OT: Close Calls - Things that should have killed you, but didn't
Driving into work today a few cars smashed into each other right in front of me. I had to do a pretty crazy maneuver at about 75 mph to avoid a head on collision and my car was sprayed with broken glass and plastic. This is the second time this month that I very narrowly avoided a serious accident and it has me thinking about my other close calls.
The closest I ever came to actually dying was when I had an allergic reaction to something I didn't know I was allergic to. It happened really fast and being 17 and invincible I was hesitant to seek assistance. Until I looked in a mirror and saw that my now lobster red face had swollen to twice it's normal size.
I drove myself to the nearest ER and my windpipe was almost closed by the time I got there. I'll never forget the look on the receptionist's face. It was like she was looking at a corpse.
What about you? Have you beaten cancer? Dodged a bullet fired by a jealous husband?
and load and unload trucks. Almost went head first over a dock 10 ft down in a forklift. Thankfully I was able to adjust the weight but staring 10ft down and the ground was not cool.
you didn't have Drake Johnson anywhere near you did you?
werent playing Pokemon GO
exactly what those dipshits were doing. I didn't see exactly what triggered the accident, but the weather is fine and traffic was moving well, so someone fucked up.
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Internal bleeding. Lost so much blood that when I stumbled into the American Medical Center a few days into it, they were unclear as to how I was still conscious.
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Any experience sounds cooler when you add "in Moscow":
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Lean on friends, not the bottle (at least not too much).
It'll get better.
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I gained 40 pounds in the last two years from the stress, as well as a fair bit of beer-supported coping. Since the decision was made, I've lost 25.
The divorce is acrimonious, to say the least, but the one thing my ex and I both have going for us is that we love our kids and want them to be happy and healthy.
I am ending this relationship for my health and for their well-being.
I'm reclaiming a lot of what I gave up over the last 10 years to focus energies on my failing marriage: golf, basketball, a social life, intellectual pursuits, etc. it's already getting better.
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I don't know how long you've been married, but one thing to look forward to is that it's much easier to get laid than it used to be. Sexual morality has changed significantly over the past 20ish years.
The downside is that you'll probably get the clap.
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So I'll pour one out for you, friend.
Nearly drown in lake Huron after a windsurfing mishap.
Initiallly stunned, then fought, then panicked. Then I sank. Sinking to the bottom was one of the most peaceful moments of my life, and I no longer fear death.
I snapped out of it and swam to the surface.
I almost died in Lake Michigan when I was a kid.
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That fucking muffed punt vs. MSU.
That muffed punt did end up keeping OSU out of the playoff. So that's something...
How is that a silver lining? If either MSU or OSU has to go the the playoff, I'd much rather it be OSU.
MSU earned some serious disrespect in the playoffs.
Friends and I used to close our eyes and run across a fairly busy street at a blind curve. I probably did it a dozen or so times. Once I felt the breeze of a car on my ankle as I ran past and that was the last time I tried it. Looking back years later this is definitely the stupidest thing I ever did. I kind of feel like I was playing Russian roulette and won.
I was this kid.
What's wrong with young boys that makes us do such stupid things?
But I'm positive that there's a genetic component to it. My son fears nothing and rarely registers pain. If he actually stops playing and/or starts to cry I know that he hurt himself pretty badly. Luckily, no trips to the ER yet.
Me too! Somewhere between the ages of 3-6, I distinctly remember having a habit of running across our very busy street as soon as I felt my mother's grip on my hand loosen. I remember sensing a rush of my mother's anxiety (like a too-fast blown bubble, needing to burst) as I sprang away from her grasp; coupled with a natural sense of daring; finally followed by my mother's sense of relief as I looked back across the street to see her with my older sister. As a child, you only understand there's a rush, and the feeling you're a hero when you see your parent's relieved face. Of course, there's also a feeling of "I won; I got here first!".
If I had to make sense of it: boys like the feeling of adrenalin rushes, feeling like heroes, feeling number 1.
Having that sense, as a parent of two 8-month-olds (a boy and girl), I know I'll have my hands full! My goal is for my kids to feel like heroes when they're helping - doing right - and when I make them feel heroic for it; getting their rushes in controlled environments, feeling number 1 because I'll always make myself second. I know it won't always be easy, but that's my goal.
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Seriously, though, thanks. Sacrifice doesn't even begin to describe what you do.
In the words of Shoelace, this thread is OVA.
Rarely, if ever, has a thread been so completely and utterly won.
Thank you.
to thank you enough for your service. I would enjoy hearing more of your experiences.
Over dinner, perhaps?
/s
Was studying abroad in London and a girl in our program had locked herself out of her room. She asked if I could leap from the stairway window to her balcony to unlock the door. I'd had two beers, which was enough to agree to something so stupid. Four floors up, and below was a mishmash of pipes, chain-link fence, and cement. I made the leap without issue, hooking my elbow onto the balcony and climbing up. But any misstep would have surely led to death or worse.
The kicker: though she was a nice person the girl was not remotely attractive, and so I had no particular incentive to do this. I never did anything so foolish again.
I never did anything so foolish again. ...yet
I was drinking with a few friends at Dooley's back in the day. It was Rick Leach's birthday and he was there with some teammates. Many of the teammates were O-Lineman who were drinking from pitchers as if they were mugs. If course, I had to try that. I ended the night by throwing up on a bouncer. I was later told by my friends that he wanted to kill me, but the football players thought is was awesome and protected me. It's nice to have large friends.
appendectomy last summer. Also, 6 years ago, I hit a car head on at 55 and somehow managed to walk out of the hospital later that night with only a couple bruises.
In Moraine OH, a guy in a massive '70s Cadillac, probably drunk, blasted through a red light at 60+ mph and missed me in my tiny rental car by inches. Would have been ugly.
To this day, I proceed through intersections cautiously, green light be damned, always looking to see who may be coming hard from the sides.
I was driving slowly through a residential neighborhood when another teenager came speeding around a corner through a stop sign while I was in the intersection. He slammed on the brakes and slid through the intersection sideways. I thought sure I was going to get creamed, but I gave the little bike as much gas as I could and he must have missed my back tire by a hair. I was so shaken that I couldn't even stop to yell at him after he came to a stop sideways on the opposite side of the intersection. That was almost 50 years ago and I can still see it in my mind.
My friend and I had 125cc motorcycles that we rode on dirt trails as teens. 125cc bikes are fun, but they are underpowered if you ride them on the street.
We were riding once and needed to cross a busy road with cars going at high speed. I looked both ways and crossed just between two cars without much margin of error.
Then I heard a crash. My friend had followed me across the street without looking himself. He got tagged hard. His bike slid 30 yards across the road in pieces. His helmet was torn up and his jacket was ripped to shreds.
Luckily for him he survived it although he was quite bruised and sore.
We were teens without motorcycle licenses, so we were not supposed to be on the street. We were so afraid of getting caught for that, that we left the scene as soon as possible. The driver that hit him was perfectly happy to have us disappear.
We made up a story to his parents that his bike got wrecked falling down a hill climb.
We didn't know any better. Nowadays, he probably could have sued the driver and walked away with a big settlement.
I almost did this too on my literbike coming in wayyyyy too hot around a corner towards an intersection but i was somehow able to keep it upright after the rear locked up
I was driving to school when I went to pass someone who was going about 25 miles an hour on a straight country road. Anyway, I made the mistake of trying to pass him near an intersection. I saw the car at the intersection; the guy was looking left, then, as he pulled his car into the lane I was in, looked me STRAIGHT IN THE EYE. I panicked and put the gas pedal on the floor, swerving into my lane to miss him (and the car I was passing) by what felt like four inches-- which, it turns out, was pretty accurate, since the person I passed was a classmate who said, "Dude, I honestly thought you were dead."
67 Cutlass Supreme....................lesson #1. Drum breaks have no affect at 120mph. Thus endith the lesson.