Personal life stories

[MissHavik]

Three days ago I lost control of my car going over a bridge covered in ice. Nearly flipped the car, then nearly went over the side of the bridge. Luckily I managed to stay on the road until the bridge ended, then hit the side rail and fucked up my car pretty bad, but walked away uninjured. Pretty fucking scarey though

 

Woah Octa :o Gotta be more careful :o

[Itch]

I never really talk about things like this. But her we go. In 1993 right after my senior year in high school me and a group of close friends went camping and decided to go cliff diving the next morning. We drove up to a reservoir that had a well known good place for diving. The problem was the place to park was on the opposite side of the lake. We decided to swim across in small groups. We were sitting on the top of the cliff as the last two started swimming across. About 1/2 way across Aaron started screaming and struggling to keep his head above water. The person he was paired with was also having a hard time and barely made it across. Dave and I dove in and tried but failed to make it to him in time. I can still see his arms shoot straight up into the air and then disappear into the water every time I think about it.

 

Divers found him 175 ft down on the peak of an underwater ridge. They said had he gone any further down they probably never would have found his body.

 

The hardest part was after we dove repeatedly looking for him and had to swim back to shore ourselves, his younger brother who at this point was hysterical tried to go back in the water after him (it was probably about 20 minutes or more since he'd gone under). Knowing that he wasn't a great swimmer and that it was too late we had to hold back our friend who'd just watched his older brother and hero die tears running down our faces wondering if he would understand why we held him back and whether or not he could ever forgive us.

[MicroChampion]

I never really talk about things like this. But her we go. In 1993 right after my senior year in high school me and a group of close friends went camping and decided to go cliff diving the next morning. We drove up to a reservoir that had a well known good place for diving. The problem was the place to park was on the opposite side of the lake. We decided to swim across in small groups. We were sitting on the top of the cliff as the last two started swimming across. About 1/2 way across Aaron started screaming and struggling to keep his head above water. The person he was paired with was also having a hard time and barely made it across. Dave and I dove in and tried but failed to make it to him in time. I can still see his arms shoot straight up into the air and then disappear into the water every time I think about it.

 

Divers found him 175 ft down on the peak of an underwater ridge. They said had he gone any further down they probably never would have found his body.

 

The hardest part was after we dove repeatedly looking for him and had to swim back to shore ourselves, his younger brother who at this point was hysterical tried to go back in the water after him (it was probably about 20 minutes or more since he'd gone under). Knowing that he wasn't a great swimmer and that it was too late we had to hold back our friend who'd just watched his older brother and hero die tears running down our faces wondering if he would understand why we held him back and whether or not he could ever forgive us.

 

My God man what. That's mediaworthy, like wow. Sorry to talk about it like this man but, that is some serious lifechanging stuff. Sorry for your loss man, I can't imagine what must've been going through your head at that accident...

 

How's the young brother holding up? Is he doing okay now?..

 

 

 

Hope you're doing good now? :/

[Itch]

My God man what. That's mediaworthy, like wow. Sorry to talk about it like this man but, that is some serious lifechanging stuff. Sorry for your loss man, I can't imagine what must've been going through your head at that accident...

 

How's the young brother holding up? Is he doing okay now?..

 

Hope you're doing good now? :/

 

It was a long time ago, but it was definitely a life changing moment. I don't think about it too often anymore, but it does effect how I look at safety and life in general.

 

I talk to the brother all the time. He's married and has 3 kids of his own now. But it took him several years to get his life back on track after that. The group of us no matter where we are or what is going on share a bond that can't really be explained to people that weren't there.

[Unnamed Newbie]

Ah yes. Unnamed's life story. A tale to behold.

Nah, it's long, but I won't even lie that my life has been pretty exceptional:

It all started in Rhode Island, November 24th, 1996. I don't really remember much there. I was born and had an older sister and an older brother. My entire time in Rhode Island, I wasn't very conscious, so I can't recall much save a few snapshots of the house and my room. While I was a baby in Rhode Island, I did break my arm though. I jumped out of my high chair one night and cried it off. Later that night, I decided to jump out of my crib, subsequently landing on the same arm. Needless to say, it broke.

That's me at my grandfather's 70th birthday with my cast. The previous year, his wife (my grandmother) had died of lung cancer as she was quite the heavy smoker. Also, on that side of the family, my aunt had died about two years before I was born due to liver failure.

Anyways, fast track three years and my dad got a job with APC in Paris, France. Packed our bags and off I went. Within weeks, me, and my older siblings could all speak French like natives. I was thrust into pre-school, but quickly became friends with this other kid from D.C., who could sympathize with me (as we attended a French speaking school). Here's a picture of us on a field trip to an art museum, he was wearing the orange vest:

Anyways, I picked up Judo while I lived there, but needless to say, I was never very good at it. Matter-o-fact, no one in our family was very athletic as a kid. Talking about kids, my mother had just given birth to the last edition of the family: another girl:

By this time, I was about 5 years old. But as soon as we got to Paris, we left. After two and a half years, my dad got another job. This time at a company in Henrico Virginia.

One thing to keep in mind: All of my relatives on my mom's side live about one square mile from eachother in New Jersey and all the relatives on my dad's side grew up and lived in the North East (which is why I've always been a Pats fan).

So, we get to Virginia, and I start school in Kindergarten there. This is where the fun started during my childhood. I am fortunate enough to have been raised by regular middle class folk, I had the opportunity to travel throughout the world. And by world, I mean Europe... When we lived in Paris, I went to some places like Dublin and Cairo, which needless to say, was amazing. In Virginia, we would usually spend our Spring Break someplace in Europe with one or two exceptions:

Here I was on a cruise throughout the Caribbean :

Venice, Italy:

Ireland again:

My parents always preferred Guinness anyways...

 

Anyways, we went a couple of other places. But Virginia was extremely fun. It is and will be the longest I've ever lived in one place during my childhood. Stayed there K-5. Unlike most kids, I just played soccer all six years and wasn't too shabby at all. There, I was a fairly quiet kid though. Wore glasses and was pretty good at school (but that's not saying much in elementary school). Wasn't the most athletic, but I was tremendously fast. Virginia also let us see family much more often too. However, we did receive news that my great-grandfather passed away on my dad's side, which was a pretty big blow to both my dad and mom. Another notable thing was that we got our first (and eventually only) dog, a flat coat retriever named Finnegan:

Before getting him, I was scared shitless of dogs, but within the two years we had him, I really grew to love them (still hat rat dogs though). Anyways, during fifth grade, my dad broke the news that we were moving again. By now, moving had been pretty damn easy for me, as I've always been interested in seeing new places. Our new destination was Amsterdam, Netherlands. We ended up living in an apartment above the store Diesel, on P.C. Hooftsraat. Pretty much the equivalent of living on 5th Avenue in New York or Newbury Street in Boston. Luckily, the company helped pay for housing!

 

From there, I attended the International School of Amsterdam. The two years in Amsterdam I consider were the two that shaped me into who I am really. I played for the soccer team there as we got in thrid place at the NECIS tournament (North Eastern Conference of International Schools), loosing to Luxembourg in the semis. Oh and did I mention almost everyone at my school was a millionaire? Most kids were loaded out of their minds, but some, like myself had their companies pay for tuition. I'll get back to that later though. I also ended up doing track in 6th and 7th grades there. I was seeded #1 in the 100m race that year. However, I tripped and was the only person to not qualify. I ended up getting to the finals in the 200m though and our 4x100m team clinched silver. Aside from athletics, this is when I first got my first girlfriend, who I was with until I moved later.

 

Now that we were back in Europe, we could travel a shitload some more. We ended up taking day trips or weekend trips to Paris or Germany, and one of my favorites, Prague:

That is one thing I loved about living in Amsterdam. Our teams played other countries and I used to take field trips to places like Brussels, Belgium or Hamburg, Germany to even Copenhagen in Denmark. Needless to say, this is when my life started to open up I think. Remember how I mentioned millionaire friends? Ends up I became best friends with the Founders of TomTom's son (they ended up being billionaires though). I also became good friends with the owner of Ikea West's daughter (who was smoking hot too), one of the head of Nike Europe's sons, and the son of a Dutch mafia crew. Anyways, I ended up taking long weekend trips to the TomTom kid's French estate in his private jet. Seems insane, especially when I look back on it now.

 

Anyways, two years after we got there, we were gone... And poof. I showed up back to where I started from: New England. We moved to a small middle class, white town in Massachusetts, when I was in 8th grade. And just like always, I managed to fit in extremely well (amen for that personality trait). Here, I began to experience the classic American teenager's life. I ended up picking up football in 8th grade. I actually became the captain, which isn't bad for it being my first time playing football. I played cornerback and running back. I was #24, my lucky number:

I never ended up playing RB very often though as I always liked defense better. Eventually in freshman year, I tore two ligaments in my foot, which pretty much botched the rest of the season for me. Then the podiatrist recommended not to play contact sports and my two years of football were over. However, I am considering a senior year shot at slot. During freshman year I also took up track, running the 100m and the 4x100m. I didn't trip this time. During the offseason, I lifted too since I did javelin and ran a shitload. Also during sophmore year, I had the opportunity to work at Dunkin' Donuts because my older sister got a job there. And well that is history. With the money, I ended up buying a 1995 Ford F150 with just 30,000 miles on it

Now, in Junior year, I am living a pretty good life. Have a 3.86 GPA, friends, go to parties, have a steady source of income and am generally happy. I've realized that it's the way you perceive bad things that makes you unhappy or not. Unlike my older sister who took moving so many times horribly, I learned how to adapt fairly well. My whole life so far had been a pretty damn interesting journey and looking back, I took a lot for granted. Nonetheless, I thought it was just an interesting run. And now that I'm looking at colleges I will have to write a completely new chapter.

[Zaraki]

THE TALE OF UNNAMED NEWBIE

 

 

I don't say this often.. But I really envy you mate.. Quite the experience you have there

I have moved 3 times in my whole life, and I always hated it with a passion!

[RoverBot3]

Since we are doing sad stories, when I was in 6th grade, I didn't really like going to church. But this woman, who i considered another mom, would always let me help cook the meals and drinks after the sermon was over, and I liked it because i wouldn't have to deal with the other church goers. She and her mother were both seriously injured in a car accident about one week before Christmas, and it was the first time I had ever prayed for someone to get better. I prayed everyday up until Christmas Eve. That night when I got to open one of my presents, we got a phone call and I didn't know what was going on, I only saw my mom start crying, so I asked what was wrong and when she told me that she had died, i dropped my gift and locked myself in my room until the afternoon of Christmas Day. I told my mom to take the gifts back and that I didn't want them, and she kept trying to open my door but I couldn't hear her over myself crying. Because of that event, I knew something like this might happen again so I decided never to love anyone and say I love anyone or get emotionally attached, because I don't want to cry like that or have the feeling ever again.

[Octa]

Since we are doing sad stories, when I was in 6th grade, I didn't really like going to church. But this woman, who i considered another mom, would always let me help cook the meals and drinks after the sermon was over, and I liked it because i wouldn't have to deal with the other church goers. She and her mother were both seriously injured in a car accident about one week before Christmas, and it was the first time I had ever prayed for someone to get better. I prayed everyday up until Christmas Eve. That night when I got to open one of my presents, we got a phone call and I didn't know what was going on, I only saw my mom start crying, so I asked what was wrong and when she told me that she had died, i dropped my gift and locked myself in my room until the afternoon of Christmas Day. I told my mom to take the gifts back and that I didn't want them, and she kept trying to open my door but I couldn't hear her over myself crying. Because of that event, I knew something like this might happen again so I decided never to love anyone and say I love anyone or get emotionally attached, because I don't want to cry like that or have the feeling ever again.

 

Well thats a shitty outlook on things mate