Once again, this time thanks to everyone's favorite pen-wielding girl, Lanie, I have been the target in another game of tag.  This one requires telling sixteen facts - half of them being true, and half being false – about my life.  I am not going to count though, so you might get less than sixteen, and the split of true/false might not be even (I will tell at the end how many are true and how many are false though, just to be fair).

In order to preserve my typical deviant behavior when it comes to such activities, I am opting to deliver these facts in the form of an autobiographical story, instead of just listing them (which was tempting to do since you all know about the love and affection I have for lists).

The following story is true, and false.  Your job is to read it and try to figure out which elements of the tale are true events in my life, and which of them are fictitious.  I will bold-face and re-color all the facts you are to consider.  Sounds easy enough, right?  Let's see how you do.

I have a great love of animals, which is something that's been true for as long as I can remember.  To this day, I continue to love most animals, (yes, "most", since I have an unexplainable fear of hippos) even though they, unfortunately, don't always seem to love me.

First I am going back, way back, to when I just a wee tyke, in diapers.  My mother had a little West Highland Terrier, named Joshua.  This dog was her pride and joy, almost as much as my sister and I were…maybe even moreso!  No matter how nice I tried to be to this little devil, the damn thing would constantly chase me around the old apartment, nipping at my behind like he was out for blood!  What did I ever do to him anyway? 

Then of course there was the time that I somehow angered a local pigeon in the courtyard of our apartment complex.  There I was minding my own business, playing with my sister and a few little friends from the building, when this kamikaze pigeon swooped down and landed on my head, and got his feet tangled in my curly hair in the process.  What a nightmare that was!

Another not-so-fun time was when an entire colony of ants somehow managed to make their way to my second-floor bedroom when I lived in my parents' house, and proceeded to overtake my bed and bookcases.  I could not sleep for days even after annihilating them all;  I get itchy and squirmy now just thinking about it!

Additionally, family vacations never seemed to be complete without some Erika vs. Animal incident.  Let's see, there was the time I got butted from behind by a goat (and got my two bottom middle teeth knocked crooked as a result), and the time a monkey jumped out of his trainer's arms and onto my back during a demonstration at a zoo. 

That's all, right?...sadly, no.  

While on vacations I've also:

-Had my duffel bag invaded by a snake while on a school camping trip

-Been chased by a badger through a parking lot in Colonial Williamsburg.

-Gotten stung by three jellyfish at one time in Florida

-Been bitten by a dolphin in an aquarium, also in Florida.

-Had twigs thrown at my head by a squirrel in a tree at some park in Vermont.

Needless to say, trips definitely were anything but dull if I was present, that's for sure!

…and there you have it, all the reasons why I should detest animals, or at least fear them a bit more, but don't!  (except the hippos!).

… … …

Truths:   6
Fallacies:  5

Have fun, and good luck guessing…I am not going to give the answers until most people have gotten a chance to guess.

As for tagging other people, I will have to tag my sister Jennifer, because apparently it is partly her fault that I got tagged in the first place.  I also will tag Troy, because it is payback time!  Also, one more for the hell of it, and because I think he'd want to play anyway, I tag my favorite Night Blogger, Deaner!

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P.S:  Not that it really matters for anything but this is the 100th blog I've tortured you all with so far! ;)