A day late and a dollar short as my father used to always say. But it was for a good cause. An extremely important one, and I hope you took the time to educate yourself about SOAP and PIPA yesterday – if you didn’t already know the scoop.
Now, enough about that, on to secrets! Or the revealing of them, as it would be today. I know you all are just dying to know if I walked down the street in my nightie, or got a man hauled away by the police – per my original post. Well, we’ll get to that in a minute. But first I have a challenge for you.
When I was very young I was told that a member of my family had traced our family tree to one very notorious assassin in history. I’ll admit to never taking the time to research this information myself and substantiating the rumor. Would anyone care to take a guess as to who this person is? There is no rush or time limit on this and it is not open to my friends and family who actually KNOW the answer. I’ll give you a hint: the last name can be found on one of my previous posts. Although, I’m not saying which or how far back.
Make your guesses, if you will. Now let’s get on with it! I was soo naughty, I:
1. Played a game of cat and mouse with security in a closed 100 year old cemetery in the dead of night. Ah, yes. Someone even gave that completely away in the comments (smirks at Jean). It just so happened I lived down the block from the founding father’s cemetery during my college years. It was hidden deep in the middle of a plant nursery beside our home. One Halloween night I was having a costume party and we thought it would be a fun idea to visit the old grave yard. We had to scale a fence or two and security was alerted immediately by some of the neighbors due to giggly party goers that never made it over the fence to the adventure beyond. We ended up jumping and running to hide behind trees and tombstones when security showed up with their big roming spot light. And yes, Jean was not dreaming – there was a sailor, a southern bell, an old bar wench, Han Solo, the Terminator and Gumby all on the run.
2 Frequented underground vampire bars when I was in college. Sadly, no. Although I had friends that did this and I wanted to give it a try, I never actually did. But I do have a lot of other bar type establishment experience. Both, as the bartender and as the pateran, supporting my many musician friends from venue to venue, back in the day.
3. Walked down my hometown’s main drag in my nightie. Yep. It was an initiation gone wrong. That particular year a high school group I belonged to decided to turn the tables around on the leaders. That’s how I ended up standing on the street dressed in so little– and I’m not the nightie type. I should have known something was up when my mom kept pushing me to sleep in the little thing that night. It was a conspiracy.
4. Stole merchandise from a 7-11. I can not tell a lie. I did it. But in my defense, I was rather young and my father was the district manager in charge of that particular store. I thought I could take what I want. I learned my lesson the hard way when my dad, having found out, drove me back to the store and made me return everything I hadn’t eaten with an apology. I never did that again.
5. Swam in the ocean with sharks. Many of you speculated that simply swimming in the ocean constituted swimming with sharks. Well, yeah, if you really want to stretch it. But in 1987 I took my first dive off the coast of Kauai. I wasn’t certified yet. The sea life there is colorful and much more exciting than what we get here out of Malibu. Right away we were faced with a shark. He wasn’t a HUGE shark (thank God!). But a shark none-the-less. Our guide directed us behind a reef where we waited for him to move on. But we were fairly close, I could make out his eye! By some standards, too close for comfort. But the time we jumped in the water, off the Channel Islands and got a friendly seal take to our party, swimming around us and through us, well, that was much more exciting.
6. Topped out my speedometer when racing a carload of hooting boys on the way into Palm Springs. Note: Speedometer tops out at 120. 120 miles an hour is a lot for a 1962 Buick Skylark. With her aluminum block her front end isn’t as heavy as many cars the same size. She felt like she was ready to take flight! The car was loaded with four girls heading into town for the holiday break when a carload of boys took a shining to my girlfriend, who had a tendency to yell (the wrong things) at the people we were passing. The result = dangerous. But we all lived to tell about it.
7. Took a ride in a cop car. Many of you guessed this right. It was a police ride along not a bust. Sorry I’m so boring – LOL. I took this one for my government and law class. Nothing ever happened in the town where I grew up so it was rather uneventful. Yawn. The cop? Maybe he was cute, but far too old for me back then. Sorry Tameri and Paige. Great sories though. LOVED them!
8. Stowed away in a stranger’s car for a drive all over San Francisco. Probably the most interesting one on the list, because –YES, I did this. When they discovered me they totally freaked out. Visiting my grandparents at the Presidio and completely underage, I hid in the car of a girl I had just met so that we wouldn’t have to be separated. Her mom had no clue. We were very young and obviously very stupid! My parents and grandparents had no clue where I was and I took a lot of heat for that. Rightfully so. As a parent, I would bust my kid’s hide if they ever did that (Not really, but you get the idea).
9. Got a man picked up by the police in Edinburgh. Sad, but true. My group was on tour through Scotland and England. We had just performed and were in transit, still in uniform. The buses made a quick stop at a nearby tube (subway) station for a quick loo stop. Over by the vending machines I was spotted by a man a little too happy on the sauce. He couldn’t believe how short my kilt was (Americanized version – LOL) and he had to know what was underneath it. He accosted me and someone in our group was kind enough to get a policeman who promptly marched the guy away in custody. I assume he spent some time sobering up in the pen.
10. Melted the engine block in my car. When I say I melted the block, I mean I literally melted the block. With her V-8, 4 barrel aluminum block engine she can really move for an old car, and I used to really push her back then. I didn’t do her in that night flying into Palm Springs. That would have been too convenient, because my parents expected me to be there. No, I took her on a long drive out to Redlands one night when I had been specifically told NOT to go. And why did I go? For a boy. That’s karma for you, it can be a real b*tch. Melted the block, got stranded in Redlands and was forced to call my parents to come and get me. I was caught. And the car ended up in the shop for months getting repaired. It wasn’t pretty.
SO… I made them sound much more interesting than they really were, didn’t I? Being the eldest surviving child, I had a high sense of morality and often envied those who could cut loose and do something wild from time to time. But that’s not who I was. I was too much the old soul, I guess. I always played the responsible role.
I thank you all for playing. Some of you came pretty darn close, Fabio pretty much nailed it! Way to go Fabio. I truly enjoyed the long thought out answers. A huge hug to those who took the time. <<Hugs>> If anyone is playing the game of guess the ancestor, I eagerly await your responses.
Now, who’s going to take up the challenge and play next? Don’t be shy.
-oOo-
If you enjoyed this post or any of my previous posts, I’d be delighted to have you follow by email or RSS for any future posts.
I apologize to those who received this post in their email. This post published while I was in the middle of editing it. I’m not sure how that happened, but it did. I hit the space bar and the next thing I know I’m being told by wordpress that I just published my next post. Yay! – Not. I don’t know how to unpublished, so it became a work-in-progress up in view. Unfortunately for all of you followers, you got sent an unfinished copy. 🙁
Debra, the same thing happened to me. it was so weird. just boom – posted. glad to know I wasn’t the only one it happened to. sheesh. technology – ain’t it grand?
It was so weird. Took me totally by surprise. My mouse was nowhere near the publish button. 🙁 Oh well, what are you going to do?
Debra…under Save Draft, where it says Visibility, click on Edit…then click Private and Okay. Anyone visiting your blog won’t be able to see it then. But you have to change it back when you are ready to publish it.
Love it, Debra! And sorry, but one fact is off: you are not boring. 😉 You’ve had some seriously fun adventures and close calls. So glad you came away from happy sauce man and speed fest in one piece! LOL
Thanks also for your stand against SOPA and PIPA. Your email was the first I heard of the black out!
I have angels looking out for me. 🙂
Glad I could help and be informative. We were all in the dark for too long where this and other measures are concerned.
lots of fun in your life. thanks for the clarifications about your life.
Awesome stories, Debra! It’s fun to relive those tales of our youth! Thanks for the reveal!
You’re welcome Louise and Diana. Thank you for the compliment.
What a fun loving gal!!! Thanks for sharing.
You can’t get unpublished and if you change the time stamp (which is sort of unrelated) your readers will get a 404 error when they click from the email link to your blog. I learned the hard way!!
Great post~
Thanks Susie, good to know.
Very nice. 😉
You are very adventurous Debra! The shark story alone got me sweating a bit 🙂
Fantastic Debra. You’ve lived such a fun and adventurous life! Woot woot!!
I can NOT imagine coming face to face with a shark in the ocean. WOWZERS!!!
Well…I got 6 1/2 right (cause I guessed maybe on one). However, since you didn’t actually know you were stealing, technically I got 7 1/2 right. 🙂
So not boring, Debra. 🙂 Okay, I didn’t even know there were real vampire bars. See, I’ve come away having learned something from your post!
Yes, vampire bars for all the little wannabes. LOL
Oh you naughty girl! You sound like a lot of fun! I also topped my car out at 120, not once but twice, and sadly both times, was picked up by the cops! I sort of got a two for one on that deal. Those were some expensive hot rod days for me, but man they were fun!
Anyway, thanks for sharing your experiences. You’re braver than me in a lot of ways!
And about that ancestor thing, I’ve been told that my husband’s family’s roots go back to Ulysses S. Grant. That’s kind of exciting!
Patricia Rickrode
w/a Jansen Schmidt
Ulysses S. Grant is VERY cool! I have a friend who is related to the Huntington that signed the Declaration of Independence. His mom got to join the elite club “Daughters of the Declaration”. I had another friend that got caught going 100. It wasn’t pretty. They are not nice to you when they get you going over 90. I’m really sorry you got caught. We don’t have an autobahn here.
You are a girl after my own heart! Fast cars, running around graveyards. I couldn’t decide which ones might or might not be true, so I just made them up funny. Cool stories! 🙂
Whoohooo! I don’t even know if I was right or wrong, but who cares! This was so much fun. Thanks for the cool answers. As for the assassin? No idea, but John Wilkes Booth comes to mind. Which, would make you related to Booth from Bones. Now THAT would be cool
Bingo! You nailed it! The Booth name in our branch of the family tree will end with my grandparents, as my uncles have now passed on. The family had a book published some years ago tracking the line back into the 1800’s. I have it, but haven’t poured through it. It’s not an easy read. My husband is fascinated with the Lincoln assassination and I sometimes wonder if I’m not just another item he collected. LOL I told him he can read the book and figure it all out. There are a bunch of Booths listed in more modern times that are still acting, so maybe it runs in the blood.
Well, at least I got one of the didn’ts right! Somehow I knew you didn’t frequent vampire bars. And I was also right about the cars. I just knew you had done all the car related things! But the nightie surpried me. And you mom was in on it! Oh, she got you.
Yea, that was harsh of my mom, wasn’t it? They took a picture of them waking me up. I got to relive that moment at the end-of-the-year banquet. Yay!
Coleen, Natalie – the shark was probably the size of my six year old. So it was a big fish, but I was still bigger. But then, when you are under water everything is distorted and it’s hard to make a clear judgment. I was new to it as well. It being my first dive and all.
Wow, I got them right! Do I get a Kindle? 🙂
But I didn’t know the incredible stories behind each item. The stowaway adventure is really funny (well, not for your parents).
BTW, when you swim with sharks, please make sure you can swim faster than at least one of the other swimmers. Just in case.
I wish a new kindle was in the budget! Ha ha! I was swimming with my family and boyfriend that day. Which should I sacrifice? The ex-boyfriend?