I am not talking about what you have regretted most in your life. This thread is about stupidity. We all do it and now it is time to admit it. I’ll start.
Last Saturday while cutting the lawn, a patch 20’ x 20’, I did probably the stupidest thing I have ever done. My oldest boy was running the lawn mower and it was my job to trim the edges with my gas powered weed eater. My wife had come out followed by my other two children to help with the weeding. They were standing around me while I futilely tried to start the weed eater. As I pulled and pulled on the draw string, my wife got closer and closer, adding wisdom as to why the stupid thing would not start. Finally, when I was about to send the infernal piece of metal flying into the street, it sputtered to life. Not wanting it to die I open the throttle, bring the machine to it maximum rpms. My grip on the machine was wrong and I needed to turn it around to bring it into use. With my wife standing to my right I brought, unthinkingly, the head around toward my own body. The guard caught on the ground between my feet leaving my right foot exposed to the rapidly turning plastic green whips of pain. Here is where the stupidity rises to the level of being classed as the stupidest thing I have done. I was mowing the lawn bare-foot. So there I was standing with the throttle wide open thinking this hurts. By the time I was able to get my foot out of the way of the flying plastic thread I had broken the skin on the top of my foot.
My wife being the wonderful person she is offered to finish the lawn for me. I, being the typical male, said that it did not hurt and I could finish. I did finish. Now each day at work my socks stick to my lashings, and when I take the off each evening it rips the existing scabs, renewing the pain of Saturday.
So that’s my story what’s your?
[ September 02, 2003, 03:54 PM: Message edited by: Head Ditch Digger ]
Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :
Hmmm....
Where to start...
Posted by Cassandra (Member # 4566) on :
The stupidest thing I have ever done I just did yesterday.
Wandering around New York with three other friends for a whole day even though you know you feel like cr** is not a good idea. I came home and was pretty much delirious with a really high fever for the rest of the night. I still feel like cr**. Apparently, I have tonsilitis. Or something.
Another stupid thing: Not studying for my physics final
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Okay, mowing the lawn barefoot is pretty dumb, however, I'd have to say that after the first day of having your cuts stick to your socks, repeating the same thing the next day and then doing it again the next day might be even dumber. Have you considered getting some surgical gauze and antibiotic cream?
The list of incredibly stupid things I've done is so long and so many of them rank right up there at the top that it would be impossible to decide on which is the most stupid.
Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
When I was a teenager, my father and I were working on rebuilding the carbuerator in my little car. I was very proud of myself for having done most of the work. As I was finishing up the last few bolts, my father half jokingly said, "Be careful not to twist the heads off the bolts." I responded the usual teenage response - "I know, Dad!" only to twist the head right off the last bolt about 10 seconds later. We laughed about it for a little while, before looking for the tap so we could get it out.
Another: One day, while I was at ASU, I became really annoyed with the shoes I was wearing (they were rubbing my feet raw in spots), so I decided to take them off and wander around campus barefoot. I had done this before and didn't think much of it. At the end of my classes, I started walking the 1/2 mile to my car. It was a warm August day. By the time I got to the parking structure, I realized that the bottoms of my feet hurt. I looked down and realized I had second degree burns covering the bottoms of my feet. Because of the thickness of the calluses on my feet (I go barefoot all the time), I hadn't realized I was burning them until it was too late. The three flights of stairs to the level I had parked on and then driving (my manual transmission) car to work (3 miles away) was excruciating. I ended up having to skip classes for the next two days because it hurt too badly to walk. I just went to work, wearing only socks on my feet, and rolled myself around on my rolling chair (amid much teasing from my coworkers, of course).
[ June 11, 2003, 01:06 PM: Message edited by: ludosti ]
Posted by celia60 (Member # 2039) on :
Ok, so, I fell out of some playground equiment when I was a kid and broke my left arm. Then it snowed and I wanted to go sledding, but my arm was still in a cast. I went anyway and, being an idiot, hit a tree, breaking my right arm.
The school nurse decided that my parents must be abusing me. I had to go to a counsler and convince him that no, my parents don't hit me and I am, in fact, an idiot.
That was not fun.
Posted by Head Ditch Digger (Member # 5085) on :
Kayla, let me give a insight into my reasoning. I am lazy. Taking the the time to put gauze on and keeping it clean is to mauch work. And there would be the chance of it not leaving scars, and this is not acceptible on so many levels. I need the reminder next time I decide to mow the lawn bare foot. The pain will be forgotten but the scars will remind me.
Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
Assuming that anyone here gave a damn about anyone but themselves.
msquared
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
What happened m2?
Posted by BebeChouette (Member # 4991) on :
What Kayla said: what is wrong msquared?
Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
You already figured it out I think.
I got better response at a place with 1/10th the active posters.
I guess if you aren't part of the in crowd here you don't count.
msquared
Posted by Ayelar (Member # 183) on :
Posted by Fitz (Member # 4803) on :
Well I figured it out, and quite frankly I don't think it's a big deal.
Posted by Lucifer Morningstar (Member # 3274) on :
Aha! And thus a fun, light thread is derailed into an attack on the nature of the community.
I win.
Posted by Ayelar (Member # 183) on :
: figures it out :
Oh, come on now!! Don't get all pissy because you didn't get a bazillion responses on your announcement. It's a bit extreme to call people selfish and elitist because they didn't give you warm fuzzy hugs for your birthday!
Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
Certain people post celebration threads all the time. I post one and got 3 responses in 4 hours?
Sorry about answering the question posted on the thread.
Go back to your regularly scheduled fluff.
msquared
Posted by Ayelar (Member # 183) on :
Shouldn't you be off celebrating with your wife instead of worrying about the number of responses your post on Hatrack got?
:: still a little miffed ::
Posted by Lucifer Morningstar (Member # 3274) on :
And, thus, resolution fails to be made.
Welcome.
Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
At work and she has a 120 page environmental site report due tomorrow. We will be celebrating next week. She had the same thing happen on her birthday. It is starting to bother her. Also at work, not a card, not a ballon, not a cake, which is done for other people who have birthdays here.
I will go pout someplace else.
msquared
Posted by Ayelar (Member # 183) on :
Okay, and to offer slightly less miffed and slightly more constructive criticism, I went and looked at the last two "announcement" threads. I believe both got responses not because they were in the "in crowd" but because they both started with long, informative posts. Mooselet's was very cute and entertaining, while Slash's gave us a lot to respond to. As with any thread, a simple one-line statement isn't going to garner much response. This, of course, does not mean that people don't read and appreciate it. It's not a contest.
So, maybe if you'd included a little more in your post, there would have been more to respond to.
Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
quote: I guess if you aren't part of the in crowd here you don't count.
m^2,
There is not "in crowd" here in the 'rack as far as I can tell. The first day I was here I was listened to just as much as the millenium posters. That's just silly. Posted by Ayelar (Member # 183) on :
I've occasionally been in a situation like the one you describe with your wife, where other people get balloons and flowers and stuff for random silly things and I never do.
With me, I think I send out the message that things like that aren't important to me. I don't do things like that for other people (a big one), I'm not generally a silly kind of person, and when it comes to frilly girly things, I'm pretty obviously not into frilly girly things. So why would anyone go to the trouble?
When I've presented myself as interested in such little traditions and made a big deal out of giving little gifts to other people, my birthday has been remembered and celebrated.
Overall, I think I prefer not getting balloons from my coworkers on my birthday to having to get balloons and cake and giggle and smile and talk about pets and kids and doctor's appointments and flower arrangements for other people the rest of the year. But then, I wouldn't mind the change. Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
Ditch Digger,
I apologize for derailing your thread. I was wallowing in a bout of self pity.
Please, if any has any more comments to make about my little tantrum please put in on a thread that I have started.
Mea Culpa.
msquared
Posted by Lucifer Morningstar (Member # 3274) on :
::attempst to rerail thread::
The stupidest thing I ever did was underestimate my father. I'm still paying for that one.
Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
quote: I apologize for derailing your thread. I was wallowing in a bout of self pity.
*Wallows in pout puddle after m^2, drags him out, pats back *
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
Hmmmm....well I didn't post because I was sleeping...
As for the stupest thing I've ever done...you should ask my sister, she'll have a more colorful account than me.
Hobbes Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
I jammed a tic-tac up my nose once. Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
Not to re-derail the thread, but for your outstanding and continual use of smilies Nick, I award you the smilier of the week award. Congrats!
Hobbes Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
Hey no slippy thready, I'm just trying to think of my stupidest thing (and it's not for lack of choices ).
[EDIT: This was in response to a deleted post...]
Hobbes
[ June 11, 2003, 02:11 PM: Message edited by: Hobbes ]
Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
I did something some might consider stupid about 2-1/2 months ago. I could tell you but then I would have to kill you.
msquared
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
I would have replied earlier, but I don't think I have ever done anything even midly close to stupid. Sorry.
Posted by Head Ditch Digger (Member # 5085) on :
Sorry Hobbes, I decide what needed to be said needed to be said on M^2's thread. So I deletd the post here.
Posted by Head Ditch Digger (Member # 5085) on :
Annie, is that because you live a sheltered life or fear risk? Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
Hey, not a problem, just gives me another chance to look stupid.
If I keep making the same stupid mistake over and over can it additivley become the stupidest thing I've ever done, or does this have to be one incident?
Hobbes Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
m2, 2 1/2 months ago? Really? That long?
Hobbes, like he really needs to delete a post to do that?
HDD, some of us are just more perfect than others. Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Tic Tac up nose--Ahh refreshing.
And you don't have to worry about other peoples clean breath, since all you can smell is tic-tac.
Stupidist thing I've done: Hmmm. well, to 50 anyway. Clothes dryer door was open. I reached in, clothes were still damp. I closed door and set it to dry for another 15 minutes. Then I heard a distant cat calling. Went upstairs, to front door to let cat in. No cat. Went to back door to let cat in. No cat. I could hear cat in distance. Went back down stairs and opened dryer door. Cat stumbled out of dryer.
The look that cat gave me was the scaryest I ever encountered (until my wife caught me watching Baywatch).
[ June 11, 2003, 02:22 PM: Message edited by: Dan_raven ]
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
Good point Kayla.
I've come up with ths stupidest thing I've done: listen to what Kayla has to say.
Hobbes Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Hobbes, you know, the thing I was going to list was "giving advice to men." They either ignore it, or in some masochistic, passive/agressive move, do the opposite.
Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
Kayla,
Some people might call it stupid. My wife is starting to think so.
msquared
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
Well at least you think I'm a man.
Hobbes Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
m2, I have no idea what that means. I was merely pointing out that I don't think it's been 2 1/2 months since you've done something stupid. You are, after all, a man. You can't help but do something stupid at least once a day and something incredibly stupid at least once a week. Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
I broke my arm on my honeymoon because I was being careless. Of all the times to break an arm, your honeymoon is not the time to do it.
Posted by Head Ditch Digger (Member # 5085) on :
And typical of a female, kayla is right there to point out everytime you do something stupid.
Z - If I was not scared of what the answer might be I would ask what careless act led to you breaking your arm.
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
I'm not sure if this is the absolute stupidest thing I've ever done, but I used to have this habit of opening the cabinets in the kitchen while putting away the dishes and then forgetting they were open. One of the times I ran into one of them, I hit myself between the eyes so hard that I actually fell down.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
Actually, believe it or not, my life is rife with stupidity.
I was in Chicago once for a conference, staying downtown at the Palmer House, when my friend and I decided we wanted to go out and hear some live blues. Well, I was a few months shy of being 21, so we couldn't get into anywhere to hear music. It was now 11:00 or midnight or so, and we thought we'd stroll around downtown Chicago. A couple of white girls, all alone. We turned a block and wandered down a street and suddenly there was no more public artwork or fountains or streetlamps or smiley hotel porters. There were a lot of bums and low riders and scary industrial sounds and gunshots. I don't know how we managed to find our way back to the hotel alive, but we decided to be a little more prudent once we realized that maybe this place was a little different than Bozeman.
Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
Ahh,
Kayla, the thread is the stupidest thing, not just stupid things. I did the stupidest thing 2-1/2 months ago. I continue to do stupid things on a regular basis, but they do not classify as stupidest.
msquared
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
saxon, I have done that as well. I've haven't been knocked over yet, though.
The broken arm happened while skiing. I got careless and wasn't paying attention and hit one of those drifts kicked up by snowboarders. I suppose I was even stupider thinking it wasn't broken and that it was a bad sprain (it happened right below the wrist).
I went back to our condo and put ice on it thinking my wife was upstairs taking a nap. After a half hour, I went to wake her up, but she wasn't there. Her purse and jacket was there and the door had been unlocked when I came in. Now I'm thinking I've really screwed up my wrist and to top it off, my wife has been kidnapped. Luckily the shock I was in prevented me from freaking out to much.
I found her at the base of the mountain waiting for me to finish skiing. She took one look at my pale white face and took me straight to the clinic. If you ever need a broken limb set, I recommend going to a clinic at a ski resort. They know their stuff. Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
m2,
quote:I did something some might consider stupid about 2-1/2 months ago.
I wasn't referring to the title. Sheesh. Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
Kayla,
Yes but that stupid thing from 2-1/2 months ago rates as maybe the stupidest thing I have done.
msquared
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Well you should've said so. To just throw out there that you did something stupid 2 1/2 months ago. . . well, we all knew that there had to be a more recent example.
Dan Raven, surely the look for the idiocy of the show and not the bikinis, right?
HDD, of course! Where would y'all be without telling you all the stupid things you were doing? You'd still be doing them and we'd still be living in caves! Someone has to point you in the right direction.
Zgator, I'm so glad you had a good answer for that. My imagination was running wild! Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :
Stupidest thing I have ever done?
Yes, I'm pretty sure of it now. Letting my younger sister, 14 at the time, drive my car while my parents were out of state. I already had a thread explaining what happened and I'm not quite in the mood to retell the story. If someone else wants to, grossly exaggerating the details, go for it.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I've done many, many stupid things over the years. I don't seem to do them so frequently anymore, so that's a good thing.
It's hard to choose which one is the stupidest, but a contender would definitely be something that happened the summer before my Sophomore year in High School. I had a fascination with knives at that point, and had aquired a nicely balanced knife that I enjoyed throwing. Throwing knives, in general, would probably fall under the ruberic of "stupid" for a teenager who didn't have the greatest hand-eye coordination in the world, but that's another story.
I was home alone one weekday afternoon--both my parents were at work--and was in my room playing with my knife. A girl* that I'd been vaguely interested in the previous semester called me and asked me out for that night, and I accepted. When we hung up I threw my knife into the floor of my room (stupid thing #1), and went to shower. After the shower I ran back to my room to get dressed, and somehow managed to kick the knife, edge on, hard enough to send it across the room (stupid thing #2). Not feeling any pain, I looked down and thought "Wow, there's so much blood I can't see the end of my toe". I grabbed a Kleenex, dabbed at it, and realized that the reason I couldn't see the end of my toe was that it was no longer there. I had struck the blade with the tip of my "index toe", and it had cut along the bone until the knuckle had deflected the blade outward. When I saw what I'd done, the pain kicked in. Remembering my first aid, I immediately dropped to the ground and, holding the foot up in the air (keeping it above the heart to minimize blood flow to the wound), and applied pressure to it (smart thing #1 in stupid circumstance). I lived about half an hour out into the country, so I started calling friends, trying to see if there was anybody who could pick me up and take me to the emergency room. Why I didn't just call one of my parents, I don't know. It just didn't occur to me (stupid thing #3). I finally found a friend whose mother was home, and she agreed to come and pick me up. About 10 minutes later, as I was waiting for them, it occurred to me that I was naked. I really didn't want to go to the emergency room naked.
Did you know that it's incredibly difficult to put on underwear and shorts when your foot is a throbbing, bleeding knot of pain? I finally managed it, and even had time to scoot around on the floor, foot still elevated, looking for the end of my toe. I found it right around the time my friend's mom pulled up. By this time I was starting to not think so clearly--I think I was in a little bit of shock--so rather than asking my friend to get me a baggie of ice or something, I just shoved it in my pocket (stupid thing #4) and hopped out to their van, not even thinking for a moment of stopping to write my parents a note explaining where I was, and why there was blood all over the house** (stupid thing #5).
That's...pretty stupid.
*The girl was in a car wreck that day. We took our accidents as a sign, and never ended up going out.
**As you can imagine, panic ensued when my mother got home from work and found all the blood, but luckily it didn't last long, as the nurse from the ER was calling, trying to reach her so that they could get permission to stitch me up.
Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
T, You admitted you were wrong and took your lumps, just the way a man should.
I belive the the Man's Creed from the Red/Green show.
msquared
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Didn't you jump out of a moving car to avoid being squirted with a water gun, T? I'd say that that beats letting your sister drive. Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :
Yes, while that was stupid, I would have to say that endangering someone else, rather than causing myself harm, would make a better stupid situation.
Posted by Ayelar (Member # 183) on :
And the winner is... NOEMON!!!
Holy cow, man! Do you still have the toe??
Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
Cryptic TV reference. 10 brownie points for the person who gets it.
"Only the toes knows."
msquared
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
I don't know Ayelar. Noemon can blame his on teenage stupidity. HDD can't claim that. I'm casting my vote for HDD.
Posted by Danzig (Member # 4704) on :
Many things. For some reason they all involve psychoactive substances.
Drank around one third of a fifth of Smirnoff. I weigh 125 pounds.
Edit: Perhaps I should make clear that these were two separate instances.
Drive home from this guy's house... while completely gone on DXM. In my (extremely impaired) judgment, I actually was driving fairly well. I just had no sense of direction, and managed to drive to the next county before figuring out I was lost. Luckily I had stayed on one road, so "lost" was an overstatement. I knew how to get back, so I drove all the way back and took another route home that I remembered.
In other words, I am a moron.
[ June 11, 2003, 04:33 PM: Message edited by: Danzig ]
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
When I was about 10, I allowed a neighbor kid to convince me to hold a coke bottle out at arm's length so he could shoot it with his pellet gun.
Yes, he missed the bottle. Yes, it hurt. No, no permanent damage (other than the effect on my personality).
--Pop
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Guys, now that Danzig has posted on this thread, I think it's a waste of time to even leave it open for more applications. Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
::Bows::
Yeah, I thought that one pretty much took the cake, although zgator does have a point about teenage stupidity being a mitigating factor.
I actually lost the piece of toe somewhere in my friend's mother's van. The doctor at the ER kind of pinched it together and did a little stitching. It looked pretty freakish for a few months, but eventually the nail bed that was left kind of colonized the area that the rest of the nail bed had formerly occupied, and it started looking fairly normal. The nail still grows at about half the rate as the rest of my toenails, the joint is a little weird, and there's a scar, but other than that the toe is fine.
Probably the most painful part of the whole experience was when, about a week after the accident, I was tooling around on a pair of crutches and managed to slam my foot into a concrete planter/curb type thing. I thought that I'd split it back open, it hurt so badly.
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
If you're using a weed whacker, I can understand why wearing shoes is a good thing. But can anyone tell me why you should wear shoes while mowing? I haven't tested it, but I have a feeling that if I stick my foot under a lawn mower, the ratty pair of tennis shoes I wear in the yard isn't going to save my foot.
Posted by Danzig (Member # 4704) on :
Another one.
My father woke me up and told me I was doing yardwork. Generally, yardwork sucks. I decide to make it suck less, and take some DXM. So I mow the lawn with a push mower while my brother and dad clean out the gutters. Nothing too risky just yet. Then my father, who is of course unaware of my state, decides to teach me how to use the chainsaw.
I actually did fairly well with it. I was not all that high. No one got hurt. In my defense, I was unaware that I would even be doing yardwork that day, much less learning to use a chainsaw. If I had known about the chainsaw, I would have refrained from using.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
Hmm... seems you'd have a lot less trouble if you refrained from using altogether... call me crazy.
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
At what point in the thread did this become a competition to see who did the stupidest thing? I wasn't applying for anything, and wouldn't have posted if I thought it was a challenge of sorts. Is it human nature to make everything a competition? Hmm, that might make an interesting separate topic. Perhaps I'll construct an opinion, and post it. Or anyone else is welcome to (like I'd have any right to stop them in any case) if they already have an opinion.
--Pop
Posted by Danzig (Member # 4704) on :
If this is a competition, who is the winner? I might have done the stupidest thing (according to Tom), but I really would not call that "winning".
Posted by Ayelar (Member # 183) on :
I wasn't viewing it as a competition... but my appreciation for Noemon's story, with it's incredible chain of events, convinced me that, no matter what followed, if ever there was a competition, it would win.
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
Pop, aren't YOU the one who can't play Monopoly anymore cause it gets too heated?
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
Yes, which is part of the reason I wouldn't have posted had I thought this was a competition.
At least not without making up something that would win.
--Pop
Posted by Head Ditch Digger (Member # 5085) on :
It was not my intention in starting this thread to create a compitition for the the stupidest act ever, but a light subject to help even out the "heavy" topics that have controlled the board as of late. But, if it helps to turn this in to a competition I will return later and tell of the many time that I did stupid things, and you will all see that the fact that I did not die, removing my genes from the cosmic pool, was a miricle.
P.S. Papa my wife will not play monopoly with me because I take it to seriously.
Posted by Papa Moose (Member # 1992) on :
Come to think of it, playing Monopoly with my wife was in fact very, very stupid.
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
I think this topic is too broad. I think we need to define stupid. I mean is stupid just careless? or dangerous? did it have to result in a negative consequence? or is just the chance of a negative consequence stupid enough?
I ask because i've done so many stupid things on so many different levels, that it'd be hard to pinpoint the *one* stupidest thing i've ever done. Posted by Leonide (Member # 4157) on :
Ooh, ooh! I know what it was!!
It was that time you dated that girl you met on the internet! Ha, that was so stupid!
Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
Definitely up there among my stupidest things (honestly, I do think it's at the top) is: so on May Day we had a picnic since everyone was off work (federal holiday), and a bunch of people got together a makeshift softball game while the rest of us lounged on blankets. There weren't enough people for actual teams, pitcher sometimes covered second and shortstop, and whoever wanted to just ran in from their position to bat when needed. They conscripted a couple of us just to bat, since if anyone actually got on base they ran out of people. I explained that they could expect absolutely nothing from me in the way of ability, my last sports experience was failing t-ball fifteen years ago, they said all they needed was a pulse, so I gave in. My first time up at bat I actually hit the ball. I wasn't expecting that. I was caught off guard. I was in shock. In a moment of abstraction I RAN THE WRONG FREAKING WAY. My mind cleared after about five feet and I laughed and switched directions - fortunately everyone ELSE was laughing so hard I actually made it to first safe.
I'm never living that down.
Posted by Head Ditch Digger (Member # 5085) on :
Well strider since I started this thread, my goal was stupid yet funny, though Danzig's story would rank closer to the dangerous stupid. But I left it open because what is stupid to me is different than to yourself. Feel free to tell all the stories.
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
quote:It was that time you dated that girl you met on the internet! Ha, that was so stupid!
You're telling me. I still have nightmares about that one. What's worse is that she still thinks we're dating. And stalks me relentlessly!
Why God why? Why won't you let me live this one down? Some mistakes just never leave you...
[ June 11, 2003, 05:12 PM: Message edited by: Strider ]
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
HDD, you all dont have that much time, and this is a family forum anyway... Posted by Ayelar (Member # 183) on :
Hey Liss, that's the kind of family-friendly stupidity you can get money for at Reader's Digest. All you have to do is structure it the way they usually structure their little blurbs, and bam! Hundreds of dollars!
Posted by Lissande (Member # 350) on :
ALR - It wouldn't even be like profiting off of the stupidity of others, would it? Posted by Speaker8802 (Member # 5255) on :
l, this is my first post at Hatrack and I think this is a suitable topic for my first post. (You know, put yur worst foot forwardor something like that.) Well, it happened about two years ago wen I was playing with a scalpel. Of course that right there is stupid by itself. Anywa I put the cap back on and then realized that I wanted to use it some more. However, I soon found out that the cap was stuck so I tried to pry it off using my thumb. I didn't look which way the blade was facing and it went right across my skin and made a very deep lacertion. The blood came out so fast I started to get dizzy. Isomehow stumbled into the kitchen and found some towels to put on it. Now I have a scar that sends a shiver down my spine every time I look at it. This isnt quite as bad as Noeman's but it is still pretty bad.
Posted by JaneX (Member # 2026) on :
We had a conversation like this in class the other day, and my rabbi told us he once set a toilet seat on fire. He was lighting fires in the toilet because he was a huge pyro, and his fire started to get out of control, so he flushed the toilet in an attempt to put it out. The problem was that the water level rose when he flushed it, and the toilet seat was wooden, so the seat caught fire. So now the fire in the bowl was out, but the toilet seat was on fire. Then he had to explain to his parents why their toilet seat was all burned.
~Jane~
Posted by Troubadour (Member # 83) on :
Stupidest thing I ever did was go for a drive, slightly hungover on boxing day wearing my glasses.
You see, I usually wear contact lenses, and wasn't used to the glasses. So when I was doing a reverse-three-point-turn in an totally empty and incredibly wide street, I thought I saw this huge black thing rushing towards me out of my peripheral vision. So I tried to hit the brakes, missed, and got the clutch. Tried again and hit the accelerator - and because I'm in reverse, the wheel spins out of my hands and I start to lose control. I keep trying for the brake, getting more and more frantic every time I miss, always hitting either the clutch or the accelerator.
I end up driving backwards at around 60km an hour into the side of the only car parked within 3 kms.
The huge black rushing thing was my glasses.
I felt pretty stupid.
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
I bet most Americans have no idea what Boxing Day is.
[edit: Maybe some hatracker's know, but I've yet to encounter an American that when I asked, knew.]
[ June 11, 2003, 11:18 PM: Message edited by: Kayla ]
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
I was reading through the posts and thinking 'Oh, I haven't done anything really THAT stupid.. Maybe I shouldn't post...' Until I remembered...
OK, so I was in shop class, and I'm pitifully bad with my hands when it comes to making things with tools. Tools don't like me... But I was having an OK time in the class, getting everything done, and I liked it, right? Well, after you finish your main project, you can use all the tools and stuff to make a cookie cutter out of metal, so I made one, and it was pretty easy, and it came out looking like what I wanted it to look like. (Even if the shape I picked was really stupid...)
So this was all well and good. Then a girl who I didn't particularly like, one of the popular ones that exploits us smart kids for their own well-being, comes up to me and asks me if I want to help her make her own cookie cutter. (I think this was the part where I was stupid, really.) I accepted, being so polite and kind.
I helped her through it, (she made a heart, a pitifully unoriginal pattern...) and finally she finished, and held out her cookie cutter to show me. I took it. (No, there was my mistake) It took me a moment to realize that the skin on my fingers was burning off. She had just finished welding the handle to it, and it was superhot.
That was the worst I have ever been burned, and I think the stupidest thing I've ever done. The skin on my thumb was gray for a very long time after that, and I got into the habit of only using the side of my thumb to press buttons and such. I don't think I ever regained full feeling in the tip...
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
BTW, I'm American, and Boxing Day is the day after Christmas, and I believe a Canadian holiday. (Correct me if I'm wrong)
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
quote:In England a long time ago…
Servants were required to work on Christmas. They were responsible for making the holiday run smoothly for wealthy landowners. They were allowed to take leave on December 26th and visit their families. The employers gave each servant a box containing gifts and bonuses. In addition, around the 800s' churches opened their alms boxes (boxes where people place monetary donations) and distributed the contents to poor. Few people have servants but the custom of giving gifts or money to those who provide service continues. It is also popular to visit grandparents and shop (the after Christmas discounts begin). Many people get the day off from work. Boxing Day is also celebrated in places where the English have settled: Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Our friends in Scotland tell us it is also celebrate there! Some places observe Boxing Day on December 26th and some celebrate it on the first weekday following Christmas, so, if Christmas falls on Friday or Saturday Boxing Day would be on the following Monday.
Now, the actual origin of this holiday is debatable and has been debated, one idea being more popular than the other at a given time.
quote: Boxing Day is also called St. Stephen's Day. Stephen was a martyr who was stoned to death shortly after Christ's crucifixion. Boxes that were placed in the churches throughout the year are opened this day. Payment for special services that were done during the year are distributed on this day. Children also go from house to house asking for contributions.
quote: The holiday may date from as early as the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is not known. It may have begun with the Lords and Ladies of England, who gave there Christmas boxes/gifts to their servants on December 26, or maybe by priests, who opened the church's alms (charity boxes), and distributed the contents to the poor and needy.
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
That's a lot of information! I learned stuff!!
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
I aim to please. Posted by policyvote (Member # 3044) on :
Okay, stupid things:
* During high school (about five years ago), some friends of mine and I were over at buddy's house. Kid was rich, and had huge house and all sorts of neat stuff, like two authentic swords Mom had bought for this kid and quasi-adopted roommate (longer story). We get drunk, then decide to fight with swords. Swordfight begins at 1 am, but soon after . . . boredom. Someone comes up with idea of throwing beer cans into air, then slashing through them with swords. Spend 45 minutes slashing every can and 2-liter bottle in house; laugh at cool "explosion" effect and flying shrapnel. Refill all empties with water, and repeat. Somewhere in middle of this, grab smaller sword with plain wooden handle (soaked with beer and water, as am I). "Batter up!" I say, striking batter's stance with sword. Buddy pitches beer can to me. I take wild swing and miss--sword flies out of hand. Head swings to follow sword, and when vision catches up with it, see my best friend bend over to grab another can, and sword whirl through area where head and neck just were. Sword sticks 3" into wooden deck five feet behind best friend. Everyone freezes. Best friend stands up, looks at sword stuck in the deck, looks at me; we realize one second either way would have meant a very, very dead him. Lesson I'll NEVER, EVER forget.
* Allowed above friend and other friend to talk me into doggy-paddling out to nonexistent "second sandbar" in just-melted Lake Huron. Not a strong swimmer, not wearing desperately needed glasses--wore myself out getting to them. Took ten seconds of screaming for help before they realized I wasn't pretending. Remember looking up through the water and extending hand . . . hand wasn't anywhere near surface. Decide then and there I wasn't leaving Mom and girlfriend, and kick until I get to surface. Friends finally show up--three of us yell at each other the whole way back to the shore.
* Walked into steel door I was in the process of opening, then dropping to floor and blacking out for little bit. Funny thing--head hit door closed. Finally got back up and opened door. On other side, entire family was frozen in faces of horror, for having witnessed such stupidity and pian.
I apologize for the article-less narrative style, but I was trying to be brief, so I was getting all the details in while keeping the word count down.
I'm also drinking Guinness and watching Cops, so that might have something to do with it.
Peace policy
[ June 11, 2003, 11:55 PM: Message edited by: policyvote ]
Posted by Mrs.M (Member # 2943) on :
quote:eventually the nail bed that was left kind of colonized the area that the rest of the nail bed had formerly occupied
Noemon, for some reason that made me laugh till I cried. Colonized.
JaneX, your rabbi was a huge pyro? And he told y'all about it? Cool.
The stupid things I have done in my short lifetime are too numerous to list here.
Posted by Rolf Singer (Member # 3972) on :
So many stupid things, such a short thread.
Frying stuff naked cause it was hot and I was too damn lazy to put some clothes on....bad call, wont happen again.
Taking a cast iron skillet from the oven with oven mitts, carefully placing it on the bench, then attempting to move said skillet out of the way sans mitts..... bad call, only did that three or four times.
Setting fire to a piece of plastic as a teenager to watch it burn cause I was toasted and it seemed like a good idea at the time. Plastic melts people and it sticks. Bad call, wont do that again.
Are we seeing a pattern??? FIRE BAD!!!! Posted by tonguetied&twisted (Member # 5159) on :
oooh, yeah I cooked bacon topless once. ONCE!
Other things I am not game to mention... being a noobie an' all. Can't have my reputation ruined before it's even been created...
Posted by tonguetied&twisted (Member # 5159) on :
Wow.... the first thread I've killed Posted by Ophelia (Member # 653) on :
Cut and pasted from the rather old "embarring moment" thread at GreNME:
I was performing in this halftime show with the MOB, and another girl and I were inside an small model of the Astrodome. We were supposed to run backwards with the Astrodome as more people outside carried it, and at a certain point in the script we were supposed to spray fire extinguishers so that it would look vaguely like a rocket sort of thing. Well, the fire extinguishers were heavy, and it was really hard to see in there, and it's hard to run backwards, and the boys who were running on the outside were running faster than they had been in rehearsal that morning--and I ended up falling down while spraying the fire extinguisher. I sort of rolled out of the dome, which crashed behind me, and one of the boys fell on me, and the other girl fell down, too. They both injured their knees. All the while I'm still spraying the fire extinguisher--on my hand! But I get up, pick the dome up, and keep running on the outside.
All of this happened in front of a large crowd of football fans, and was caught on the jumbotron. It also appeared on a brief report of sports bloopers the next day. At least the fans really seemed to enjoy it--they were laughing, at least.
After the show, I had time to stop and realize that my hand really hurt. It was also somewhat red. I ran it under some warm water, and it felt a little better, so I ignored it for the rest of the night. The next day I woke up and my palm was bright red and hurting like, like, like something that hurts really bad. But it was Sunday and health services wasn't open, so I ignored it for another day. On Monday I went in and saw a doctor, and he told me I had first-degree frostbite. He couldn't really do anything about it, but he gave me an ace bandage so that I wouldn't keep banging it on things or grabbing cold sodas when I forgot about it. The kicker: the doctor had been at the game and seen the whole thing. He thought it was just the greatest thing in the world, because he never gets to see the injuries he treats. I, however, was less than amused.
After a few days, my palm blistered, then peeled. [By December it was] almost completely healed, although it [was] slightly pinker than it should be in places. [By the middle of January it had completely healed.]
The really annoying part was the repetitive explanations for the bandage/peeling. And the weird looks everyone gave me when I told them I had frostbite. In Houston. In October (70 degree weather, maybe?). And the even weirder looks when they asked me how on earth that happened and I had to say that I sprayed myself with a fire extinguisher, and no there hadn't been a fire.
Sigh...the things I do for the MOB.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
Once I was attemptimg to make mushrooms out of meringue. I had all the "stems" arranged nicely on a cookie sheet, covered with plastic wrap until it was time to put them in the oven. Yes, I put them in the oven with the plastic wrap still there. That's really hard to explain to your mother, I promise.
Posted by Erik Slaine (Member # 5583) on :
Try to change the name of The Bump on the Log thread....
(So? I wimped out. Sue me...)
Bump! Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :
There are so many moments to choose from. I think my crowning stupid moment took place in February, 2001. I was visiting my girlfriend in Toronto when her mother decided it was time for me to leave. By which I mean she threw me out of the house. I knew several people in the city, but as chance would have it I couldn't get in touch with any of them. Now, I do have an uncle in Toronto, but I didn't go there. Why? I didn't want my mother to know I was stranded in the streets. Looking back on it, it doesn't make my sense to me either. After 3 days of being cold I finally went to his place. Stupid stupid stupid. Posted by Dio (Member # 4866) on :
I'm pretty good at conveniently forgetting things. I've conciously done some pretty stupid things without realizing how stupid they were.
I was going to start a new thread to give an example of this, but someone bumped this thread and I decided to post it here. After this particular example, I wondered what the heck I was thinking at the time. I think it must have went something like this..
I was riding my bike at the local high school with my two brohters and two of my cousins. They were riding other things like scooters and rollerblades, or even just walking. I think I parked my bike near a doorway of one of the buildings to put my shoes back on, and while doing so I studied the useless brick catwalk above the door. In the past I had tried to jump up and hang on this catwalk but failed, and ended up with several shallow scratches from the chipped bricks. I found my curiousity had not learned it's lesson however, and I was interested to see if I could find another way onto the catwalk.
Curiousity: Hey Dio! I was wondering if you're skilled enough as a climber to reach that catwalk thingie..
Brain: Yeah, I'm still wondered that myself, but I can't forget what happened last time..
Curiousity: You don't even know if the same thing will happen, this is a different door than last time!
Brain: Yeah, I guess you're right, but I think I remember some sort of rule-.
Curiousity: I bet you could stand on you're bike to reach the ledge!
Brain: *Becomes infected* I'm willing to bet that would work.
Curiousity: Then why don't you try it?!
Dio stands on bike, asks someone to steady it for him while he climbs onto ledge.
Brain: Woohoo! This is AWESOME!
Curiousity: Well, you did it. Good job! I knew you could do it all along!
Dio enjoys view, feels proud of his climbing skills, and thinks he must look very brave. He walks along catwalk impressively, and flourishes imaginary cape. Then he decides to measure his height in relation to the rest of the building.
Curiousity: Well, would you look at that roof! It's alot closer than it was before!
Brain: Hey, you're right! Isn't that dandy?
Curiousity: I wonder if you can get up there now that it's so much closer!
Brain: *Is tempted* I don't know..I'm almost certain I remember something-.
Curiousity: Bet you can't get up!
Brain: Oh come on, it's almost certain that I can get up there!
Curiousity: Then why aren't you doing it?! Afraid?!
Brain: No! Don't insult me! It's just that I'm almost certain there's a rule about-!
Curiousity: *Beats brain mostly sensless*
Brain: Ok fine, you've convinced me. I can't really argue with those terms..
Dio climbs onto roof.
Brain: WOW! This is even better than before! Have you ever seen such a view from the top of the school building?!
Curiousity: No, I can't say that I have.
Brain: You know what really sweetens the deal though, the knowledge that we got up here all on our own.
Curioustiy: Yeah, that's true.
Dio observes an official looking person walking toward the building.
Curiousity: Hey, who's that?!
Brain: *revives completely* You mean the spanish guy with the walkie-talkie?
Curiousity: Yeah, that's the one.
Brain: That's a security guard.
Curiousity: !!!
Panic: Hey guys, how you doing?
Brain: We're alright.
Curiousity: ... *temporarily ceases to exist*
Panic: I couldn't help but overhear something about a security guard..this doesn't seem like a very good situation for that.
Brain: Yeah, it's that character down there.
Panic: WE'RE GONNA DIE! IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD! FLEE!! FLEE IMINENT DESTRUCTION OF OUR SOULS!!!
Brain: Calm down, you're scaring me.
Panic: Doom! DOOM!!
Brain: Please calm down!
Panic: I greive for thee! It's the end! Farewell my friend!
Brain: *Becomes infected*
Dio exercises haste as he flees his current haunt.
Well anyway, once I was safely on the ground I tried very hard to look inconspicuous and unsuspiciuos, because I knew I was caught and was unwilling to run. I ignored the security guard with all my might though as I repaired my bike and he stood accusingly before me. My brain also eventually remembered that it was wrong to climb on public buildings. The security guard asked me if he could call the police and I said yes, but they let me go with just a warning. Probably because I didn't try to run.
Posted by tonguetied&twisted (Member # 5159) on :
Posted by Dead_Horse (Member # 3027) on :
The second time I went to college...
Some friends and I started a student chapter of a professional organization in the fall semester. When Spring semester rolled around, there were new students, and we were too busy to run the club, so we had elections. The day before the election, one of the candidates told me how he felt about another one, whom I had not met, using pretty graphic language, which was definitely not complimentary. I found my Vice President chatting in the hall with some other members. Of course, I repeated verbatim what the one candidate had said about the other. Everyone stood quite still, and I noticed that a woman I didn't know was staring at me with a shocked look on her face. My friend then calmly introduced me to the subject of my statement. I said, "Oh. It's nice to meet you," and wandered off to beat myself up.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
That hurt just to read. If I ever kill myself it will be because I do something like that.
Hobbes Posted by Dead_Horse (Member # 3027) on :
Hobbes, the pain goes away eventually. It's been 15 years. It's not so bad, or I wouldn't have been able to post it. Well, okay, it's still bad. Not enough to off oneself over it, though. Rain
Posted by popatr (Member # 1334) on :
One that I can think of is really simple.
My missionary comp and I had come back to the apartment for lunch or some other reason. I was really excited for some reason. So I was hopping around the apartment like I was on a pogo stick. This may have looked sufficently stupid in itself, though I deny it. The stupid part was when I happily jumped up under a partial division between rooms: probably the main support beam for the upstairs. I don't remember hitting the ground. I just remember looking at my feet near my face in not quite indian style. I was pretty close to unconsciousness again for a couple seconds.
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
I shared an apartment with 2 friends from HS my freshman year in college. One day, one of our friends was over and decided to use the bathroom (as in #2). We thought it would be very funny to throw a smokebomb under the door (there was a big gap at the bottom).
It was hilarious for a little while, but after the smoke cleared, we noticed the burn mark on the floor and it took weeks to get the smell out of our bathroom.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Dio, that was hilarious. The story itself was okay, but the way you told it was fantastic. Very Douglas Adams-y.
Posted by Dio (Member # 4866) on :
Thanks Noemon. I thought that rather than tell the story, I would try to show it.
Posted by Head Ditch Digger (Member # 5085) on :
I am reminded of the time that I made my son a bunk bed. I was setting the ladder by drilling a hole from the inside out. I was putting pressure on the opposite side with my chest. The drill broke trough the wood and gave me the worst nipple-twister.
Posted by Bricks-N-Sandwiches (Member # 5603) on :
This ones easy. I took 4 hits of black gel tab.Bought a 1/2 ounce of weed packed most of my worldly possesions into the back of my festiva and took a road trip to meet the girl of my dreams. I had met a girl online and talked with her all the time. We called each other now and then. I went down to KY and visited her and we decided we were,"IN LOVE" I then lived with a little known band next door to a crack/Whore house...but I guess that worked out...they did not mind the bands late night practices...and the band did not complain about their late night practices. But in short I gave up two months of my life chasing a hope of a chance of a ghost of happiness...easily my worst mistake ever. Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
HDD, it's good you weren't working about 1.5 feet lower on the bed.
[ September 02, 2003, 04:07 PM: Message edited by: zgator ]
Posted by Head Ditch Digger (Member # 5085) on :
My wife's response, after she knew I hadn't killed myself, was to fall on the ground laughing.
Posted by Bricks-N-Sandwiches (Member # 5603) on :
My wife has a similar response to my misfortunes...very sympathetic. Posted by Evie3217 (Member # 5426) on :
A simple stupidity mistake:
I was playing in my yard with my dog and her best friend. At this time my yard was, not so much a yard as a gravel pit. We had not yet done renovations and the people before us apparently didn't use the yard much. So I'm racing both dogs to a ball that I had thrown, one dog on either side. My dog suddenly turns to nip at her best friend, and steps right in front of me in the meantime. I am running at full force, and there is no way I can prevent myself from falling, so I slam into the gravel pit, slicing up knee and hands as I do so. I have to go to the emergency room and get 5 stiches in my knee, and my thigh super-glued (Dermabond) back together. I think the worst part though was the doctor telling me that I would have bad scars on my leg from it, but since I seemed like a girl that "really didn't care about my looks" I wouldn't mind. WHAT!!!!! You NEVER say that to a 12 yr old girl! That's just traumatizing!!!!!
I now have a bad scar on my knee and thigh, and the only thing I mind is that I have a stupid story to go along w/ it.
stupid doctor........ Posted by Evie3217 (Member # 5426) on :
Alright...since I've somehow killed this thread, I'm going to write another stupid thing that I've just done. I love candles, so I had some burning on my desk while doing my homework *I shudder at the word*. I was bored, so i tried to blow on the flame so that it would even out the sides of the candle so they would be the same height. While doing this, however, I managed to pour hot wax all over me and my homework, and then just sat at my desk laughing @ myself instead of putting cold water on it like I should have.
I also sliced open my finger while trying to cut cheese
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
Ouch Evie... What a jerk. I still haven't done anything sufficiently stupid to mention on this thread. Go me!
(don't worry, it'll only be a matter of time...)
Edit: I was rereading the thread and I remembered the stupid thing I had done, and I was about to post it when I realized I already did.... >_> Der...
[ September 02, 2003, 11:53 PM: Message edited by: Ryuko ]
Posted by Dead_Horse (Member # 3027) on :
Evie, That's what you get for farting while trimming your nails.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
It's a bit extreme to call people selfish and elitist because they didn't give you warm fuzzy hugs for your birthday!
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
but because they both started with long, informative posts. Mooselet's was very cute and entertaining, while Slash's gave us a lot to respond to. As with any thread, a simple one-line statement isn't going to garner much response. This, of course, does not mean that people don't read and appreciate it. It's not a contest.![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
Congrats! ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Luckily the shock I was in prevented me from freaking out to much.![[Cry]](graemlins/cry.gif)
It's the end! Farewell my friend!![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
![[Mad]](mad.gif)
![[Blushing]](graemlins/blushing.gif)
![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
![[Wall Bash]](graemlins/wallbash.gif)
![[Grumble]](graemlins/grumble.gif)
stupid doctor........ ![[Laugh]](graemlins/laugh.gif)
Evie,![[No No]](graemlins/nono.gif)