What are things you would never do now, that you did when you were younger?

[just play]

My friends and I were discussing things that were perfectly ok to do 20, 30, 40, years ago, that no way in hell people would do these days.

There were a few funny ones, like "I wouldn't get a Dorothy Hamill haircut", or wear leg warmers as a fashion statement.


My top pick is...make a ham and cheese sandwich with mayo, put it in a paper bag in your backpack for 4 hours in the summer time, then eat it for lunch. These days, you must have a lunch bag with an ice pack for your food.


So what did you do when you were younger, that you wouldn't think of doing now?

 

[Tirilej]

This is a question for us 'oldies'

My answer has to be...almost everything

 

[just play]

This is a question for us 'oldies'

My answer has to be...almost everything

It could be for people in their 20's and 30's too...I'm sure my 23 year old could come up with a few.

I was just thinking how different it was, like seat belts, choices with foods, walking the streets at a very young age alone, buying cigarettes for neighbors when I was 10 (I got to keep the change from $1) clothing picks, etc...I'm sure members can think of more than I have.

 

[Tirilej]

Okey, if I think a little deeper I really did some stupid and dangerous things that I never would do now.

I hitch-hiked by myself all over this country at the age of 15

Those times I got drunk spitting a police officer in the face and then throwing up at the desk in the station.
That even made it in the local newspaper. Well, I've done my fair share

 

[nisosbar]

Smoke cigarettes - former 3-pack/day smoker here.

Drive without wearing a seatbelt.

 

[just play]

Okey, if I think a little deeper I really did some stupid and dangerous things that I never would do now.

I hitch-hiked by myself all over this country at the age of 15

Those times I got drunk spitting a police officer in the face and then throwing up at the desk in the station.
That even made it in the local newspaper. Well, I've done my fair share

and


You mean like the local newspaper said "Tirilej spit in an officers face and threw up on their desk"? hahahahahaha, I would sooo love to read that story!

nisosbar


Smoke cigarettes - former 3-pack/day smoker here.

My neighbors have a really nice house, the husband was a 3-pack a day smoker as well, he didn't want to "smell" up the new house when they moved in next to us and quit cold turkey! I have tried numerous times, can't do it. I'm an almost 1-pack a day.



Hmmm...now that I think of it, (after laughing my ass off over Tirilejs post) maybe I should have started a "what is the funniest/worst thing you did when drunk.

 

[nisosbar]

My neighbors have a really nice house, the husband was a 3-pack a day smoker as well, he didn't want to "smell" up the new house when they moved in next to us and quit cold turkey! I have tried numerous times, can't do it. I'm an almost 1-pack a day.

You know what's so funny? People say gambling is bad for you - well, honestly, in this case, it saved my life, because about 20 years ago, I also quit cold turkey on a bet with my best friend who also smoked heavily - we both were going to quit at the same time, and the person who failed first to stick to it owed the other $100, and I won, lol. And I just never went back; I'd sneak one every now and then, but always regretted it the next day.

 

[bigjohn]

When I was a kid my bicycle was my constant companion. A lot of the stuff I did on a bicycle makes me shudder today!

Worst was probably going down this huge hill near an apartment complex close to where I live. I looked down for a split second at my speedometer and it was bouncing between 55 and 65 MPH!

I thought nothing of it as a kid, but I think now what would've happened if my frame broke (happened to me a few times) or a car came out from a side street, I would have been a stain on the street.

The freestyle romantic encounters we used to have would also be a no-no nowadays.

 

[chayton]

In my younger days I used to hitch all over too. Then when I moved to the coast I'd go by myself to the bad part of the city to buy drugs. Partied with strangers. Even drove drunk a couple of times.

Actually it seems like someone else's life looking back, I can't imagine me doing any of that.

 

[dunover]

Made explosive devices when 15 or 16. Used fireworks and stuff nicked from chemistry labs at school. 3 oF my friends manufactured a device so large they went in a cold war bunker on the common near a town I went to school ( I wasn't in on that one) and blew it up, apparently it lifted the top off and they were fortunate not to kill themselves by getting well clear. That was in the local press and they all got jailed for a year. Don't know what happened as they were out after I left that school. I'll try and look the story up on the web, it happened 30 years ago.

 

[chayton]

Made explosive devices when 15 or 16. Used fireworks and stuff nicked from chemistry labs at school. 3 or my friends manufactured a device so large they went in a cold war bunker on the common near a town I went to school ( I wasn't in on that one) and blew it up, apparently it lifted the top off and they were fortunate not to kill themselves by getting well clear. That was in the local press and they all got jailed for a year. Don't know what happened as they were out after I left that school. I'll try and look the story up on the web, it happened 30 years ago.

oh no! A buddy of mine grew up in Mexico and at their elementary school they had a sort of firepit in the yard, one day they found a box of .22 shells and threw them in the fire. Luckily nobody got hurt but he said it scared the crap out of them!

 

[dunover]

oh no! A buddy of mine grew up in Mexico and at their elementary school they had a sort of firepit in the yard, one day they found a box of .22 shells and threw them in the fire. Luckily nobody got hurt but he said it scared the crap out of them!

Yes, I remember thinking it clever to chuck aerosol cans in bonfires, hearing them click and strain before the bottom usually blew off them, sending the bonfire everwhere, a huge bang and the top of the can shooting off (hopefully upwards) like a rocket with flame tail...von Braun had nothing on us lol..

I've just tried to find a press archive concerning the bomb I mentioned, my sister has seen one of the 3, we'll call him HB, in the last few years because I remember her mentioning the incident a few Christmases back. I no longer live near the place. It was literally the talk of the town when it happened.

 

[just play]

My husband thought of one...

Drunk driving...he comes from an extremely small town, only about 300 people when he was growing up, it's a bit more now, but not much, and I come from a semi-small town.

People used to get drivin home by the police, or even followed home by the police, no arrests, no tickets.

 

[Sovietsky]

People used to get drivin home by the police, or even followed home by the police, no arrests, no tickets.

Wow, thats insane how people can get away with. Here in Sweden you will ofcourse lose your driving license and get a ticket if you drink just a beer or 2. And if you are really drunk then you go to jail.

 

[just play]

Wow, thats insane how people can get away with. Here in Sweden you will ofcourse lose your driving license and get a ticket if you drink just a beer or 2. And if you are really drunk then you go to jail.

That's how it used to be, at least in our small towns, not anymore though.

It's the same here as in Sweden now. Well, not all the time, I hear of people getting 4, 5, 10 DUI's and not getting locked up. (but that's for another discussion, lol.)

 

[Balthazar]

LSD

 

[Jasminebed]

I came of age in the 70s and was not very much a wild child, I'd doing a better job of having a misspent middle age.

But we could put all our faith in the pill, and tetracycline cured the clap. There's a lot of fellas that while I don't regret, couldn't do it nowadays for safety's sake.

Roomie's nephew just had a surgery for his eyes after experimenting with a bromine bomb last summer. He's probably going to face stuff for the next 20 years or more, this is first in a series. 13 years old. He and a little buddy found a video on youtube, pity they didn't read the comments as well.

 

[jetset]

It was a different (and perhaps safer world) when I was a teenager, and like others here I used to cycle to nearby towns and hitch-hike all over the country to see friends and girlfriends. I doubt that it would be safe to do that with the number of weirdoes that seem to abound these days.

The kids then would hike off for a weekend of camping or home-made canoe action with no adult supervision - it was considered quite normal for teenagers.

What about zip-slides - I went on some very fast ones that usually ended with bruises.

And typically for a school boy, me and my friends dabbled in explosive devices, the most effective of which (a swimming pool chemical bomb) damaged my right hand bad enough to need stitching up (I carry the scars to this day!)

Did my share of downhill racing too - in a homemade wood and pram-wheel contraption which overturned at speed all too often, leaving 'roasties' (tar rash) on one's body.

By the late teens we had all graduated to motorised entertainment, usually on second hand motor bikes and cars we had souped up to either street or cross-country race, or try circus tricks on...but that's another tale of dumb youth and craziness!

 

[Redbet-Andy]

I shot a man in Reno. Just to watch him die.

At least I think I did, I spent a lot of my youth in a bit of a haze.

 

[bigjohn]

'roasties'

Wow, great term for that. I'm still learning English english. We called it 'road rash'.

 

[Mousey]

I wouldn't eat tomatoes pulled off the vine and merely spit-washed before eating. (Even now, thinking back, it makes my mouth water.)

I wouldn't go out of town for 4 days (into another state at that) as my parents did and leave all the doors in the house unlocked (and find nothing amiss when we returned).

From the time I was ... oh... 9 until I was 12 (and then we moved out to the country) we lived in town. About 4 or 5 times during spring/summer, my folks would give me $2, and my friend and I would walk the 3 blocks to the movies for a Sat. matinee - usually a double creature feature. That bit of money would buy tickets (.25 each) to get in, and popcorn, and a big coke, and together we'd buy dumdums or junior mints ....

 

[Balthazar]

I wouldn't eat tomatoes pulled off the vine and merely spit-washed before eating. (Even now, thinking back, it makes my mouth water.)

Why not? If you're talking about tomatoes from a home garden, that's about the healthiest thing you can eat. No GMO back then, and likely no chemicals too. That's much better and tastier than the flavourless (but good looking) tomatoes that we buy today at the supermarket.

Back when I was a kid we used to pull carrots straight out of the ground at my grandma's house and eat them raw and unwashed. I'd surely do it again.

 

[Jasminebed]

I don't eat my own garden unwashed either, although my roomie will. I asked her if I put a clean dish out when it was raining if she would drink the water accumulated.

My mother worked as a migrant picker in her youth, we never grew anything except flowers when I was a kid.

 

[Mousey]

Why not? If you're talking about tomatoes from a home garden, that's about the healthiest thing you can eat. No GMO back then, and likely no chemicals too. That's much better and tastier than the flavourless (but good looking) tomatoes that we buy today at the supermarket.

Back when I was a kid we used to pull carrots straight out of the ground at my grandma's house and eat them raw and unwashed. I'd surely do it again.

My grandparents had a small farm. Ever hear of DDT? And lots and lots of sevin dust.... Mostly manure fertilizer, but farm store stuff, too. Then again, none of that killed me back then, and those tomatoes were damn fine. LOL

Oh. And something else I wouldn't do now that I did when I was younger (just saw an apparel ad beside a news article I was reading that made me think of it). I would never ever wear hip hugger bell-bottom pants again. Yikes! (Ever notice how fashion cycles round and round and always ends up looking like something from the past? Not that getting older has anything to do with that. LOL)

 

[mrmark21]

Good thing you asked Just Play I'm only 25 so still young. There are lot's of things I still do

I've sent you a PM.

 

[just play]

Wait..what do you mean you shouldn't eat veggies from your garden without washing? Uh oh, am I gonna die?

Mousey, yes the fashion was the most we were talking about, hahahahaha.

Mark, you must have things from when you were 15 or so that you wouldn't do now?


Isn't it weird that most guys are the ones playing with chemicals and road racing, girls are so boring


edit...Ohhh thought of another one...what about drinking from the outside hose? I've recently read that's not good for you? Is this true?

 

[mrmark21]

There's not much I did then that I don't do now... Hmm let's see. Wagging school. bongs (quit smoking all together). Shoplifting (I had no money when I was younger and my parents wouldn't buy me anything). Drinking so much and then throwing up all over my bed room floor (I've learnt to always keep a plastic bag next to my bed). Ummm I used to grab onto the doorknobs to the train doors and step up on the little edge thing and literally ride the train down the platform lol.

I was a little rebel lol!

 

[Balthazar]

what about drinking from the outside hose? I've recently read that's not good for you?

Don't get me started. If it were that bad, we'd all be dead as we drank gallons of water from the hose every summer. No kid got sick because of it. Today's kids drink bottled water and don't eat vegetables straight from the garden like we did. They don't get exposed to germs and that's one of the reasons why they easily get sick and are allergic to everything.

 

[Mousey]

Wait..what do you mean you shouldn't eat veggies from your garden without washing? Uh oh, am I gonna die?

Mousey, yes the fashion was the most we were talking about, hahahahaha.

Mark, you must have things from when you were 15 or so that you wouldn't do now?


Isn't it weird that most guys are the ones playing with chemicals and road racing, girls are so boring


edit...Ohhh thought of another one...what about drinking from the outside hose? I've recently read that's not good for you? Is this true?

ok... lemme see... ya'll want the 'dirt'... LOL

Would never road race on a country back road after midnight with the lights off. (We called it racing for 'moonlight pink slips'. lost one car that way, won another later LOL) No hauling moonshine for the local 'brewer'. No wet t-shirt contests (as a contestant ). No waking up hung over beside a total stranger with my vehicle's whereabouts unknown (where's my car, dude???). That's enough... *shudder* ... it's a wonder I survived my own stupidity.

 

[chayton]

We used to think we were immortal.

I was fearless when I was younger, now the most daring thing I do is ride on the back of a motorcycle. But considering it's only been nice here for a week and there have already been two bike accidents this week, I suppose that's daring enough!

 

[ChopleyIOM]

Three day ecstasy and LSD binges (I saw in the new millennium in an, ahem, altered state)

Riding a sports motorbike over the Isle of Man TT course at 160mph+ (This was legal by the way, we have some derestricted roads on the Isle of Man where there is no speed limit, but 162mph is still far too fast.)

All the other drugs - a few glasses of wine is my limit these days

Gambling until I couldn't afford food or rent

Destroying my own car with a rock


I suppose sooner or later you have to grow up, which is no bad thing, and ever since our daughter was born in 2004 it's been an entirely different story - me and Mrs Chopley had a pretty eclectic time in our twenties (we've been together for 19 years), but TBH it's pretty nice to be knocking on the door of the big 40 and just be a lot more chilled out, comfortable, and, dare I say it, sensible.

Let the young 'uns have their wild years, as long as they're not hurting anyone else in the process, they can do what they want with their own bodies and minds (Although I would never advocate gambling addiction, of all the shit I've done in my time, by far and away the single most destructive force was gambling, infinitely more so than the drugs.)

 

[dunover]

Three day ecstasy and LSD binges (I saw in the new millennium in an, ahem, altered state)

Riding a sports motorbike over the Isle of Man TT course at 160mph+ (This was legal by the way, we have some derestricted roads on the Isle of Man where there is no speed limit, but 162mph is still far too fast.)

All the other drugs - a few glasses of wine is my limit these days

Gambling until I couldn't afford food or rent

Destroying my own car with a rock


I suppose sooner or later you have to grow up, which is no bad thing, and ever since our daughter was born in 2004 it's been an entirely different story - me and Mrs Chopley had a pretty eclectic time in our twenties (we've been together for 19 years), but TBH it's pretty nice to be knocking on the door of the big 40 and just be a lot more chilled out, comfortable, and, dare I say it, sensible.

Let the young 'uns have their wild years, as long as they're not hurting anyone else in the process, they can do what they want with their own bodies and minds (Although I would never advocate gambling addiction, of all the shit I've done in my time, by far and away the single most destructive force was gambling, infinitely more so than the drugs.)

I get the rest but the car? Was it a decent one and I take it you mean you took a rock in your hands and wrecked it? Why? Very intriguing.

 

[ChopleyIOM]

I get the rest but the car? Was it a decent one and I take it you mean you took a rock in your hands and wrecked it? Why? Very intriguing.

Nah it was a pretty rubbish Vauxhall Cavalier. (But yes I did get hold of a rock and smash the crap out of it.)

I had a really, really bad session on the AWPs and decided to take it out on my car when I got home. (This was pretty much the last major kicking I took before finally getting smart on the bastard things.)

You can see the dents in the roof where I jumped up and down on it.

It was kind of, a bad time.....

 

[The Dude]

No smashing cars here



What I wouldn't do that I used to do? I thought about for a while, and there are a lot of things that I still do (or would do)

I still drink water out of a hose btw. Best water ever

There are things I can't do - buy a pack of smokes for 50 cents, six pack of beer for $1.49. Go see a movie for a buck.

I used to walk along the train tracks as a kid. What an idiot! I called a cop a "pig" once when I was 17. Never did that again

I always ride a bike with a helmet - Mr. safety here.

I try to avoid these threads in case my kids see them later

 

[secret2]

Brits in Spain

I remember going on vacation to Spain with my friends, back in the mid 80's and we all got so drunk...as much is the norm for the Brits, back then.

My friend was in the next room with some guys that I didn't know and became worried about her.

I was drunk but can remember going out on the 9th floor balcony and climbing over the rail to get to their balcony...and running into their room..I expected her to be in some kind of sexual distress with 4 other males...but no...all had their clothes on and snoring their asses off.

I am so afraid of heights...what was I thinking...or not.

 

[dunover]

Nah it was a pretty rubbish Vauxhall Cavalier. (But yes I did get hold of a rock and smash the crap out of it.)

I had a really, really bad session on the AWPs and decided to take it out on my car when I got home. (This was pretty much the last major kicking I took before finally getting smart on the bastard things.)

You can see the dents in the roof where I jumped up and down on it.

It was kind of, a bad time.....

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Jeez, I'm surprised no one called the Police and you didn't get sectioned ....
I'm glad you're past that crap now, I know the feeling but I never wrecked my own stuff. I once punched a bar-x £10/25 so hard I put the top glass (6mm thick and toughened) through and ended up in casualty having stitches in my hand. In my last month ever of playing b3's I booted the bottom of a Project bar-x-freespins and clean snapped the bottom wood panel in two, so it fell out and the bottom cashbox was exposed. Somehow this wasn't noticed and I leant the two bits of wood in place and the rest I leave to your imagination. The funniest I did back in the 1990's was playing a £3/6 token j/p machine called 'Grand National' and I whacked the glass over the reels so hard that the whole reels assembly with glass still attached fell into the machine. The bloody thing still worked and I kept on playing it; it was hysterical, people looking at me wondering where the reels were, until they noticed them 6 inches down inside the machine making a funny noise as they span. One place pissed me off so much I superglued several of the start buttons down, and sat there having a coffee watching the punters put their pound coins in, and the things spinning on their own, offering a hold and before the punter could even bash the hold buttons it carried on going much to their dismay. You had to be there. My last one was (being quite a tall muscular bloke) was frustration at a fussy coin mech not taking my pounds. I had a jam, and in frustration one-handed pulled the machine forward 30 degrees by the top, and thrust it back into the wall so hard the bastard went clean through the plasterboard. The coins came out.
The thing is, and you Chopley would know this, is that not ONCE did I get the police called, or banned - I was too valuable to them. That was when I realized AWP's were finished all those years back.

 

[Mouche12]

.... oh, quite a few things I wouldn't dream of doing anymore:

hitchhiking with a female friend through Europe when I was 18,
driving on the back of a motor bike in France, Greece and Turkey at high speed in a bikini and no helmet - last time when I was 41!,
bungee jumping in my thirties - definitely never again!

 

[dionysus]

I've hitch-hiked over a few continents; wouldn't trade it, would still do it. Last time I did, everyone's 'oh, noone picks up hitchers anymore'..made it across country and back and had a grand time, great parties, great people, great experiences..I'm 6', 180..maybe I'm not as readily muggable, I dunno.

I never wear my seatbelt..I was the one in 10 who wouldn't be here if I had.

There's some things I wouldn't do now I would have 'then'..my car accident gave me my dose of mortality, so not keen on saying yeah to sky-diving, diving, walking across high ledges..'sides I break easily (back, both wrists, ribs on both sides, 9 toes, both feet, front teeth, rotator cuff)..my friends tell my they're gonna bubble-wrap me one day lol

 

[just play]

ok... lemme see... ya'll want the 'dirt'... LOL



Would never road race on a country back road after midnight with the lights off. (We called it racing for 'moonlight pink slips'. lost one car that way, won another later LOL) No hauling moonshine for the local 'brewer'. No wet t-shirt contests (as a contestant ). No waking up hung over beside a total stranger with my vehicle's whereabouts unknown (where's my car, dude???). That's enough... *shudder* ... it's a wonder I survived my own stupidity.

I've been laughing about the bolded sentence for hours now.

 

[anniemac]

This thread is hilarious. It's a wonder some of you made it out alive.

Growing up in a small town in Texas, my teen years were pretty tame. It was the type of town you see on the movies, sheriff didn't arrest teens, they took them home to dad. Believe you me, you would have rather been arrested than have your dad rousted out in the middle of the night by the town sheriff.

Now my college years were different. Home was 200 miles away and Boone's Farm Apple wine could be bought for $1 by our underage selves. Fraternity keg parties were weekly events. Tasted my first beer at one of them and spent the next 24 hrs. hugging the toilet as did all the rest of the dorm. Life was good. LOL!


But up side some of the other stories here, I was an angel. LOL!

 

[mattsgame]

Made explosive devices when 15 or 16. Used fireworks and stuff nicked from chemistry labs at school. 3 oF my friends manufactured a device so large they went in a cold war bunker on the common near a town I went to school ( I wasn't in on that one) and blew it up, apparently it lifted the top off and they were fortunate not to kill themselves by getting well clear. That was in the local press and they all got jailed for a year. Don't know what happened as they were out after I left that school. I'll try and look the story up on the web, it happened 30 years ago.

oh no! A buddy of mine grew up in Mexico and at their elementary school they had a sort of firepit in the yard, one day they found a box of .22 shells and threw them in the fire. Luckily nobody got hurt but he said it scared the crap out of them!

This, I did some pretty stupid and dangerous shit in my day, and now when others are blowing up fireworks all over the street I get mad and want to boot them up the arse.

Some of the many things we used to do was get .22 shells and put a portable blow torch to them, sit them on the stove then light it, make soda bombs also using .22 and shotgun shells and throwing aerosol cans and portable gas canisters into camp fires. Just crazy stuff that now I find myself lucky I never threw my life away thinking it was harmless fun. If my son starts doing it I will lock him up until he's 30

Now I am grown up and everything scares the shit out of me, I don't like an aerosol can within 1 metre of the heater.

 

[jetset]

This thread is hilarious. It's a wonder some of you made it out alive.

Growing up in a small town in Texas, my teen years were pretty tame. It was the type of town you see on the movies, sheriff didn't arrest teens, they took them home to dad. Believe you me, you would have rather been arrested than have your dad rousted out in the middle of the night by the town sheriff.

Now my college years were different. Home was 200 miles away and Boone's Farm Apple wine could be bought for $1 by our underage selves. Fraternity keg parties were weekly events. Tasted my first beer at one of them and spent the next 24 hrs. hugging the toilet as did all the rest of the dorm. Life was good. LOL!


But up side some of the other stories here, I was an angel. LOL!

Ahhhhh....talking to the Great White Telephone - I'm sure many of us have done that

 

[Jasminebed]

One thing I didn't do, nor did my brother, was play with explosives. It's not to say kids didn't then. I remember in my early teens my younger brother being questioned by the police about an explosion. He had chosen not to take part (an experiment, not vandalism), and my dad threatening him to tell the police who was involved, because planned or not, damage had occurred.

Quite recent times, my roommate's nephew (12) has had several surgeries and will face many more, maybe never having full eyesight again playing with a backyard bromine bomb.

Even the young don't have to make every mistake. Very few fall in while praying to the porcelain alter for overindulgence.

My dad was RCE 23rd field company, he had great respect for explosives, and my brother was smart enough to listen to him. He was one of the troop blowing up the bridges for the evacuation after the Battle of Arnhem (Operation Marketgarden), and mostly the neighbourhood saftety go to guy for found blasting caps and setting off the neighbourhood fireworks for holidays.

Still a big fan of fireworks, I admire safe use.

 

[dunover]

One thing I didn't do, nor did my brother, was play with explosives. It's not to say kids didn't then. I remember in my early teens my younger brother being questioned by the police about an explosion. He had chosen not to take part (an experiment, not vandalism), and my dad threatening him to tell the police who was involved, because planned or not, damage had occurred.

Quite recent times, my roommate's nephew (12) has had several surgeries and will face many more, maybe never having full eyesight again playing with a backyard bromine bomb.

Even the young don't have to make every mistake. Very few fall in while praying to the porcelain alter for overindulgence.

My dad was RCE 23rd field company, he had great respect for explosives, and my brother was smart enough to listen to him. He was one of the troop blowing up the bridges for the evacuation after the Battle of Arnhem (Operation Marketgarden), and mostly the neighbourhood saftety go to guy for found blasting caps and setting off the neighbourhood fireworks for holidays.

Still a big fan of fireworks, I admire safe use.

So you're partial to a good session on Netent's 'Wild Rockets' then?

 

[Balky]

Working my parents nerves. Now its mostly the other way round.

B.

 

[Jasminebed]

So you're partial to a good session on Netent's 'Wild Rockets' then?

Have enjoyed the RTG ones on three occasions.

 

[slotplayer]

I will never get under a car with just a bumper jack holding it up.