A challenge from my friend, Helen - 7 things you might not know about me – (and my Perils of Pauline life)... 1. So loved seeing the Penguins at Brookfield Zoo, I was 9 ish, I tried to get a closer look and got my head stuck between the bars for what seemed to be a very long awkward time... Oh Security Guard... 2. Have had an “out of body” experience after hiking and camping in Grand Gulch Utah… I returned to one of the Anasazi Kivas I had climbed up about 1,500 ft to explore days earlier. Then I hovered over my own self as I slept at our guide’s ranch… talk about heart be still! 3. My first time on a film set was at the World Trade Center in NYC in 1976. They were filming the remake of King Kong and the scene set up was just after Kong fell from the Word Trade Center plaza and the great Kong we all presumed dead... jump to: Ten years later, when checking on a new arrival from LA at the studio… the warehouse door snapped shut and I was at once trapped with a very giant the King himself Kong! The shaggy Ape was recovering from his heart surgery. In the sequel KING KONG LIVES! The warehouse was barely larger than the giant body… as Kong awaited Carlo Rimbaldi (RIP)… No windows, and a waited for some one to happen by… pounding… and what was that musty banana smell? Security Guard rescue... seems to be a theme here... 4. In between takes on the set of Steven King’s “Maximum Overdrive,” I was having a conversation with a young Emilo Estavez & his fiancé at the time Demi Moore. We were sitting side by side in Director’s chairs. Now it is not uncommon to have other crew members come up and give neck/shoulder massages … ah the perks of the job! (It’s also a way to eavesdrop - lol)… Demi & I continued to chat, for quite sometime not realizing that one of the animal handlers had actually wrapped one of the Boa constrictors – being used in the scene - around Demi and I… I did everything I could not to scream, move react in any panicked way when I caught the head of the snake coming around Demi’s neck. For someone who is terrified of snakes… this was my Steven King nightmare! Need a therapist.... 5. One day as I drove into work @ DEG Film Studios, the Chief of Security (yes a recurring theme for sure) informed me that the herd of cattle had arrived for some scenes in “No Mercy” and were in the corral recently constructed as a set on the back lot. One of them delivered a calf just before daybreak, after being transported from Louisiana. Our first birth at the North Carolina studio! I grabbed a coworker and jumped into my golf cart to check on them… The tiny calf was lying down near the fence. So we kneeled down to reach through the fence to gently stroke its soft fur. (I should have learned after the penguin episode). Our two hands stroked this amazing soft, sweet smelling calf as the mother gently watched. Then a third hand appeared, stroking in unison… shoulder to shoulder, not looking up we shared such lovely words of the miracles of life. As I decided I’d better get on with my day, I rose to realize that this special gift was being shared with Richard Gere! 6. When my fiancée Phil Abbott and I finally decided to tie the knot, it was a spur of the moment thing… on my wedding day, not only did I have to run 2 blocks in the rain in 3 1/2 inch heals (at 50 just walking on these stilts was a feat)… to retrieve proof of social security numbers and get back before the narrow window of getting hitched would close for the day… I was also frisked and WAND-ed going into the courthouse… really people? When we finally arrived breathless to the court of the judge on duty, his courtroom sign said “Court of Worthless Checks”… I was too tired to see this as a potential omen and run... more security & therapy! The sweet judge also kindly offered to also be our wedding photographer! It was a happy day! 7. I had a beautiful cat named “Toulouse La Truck” nickname “Lucy” and he had me. I adopted him from a location we were filming “Maximum Overdrive” working title “Trucks”. Toulouse, at 3, was hit by a car in front of my horrified eyes… after several surgeries and diagnosis of “loss of sight, broken jaw and brain damage”… slowly my sweet Toulouse came back to life, blind for sure, jaw wired together with a button holding the wire under his chin. Because I kept him inside, “to protect him” we started having a peeing problem… I thought it might be part of the brain damage. So I brought him to the NCSU Vet hospital. He charmed and delighted all the doctors and students who preformed all sorts of tests. The Cat Psychologist (who knew such a specialization existed?) asked me to draw a floor plan of the house and where the peeing was found. Of course Toulouse had settled down under her chair to be stroked. I was told, “It’s your FAULT!” the sentence screaming in my ears. Look”, she gently pointed to my drawing. “He is going near all the doors and the open window where he was used to going outside. You’ve closed them; You’re the one that changed. Then she said, “I know your instinct is to protect him,” Toulouse now purring under her stoke, trader, I thought “Animals just get on with their lives, “ she continued, “They can’t hear “poor thing, handicapped, etc...” they just live… Let him go out and lead his life. He might get attacked or hit by another car, but let him live his life. His instincts will kick in.” So he did, making his usual rounds to neighbor’s houses, finding him in his precarious favorite places over a 35-foot drop that scared me, but not him! He just got on with his life! He lived for another 13 years delighting all who encountered him. Posing for hundreds of tourist photos. He taught me so many lessons… He overcame everything life threw at him. I enjoy living an Entwined Life, but you already know that! Jayme Bednarczyk Thanks Helen Yoest!
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 19:15:25 +0000
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