Strange/stupid ways to hurt oneself

[9ideon]

Posted by RunningDeer (here)
Oh dear… The signal to noise ratio has changed since I last check the thread. I get it. I’ve been there. It’s a challenge to let it go and get back to the original intent here.

It's a Dutch thing.

Buttuhh, another stupid thing I did.

Getting drunk with a Priest loads of times.

[ExomatrixTV]

When my parents were going to a AFCENT party (my dad worked there as a truck-driver and road worker) in 1974 >>> I was 8 years old and was alone in the house ... I was sleeping below in the living room (not upstairs) and used my fingers (in the dark) to guide the plug (cable from a small lamp) with 2 pins towards the entrance of the electric socket of 220 Volt! ... That gave me a powerful electric shock ... I was in my pajamas bare footed if I was not on the bed I could have died ... lucky the bed had some insulation effect.

• Since then I have a "heart rhythm disorder" having random irregular heartbeats sometimes, they told me you can grow old with having that!

[Mari]

Haha, as a young adult, I was running for a bus once, on my way to work. I had new boots on and it was slippery under foot, with ice on the road. Just as I reached the bus, my feet shot out from under me (ice patch by the door of the bus) and I fell flat on my back, winded, with one half of my body, my legs, under the bus, and the other half, gazing stupidly at the bus Conductor (of the double-decker London bus) standing by her bell, wondering wtf I was doing 'down there'. If she had not seen me, the back wheels of the bus would have (gulp!) rolled right over me as the bus pulled away. I was not bothered about this though, only by my very wounded pride, as I gathered myself up and boarded, much to the amusement of that special breed - the early morning London commuter passengers.

[Libico]

Oh this an embarrassing one. I worked for two summers in Alaska many years ago, first one set-netting salmon and we living in a tiny cabin right on the shore where we had an old oven that we would have to manually light once we turned on the gas. One evening (after a 15 hour grueling workday) I went to prep it for cooking so I turned it on. Despite the fact that I had worked it before, I opened it 10-15 minutes later wondering why it wasn't warm, then I remembered I need to light it first... so I went to light it after gas has been filling this thing all this time. I don't remember exactly what happened but I remember hearing a very loud WHOOSH and recoiled or was pushed back as all that gas ignited.

No lasting damage but it really was a "what the hell were you thinking" moment. My boss who was out doing something else was blissfully unaware that I almost blew up the cabin

[Johnnycomelately]

Posted by Libico (here)
Oh this an embarrassing one. I worked for two summers in Alaska many years ago, first one set-netting salmon and we living in a tiny cabin right on the shore where we had an old oven that we would have to manually light once we turned on the gas. One evening (after a 15 hour grueling workday) I went to prep it for cooking so I turned it on. Despite the fact that I had worked it before, I opened it 10-15 minutes later wondering why it wasn't warm, then I remembered I need to light it first... so I went to light it after gas has been filling this thing all this time. I don't remember exactly what happened but I remember hearing a very loud WHOOSH and recoiled or was pushed back as all that gas ignited.

No lasting damage but it really was a "what the hell were you thinking" moment. My boss who was out doing something else was blissfully unaware that I almost blew up the cabin

Hi Libico. Nice to hear of your avoiding being scathed! — considering how often we hear of houses blowing up due to gas leaks.

I have harmed myself a number of times after relying on dumb ideas/thinking, but this story involves ending up fine after a strange turn of events that I choose to believe was unforseeable.

On a cross country motorcycle trip, on my 3rd or 4th night, I slept on my bike while center-stand parked at a highway truck stop. Bike was a big mid-80’s ‘sport-tourer, a Kawasaki Concours with custom fairing and hard cases (my own diy, but then I worked in composite mould-making and moulding). So lots of room and support. Liquid cooled, with electric fan at the rad, I let it idle, got a nice warm sleep until daylight woke me. I had my simple nylon camping tarp over me. Thought I was a genius.

So upon arising, I noticed something that looked familiar laying on the asphalt a few feet away, and lo and behold, it was one of the two rubber grommets that secured the front of the gas tank to the frame. The tank had pressurized due to heat, and had expanded enough that the rubber mount had fallen out (this tank, like all or at least most bike tanks, has a kind of horseshoe-shaped cross-section because it lays over the ~spine of the frame, so the deformation was like widening the u-shape).

Upon cooling, the front of the tank flexed back to near normal, enough to re-install the mount and continue on my way (I carried tools, had done a bunch of serious maintenance on the road in previous years).

I figure that either my gas cap pressure-relief valve malfunctioned and stuck closed, or it was a mechanical version of the frog boiling scenario. Some weeks later I repaired the tank, which had developed a very slight leak. Oof.

[Bluegreen]

I stuck my finger in an open electrical socket just because I was told not to.

[Sue (Ayt)]

I hopped out of bed in the middle of the night to head for the bathroom, and wound up on the floor with my foot throbbing, and a huge egg on the side of it. Apparently, my foot had been numb asleep, and I stepped down so hard that I broke it. Ugh - had to wear a cast and use crutches, for quite a while. And raising a 3 year old and a 6 month old at the time was quite a challenge with a cast on. Folks who saw me asked if I had a skiing accident. HAHA - uh, no - I did it because I got out of bed in the middle of the night...

It did teach me to always take a minute to sit on the side of the bed and shake all the parts about for a bit, to make sure everything is working before hopping out of bed in the dark!

[petra]

I was dancing and raised my arm, heard a pop and then so much pain! This was 6 months ago and still suffering from rotator cuff damage. Takes a long time to heal

Thanks everyone who shared theirs, I found this posting searching for "stupid" and it's a really good read

Edit: I know someone who broke his back while having a seizure. He went into a coma and during that they extracted all his teeth. I spent all summer wondering if he would ever come out of the coma. He's still alive just a bit shorter than he used to be