Random thoughts...

[Pyrian]

If they were going to do that, they should've released it in 2015.

[Tocky]

Back to the future just would not be the same without Michael J. Fox. My wife and I have a standing agreement to sing the theme song for Family Ties if we ever see him at the airport or something. We sang it every time the show came on that first year of marriage. "Oh I bet we've been together for a million years...". I can't imagine anyone filling his shoes in the role of Marty.

I personally find "a day of burning" a bit strange (hopefully it was just photos and you're not married to a serial arsonist!). I can understand the motivation as a symbolic gesture but trying to get rid of old photos won't change your memories, who you were and who you are now.

Rest assured it isn't some pagan ritual. Not that I would be adverse to a little dancing naked round a fire. I am overly sentimental though. I save things, letters, pictures, pubic hair in a tiny bottle, little things given to me. It was a day of letting go.

[Pyrian]

...One of those is not like the others...

[Medlar]

“Pubic hair in a tiny bottle” Why?😳

[Sulphur]

He already answered that. Overly sentimental, remember? Me, I've kept a few more conventional things. Letters. Tchotchkes. Dragons on a chain gifted me.

The photos a certain someone and I took got given back though, after I penned a few lines on the other side as a token of my feelings. It was only fitting I'd never see them or the other person again. They're like that, photos. They either fade away, or burn.

[Tocky]

“Pubic hair in a tiny bottle” Why?��

Heh. I wondered would anyone catch that. It was part of a bawdy joke when asked what I wanted for my birthday. I actually got rid of it the week we broke up. Same as with naked pictures, it's not right to keep, unless you are going to perform a voodoo ritual. I did keep just one letter and just one safe photo of them for sentiments sake. Sulphur is right though. Ben Folds has a great song about that called "Smoke".

[Tocky]

About three years ago as I was trying to go to sleep I had a premonition I would die on hwy 15 between Houston and Pontotoc, Mississippi. I drive all over but that's what the image that flashed in my mind told me. I figured there must be some mistake because I've known since a teen that I will die between the two pear trees in my side yard. It sort of sat in the back of my mind though. As such I drive slower on that road.

A couple of weeks ago I had my front two tires changed out because the belt in one of them was showing. I never seem to have time to do anything but stop gap measures though and did not change out the back ones which were fairly worn as well. I would get around to it soon I told myself. Today it was raining, not hard but steady, and there was a little wind but hardly gale force. Nowhere near as bad as I have driven in. Hell, I drove from Saint Louis to Memphis on a solid sheet of slick ice jammed in with a packed line of eighteen wheelers. I've driven every day for over thirty years from ten to maybe five or six in the evening. I drive hard most of the time pushing the limit of what I can get away with knowing every minute adds up. I've seen a lot on the road, had lots of close calls, I always thought I took just enough care though.

Today I was on the road between Houston and Pontotoc. It was raining, not hard, just steady like I said, and had been since yesterday. I had felt my wheels skip over some rain channels in the road like usual earlier. You just stay out of the deeper channels and ride more toward the middle line which isn't as beaten down. Well this road didn't even have a channel so no worries right? The rain wasn't pooling. No problem. I was doing 55 mph anyway. I came over a small rise and as the road leveled again my rear wheels began to slip. It was as if someone had pushed on my rear bumper but I couldn't tell there was that much wind. Odd. I let off expecting it to correct as it always does. It didn't. I turned into the skid which works most all of the time. It didn't this time.

The problem with turning into a skid is that as long as it corrects you are golden but when it doesn't by the time your rear end is sideways you are in a spin as the front wheels are turned just perfect for that. After the first full revolution I thought this was it. This is when I die. After the second I thought no. I'm slowing some, not much but maybe enough if that oncoming car sees me and slows too. I calmed right down. On the third revolution I knew I was going to be okay, maybe beat up some, but alive. The premonition wasn't true unless I hit the culvert and started flipping. By the fourth I could see where I was going to end up and there was a large oak tree there. By the fifth I had missed the culvert and with my wheels straightened slowing further. By the sixth I was off the road but the leaves and mud were too slick. No way I would stop before I hit that tree but maybe it wouldn't be too bad. One more full turn and I could see it wouldn't hit my door which was good. No broken glass all over and cold invading. I hit on my bed side just ahead of the rear wheel. I was buckled and the jolt yanked me hard against the belt. Not bad. Not great but not bad.

It was the perfect place to hit if you had to pick. It didn't damage the door or wheel. Maybe with enough pedal I could back out even. Wouldn't that be great? No dice. With the rear wheels slick and in slick mud no dice. I got out. The woman who pulled over was worried. A sweet and professionally dressed young black woman. I'm okay. Really. It just looked bad. I finally convinced her it was okay to leave. Just call the highway patrol for me. She did. The sheriff got there first. Old Toccopola boy. I gave him my business card and a synopsis of the wreck and he said he would get a chain. The highway patrol came by while he was gone and I gave him the same along with my drivers license. I was glad that when I got out the first time I saw a beer bottle nearby and had kicked it into the woods just in case somebody might think it belonged to me. Paperwork then the sheriff came back and pulled me out. Not so bad of a dent. I might even be able to push it out. Mostly.

Overall not too bad a stroke of luck. Luck it was though. I've had some experience spinning in circles on the road and maybe I'll tell a story or two of that in my thread but not now. I know it could have gone much worse. I drove on home. There was one more stop I was supposed to make but I just didn't think I had enough luck left today. I'm getting new rear tires tomorrow. Right now I'm having a Jack and coke.

[icemann]

Dreams are odd like that. I've had a couple of premonition dreams in my life time. You never know which are the premonition dreams, and which are just the odd ones.

Glad you came out of it ok. I had one bad experience driving 15 years ago, where I was driving down a street. Moderate rain but not heavy. Approach a side street. Truck comes flying out, driver not stopping as road rules would have him do. So he pops out of the side street into the path of my car, then he stops in the middle of the road after noticing me. I break full, and due to the wet conditions + speed I was going my car slides towards the truck. With the speed I was sliding and the breaks not stopping the car fast enough, I'm like yep I'm dead, nothing I can do. Then all of that Gran Turismo playing on the Playstation payed off somehow, and my hands did similar to what I'd do in the game (except with the steering wheel) on wet roads. My car slides right up to the truck and stops about a meter away. All this time, the truck driver could have got his truck out of the way, but nope he'd just stopped there frozen.

My car stops. I freeze for a moment, then snap out of it and yell at the truck driver for being a fuckin idiot and not obeying road rules. He drives off. I drive home shaken, vow to never drive again. My best friend (at that time) called me up later that night and pushed me into getting back in my car and driving to his place. Good thing he did, or I'd never have driven again after that. Terrifying.

[zombe]

Your near misses reminded me something that happened a bloody long time ago, when i was ~8-ish.

When coming home from school, something flew by my face and ripped my jacket open when i crossed the road. I leaped the rest of the way over and checked the damage on my jacket ... when the scared-shitless driver of-the-thing cathed up with me. I did not realize till then how bloody narrowly i escaped almost certain death ...

The thing flying by was a truck with this kind of design/configuration:
https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/clas...ck-2525578.jpg

How the actual fuck did it not remove my face/head when going so close by that it ripped the jacket open - i do not fathom. Sure glad it missed the Me part in my clothes.

[Tocky]

Dreams are odd like that. I've had a couple of premonition dreams in my life time. You never know which are the premonition dreams, and which are just the odd ones.

This is the damn truth. You get so many glimmers of things you aren't sure which to pay attention to. I don't think I've ever had a dream which came true but in that moment right before I drift off I've received some weird glimpses that I can choose to take seriously or not. Maybe my taking this one serious caused it not to come true completely. It's like time has millions of branches and tiny little things you do lead to different outcomes. Why can't I get a glimmer of the winning lotto numbers though? Damn it.

Not dying is pretty cool though.

[icemann]

The last major premonition dream I had, was during a dark period of my life. I had some police business going on, that I wont go in to. But anyway, I had this dream that I was sitting up a tree, and of the police detective who arrested me coming up to the tree, telling me that I had summons to court and handed me the papers.

I wake up, very loud knock at the door, and it's that detective there. I say "I've been expecting you" (due to the dream), he tells me that I have summons to court and serves me the papers. Freakiest of all my premonition dreams. Fair enough I wasn't up a tree, but the rest happened near identical. And that is the only one I've ever had that came true immediately after.

I've had QUITE a few car crash dreams. Luckily none of those ever came true. One was very similar to the one you describe Tocky. Though in mine it was raining, wet roads, slide off a cliff. After that dream I was paranoid on that particular road. Nothing ever happened luckily. Don't even own the car from that dream anymore. Though I still drive down that road due to work.

The majority of the other premonition dreams I've had were more only partly right. So more signs of future events. Like I had one about going back to university to study further. 6 months later I ended up working there. So partly right.

As for near death experiences I've had several. My mothers convinced that I have a guardian angel. Here's a few (all of which happened when I was a kid):

* Fell backwards from a seat, through a glass window. Landed in the garden. Not a single scratch.
* Fell head first from a tree. Two stories high. Concrete bellow. Just before I near the ground, my leg wraps around a branch. I'm left dangling upside down a few feet from the ground.
* Earlier in life, I fell out of a different tree. Head first onto concrete. Only got a concussion from it.

Had numerous near misses whilst driving throughout the years. Though none like the one I mentioned a few posts up.

Not dying is pretty cool though.

Well having been in that experience, when your in one of those "Yep I'm dead" moments, and yet survive them. They stay with you. You never forget them. I've been paranoid about side streets ever since that day, even though it happened so long ago. My mother's been in a few car accidents, and is now forever paranoid about tail gaiters (people that drive right up super close behind you), after being slammed into from behind by a four wheel drive. Of which was caused due to the driver not watching the road and yelling at her kids in the back.

Funnily enough I now drive that car that my mother had been driving that day. She was convinced that it's cursed and refused to drive it after that. Been fine for me. Been driving it for 9 years now.

[Tocky]

Well maybe you were up a tree in the metaphorical sense and that manifested in the dream.

Both you and zombe reminded me of things. I was on a twenty foot ladder cutting a big limb to keep it from growing over my roof when it came loose but because it was entangled with another limb it came right at me. It landed in my coat pocket and ripped on through to land on the ladder knocking it out from under me. I had a flash of landing on the still running chainsaw so I flung it as far from me as possible on the way down. I landed okay, like a monkey, letting my legs bend and using my arms to slap the ground and keep my head from hitting.

Also one day I pulled up to a four way stop in the middle of nowhere with nobody around and got a sudden urge to turn on the radio. I did and Ode to Billy Joe came on. I let off the brake to go across when an eighteen wheeler locked down and squalling with smoke boiling from the tires slid through. He had come over the little hill to my left and not knowing the road could do nothing but lock his brakes. I hit my brake again but he was already across. I was glad I had that urge for music suddenly. Then I heard Bobbie Jo Gentry sing "It was the third of June another sleepy summer delta day" and realized it WAS the third of June and I WAS in the delta. The Tallahatchie wasn't near or it would have been perfect.

I could go on about near miss wrecks all day. I've been on the road half my life. Pretty cool hearing about others though. I finally got some stories out of you folks. All it took was nearly dying.

[icemann]

Well we all got stories in us. Just a matter of getting on the right topic.

[zombe]

Here's a few (all of which happened when I was a kid):

* Fell backwards from a seat, through a glass window. Landed in the garden. Not a single scratch.
* Fell head first from a tree. Two stories high. Concrete bellow. Just before I near the ground, my leg wraps around a branch. I'm left dangling upside down a few feet from the ground.
* Earlier in life, I fell out of a different tree. Head first onto concrete. Only got a concussion from it.

Had numerous near misses whilst driving throughout the years.

Ugh. Lol. Would you please stop tempting fate.

I very-very rarely get into dangerous situations - i "blame" my mirror-neurons being constantly on an overdrive.

I see, feel and live all the dangers all the time. That road crossing was the number one source of danger i listed when we did the list of "10 dangers on my way to school" that are done in first classes (random memory: i was the only one who though to mention icicles on roofs).

Seeing someone else being in a dangerous situation is the worst in its intensity - as mentally i involuntarily snap into their situation. Which is terrifying and really-really confusing. But it is not limited to other people - anything i perceive as possible can snap me into that imaginary situation. Even if, given a second to think about, it really is completely impossible. Like walking past a impenetrable railing and seeing one self dangling at the other side - what do you do? Climb? FFS. Very confusing and Extremely annoying as i understand the bollox that is happening, but just cannot turn it off.

Random enough? :P

[icemann]

Tempting fate was my middle name when I was a kid. If there was a huge tree, then I'd want to climb that as high up as I could get.

We had this one tree at the front of my parents place, that I regularly climbed to the top. I dunno how many stories up that was. All I know is that I could see the lights from a sports stadium that was about 20-30 minutes drive away, from up there. Used to love doing that. Scared the crap out of parents + neighbors. A few times, had half the court come out and call for me to come down. At that age I didn't really understand the danger. I just wanted to climb up. Was fun.

Nowadays there's no way in hell I'd attempt that .

[Tocky]

We did the same. We built a tree house of two by fours and printing tin my dad had brought home from the university paper. It was pretty cool because you could read it but it was really light and the first hard storm that came scattered that thing over several acres. We had lots of other tree houses that were just platforms with a good view scattered about. I built a bit more elaborate one for my kids and used concrete wire in the branches beneath to catch them if they fell.

The story that started my story thread was about my buddy Elliott doing what we called tippy topping in another thread and somebody said I should write them all down. We would climb a tree to the top and bend it till it reached the next tree then see how far we could go like that. Worked pretty good till the day Elliott chose a sweet gum and the top snapped out of it. He fell all the way down breaking limbs on the way and landed on his shoulders and back of his head. It knocked the wind out of him and it took a while to get it back. When he did he kept asking what happened. I would tell him but it wouldn't stick. Not five seconds later he would ask again. I don't know how he was even alive. That was a good thirty or forty feet. Soft sod maybe. After about ten times he could hold stuff in his head again. Must have been a concussion but he wouldn't let us call an ambulance or even his parents. I've had my bell rung and the wind knocked out of me in football but never seen anything like that. He lived. Just a little sore the next few days.

[icemann]

The joys of being a kid. You can survive and recover quickly from falls and injuries that would destroy you, had you been 20 years older.

I remember cuts and bruises healing in days, which nowadays take weeks / months. Last major cut I had, was from getting drunk at a party, then as I walked home saw some trolleys on the side of the road. Thought it'd be funny to put them in the middle of the road and see what happened. Did that, then tried running to hide when the first car came, but as I was drunk, fell over and cut up the leg of my pants on my right leg. Thought nothing of it, until I got home and looked down and my lower right leg was covered in blood. Left a mean scab on on knee that took several months to heal.

[Tocky]

I love that every time I wand over my little yellow dot by my name it says "Tocky is invisible". I'm not. When I'm not logged in it says I'm not so the point of it is moot but oh hell to be invisible would be so cool. I would take that over flying even.

[zombe]

Hm. Flying is better. I envision poking my eye out when trying to pick my nose for starters.

Um... unless you can turn invisibility on/off at will - which would be fairer comparison to flying.

Random thought time.

I recently had an invisibility dream - trying to sneak through a blockade. Unfortunately, my opposition there was aware i was invisible - so, a fun catch-me-if-you-can ensued. Trying not to make noise nor disturb the ground while trying to judge where the guards will step next. Common situation: if i move - i risk exposing my location, but if i do not move - i risk being bumped into. Screwed if you do and screwed if you do not. Choices, choices.

Thought about the dream after i woke up and remembered something else from early school years. There was a unused wing in the school that had no windows and no electricity with a larger cinema projector room at the end - perfect place to play tag in. You could not see ANYTHING in there - touch and sound only. Fun times.

Guess i have had fun being invisible in both dreams and in real life.

... yeah, screw flying.

[Tocky]

I fully admit to being nefarious enough to following certain people around and substituting for their conscience when they are alone. "Tucker Carlson this is God... stop being a dick." I would hang around the roulette table and help some poor bastard win repeatedly. I would listen in on private conversations of those those in power to find out what is really motivating them. I would likely make some of them go nuts. Or further nuts. I would get bank account numbers and transfer funds to others accounts I like better. I would make a kids paper airplane fly forever. I would ride a motorcycle around just to see facial expressions. I would give Claude Rains a run for his money on being the most evil invisible man.

Eh. I would likely get killed trying to cross the street.

[Pyrian]

"Hmm, I'd swear I just hit something pretty big, but I don't see anything..."

[zombe]

I wonder ...

We used to play a lot of one certain card game in school. Called (well, translated as) "Lying". And by a lot i mean WAY TOO MUCH - it was the absolute top game.

I wonder how wide spread that game or its close variants are/were. Found some similarly named games via google, but with very different rules (much shittier sounding ones - but might be alright when played).

Rules:

It is a social game - not terribly "win"-oriented. Ie. leave your serious competitive face home. It is about knowing your friends.

Take a pack (or two / three) of cards (jokers are fine, but might prefer to exclude them - they do not really add anything to the gameplay). Shuffle. Throw away some of the cards (face down) and split all the remaining cards evenly among the players.

The goal is to get rid of all the cards you have AND get out of the game (not having any cards does not mean you are out of the game).

If you have 4 of the same card then you can discard them openly (face up) at any time - except when it is your turn to play. There is no point in keeping cards - so, one should discard sets of 4 as soon as you realizing you have a full set.

The game is played in rounds ( of lying ) and in a looping chain (ex: clockwise).

Whoever is starting a round can pick one of his cards and place it on the table face down - claiming what it is (ex: "Queen"). Next (the now current) player in chain has a choice:
1. tell that the previous player was lying. If correct then the previous player picks up all the cards on the table. If incorrect or joker then the current player picks up all the cards. Either way - current player starts a new round.
2. tell that the previous player was truthful. If correct then all the cards on the table will be discarded (face down). If incorrect or joker then the current player picks up all the cards. Either way - current player starts a new round.
3. add one of your cards to the pile with the silently implied claim of adding the same kind of card (ie: if the round started with "Queen" claim - you can only claim to add a "Queen" too). Thereby giving the next player in chain the same options to act on.

Additionally. When the player needing to choose has no cards then:
Option 3 is not possible and the situation is called an "exam" and is the only way to get out of the game - ie. not loose. To get out of the game - you just must guess correctly. If you pass the "exam" then the next player in chain starts a new round. Otherwise the game continues normally - pick up all the junk on the table and start a new round. Better luck next time.

You have at most ~10 seconds to interrogate, make your decision and act on it. Cut that down to ~2-3 seconds if no interrogation took place. Time it by "social clock" - ie: don't be a dick about it. Especially if the player taking more time has been mostly timely before. A few extra seconds for anyone having to pass an "exam" is also reasonable.

Notes:
It is a social game. Don't flip coins - judge and decide! Ban "coin-flippers" the moment you identify them as such and don't let them return till they get their head out of their ass.

Picking options 1 and 2 too often is not good for you nor the gameplay experience: it makes you predictable (makes it easier for the previous player to get out of the game) and slows you down from getting rid of your own cards. Generally, if the pile does not average to an absurd number - you are chickening out too much and dragging the game. Generally, you should expect ~"12 Queen" piles in a "4 Queen total" game. Especially if you have 5 or more players.

Cheating in spirit of the game is allowed (what qualifies as being "in spirit" must be agreed beforehand). Ex: if you play multiple cards instead of one and no-one notices before the next player makes their choice - you are Ok. If someone notices then you pick up all the cards unconditionally and the next player starts a new round. (this was the only allowed cheat in our case)

Best played in groups of 3 to 6 (preferably at least two 52 packs if more than 3 players).

Note about the "throwing away some random cards from the deck": it is there to help prevent draws in 2-3 player games. Example: i have had a 2-player game when we decided to skip the removal step and had the dreaded result. Every single card i had ended up in my opponents hand - which meant that he discarded ALL of them by the rule of 4. Which meant that both players were in the "exam" stage and neither player had ANY cards to actually perform it. Both lost. Hilarious. Which is a win of sorts.

--------------------------
Sounds familiar? Something close enough? Or perhaps share some other card game to share (with more social than competitive elements ... excluding Mafia and its derivatives as thous hardly qualify as "card" games)?

[Starker]

Yeah, we played the exact same game. There are lots of variants: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheat_%28game%29#Variants

Other than that and poker we didn't play any social games. By far the most popular were competitive games like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durak and this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Schnapsen

[zombe]

Interesting.

How close was your variant of "exact same game"? Interesting that the "playing multiple cards instead of one" cheat option is mentioned on the wiki. We came up with that ourselves (pretty much exactly 25 years ago) - nice to see others have had the same idea.

Russian_Schnapsen - looks quite complicated.

Durak - same game (but usually under different name: "potiknoi") was also played occasionally. Was kind of the third option behind Lying and ... um ... "Küüned perse" (i doubt a translation would be terribly useful).

Anyone know some alternate names for "Küüned perse".

Description:

2-3 players (preferably 2)

Shuffle, deal 5 cards per player and one on the table. Current player adds one card to the pile:
* must be either same number or same color where some of the cards have special effects:
* 6 -> next player picks up one card from the deck and skips his turn
* 7 -> next player picks up two cards from the deck and skips his turn
* diamond King -> next player picks up four cards from the deck and skips his turn
* Ace -> next player skips his turn
* Queen -> can be played on top of any card (ie. player can ignore color and number requirements), player can wish for any color -> in effect his played queen assumes the wished color
* anything else -> no special effect

If player can not play any card (or does not wish to do so (*)) - he must pick up cards from the deck till he can/will play.

Goal: empty your hand. Usually by building up a combo and emptying your whole hand in one go.

*) wasting parts of your combo is, well, wasteful and helps your opponent in building his combo - so, drawing trash is often preferable.

edit: by "color" i mean "suit" / "mark".

[Starker]

Interesting.

How close was your variant of "exact same game"? Interesting that the "playing multiple cards instead of one" cheat option is mentioned on the wiki. We came up with that ourselves (pretty much exactly 25 years ago) - nice to see others have had the same idea.

We usually didn't have to take cards out of the deck at the beginning, but it was pretty much the same exact game.

Russian_Schnapsen - looks quite complicated.

It's not as complicated as it looks. Much easier than Bridge, anyway. You can pick up most of the strategies in just a couple of games. If you look at the left side of its Wiki page, under Languages, there's also a page in Estonian for it.

Anyone know some alternate names for "Küüned perse".

There are lots of games like this, with different cards doing various things. One example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mau-Mau_%28card_game%29