Crazy Shit We Did When we Were Younger

by **JRNYMAN** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 5:48 am

The things we forty-somethings thought were "extreme" or crazy back when we were teens clearly pale in comparison to a lot of the things today's youth indulge in. However, that's not to say most, if not all of us have at least one story that aptly ends with the line, "...it's a wonder I'm still alive!"

So, if you care to share, what's the craziest stuff you did back in the day?

For me and the idiots I hung with, probably the stupidest thing we ever did could have definitely killed us, if not left us paralyzed for life.
The biggest lake near where I grew up was a reservoir used by the central California corridor for irrigation. Over the course of the summer the level of the water would drop significantly. There's a highway and railroad tracks that crosses the lake at one point which are supported by huge cement pillars. You could climb down from the roadway to the train tracks then climb down the steel superstructure and onto the cement pillars. From there we would jump into the water which, at the beginning of the summer was no more than about a 20' drop or so. By late August, it was 5x that far! We did it all summer long so we got used to the increased distance and no one ever got hurt although it was illegal as Hell!
One late summer night after doing some PHENOMENAL liberty cap mushrooms and drinking copious amounts of alcohol, we decided to go jump off the pillars.

There's a line from Animal House that goes something like, "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to get through life, son."

Drunk, hallucinating, and 18 yrs. old are a bad mixture! That night there was no moon which meant you couldn't see the surface of the water from the top of the pillar. During the fall, you had no idea when to start holding your breath nor in what position you would hit the water. Once in the water, you couldn't tell which way was up nor how close to the surface you were. Once you surfaced, you had about a 250 yard swim between you and the shore and let me tell you, the kind of laughing you do while shrooming uses a lot of energy. All 5 of us did it and lived to talk about it. That was the summer of 1980 in Paradise, CA at Lake Oroville.

by **Duncan** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 7:58 am

This one time, at band camp...

by **Peartree12249** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 8:13 am

Oh boy I've got lots of them! I was in college from 1970 to 1974. Let me see there is the time a bunch of us dropped acid and drove around the back roads of rural Wisconsin. I'm surprised the driver could even tell where the road was. Or there was the time I was hitchhiking a ride when I was in college. I was going into town to look for a job. I was picked up by a swarthy looking Italian man in a black Cadillac with IL plates who was from Chicago (Read mob) he asked me where I was going and I told him I was going to this restaurant to look for a job. He asked me what I was willing to do. In my 18 year old Catholic schoolgirl naivete I replied "Oh anything" (Pretty dumb huh!) So he says "Oh you're such a beautiful girl have you ever considered making movies?" Finally the light bulb came on and I realized what he was talking about. So I said no and I wasn't interested in becoming a prostitute either. He stopped at a red light and I got the hell out of the car. And then there was the time I drank 14 shots of tequila in 45 min. There's more, but you get the idea. When I think back it's a miracle I survived.

by **JRNYMAN** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 9:26 am

Duncan wrote:This one time, at band camp...

by **JRNYMAN** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 9:29 am

Peartree12249 wrote:Oh boy I've got lots of them! I was in college from 1970 to 1974. Let me see there is the time a bunch of us dropped acid and drove around the back roads of rural Wisconsin. I'm surprised the driver could even tell where the road was. Or there was the time I was hitchhiking a ride when I was in college. I was going into town to look for a job. I was picked up by a swarthy looking Italian man in a black Cadillac with IL plates who was from Chicago (Read mob) he asked me where I was going and I told him I was going to this restaurant to look for a job. He asked me what I was willing to do. In my 18 year old Catholic schoolgirl naivete I replied "Oh anything" (Pretty dumb huh!) So he says "Oh you're such a beautiful girl have you ever considered making movies?" Finally the light bulb came on and I realized what he was talking about. So I said no and I wasn't interested in becoming a prostitute either. He stopped at a red light and I got the hell out of the car. And then there was the time I drank 14 shots of tequila in 45 min. There's more, but you get the idea. When I think back it's a miracle I survived.

Man oh man.... acid was a lot of fun. But then, we always set the stage to prevent ourselves from wandering into harm's way ahead of time. I attempted to drive on acid one time and it was at the very end of the trip and I still couldn't comprehend the situation. :lol:

And since you brought it up.... have you given any more thought to making a movie or two....? :shock:

G.I. Jim and I are just putting the finishing touches on the musical score to just such a venture. C'mon... It'll be tasteful I promise! :shock:

by **Peartree12249** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 11:08 am

Since I'm no longer 18, unless you're planning to make a horror movie or one of those pics about wacky seniors I think you'd better find someone else. :wink:

by **JRNYMAN** » Sat Sep 28, 2013 12:01 pm

Peartree12249 wrote:Since I'm no longer 18, unless you're planning to make a horror movie or one of those pics about wacky seniors I think you'd better find someone else.

"I was in college from 1970-1974..." was my first clue that you were well on the other side of 18. :wink:

But, hey... the demographic of MILF appreciators is huge and since SSI is staring you in the face at this point, maybe you would see the opportunity.... okay, enough already! I woulda just kept going and going... :lol:

Since my last post, I was thinking about your adventures on the back roads of WI whilst tripping and trying to even imagine what driving would be like in that state. The only word that truly fits to describe it is epic! That must've been either the wildest trip ever or the scariest which in my case would have immediately became a 7 hour bad trip! Only had one of those thank God but wow what nightmare it was!

by **No Surprize** » Sun Sep 29, 2013 11:22 pm

Where do I start? Maybe from the time I was just a kid and the state of Florida was still unspoiled. Lot's of swamp, creepy ass forrest with moss hanging from old oak trees etc. When we (my friends, some I know what happen to, others I haven't a clue of their whereabouts), all were around 8 to 12, we would go into what we called "The pasture". Lot's of land with trees, a marsh that if you braved to cross it went to an island. We use to go out there with our BB guns and kill snakes and the occasional squirrel, but mostly snakes cause there were a shitload of them. Anyway this one time we ventured way down deep into the pasture and came upon this fucking house out in the middle of BFE. Never seen it before, had no clue, none of us that it was there. Old, built of wood,white peeling paint. So were all there behind trees and what not deciding on if we should go up to it. Well, as kids your braver than fuck and you think your going to live forever anyway, so hey, fuck it. So we started creeping up to the house when all of a sudden like 5 fucking kids come running out that scared the freaking shit out of us. All them were around our age and dressed all rag tag(like we weren't huh) and dirty. Everyone ran like a cheetah far enough away that we felt safe to turn around and look back. That was a fucking mistake. The kids were looking back at their house and pointing in our direction when all of sudden whatever it was(and I say this cause she looked exactly like a fucking witch) came down the steps, hat on her head, white hair and started walking our way. I think we were all about to shit on ourselves by then anyway after seeing this woman straight from Hansel & Gretel. She was saying and I quote, "Come here, don't be afraid" while smiling with some missing teeth at us. We fucking flew out of there like lighting and didn't stop until we hit the fence and cheated sure death! I'll finish the story some other time and will tell what happened to what we thought was the wicked witch. Also, more stories of my crazy youth, times in college and how lucky I am in this game called "Life".

by **JRNYMAN** » Tue Oct 01, 2013 10:58 pm

No Surprize wrote:Where do I start? Maybe from the time I was just a kid and the state of Florida was still unspoiled. Lot's of swamp, creepy ass forrest with moss hanging from old oak trees etc. When we (my friends, some I know what happen to, others I haven't a clue of their whereabouts), all were around 8 to 12, we would go into what we called "The pasture". Lot's of land with trees, a marsh that if you braved to cross it went to an island. We use to go out there with our BB guns and kill snakes and the occasional squirrel, but mostly snakes cause there were a shitload of them. Anyway this one time we ventured way down deep into the pasture and came upon this fucking house out in the middle of BFE. Never seen it before, had no clue, none of us that it was there. Old, built of wood,white peeling paint. So were all there behind trees and what not deciding on if we should go up to it. Well, as kids your braver than fuck and you think your going to live forever anyway, so hey, fuck it. So we started creeping up to the house when all of a sudden like 5 fucking kids come running out that scared the freaking shit out of us. All them were around our age and dressed all rag tag(like we weren't huh) and dirty. Everyone ran like a cheetah far enough away that we felt safe to turn around and look back. That was a fucking mistake. The kids were looking back at their house and pointing in our direction when all of sudden whatever it was(and I say this cause she looked exactly like a fucking witch) came down the steps, hat on her head, white hair and started walking our way. I think we were all about to shit on ourselves by then anyway after seeing this woman straight from Hansel & Gretel. She was saying and I quote, "Come here, don't be afraid" while smiling with some missing teeth at us. We fucking flew out of there like lighting and didn't stop until we hit the fence and cheated sure death! I'll finish the story some other time and will tell what happened to what we thought was the wicked witch. Also, more stories of my crazy youth, times in college and how lucky I am in this game called "Life".

If the story isn't BS and that actually happened, you've got to continue!

by **The Sushi Hunter** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 5:56 am

With a friend of mine back in '83, trespassed on a very huge ocean vessel that was dry docked at the time without getting caught by the security detail on the dock that was on patrol throughout the night. That was a real blast, especially the part where we shimmied about fifty feet up an I-beam from the pit of the dry dock to the weather deck of the ship. No net, no ropes, just hanging onto the I-beam the entire way up and then two hours later back down. The way down was actually more scary because going up, we just looked up, going down, we first had to hang back off the ship a few feet to grab ahold of the I-beam and that was scary.