posted on May 6, 2001 08:30:22 AM newnanastuff, this ones for you. Thanks for bringing it up. I finally survived childhood, (not easy with my childhood curiosities running rampant). I'd rather be a curious child, you learn more, even though sometimes very painfully so. I'll fill in my stupid adult acts later, as they come to mind. So, what's the dumbest thing you've done as an adult, so far.
Come on now. This thread was started from your mention of the topic. You can't back out now. Pick one that isn't to bad, I'm sure you must have one of those.
posted on May 6, 2001 11:57:56 AM new
A friend and I were fishing on the Sacramento river in California, when I lived there. The place we fished was not really safe, an embankment made of all loose rocks. We had a few 'Buds' sitting on the bank. My friend lost his footing as I looked back at him coming down with his fishing rod, and started rolling down the embankment in the loose rocks. I reached out and grabbed him by his shirt neck, and stopped him. I was laughing so hard at how funny he looked going by, I almost let him go. The current was very swift at that area, and very deep, with little hope of getting out if you fell in. We never fell in, but, had we, it may not have been so funny.
posted on May 6, 2001 12:30:46 PM new
Ah, this is an easy one!....I decided to "cure" my cat of his vacuum phobia.....All he needs is to get used to it...So, I hold the cat & instruct my boyfriend (now husband) to bring the vac over & turn it on....I STILL have the scars from THAT dumb mistake!
posted on May 6, 2001 02:01:23 PM new
sadie999, I can't stop laughing at that one!!
OK....here goes...yes this is a mild one and it just happened a couple of weeks ago. Was filling kitchen sink to wash some pots. Decided to run outside for just a sec to check the grandchild and, yep, ended up staying out there. I used every bath towel and ANYTHING I could grab to soak up the water!! Hell of a way to scrub the kitchen floor too!
posted on May 6, 2001 03:21:15 PM new
Now, on a more serious note of stupid things I've done in my life. The place where I worked for years closed, the infamous 'downsizing' era. I had worked there 22 years at the time. A friend of mine had worked there 27 years. He was much older than I, and a grandfather of six. His options to find a new line of work, or career, were very limited. We discussed our situation many times as we tried to find new employment, etc.
This is when I went to college at age 44. I didn't have hardly any time to spend with my friend. I studied hard every night, and weekends as well. He used to tell me what a blessing it was to have a friend like me to talk to. And I was grateful for his friendship as well. One day his wife, and one of his granddaughters, came home from shopping and found him dead on the patio. He had shot himself. This is why I will never again, fail to make enough time to listen to a friend. I don't care what I'm involved in.
posted on May 6, 2001 03:24:31 PM newnanastuff, you remended me of one I did at about 21. Never, ever use liquid dish washing soap when you run out of the powdered stuff!!! I've never seen so many bubbles in my life!
I'm no expert, but from what I've seen and heard about suicides, you could have been talking to your friend the night before, or even an hour before, and he may have gone ahead and done it anyway.
Sometimes I wonder if people who commit suicide experience something akin to the impulse that drives whales to beach themselves, some primal note of self-destruction that overrides the instinct for self-preservation and survival, that can't be dissuaded no matter how many people try to help. I think of trapped whales who even after being freed from the sand by rescuers swim out into the bay a little, then turn back around and head straight for the beach again ... Sometimes there's nothing anyone can do.
posted on May 6, 2001 05:33:29 PM new
Sorry Mint, I didn't see your post until after mine had gone through. Then I needed to think about what to say.
I agree with Spaz, I seriously doubt that anything you could have done would have changed what happened. I've known of cases of depression where no one around the person suspected what was going to occur before hand. I think the real tragedy is the doubt and guilt in the people who are left behind. I'm sorry you were caught in this.
posted on May 6, 2001 05:40:41 PM new
This one is easier than the child one.
Dumbest thing I ever did as an adult was about three years before my mom died. Christmas time. And she was being such a pain in the ass...fighting with me all the time and just riding my case for everything from the way I wore my hair to how short my skirts were to the guys I was dating. (I was about 23 at the time.) My brother's weren't coming home that year, so it was supposed to be just me and my boyfriend and my mom that year. HUGE blowout on December 23. I went over Christmas Eve to try to make some peace and she wouldn't have any part of it. So I spent Christmas with my boyfriend's family. And she spent it alone. It was stupid at the time, and it's even more stupid now that I'd give almost anything for another day with her.
Often rode a motorcycle without a helmet. Started dating a guy that insisted on a helmet, and we had an accident that would have killed me. As it was I had a knot on my head where the helmet met the concrete and road rash bad enough to convince me that maybe every guy I dated didn't have to have a motorcycle.
Started smoking. Still fighting that demon.
Some of the more fun stupid things can't be repeated here. Especially the ones I can remember....
I don't feel I could have prevented it, just maybe have been there to ease some of the pain. I didn't tell it all, it's rather lengthy. He had a good job offer, (he was a skilled tool & die machinist), but it meant leaving the state. His grown children, and wife, wouldn't here of that. They had lived in the same state all of their lives. I don't think they realized what pressure they put on him. I did, I saw it, and he talked about it, just to me.
That's why it still bothers me some. Out of his whole family, he chose to talk to me instead. I didn't know them well at all, and couldn't bring myself to tell them what was happening to him. They didn't see it I guess, to big a family. I should have tried though, to wake them up. They thought he would be fine just 'getting by' on what he had, and maybe some assistance. He was a proud man, worked hard all of his life, like me. And I know what that did to him, losing his job after all those years. It's a sad thing to see a person feel there is no other way to deal with life, than to end it. Like the whales, he couldn't find a way out, or he felt the direction was leading him where he didn't want to be.
Thanks Spaz, I appreciate your words, and your thoughts.
Mint
Typo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[ edited by mint4you on May 6, 2001 05:47 PM ]
posted on May 6, 2001 05:52:43 PM new
Mint, that must have been a very hard thing for you to go through. I'm thinking that perhaps your friend would have ended his life earlier if you hadn't have been there. Suicidal people usually do a lot of planning before they do it. It sounds almost like an honour that he wanted to spend his last days with you. (I hope you can understand what I'm trying to say )
And a bit OT (spaz), but I saw a recent show on the CBC about beaching whales. They now think that they've been beaching because of under water sonar waves. Scientists are now thinking that sonar from submarines in military testing zones can actually blow out the whale's ear drums, which is a disaster for whales. I guess they must know they are useless, and beach themselves. Very sad if proven to be true.
posted on May 6, 2001 05:55:24 PM new
UpInTheHills
Thanks, I appreciate your thoughts. I just read your post after what I had just posted previous to this one. Sometimes while we're typing, things change, and then we adjust to the changes. It's the thought that counts, not the time placement.
Yes, it was hard. You start second guessing yourself. Should I have done this, or that. Even though his family was not aware, I was. Should I have gotten him help without his cooperation? Could I have? Could I have forced him into getting help? Could I have made his family get him help? Those are questions that will never be answered. I gave him friendship, as he did me. We supported each other. That's where I feel I made a dumb mistake. I focused on my college efforts, and classes, far do deeply. I lost some perspective of what was happening to him. While trying to survive in my world, I lost track of his. I'll never make that type of mistake again, as long as I live.
One of the dumbest things as a grown up mother, would have to be thinking I knew what my teenager and his mate were up to. LOL Big lesson well learnt ....... oh and the police were very nice, and the son only had 20 stitches and his mate a broken collar bone.
posted on May 7, 2001 12:35:47 AM new
Malady-well I don't feel so alone in dumping college for the ex!
Ok the dumbest thing I've done VERY recently....... started 80 auctions with 1 penny starting bids..... I don't wanna
look ....... eeeeeeeeek!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Someone even emailed me and asked me 'ebay made a mistake on your auctions and put 1 cent start bid on it' ....... acccccccck!
mint4you-I'm really sorry to hear of what happened with your freind
posted on May 7, 2001 06:09:59 AM new
nanastuff, your water story reminded me of a sorta-like-it story.
I put some eggs on to boil. Figured I had enough time to run down to the video store (I was in a city at the time - it was right around the corner), pick up one video, and get back in time for hard boiled eggs.
Went to video store. Forgot eggs. Lingered. As I'm walking home, I think, "Oh s***, the eggs!" Start a light jog. Round the corner to see a fire truck in front of my apt. bldg. Coincidence? I think not! The smoke from my eggs had triggered my smoke alarm and a neighbor had called it in.
I apologize to the fireguys. One says, "Well, I guess I won't be asking you to cook me lunch anytime soon!"
posted on May 7, 2001 11:18:24 AM new
well, damnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!! Since this thread started (all your fault, Mint!! [wink}), those dumb moments just keep jumping out at me....damn again!!!! Approx. 25 yrs. ago (yep; sorry to say I was an adult at the time) I took the kids with me to McDonalds. Got lots of food; big tray with drinks and large bag; burgers fries and all. Set it all on top of the car while putting children in safety seat and buckles. YEP....left it there and drove off. Half way home, I realized it. Big U-turn. Burgers, fries, milkshakes, spewed all over the street. I went back to McDonalds and re-ordered....you really think I was going to tell my hubby what I did??????? NOT!!!
posted on May 7, 2001 11:53:04 AM new
Oh, nanastuff,I know the feeling. I left my philosophy notebook and the entire semester's notes on top of my VW when I was in college. I came to a stop at the main intersection in town and the notes slid off my car and into the intersection where they scattered in the wind. I had a final (take home) due in two days so I raced to the bookstore to try to get copies of everything but very few articles were left that late in the semester, so I made copies of a friend's notes and winged it. The final was half our grade - I was very lucky and still managed a B.
posted on May 7, 2001 12:07:42 PM new
Gosh! I forgot about the leaving food on burner incident.
I started some oil to make french fries when my son called me over to show me his homework on the computer. I completely forgot about the oil.
We both could see the bright orange reflecting off the kitchen window from where we sat and RAN to the kitchen.
My son is freakin', standing with his hands in his hair in total shock. I told him to call 911 and he goes for the phone right next to the firey stove! I had to yell at him to go to the neighbors.
Meanwhile I grab the pan and place it on our tile floor. But first I scorched the lace window curtains (thought at first I'd put the pan in the sink), stupid move. Nearly started a second fire.
Final result: I got the interior of my house repainted, walls and ceilings; got new carpet (smoke damage), new stove knobs, new microwave (was above the stove), and new kitchen cabinet doors. All paid for with my homeowners insurance.
All of your posts have been very interesting, to say the least. Nice to know we all are in the same boat, and we all do things we now laugh about, except for my one serious post.
Malady
Your story jogged my memory of a similar stove fire. My new wife, at the time, was preparing a special dinner for me. How 'special', was soon to be seen. I had taken a shower after getting home from work, as my new wife started cooking. She was heating up the deep fryer on the stove, (see it coming don't you ). I had dried off from my shower, and was in my shorts, shaving. My wife started screaming to the top of her lungs "Honey, come quick, come quick!!!". I came running full speed, (I was very young then). Came around the corner of the kitchen wall into the kitchen, wham, right down to the floor, and started sliding until I hit the opposite wall. Couldn't get up. The fryer grease caught on fire, my wife picked it up and tried to carry it to the sink, spilling the grease all over the floor. The cabinets were starting to turn black, as I tried to get up in vain, slipping and sliding all over the place. My wife started laughing, and laughing, hysterically. I looked like a comedian to her. I told her to call the fire department, (no 911 then). I ended up crawling out of the kitchen, there was grease every where on the linoleum floor. I threw a few of our wedding gift towels on the kitchen floor, got traction to get to the sink for water. Soaked two more with water, and put it out by smothering it. The whole apartment had to be repainted inside from the smoke damage. Counters refinished, drapes replaced, etc. Welcome to married life.
P.S. No burns on the newlywed husband. Grease cools quick when it's spread out all over the place.
I'll fill in my stupid adult acts later, as they come to mind. So, what's the dumbest thing you've done as an adult, so far. 
Mint
Especially the ones I can remember....
)