Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Tagged Again

My dear friend Sarah Lopez tagged me, so I'll contribute a few more random facts from my past life. I'm going to make this tag both violent and bizarre, so you won't grow bored with my curious life.

1. I once broke my foot in a fight in prison.
2. I once ran in a relay that was so disjointed that they started to put up the hurdles before my team finished. (I was the last leg, too.)
3. I once broke a finger while fighting some jerk in the Army.
4. I once had an acting bit in a movie with both Bruce Willis (one of my favorite actors) and Julia Roberts.
5. I once broke some ribs while boxing a guy in the ring.
6. I once pushed my brother over a waterfall in a wheel barrow. It's amazing how well wheel barrows float...and how fast they sink when full of water.
7. I once ate piranhas for breakfast.

I'm willing to expand any of these stories that might seem too remarkable to believe.

I know you're supposed to tag others to participate, but I just did that to my friends not too long ago, so I'm going to let this round end with me. Unless one of you volunteers...anyone?

21 comments:

Tracy said...

I like the look. Though it seems a bit sophisticated for a country boy! Hahaha... Very interesting list. Prison? Pirannah's? Wheelbarrow? Boxiing? Well, at least you're not afraid to live a dull life! Thanks for sharing, that was fun!

Travis said...

Thanks for calling me sophisticated. I've wanted to use that word for a long time, but I didn't know how to spell it!

Since I mostly post short stories, I thought the look would make it seem like a movie theater in your mind.

See you on the web.

KM Wilsher said...

Travis~you are just the most outragous, interesting person and the list keeps getting bigger and better. Next you have to blog on all 20 items! I have to know! Prison, Bruce Willis, piranha. . .I'm fan!

Travis said...

Okay, prison.
In the early 90's I was a prison guard for about 3 years. The worst three years of my life, I might add. I had an inmate who refused to do what I said, so we had a tussle. He won, but I stood there and took it like a man. He was charged with assaulting a state official and added 5 more years to his sentence. I wonder if he's out by now?

Sarah said...

What movie were you in? Did you get to see yourself on screen? I worked as an extra on Army Wives (Lifetime show) last summer. I was in four episodes, but it was mostly flashes of blond hair here and there. No lines and hardly any face time. Paid well, though.

Travis said...

Ah, the Movie.
Well, it was a film called Grand Champion, a story about a boy who raised a show steer and won the grand prize, then he discovered what happens to those steers after the show (hamburgers). He steals the steer and runs away with him. Bruce Willis was the man who bought the steer. Julia Robert's neice was a main character, so she did a few guest spots here and there. I was in the scene where they held a car wash to raise some money. My part was cut. Sigh. It was my best work, too. Oh well. I started to pick up one of Julia's cigarettes to sell on Ebay, but decided not to mess with a smelly stub. It's a good little movie, but it was never nationally released.

Sarah said...

Wow, what a great experience!

And I'm glad you didn't save the cigarette butt. Yuck.

Alison Bryant said...

I still say that I'd like to hear your brother's version of that story. I can imagine your expression as you watched him...a mixture of mesmerized excitement and evil glee. Older siblings are the devil sometimes!

Amy Deardon said...

No one can ever call you boring. I had no idea. I'm a little nervous writing to you now :-)

Unknown said...

Hmmm, I'm guessing you're the oldest??

Wow, sounds like your past was rough.

Bruce Wilis? Aaaand Julia Roberts? Which one and what movie so I can rent it, if I don't already own it? And please tell where you are in it. Or is this already answered above?

Okay, well all of these are answered already, so much for the slower ones like me....

Well at least I learned that you being in prison wasn't due to crime you caused but instead the good of being a guard.

Anonymous said...

MOLY MOLY, Travis. I agree with Gzusfreek...you are the most interesting person! Prison? Fights, OMG.

I'm glad you did another TAG...I thought your first one was interesting. Jeepers.

Billy Coffey said...

Dude, you are awesome.

Travis said...

Alison-
I'd be interested in hearing his version of that story also. He was probably only about 8 or 9 when it happened, which makes me way too old to be trying something that stupid. I suppose it's a good thing the water was too low in the creek to actually wash him over the side. He did get out before any permanent damage was done.

Sarah-
I'll have to start watching Army wives and look for the blond streak. Wait, that doesn't sound right. I'll look for a brief glimpse of a blond on the show! But, the show is on Lifetime, and I'm not certain I can watch that network and still be a man.

Amy- Hah! That's funny.

Sarah L- Being a guard is not a good thing, either. It will expose the corruption in your heart if you let it.

Lynn- Jeepers is another funny word, and one we don't use often enough.

Travis said...

Billy- Sorry, I missed your comment. You must have posted just as I logged on. Thanks for stopping by! Sometime I'll have to get your opinion of the Russian professor who predicted how the US will break up in 2012.

Carol said...

Thanks for visiting my blog-I really am boring after I read your facts---my vision thing is.....I am an artist and I enjoy seeing things and creating things, and this darn aging thing has really messed with my vision. I have astigmatism and severe nearsightedness, but now need bifocals or more, so I have no line lenses and when I try to paint murals, I have to tip my head so far back so I can see out of the bottom of my lenses. I HATE to drive at night...don't feel I can see clearly. I enjoy beading and that has gotten rough. I whip off my glasses to see really small things and look over the top of my glasses sometimes, like a real Granny...anyway, it is a problem and I suppose it is bound to get worse?

Travis said...

Carol-
I'm truly sorry to hear of your eye problems. I imagine that is a source of great stress for you since you need your vision in order to paint. We will have to make that an issue of prayer.
Thanks for stopping by!

sharilyn said...

ok... i HAVE to know about the piranha breakfast!! (and we're questioning the delights of pickled bologna?!?) :) do tell...

sharilyn said...

ps. let me clarify for anyone who reads my comment above--Travis is game to try the pickled bologna! it's the others who were feeling unsure! :)

and, i would also love to hear about the previous tag item--being suspended upside down in a goat cave?!?!? what?!?

Travis said...

For anyone who is pizzled about the pickled baloney comment, see Sharilyn's post: http://heartrocklife.blogspot.com/

Piranhas: When I was doing mission work in Peru, we took a trip down the Amazon and stayed with a tribe of Indians who lived near the headwaters. One day for breakfast, several of the women went to the river and caught a mess of piranhas for our breakfast. I really liked it. I seem to remember that they cooked some in banana leaves, and the others in a big iron pot. Either way they were delicious. They also made us drink some kind of soured (fermented?) corn like drink that was seasoned with ants. It was good, but not in a tasty way. It was not something I care to try again, but it was good...if you can believe me.

Goat Cave: Once, I spent a short summer in Haiti working with a missionary family to build a school. On one day, I decided to go hiking in the hills behind their house. I stumbled across a goat cave on the hillside, and I ventured in, thinking I might find the Ark of the Covenant, or something. As I exited the cave, I slipped on the loose gravel and tumbled down the cliff face a few feet, where I landed upside down in a tree. I was lucky, because I had a knife strapped to my back, which is what caught on the tree limb. If it hadn't been for that knife, I'd gone all the way to the bottom, which was probably only about 30 feet, but I reckon it'd smart to fall that far...

Thanks for visiting, Sharilyn!

Gwen Stewart said...

Okay...seriously. I thought you made this up. Travis, wow...I am SOOOO boring compared to you. :)

Bruce, and Julia? Wow. Is she as tall in real life as she looks in movies?

Travis said...

Gwen-
Would you believe that she (Julia) is very short? I'd guess that she barely clears 5 feet tall, if that. She's a tiny woman, and when she's not all gussyed up with make-up, she's just an average woman. We chatted for a few minutes about the weather, and she cussed like a sailor. I was very disappointed. It was unflattering.