Douse Those Pants

If you haven't played my version of the Liar's Game yet, you can go back to Monday's post and join the fun. I'll wait.

I got some great guesses, and a couple of you got “partial credit,” but no one aced the test with 100% accuracy.

Okay. Now for the answers.

Which of the following nine statements are true? (Hint: at least two are.)

1) I recorded two holes-in-one during the same month (May 1986).
False. I'm still looking for my first ace. Once, a guy in the foursome ahead of me got a hole-in-one, but I had my head turned and missed it. Heard all the yelling, though.

2) TV's Al Roker was one of my college roommates.
False. I've never met Mr. Roker, and, as far as I know, none of my college roommates became meteorologists or TV personalities.

3) In 1993, I spent three weeks at McMurdo Station (Antarctica) researching environmental impacts for my newsletter company. It was cold.
False. I've never been to Antarctica, although for most of the last two weeks, I might as well have been. I do like the name McMurdo, and if I ever get a pet penguin, that's what I'm calling him (or her).

4) I qualified to swim in the Olympic trials as a teenager (backstroke), but couldn't compete because I broke my arm water skiing.
False. I. Can. Not. Swim. Nor can I water ski. I like activities on dry land.

5) In grad school, I won the MIT ping-pong intramural championship.
False. I was on an intramural ping-pong team, but I don't believe I won a single match.

6) On three separate flights, my plane had to make emergency landings, complete with fire engines and foam trucks racing alongside us on the runways.
True. After I backpacked through Europe (post-college), it took me three days to get home from Orly Airport in Paris, primarily because of two emergency landings (dumped fuel, rescue vehicles—as they say in French, l'entire shebang). I also had another emergency landing after that. My first clue something was wrong? When the pilot himself emerged from the cockpit, came down the aisle, and kneeled. Then he pried up a patch of carpet and peered through a hole in the floor to see if the landing gear was down! I AM NOT KIDDING! Don't fly with me! Or maybe you should fly with me--I landed safely each time!

7) When I was four years old, I whistled the Star Spangled Banner on a local TV morning show. I was very cute.
False. I can't whistle either.

8) I once threw my back out playing Go Fish.
True. Rough sport.

9) In the seventies, I was a vegetarian for about six weeks before succumbing to the calls of the Big Mac.
False. Back in the day, I ate hamburgers and hot dogs and all kinds of junk food quite frequently. Now, I don't, and I often think I should become vegetarian. Maybe I will someday...

Thanks for playing!