answers

while i'm at the computer, (and as several people decided they'd rather IM me or ask me in person than be patient), i might as well tell you what's the scoop on the 10 statements/3 lies game... not a single person got all 3 lies, but some of you were on the right tracks... enjoy the read, and most likely learn things about lara you didn't know before :-P

3 lies
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3) i have never been picked up by the police -- false, when i spun out in a blizzard in 2000, i was picked up by a state trooper and told i wasn't allowed to stay with my car… so defining picked up by the police as told to stop what I was doing and get in the car NOW, yes I’ve been picked up by the police
6) i have never held a gun -- false, my dad owns a rifle, which he keeps (unloaded) in the house, and i've had to move it when looking for things and/or cleaning
9) i once was given an actual lump of coal for christmas because i didn't believe that santa could find us at my grandparents' house and i complained incessantly about it for a week. -- false, i was given a pencil eraser painted black and told to pretend it was coal, but for the same reason

7 weird truths
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1) i once brought a bag of bird crap to school on a dare -- it was 6th grade... people do strange things in 6th grade
2) i once had my shoes thrown in to one of the great lakes and had to have a friend go wading/swimming to get them back. -- true, it was in undergrad... strange things happen in undergrad
4) i was convinced for a week that a man dressed in a cape and pirate hat was stalking me -- true, for a couple weeks in budapest my roommates and i had some strange encounters with a very strange expat in a cape and pirate hat, and just when they were starting to happen too frequently for comfort, it stopped and we never saw him again
5) i have assisted a pig giving birth. -- true, in 4th grade one of our family's vietnamese pot-bellied pigs had piglets, and the family formed an assembly line to help the mother pig and clean off the babies (growing up on a quasi farm can be quite educational ;-P)
7) i have had "caffeine blackouts" before, somewhat akin to how alcohol can affect people who are drunk -- yes, twice that i can remember i had so much caffeine in one day and was so hyper by the end of it that the next morning i shuddered at stories of my silliness, but couldn't clearly remember what i had actually done
8) i once attended a tango party in my pajamas -- strange, but yes... the short version: my roommate at my REU in san antonio 4 years ago was very into dancing, especially tango-ing... when she and several of our friends were in my room and decided to dance for awhile after i was already ready for bed, the above is the end result
10) i have not lived for more than 12 consecutive months without a chipped tooth -- true, when i was 1ish, i tripped and chipped my front tooth on a table... my mom was so excited when i lost the tooth and it was replaced with the adult one, without a chip... within a year, i proceeded to try to jump a large tree root with my bicycle, when the bicycle stopped and i didn't, and i flipped over the handlebars chipping the same tooth... and thus, my left front tooth has been chipped for all my life except before age 1 and most of age 7