Ever had one of those moments...

...where you realize, in retrospect, that your life could have changed drastically - or ended - and it was basically out of your control?

Long story short, I had a surprise visit from about a dozen members of my local constabulary at around 1:30 this afternoon at my house. They were responding to a call that someone had been shot in my house - where I had been watching Chris Harris and Matt Farrah on YouTube while my dogs dozed on the couch. After a few minutes of chatting, they found out that the phone trace should have put them about two blocks north and west of my house, so they went on their way rather graciously.

But.

After I came back inside to the adrenaline dump, it occurred to me that at about five or six times during that encounter, the coin could have fallen a different way, and I could have wound up (a) swarmed by cops, (b) handcuffed, (c) thrown in a squad car, (d) with my house raided, (e) with my dogs shot, and/or (f) dead.

And for the past hour or so, there has been a news chopper circling the block where I presume the actual crime occurred, and where a woman either lost her life or was injured critically. And that's a weird thing to be connected to.

It's just...weird the way things happen sometimes.

Yeah, every once in a while. You can really freak yourself out thinking of the permutations of stuff like that. A small change in situations like that can be a whole new ball game. I just thank my lucky stars that a few situations in my past turned out the way they did and try not to think too much about it aside from how not to get to those points again.

Wow major WTF.

I did an uncontrolled high speed faceplant into a mud puddle about eight inches from a large jagged rock submerged in the puddle.

I had a kind of heart thingy happen about 16 years ago where it decided to just say berk it, I'm gonna stop for a while. (Spoiler: It didn't stop permanently)

I had an incident ~8 years ago where I slid a remarkably long time with the brakes locked on black ice, as a pedestrian was crossing the intersection I was barreling towards at a high-and-not-slowing-nearly-soon-enough rate of speed, and I knew there was no way in hell or God's green earth that I was going to slow down enough to not slide through the intersection, and the guy crossing the road didn't slip and fall as he saw me sliding towards him and jumped back onto the sidewalk moments before I sailed straight through and down the other side of the red light. Very very easily could have ended with me in jail and the guy ground into a kind of red paste on the road.

Yah, been there...

WOW, you just got SWATted.

The metal rod in my leg still reminds of what almost happened when the drunk guy plowed into my Lincoln head-on. I never saw him, I just woke up wondering why my car wasn't running (hint, it was because the engine was in my lap).

"Oh I see your awake!"

"Yah, where am I?"

"You're in the ER, you've been in an accident!"

"Oh! What are you doing?"

"Sewing your ear back on!"

"Cool, Do a good job........zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Ever had one of those moments...

I thought this was going to be about being betrayed by a fart.

I have those.daily. then I forget and do stupid E36 M3 again

In reply to alex: A very similar thing happened to a client of mine a few months ago. He is a very large and intimadating looking black man,( but in reality a teddy bear).

The local SWAT team decided to reenact zero dark thirty at his house very early one morning, in full ninja style, no knock, face masks ect.

They came in through the back basement door, which is where his bedroom is, and his gun. (Its a rough neighborhood, and home invasions are a real thing there).....shots were fired....lets just say its a miracle that no one was killed.

They were looking for his adult son. IIRC, he has never lived at that address. Great job doing your homework LEOs. .....Sorry, that last bit was a rant for a different thread.

My moments have mostly involved motorcycles or careless equipment operators on job sites.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Ever had one of those moments...

I thought this was going to be about being betrayed by a fart.

I had a stomach virus the past two days, I had a couple of those before I realized I could trust no fart.

Just found out that the guy they were after - one block west and a half block north of me - shot himself after a 5+ hour standoff.

Holy crap. that's pretty intense man.

On the "My life should have / could have ended many times" discussion. Upon reflection of my youth, I shouldn't be alive. Blame being young and having access to 3-wheelers, sports cars, and firearms (although it was usually the 3-wheeler and sportscars. I've historically treated firearms with an enhanced level of responsibility).

I've had every cop in town respond to a shooting session twice. (Once at 13, once at 25) Both times they thought it was automatic weapons fire, (we were just pulling the trigger really fast) both times the cops examined weapons and shooting area and moved on. Both times though we were taken by surprise while holding firearms. The first was .22's the second was an AR and an AK, and the police were understandably very nervous.

I've had more accidents with a 3-wheeler than anyone should ever have and expect to walk away from, but I did without even so much as a broken bone.

I should never have been sold an RX-7 when I was 18. I was far to young and stupid to have a sports car. I apologize to everyone between Puyallup, and Bothell for my behavior, and hope they can at least forgive Mazda.

I do sometimes worry that the cops will come pounding on the door because I have three very friendly dogs that like to jump and lick. I no longer make a habit of breaking laws, but I do have a few licenses that open my place up to "unannounced investigation" by the ATF (TTB) and that scares the crap out of me.

In other news: Never trust a fart.

No knock raids scare me very much

tuna55 wrote: No knock raids scare me very much

Yeah, one way or another, the odds of somebody dying who shouldn't have go waaaaay up in that scenario.

I recently found myself in an all-season tire equipped rental, on a snow covered mountain pass with no winter maintenance (no sign on the clear side of the mountain), 2ft of snow that no-body else has been on in days, no ability to turn around (that why the tire tracks stopped) desperately trying to keep up my momentum so I don't get stuck, knowing that if I do get stuck, I'm out of cell-service, 2-3 mile walk in single digit temps, wearing loafers and business attire, and I'm desperately relied upon to do work later in that day.

I wouldn't have died, but it would be a pretty horrible day.

Luckily my driving skills paid off, I blasted that Rav4 through the deep stuff and was able to down to an elevation where others had not been so lucky, and still made it to the remotely located office in time.

I wonder what the guy in the snow plow at the "no winter maintenance" on the opposite side of the mountain was thinking as a drove past him.

Duke wrote:

tuna55 wrote: No knock raids scare me very much

Yeah, one way or another, the odds of somebody dying who shouldn't have go *waaaaay* up in that scenario.

That's a bigger concern to me than burglars to be honest. I haven't really had any "Oh E36 M3" moments that I can remember.

Yup, one of my climbing partners dropped me about 2 stories onto the ground last year. I had a split second to realize what was happening and kick off the wall, so that I broke my feet instead of my pelvis. yay.

And this was someone that I had vetted and deemed competent. I had a lot of time to sit a shudder at all of the times I went to a climbing wall, pointed to a random stranger and asked them to belay me. Life is funny sometimes.

calteg wrote: Yup, one of my climbing partners dropped me about 2 stories onto the ground last year. I had a split second to realize what was happening and kick off the wall, so that I broke my feet instead of my pelvis. yay. And this was someone that I had vetted and deemed competent. I had a lot of time to sit a shudder at all of the times I went to a climbing wall, pointed to a random stranger and asked them to belay me. Life is funny sometimes.

Yeah trust is super important in rock climbing. I have just been starting and sometimes it worries me because a lot of the experienced climbers at my gym seem a little too casual. When I belay I always have my eye on the climber and I want my belayers to be paying attention

@fritzsh

For all the hemming and hawing over equipment, it's rarely the equipment that fails in this sport.

They knew where to go. It was just safer for them to go over to your house.

Our chump car engine was overheating and boiling out most of the coolant. We decided to pull the radiator cap before the car was cooled so we could get back out on the track. It wouldn't come off by hand so we grabbed some channel locks. When the cap came off it blew superheated water all over my face and torso giving me second degree burns. Had I not flinched and stared turning away hundredths of a second sooner I would be blind in at least one eye...

bgkast, and everyone else, exploding radiator hoses were one of my best sellers when I ran the burn unit. You wanna be careful around that stuff.

I no longer remove a radiator cap without a jacket, or other heavy rag thrown over it

In reply to TRoglodyte:

We had a rag or towel on it.

Lesson learned: let it cool down!