our travel trailer unlocked and I wondered if they would ever come and sleep in our trailer. I just thought if they needed too then that would be ok with me as long as they didn't move in but stayed warm in the winter. Now I am thinking maybe I should lock it up. ...Sue:p

Another stupid fact about me
 

I jumped out of a plane at 3,000 feet.

I would have been dead if it had not been for lucky circumstances.

I was 19 years old. A friend called me, asked me if I wanted to jump out of a plane that morning. They needed one more person to bring the cost down from $40 to $35.

We got there in the morning and were given minimal training. The parachute was to open naturally. We did not jump until sunset.

I was supposed to go in the #3 spot. The #2 spot chickened out so I jumped second. I just jumped, no thought about counting to 10 and if the chute did not open, I needed to pull the emergency cord. I just jumped.

3,000 feet is not far from the ground.

#3 parachute did not open. The guy counted, his emergency cord opened the second parachute in time, just in time.

Not knowing this drama, I enjoyed a beautiful sunset and when it came to guiding my parachute to the landing spot, every time I tried to steer, I drifted farther away. I was floating over trees and cacti, lots of rocks.:eek:

But I am here to tell the tale.

Where do you live, Lor?

Let's see if I understood you. You were 19 years old, and jumped out of a plane because someone called you up and said they needed a 3rd person??

Please tell me this was not your first jump??

My "claim to fame" is that I've been fortunate enough to have met face-to-face with over 2 dozen MSW & NeuroTalk members during the past year.

Looking forward to meeting up with tkrik in June when I go to AZ, and 4boysmom in July when we go to Grand Teton NP with a bunch of MSers. (She will drive there from Idaho). :Dancing-Chilli::Dancing-Chilli::Dancing-Chilli:

Oh yeah, and I've also talked one-on-one with Garth Brooks and Jimmy Osmond. :trampoline:

How's this?
 

I once fell in the Niagara River. I once got a strike in the lanenext to mine. My birth certificate is in Dutch. I saw a concert by the Kingston Trio for $3. I once lived on oatmeal and handouts for a month while in college. Had a Beatle haircut when they came along....again too poor to get a haircut. Vic

twinkletoes, I live far away from you. I live in Ohio :) I live in the north side of town & he's from the east side.

Melody, Also those :ranting: guys (& gals) are all ages. He was about 40-45.

Speaking of hair..

When I was 18 years old I decided to dye my hair black. I did this in the morning. Then I decided to give myself a permanent. This I did in the afternoon.

Immediately after giving myself the permanent, when my hair was all nice and dry, it still was not curly enough for me. So what did I do.

I took out my electric heated rollers, plugged the thing in, when they all heated up, I put all the hot rollers in my hair.

Do you know what happens to you when you dye your hair, then give it a permanent, then set it with electric rollers ....ALL IN THE SAME DAY.

My hair came out in tufts. I not only didn't have any curly hair left. I had bunches of burnt hair coming out in fistfuls. All my hair was burnt.

I went crazy, my mother thought someone mugged me, I was screaming in my room. They all walked in and took one look at me and ....well, I can't remember their reaction.

I had to wear a wig for a year till all my hair grew back. I never went near any permanent waving lotion, nor electric rollers EVER AGAIN after that.

I do dye my hair though (to cover my gray).

Oh, you might be curious as to the profession of my dad at the time.

He owned a beauty parlor. He was a professional beautician.

One WOULD THINK I MIGHT HAVE KNOWN BETTER, now wouldn't one???


Oh, remind me to tell you about the time my mother and her sisters had to take a hammer and chisel to my legs. NOW THAT'S A STORY!!

My first and only jump. The boy that jumped third threw up all night.