Saturday, February 10, 2007

Sharing Secrets

Marie has tagged me for this '5 Secrets' meme. I will try to avoid giving you too much information (TMI); I agree with another blogger friend, who shall remain anonymous, that sometimes blogs go too far with private thoughts and issues. Just my opinion, OK? So these are sort of anecdotes about which I get somewhat embarrassed, or don't often mention.

1) I worked in Yellowstone National Park for the US National Park Service in a clerical position for 3 summers during college. We young seasonal employees, mostly of college age, came from all over the US, and we had a lot of fun, some of it less than strictly legal. It is illegal to swim in the thermal features, but if several of the rangers are in the pool with you, who is going to arrest you?? We did not skinny-dip, at least not the couple of times I went there.

2) Also while in Yellowstone, I was told I learned to western dance on July 20, 1969, the day that Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Several of us Park Service employees watched the landing on TV at a pizza and beer place in West Yellowstone, then moved on to a bar that had a pair of versatile musicians. I think we moved from beer to tequila about then. I did not remember how to western dance the next time I tried.

About #1 and #2, I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations for illegal swimming and western dancing while drunk have long since run, lol!

3) I almost drowned, or felt like I did, during a swimming lesson when I was in junior high school. We were at the town pool, and we were jumping into the deep end off the diving boards. The two teachers got to talking, and when I went off one of the low boards, one of the show-off boys jumped off the high board at the same time and landed on top of me. I made it to the surface and the edge of the pool - obviously, else I wouldn't be boring you with this story. But I couldn't convince the teacher of what had happened or that I was badly frightened by it. I suppose he didn't want to admit he hadn't been watching. This probably has a lot to do with my swimming phobia.

4) I got married the first time in September, 1969. The morning of the day I got married, we attended the memorial service for my DH's best friend. Robbie had been killed in VietNam a week or so earlier, less than 2 months after he arrived there. His family and his fiancé (my college roommate) told us we should not go, but neither DH nor I would stay away.

5) I don't play many computer games, because I can get hooked really easily. I can play Bejeweled 2 for a couple of hours. My personal high score is on the 'Action' version is 561,750. Since I discovered Sudoku online, I haven't broken 300,000. I've completely given up on Tetris - I need to knit! I can usually keep my Sudoku playing down to Morning Edition and All Things Considered (NPR).

I don't know many bloggers who haven't already been tagged, so I'm only tagging Sknitty and Knitdevil.

4 comments:

jillian said...

You want me to share my secrets??? Hmmmm.

Madge said...

I'm glad you didn't drown! I had a scary swimming experience when I was small, too, I love the water - to look at, or to wade in - but swimming? Not for me.

And secrets...hmm...I'll see what I can come up with....

LisaW. said...

they say people who get "mesmerized" by computer games are easy to hypnotize. Have you ever been..(hypnotized I mean)...just curious! Sounds like an awful scare in the water. That would be really hard to get over.

junior_goddess said...

Hmmm-I wonder how easy I could be hypnotized then!