Going down I-5 north of Seattle after a huge rain following a dry spell in a '75 BMW 2002. (Great little rally car... but a tin can.) Idiot in a Lexus swerves into my lane and I end up doing *five* 360 across four lanes of rush hour traffic, right at the concrete wall. The wall ended just as I went onto the shoulder, coming to a complete stop pointing the right direction.
Oh, and somewhere in the middle of all of that I managed to turn the radio off. I guess it was distracting me.
Then there was the time I was rafting down the New River in WVa, and went head first into a Class V hole, got caught in the washer, and *just* as I was going to rip my lifejacket off to catch the hydraulic, came up... right under the raft. D'oh.
Maybe the first time I went skydiving? Still don't recall the first two or three seconds - the little lizard brain in the back of your head just goes "Well you're a flippin' idiot... I'm outta here."
Nope, gotta be coming down Guardsman Pass between Big Cottonwood Canyon and Park City, Utah, in February. The Jeep went full on sideways on a *steep* one-lane (if that) gravel road that was a sheet of ice, without guardrails. 500' drop to the outside of the corner I'm sliding towards at about 1/2 a mile an hour. (It was *so* damned slow, but there wasn't a blasted thing I could do about it.) SO got out of the car, and immediately fell on her ass. I stayed with it, but kept my door open to jump.
*Somehow* when the Jeep reached the corner... it slid around it, following the curve perfectly. I was amazed.
So were the 12 or so 4x4s at the bottom of the hill I was now sliding down, sideways. They were parked on the sides of the road, with enough space for me to go through... head-on. Not sideways. I was about to domino a dozen 4x4s. People screaming at me, waving their arms, etc, etc. And I can't do a bloody thing.
And then, just as I'm about to plow into them, I pop the wheel to the right, slam on the gas, and as the tires begin to spin pull the emergency brake *hard*.
*pop*
The Jeep swiveled right around into the correct orientation, and I drove right through the flock of them, grinning and waving at their slack-jawed faces.
And then my girlfriend, still sliding on her butt, got to the bottom, stood up, brushed herself off, said "Mornin', boys!", walked over to the Jeep, got in, and we drove off.
I'm a medical student. A few weeks ago I was doing some clinical time at the local hospital. About 45 minutes into my shift the medics called in a full arrest. So we get all prepared and whatnot. I got assigned to take over chest compressions. So they bring in a 500lb woman in full arrest and I started doing compressions. After about two minutes the Doctor calls it, that was it. She died.
Yikes, that must be awful having someone die at your hands.
The scariest moment I had probably was when I went to the hospital after my mom had a stroke. She didn't know who my brother was or what country we were in. It was so sad and I was really scared that she'd never get back to normal, fortunately she's perfectly fine now.
Realizing (after the fact) that I could have died at any time within the 24-hour period after my appendix had burst a couple of years ago.
I could have died while working at the top of an amusement park ride, in the middle of a huge parking lot, driving home that evening, or in my sleep that night. Fortunately, I didn't.
Comments
Going down I-5 north of Seattle after a huge rain following a dry spell in a '75 BMW 2002. (Great little rally car... but a tin can.) Idiot in a Lexus swerves into my lane and I end up doing *five* 360 across four lanes of rush hour traffic, right at the concrete wall. The wall ended just as I went onto the shoulder, coming to a complete stop pointing the right direction.
Oh, and somewhere in the middle of all of that I managed to turn the radio off. I guess it was distracting me.
Then there was the time I was rafting down the New River in WVa, and went head first into a Class V hole, got caught in the washer, and *just* as I was going to rip my lifejacket off to catch the hydraulic, came up... right under the raft. D'oh.
Maybe the first time I went skydiving? Still don't recall the first two or three seconds - the little lizard brain in the back of your head just goes "Well you're a flippin' idiot... I'm outta here."
Nope, gotta be coming down Guardsman Pass between Big Cottonwood Canyon and Park City, Utah, in February. The Jeep went full on sideways on a *steep* one-lane (if that) gravel road that was a sheet of ice, without guardrails. 500' drop to the outside of the corner I'm sliding towards at about 1/2 a mile an hour. (It was *so* damned slow, but there wasn't a blasted thing I could do about it.) SO got out of the car, and immediately fell on her ass. I stayed with it, but kept my door open to jump.
*Somehow* when the Jeep reached the corner... it slid around it, following the curve perfectly. I was amazed.
So were the 12 or so 4x4s at the bottom of the hill I was now sliding down, sideways. They were parked on the sides of the road, with enough space for me to go through... head-on. Not sideways. I was about to domino a dozen 4x4s. People screaming at me, waving their arms, etc, etc. And I can't do a bloody thing.
And then, just as I'm about to plow into them, I pop the wheel to the right, slam on the gas, and as the tires begin to spin pull the emergency brake *hard*.
*pop*
The Jeep swiveled right around into the correct orientation, and I drove right through the flock of them, grinning and waving at their slack-jawed faces.
And then my girlfriend, still sliding on her butt, got to the bottom, stood up, brushed herself off, said "Mornin', boys!", walked over to the Jeep, got in, and we drove off.
Nobody said a word.
So what, you say?
No big deal, right?
Did I mention it was my first day?
The scariest moment I had probably was when I went to the hospital after my mom had a stroke. She didn't know who my brother was or what country we were in. It was so sad and I was really scared that she'd never get back to normal, fortunately she's perfectly fine now.
Originally posted by burningwheel
a double lung transplant
Really? What was wrong with the first set?
Originally posted by der Kopf
Really? What was wrong with the first set?
defective from birth so i had to exchange them
cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease
I could have died while working at the top of an amusement park ride, in the middle of a huge parking lot, driving home that evening, or in my sleep that night. Fortunately, I didn't.