Rodney Olson’s list of ten things he’s done that I (we) probably haven’t, and it reminded me of Peter Gzowski.
I used to listen to CBC Radio’s Morningside with Gzowski every morning. He used to play an on-air game with people — he would line up two or three noted people, who would each give three “facts” about themselves. These would usually be odd things they had done, strange experiences, encounters with famous people, or some intersection of these characteristics. Each person would ask a few clarifying questions in an attempt to discover which of the three “facts” was, in fact, a lie.
Reading Rodney’s post, I thought it might be fun to try something similar. With that in mind, here is a list of five facts excerpted from my life so far:
- I once sank thigh-deep in quicksand.
- I once had Steve Archer make a disgusted face and wave at me during one of his concerts.
- I once spent the night on the tundra in a tent.
- I once hung out with Kansas City prophet Bob Jones for the day.
- I once drove through a blizzard with no headlights while my friend held a flashlight out the window.
One of these facts isn’t — see if you can determine which. Go ahead and guess, or ask questions… I’ll answer up to three questions about each fact listed. If you think the additional details don’t line up, perhaps you’ve got me: name the lie and say what tipped you off. The winner gets… well, the respect and admiration of tens of people, at least. Or maybe they’ll be tagged to do this on their blog.
I’m going to venture a guess here, based on an old standardized test trick (and geography). I’ll guess that you’ve never spent the night on the tundra in a tent. I have a 20% chance of being right (not too good I know).
Let me say what tipped me off to my guess. There are, according to Wikipedia anyway, three tundra zones. They are in the Arctic, Antarctica, and the Alps. I just played the odds and guessed. But, you could be widely travelled, and I could be extremely wrong. Are there any parting gifts for losing contestants?
Gee, I thought most of Canada was tundra! Actually, I’d vote for #4, simply on the basis of it being fairly plausible and therefore included on the list to throw us off.
I would hope that even when younger you were too smart to drive in a blizzard with a flashlight. But then I would hope the same about #4 too. While I believe that #4 is really true, I will ask the question of #5. Where were you going in the blizzard to risk such a thing.
Hmmm … I’m thinking that driving in a blizzard with a flashlight might actually work really well. It would give enough light to see the road, but light would glance off the crystals in the snowflakes from a different angle, so you might be able to see the road more clearly. More, in this case, being a relative term.
I’m going to say #2 because I can’t see you calling that much attention to yourself in public.
But I’m probably wrong … so it’s likely #1 … because where on earth would you be thigh deep in quicksand?
All of the others appear plausible … so those are my first and second choices. Because I just can’t make up my mind that solidly.
I’m guessing #1 or #3.
#1 least likely, so it’s probably true.
#2 seems too odd to make up.
#3 like Maria, I assumed most of Canada was tundra.
#4 of course Brother Maynard hangs out with Bob Jones. ;)
#5 everyone from these parts has done this, usually more than once.
This evening I had a telephone entry guessing #1.
So I figured I’d jump in and respond to a few of the questions and objections raised thus far. Firstly, I need to say that Canada is not all tundra… but we do have tundra in the northern parts of the country. And just so you know, tundra isn’t just barren ice and snow every day of the year. If you’re keeping track, my tent was on the Arctic tundra.
I’m going to protest that all of the items on my list are plausible. In fact, most of them are true!
So as for #1, my quicksand was along the edge of a stream, not in the desert… if that helps.
For #2, no, I didn’t really want to call attention to myself — that’s something Steve was doing. He failed to impress me, and I think he was annoyed with me at the time too.
I already covered #3, and #4 took place in Winnipeg in the early 90’s.
As to #5, it wasn’t planned that way — we were on our way home when the car battery began to fail and we had to improvise. It didn’t work very well to illumine the road, but we could catch a glimpse of the reflective paint from the lines on the highway every now and then.
So there, I’ve given some additional information about each assertion — so they must all be true. Or if one of them is still a lie, do the extra hints help to spot it?
I thought cars used engine power to run the head lights whilst driving…
I say #5 is a lie. Besides the engine running the lights, going home just doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to do such a dangerous thing.
Soooo … are you gonna ‘fess up?
Goodness, I meant to post the answer yesterday — it’s been that kind of week though.
You’ll have to imagine the drumroll, but the lie is, in fact, #3. Not that there’s anything implausable about it… I just haven’t done it. Stories on the others:
Quicksand — was at the edge of a stream where I was walking along the sandy part. I took a step and suddenly found one foot sinking rapidly into the sand at the edge of the stream.
Steve Archer — I was running the lighting show at the concert, and we changed to some coloured lights that he really didn’t like. Instead of just going with it or finding any kind of subtle response, he made a foul face and waved at the lights to indicate they should be changed.”
Bob Jones — actually true. We had him at our CLB for a conference event, and one day was spent with him doing back-room prohecy to some of the leaders around town. One of my jobs there was recording the words that were given.
Blizzard & Flashlight — this would have been a really dumb idea had it not been out of necessity. We were partway home when our lights began getting dimmer and dimmer (perhaps it was the alternnator not the batery).