My favorite such moment: myself, a few friends and my cousin Max were playing basketball at my friend Donnie's house. Max was the youngest and smallest, and during a particularly aggressive play on the ball, Donnie charged Max and busted his nose. Donnie's mom took Max inside and did the typical "mom" stuff to staunch the bleeding before we headed back to my house while some of the other kids continued to play. Back at home, me and a couple of buddies convinced Max it'd be a good idea to ride his bike past Donnie's house exclaiming "charging ol' Donnie, charging ol' Donnie!" He agreed. As we stood at the top of the street to witness this public humiliation, Max was too busy yelling to notice the parked car he was veering towards, and WHAM!! Flipped up on the hood of the car suffering multiple injuries, much more damage than a bloody nose. Donnie's mom came out again and nursed the now crying Max back to sustainable health while we came down to retrieve him.It's incredibly easy to get up to impressive speeds even with just a pedal bike, especially if you are going down a hill. It doesn't shock me at all that he got that fast, powered or not. I recall as a kid, using a bungee cord, tied to the seat post of my friend's bike, to get a slingshot boost on my skateboard. They would pedal as hard as they could (which at 12 is pretty damn hard let me tell you, we had legs like steel from all that pedaling) , I would follow behind on my board, holding the cord, and we'd take off on a downhill road in our neighborhood. I'd then pull as hard as I could for extra speed, and go rocketing off at truly stupid speeds for someone on a board and no protective equipment. I fucked up and got flung off the board one time, and I was going so fast, and the hill had enough of a slope, that I had enough hang time, to truly ponder how badly it was going to fucking hurt when I hit the pavement. And boy did it fucking hurt.
So yeah, kid deciding how fast he can go down a hill, fucking up and having a bad spill, totally in character, time honored tradition. Screaming in abject pain and fear at the solid smash, also time honored. I'm certain I've made similar sounds on...at least 3 occasions as a kid, from a serious spill.
Yeah, another example that comes to mind was me on my bike, going through a wooded path that was a shortcut between two areas of my neighborhood. One side was the residential side, the other was the water park we lived at during the summer, because there was nothing else to do. My friends had gone ahead of me, and decided to play a prank. They hid off the side of the road, and as I pedaled furiously to catch up, one of them stuck out a stick to catch in my front spoke, which instantly stopped my bike, which proceeded to buck me and send me flying. I remember that one really hurting because I was completely not prepared for it. Nothing in my senses indicated I was in immediate danger, so I didn't brace, or prepare to try and tumble. Just, one second I'm going full speed, clear path, next I'm airborne and not sure why. WHAM. Face first into the ground. You know that weak muscle feeling you get from shock, when you take a hard tumble? That. Oh man it sucked.My favorite such moment: myself, a few friends and my cousin Max were playing basketball at my friend Donnie's house. Max was the youngest and smallest, and during a particularly aggressive play on the ball, Donnie charged Max and busted his nose. Donnie's mom took Max inside and did the typical "mom" stuff to staunch the bleeding before we headed back to my house while some of the other kids continued to play. Back at home, me and a couple of buddies convinced Max it'd be a good idea to ride his bike past Donnie's house exclaiming "charging ol' Donnie, charging ol' Donnie!" He agreed. As we stood at the top of the street to witness this public humiliation, Max was too busy yelling to notice the parked car he was veering towards, and WHAM!! Flipped up on the hood of the car suffering multiple injuries, much more damage than a bloody nose. Donnie's mom came out again and nursed the now crying Max back to sustainable health while we came down to retrieve him.
To this day, all I have to say to Max is "charging ol' Donnie" to get a rise and laugh out of him. We were dumb.
I like to remind old people about how "kids those days" did dumb shit like crowd into phone booths or sit on flagpoles just for attention. They just didn't have the Internet to spread their antics around.I have a healthy appreciation for how fucking dumb we ALL are at that age....
For me it was things like "smuggle weed in through customs from Jamaica" "climb a sheer cliff that multiple kids had died falling from....while I was high...at NIGHT, with no safety equipment" or "decide to just climb every public school in my hometown, because fuck it I'm good at climbing, and what could go wrong?' "Helping my friend steal money out of vending machines, using a dollar bill and a special trick that let you snatch it back, but it would register the "purchase" and then we'd get change back (and free snacks/drinks), "hanging out in really fucking dangerous drug houses because I wanted pot, and they were the only source I could find it from that night, even though I was really not happy being there, as they dealt in a lot of other really illegal shit that I wanted nothing to do with."I like to remind old people about how "kids those days" did dumb shit like crowd into phone booths or sit on flagpoles just for attention. They just didn't have the Internet to spread their antics around.
As one of those people who is starting to fall into the "old people" category, I would point out an incident that occurred a few years ago with my niece. She was 13 at the time and I was visiting my brother's household for Thanksgiving. My niece and I were sitting in the kitchen of my brother's house at the time. Her mother and my brother were in the back bedroom getting ready for the family gathering which was imminent. Her younger sister and brother (ages 8 and 6 respectively) were in the garage, screaming at each other over something. My niece and I were listening to this and she turned to me and said. "Let me guess, when you were my age, you and dad NEVER acted like that?" I listened for a few seconds more to the bru-ha-ha in the garage and then told my niece, "Actually, I was just thinking that when your father and I were that age we were EXACTLY like that." This response took my niece completely off guard. I mean an adult had actually told the truth! What the hell?I like to remind old people about how "kids those days" did dumb shit like crowd into phone booths or sit on flagpoles just for attention. They just didn't have the Internet to spread their antics around.
Yeah, it's why I find it so funny when my generation, and older ones, give the youth shit for their fashion choices. I mean, come on you fuckers, you KNOW we dressed horribly too. Hipster fashion isn't YOUR jam, fine, I get it. But don't act like your 80's hair, and denim jacket, and your 90's grunge looks were ANY better by comparison. Because I know how shitty we looked in them, 'cause I wore them too. Get over yourselves.As one of those people who is starting to fall into the "old people" category, I would point out an incident that occurred a few years ago with my niece. She was 13 at the time and I was visiting my brother's household for Thanksgiving. My niece and I were sitting in the kitchen of my brother's house at the time. Her mother and my brother were in the back bedroom getting ready for the family gathering which was imminent. Her younger sister and brother (ages 8 and 6 respectively) were in the garage, screaming at each other over something. My niece and I were listening to this and she turned to me and said. "Let me guess, when you were my age, you and dad NEVER acted like that?" I listened for a few seconds more to the bru-ha-ha in the garage and then told my niece, "Actually, I was just thinking that when your father and I were that age we were EXACTLY like that." This response took my niece completely off guard. I mean an adult had actually told the truth! What the hell?
I did, in fact, once own a pair of parachute pants. I don't think I have room to criticize today's fashion. (Although those parachute pants had room for two or three other people.)But don't act like your 80's hair, and denim jacket, and your 90's grunge looks were ANY better by comparison. Because I know how shitty we looked in them, 'cause I wore them too.
Of course it's not enuff dakka.One hour? Still not enuff.