Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Fact or Fiction or Just Plain Boring?

My work holiday party, ahem "Team Building Event" is this Friday. Is it strange that it is sending me into a "woe is me" spiral?

No, this is not a Bah Humbug moment, my hesitation has nothing to do with a reluctance to celebrate the holidays. Rather, the source of my angst is the "Team Building" portion of the event. As was done last year, we are all supposed to participate in a game whereby we e-mail three true statements and one lie about ourselves to the game coordinator. Then, during the party, handouts of all the compiled statements are given out without associated names, and we are supposed to ask our fellow guests questions in order to determine who belongs to each group of statements, and which statement is the lie.

Last year I didn't hesitate much, just picked three true statements and a lie and sent them away. I believe they were: "I am the oldest of four children" (I thought this might throw some people off because they might know I am a triplet, but may not know that I have a younger brother), "I was born in Vermont", "My favorite beverage is tea" (the lie - it's either coffee or wine, but definitely NOT tea), and one other similarly veined statement that I can't remember because, like the other three, it was BORING.

And then I got to the party, and everyone else's statements were like "I'm a certified scuba instructor" and "I sat in Ricky Martin's lap" and "I speak four languages" and "I did some awesome thing that you didn't do." OK, so the last one isn't a direct quote, but basically, everyone else seemed really interesting and/or accomplished. While I... did not.

And now we are doing it again. I clearly feel the pressure to put some really awesome facts out there, things no one would ever guess about me, things that show how crazy or daring or smart or accomplished or awesome I am. But I'm drawing a blank here, folks. The most remarkable things about me are not really my doing, or they are way too embarrassing or work inappropriate to admit. Yeah, so I once bonged a beer in just a few seconds and then chased it with a flaming shot of 151 rum (and in the process kind of set the table on fire), but do I really want my co-workers to know that? Pretty sure that belongs firmly in the "no" category. Plus it's lame to clame college drinking experiences as something remarkable when in your mid-thirties. I can't really use the fact that I'm a triplet - thought it's usually a crowd pleaser, it would too easily identify me, and I had no part in making that happen. I wasn't valedictorian, I haven't met anyone particularly famous, I'm not particularly accomplished, I don't even play any musical instruments.

What would you say, if you were in this situation? What are three truths and a lie that people might not expect from you? Maybe they'll give me inspiration.

I'm probably the only staff member who's blogged about the party, maybe I can use that...

Nah, don't want them all headed to this site :-).

3 comments:

  1. What about something from our European adventures? "I once had a fight with my sister on the steps of Versailles." "I took a Sound of Music tour in Salzburg." Or when you got lost in the Pyrenese mountains and were rescued by some sort of botanist (I hope since he had bugs on his belt.) Or what about your middle name? That's interesting. You're interesting. You just have small children - who has time for hobbies with small kids?

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  2. What about how you can speak in accents like Meryl Streep? Or that when you sing along to the Indigo Girls you sound exactly like them? And do they know you were a waitress at a Golden Corral? What about the gross frog science stuff? (BTW you definitely set the table on fire. Plus the rug. I don't know why you said "kind of.")

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