Only In My Home Town...

For those that don't know, I'm a military brat, so I don't technically have a hometown. However, I did spend an inordinate amount of time (most of high school, all of college, and a few years after) in Northern Kentucky. Also, for those that don't know, Northern Kentucky is essentially a series of suburbs of Cincinnati, but since there's a river there, they call it Kentucky.

In Northern Kentucky, one of the larger 'burbs is Florence. I say larger because it had "the mall" and, until recently, the theaters. I worked there on and off, as a server, bar tender and store manager. I tell you this so that I can qualify my next statement: the people there are hillbillies. Born and bred hicks. Most of them are lovely, but if you aren't used to gun-toting, truck-driving, tobacco-chewing redneck stereotypes, you may not want to go. But, in case you do want to visit Florence, KY sometime, there is now another reason. One of the city residents is now a world record holder!

That's amazing! Who'd have thought that someone from little ol' Florence to make it big in this world. Man, isn't life strange sometimes? Wait… what's that? He's got a World Record in… what?! …. Holding Cockroaches in his mouth…? But… why??

Yeah, the guy held 11 Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches in his mouth for 10 seconds. They were still alive. If you were wondering, the Madagascar roach is the one they use on every reality show when they talk about roachs. Big, ugly, vomit-inducing bugs. And he had 11 in his mouth. One asumes he practiced for this?

And these good people, my dear readers, are the kinds of people I grew up around, that helped shape my world view. Just a sense of perspective for you all.