PERSONAL REVELATIONS
10 Things You Don’t Know About Me: Celebrities, My Brain, Crime, & Blood
And a confession that's been buried for 37 years.

There’s always more to people than what you see, and I am no exception.
Transparency makes for connections. I love to exchange my life happenings and find others who may have lived similar circumstances or have traits they find relatable.
Personal history reveals itself upon the host body’s willingness to share.
I’m your girl and I’m willing to disclose 10 little-known facts.
So, let’s remove some layers of Lisa.
My 10 Secret Gems
“I’ve loved you forever, Carol ~ any chance you can come by after the show for margaritas on my lanai?”
“If not, can you spare a Happy Birthday wish for my mother-in-law here? She loves you, too!”
I stood in the theatre’s aisle at the microphone stand and pleaded with my soft-sell approach.
Carol Burnett laughed and said she couldn’t come for a drink but proceeded to belt out Happy Birthday and encouraged the other show-goers to join her.
They obliged and our night was made.
1. Celebrities
Working on the hotel side of the casinos in Atlantic City, NJ, exposed me to all walks of performers.
Though I didn’t meet each one, the ones I did are treasured memories.
I have met Elton John, Michael Jackson, Don Rickels, Carol Burnett, Merv Griffin, Roger King, Vanna White, Donald Trump, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, and Rascal Flatts.
The country music artists I’ve met were in social settings from knowing people of people connected to people.
No regrets beyond my hair.



2. Crowd Pleaser
I am a practical joker and entertainer by nature. I stood up at an elegant dinner and removed my panties to throw up in the air.
Of course, I planned this, which was a common activity for the older lady groupies of Engelbert Humperdinck and Tom Jones.
Yes, I had a second pair on underneath, but the shocked faces were worth it. The show was wonderful, even though I wasn’t familiar with the talent of Englebert before the show.
The story was told around the table for years.
Worth it.
3. I Ran For Mayor
Disenchanted by party politics after being a local government councilwoman for 10 years, I left my party and ran for Mayor as an Independent. Though I lost by 51 votes, I choose to say that 26 voters didn’t see the light.
It’s much harder to get 51 non-voters to the polls than it is to change the mindset of 26 voters.
Not too bad for being the first female candidate to run for that office.
My kids hand-painted the campaign signs, it was that grassroots.

4. Television Appearances
Because of my down-home political campaign in 2006, I was invited and participated as a CSPAN panelist of Independents.
I had absolutely nothing of value to offer the esteemed panel, but it was TV. Who was I to turn down the offer?
One of the cameramen recognized my town as the same one where his parents resided, so I got lots of air time.
An author I met at the New York gala included my story and bio as a chapter in her book, “We the Purple: Faith, Politics, and the Independent Voter” by Marcia Ford.
Other than a school yearbook, I had never been interviewed nor included in someone’s novel before.
It was my second time on TV. The first occasion was a one-on-one interview for a local cable show.
It’s kinda my comfort zone.
5. Blood Love
I love to perform self-surgery. One time I had to have a fingernail lanced to relieve the build-up of blood under it that was swelling from my injured finger.
I studied the procedure intently.
Years later, a large teak hatch on our boat had crashed down my big toe and, once again, the blood built up. I boiled some small scissors in preparation.
My time to shine!
I saved myself a trip to the ER and lanced it myself.
I watched all 3 of my cesarean surgeries in the overhead light to deliver my babies.
Our bodies are fascinating and I have an ability to disassociate from pain.
6. Brain Diagnostics
I had been troubled for years by my balanced brain. There was a 4 four-hour brain test, and I was willing to take it. I am one off plumb from having an even functionality to my brain lobes.
I am not left, or right, dominant but draw from whatever I need to get me through.
I am a number crunching, book balancing, bean-counter, somewhat scientific, analytical artist, who loves reading, writing, oil painting, pencil drawing, playwriting, and performing on stage.
I took the air traffic controller’s test in my last eligible year to age qualify and scored in the low 90s.
Admirable attempt, I suppose, but I aged out before they called me for work.
I highly recommend doing this if you like hard-core, fast-paced, problem-solving puzzles.
7. Ambidextrous and Double-Jointed
I am right-handed. However, I discovered in a particularly boring high school class that I was tracing my name, backward in cursive, with my right foot under the desk.
Easy enough to know that my brain would coax my hand to try.
I can write properly with my left hand while simultaneously writing backward with my right hand to create a mirror image.
This hidden talent paid for a lot of drinks in my college years and well into my single life.
I would let the non-believer choose whatever word they wanted.
For fun, I framed a photo of my double-jointed contortionist tricks and would randomly put it on my husband’s night table.
I don’t know a better vision to wake up to.
However, he was never amused.

8. Equal Rights Advocate
I walked off a job in protest to support a cocktail waitress who was being discriminated against by my superiors.
I was a manager and the owners would not listen regarding their inconsistent, and inappropriate, assessment of company policy that they did not enforce for their very visible son.
The female employee was one of our hardest-working assets and was targeted due to her backbone.
The employee was right.
Ultimately, I was asked to return, and she maintained her position.
A win-win and totally worth it.
9. Big Dreams
I joined the US Army. I really believed they would offer me a structured environment where I excel. I needed reining in.
A lot of people questioned my plan and wondered aloud where, in my fatigues, I could keep my brush.
My parents were shocked, too, and had me renegotiate my departure date for boot camp. I never served once I settled into the corporate world.
Smart parents.
10. Criminal Activity
I believe the statute of limitations has long since expired so, I’ll say it.
It was me.
I am the one who scaled the exterior of my dormitory in college and hung over the portico to remove the metal letters out of the stone. It was genius, quite frankly.
A fraternity had swiped one of our sorority’s highly secret pledge books.
Because they wouldn’t release it to us, I took action by taking only the letters of their fraternity off a very visible overhang of our building.
The fraternity was under heat and in the spotlight.
I anonymously contacted them to release the pledge book, specific date and time included, and the letters would be back on the building by the next dawn.
I used a guttural man’s voice in my ransom call.
That night, dressed in all black, my roommates and I watched the delivery from the tree line.
My favorite recon ever.
Only 2 other sisters ever knew the truth, and no one was prosecuted.
We got our book. The fraternity brothers didn’t go to jail or get fined.
A win-win, once again.
Thanks to Klara Jane Holloway for starting the confessional booth here ~ let’s see how many others want to join in: PJ Jackelman, Graham Cooke, Robert Shaneyfelt, Lisa A Lachapelle Canuckscribe, Liberty Forrest, Author, Caitlin McColl, Misty Rae are the lucky seven to get tagged.
Ready to join and enjoy thousands of stories while helping me out?
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Copyright © 2022 Lisa Gerard Braun. All rights reserved.
