Common Things You Have Never Done Even Though You Are Shockingly Old.

i've never ordered anything on amazon.

i have never owned a smartphone. i don't own a phone. i have never texted! more importantly: i have never seen ILX on a phone.

i have never driven thru a drive-thru. i have been in the passenger seat in a drive-thru. but never driven. i have some sort of weird drive-thru phobia.

i've never used a wok!

Where to begin?

I have never ridden a bike.

I have never driven a car.

I have never played any sports as an adult, apart from pitch-and-putt & mini-golf, if they even count.

I have never roller-skated, roller-bladed or ice-skated, even as a kid.

I've never been on a "lads' holiday", as opposed to holiday with either my parents, on my own, or with a mixed group of friends.

I have never broken any bones.

never flown on an aeroplane (but have been in a helicopter).

never had a driving license.

this is probably not so uncommon these days: never had a mortgage.

I have never been camping.

other than weddings and funerals, I've never attended a church service

never been in an airplane! wow. they are scary. you aren't missing anything.

I've never been on hormonal birth control, and I haven't been more than 50 miles away from my husband since we met.

I've also never lived in an apartment, nor worked in an office. (And the job I had at Home Depot was the only one I've ever had where I've had benefits.)

I haven't been out with friends since I was 14 or so. I don't really think I've had any close friends offline since I was 12, anyway. I also can't remember the last time I had a really indepth conversation with anyone offline outside my family. (I'm assuming acting as a sounding board for clients doesn't count.)

I haven't been at a wedding since my own.

The only bone I've ever broken was a middle finger, when I was 1. (I have no memory of the incident, but I apparently put it into a washing machine. No, I don't think that's really what happened, either, especially since I was with my brother at the time.)

Never worked in a bar or restaurant, even as a volunteer

Never worked in a bar or restaurant, even as a volunteer

I have never eaten a chocolate bar, at least not an entire one

i broke my wrist at a Bold show in the 80s in Brewster, New York. they were formerly known as Crippled Youth so it felt appropriate.

otherwise, break-free.

get out of town, josefa! are you allergic?

i always knew ilxors were a special breed! god luv 'em. us.

yes, it's an allergy or an aversion, I'm not sure what to call it

eating chocolate gives me a headache and will make me vomit

that will do it!

I have dressed in a suit in my entire life, not even for court appearances or funerals. Never bought a tie in my life, not worn one since school, but did wear a red strap-on tie for first confession.

that could have been my first confession: bless me father, I'm wearing a fake tie.

I have never:

been on a motorbike, even as pillion passenger (looks terrifying)
driven a car
worked in an office or bar/restaurant
visited Madrid or Barcelona, despite visiting most other major European cities
heard Throbbing Gristle (common in my circles at least)
seen Goodfellas / Forrest Gump / Top Gun / about a thousand other flicks everyone's seen
had an affair, is that still common?
been treated in hospital other than 2 brief visits to A&E and 1 minor scan

i have never eaten at or food from: au bon pain, del taco, domino's, baja fresh, baskin-robbins, boston market, five guys, church's, jerry's, jimmy john's, panera bread, papa gino's, papa john's, quiznos, taco bell, chili's, buffalo wild wings, outback steakhouse, longhorn steakhouse, red robin, chipotle, texas roadhouse, cheesecake factory, cracker barrel, panda express, shake shack, bob evans, california pizza kitchen, hooters, johnny rockets, red lobster, waffle house.

"heard Throbbing Gristle (common in my circles at least)"

just listen to "hot on the heels of love". best song. all you need really.

I didn't have my first big mac until my 30's. It was only because I was starving at work and someone was fetching a load of crap from that place. Was still starving after eating it because I quite naively expected it to actually be big!

I’ve never seen a Marvel movie.
I’ve never been to me.
I’ve never been south of the equator.
I’ve never snuck into a slaughterhouse to learn how to pull on a rope and murder a cow, bad as any fucker can.

Scott you need Jimmy John’s.

I have never seen Titanic.

Never been on a motorcycle
Never broken a limb
Never had surgery
Never been stung by a bee
Never played organized sports as an adult
Never seen either of the first two Godfather movies
Never read or seen any Harry Potter anything

I’ve never been to me.

same

hmmmm

don't think i've ever broken a bone
never been on a moving motorbike
tons of movies etc unseen but i don't see how that doesn't apply to everybody
never had a mortgage
never passed my driving test
i've been to me but it was half day closing

"Never seen either of the first two Godfather movies"

something to look forward to!

i still have never listened to a Devo album. they were pretty famous.

!

don't think i've ever broken a bone - I broke my ankle when I was 10 playing hide and seek and my wrist skateboarding when I was 14
never been on a moving motorbike - only once and it was so much fun
tons of movies etc unseen but i don't see how that doesn't apply to everybody - same
never had a mortgage - also same
never passed my driving test - I love to drive and passed my first try though they confiscated my permit because I had tried to alter the dob.
i've been to me but it was half day closing - I ... am confused

Never had surgery - same
Never been stung by a bee - sat on one when I was a toddler
Never played organized sports as an adult - fell victim to one of those kickball leagues around 2007. It was awful.
Never seen either of the first two Godfather movies - same
Never read or seen any Harry Potter anything - same

Never been outside North America
Never been in a physical fight

I've never been in a fight either. I can't imagine it.

Right!
Are you by chance an only child like me

lol yes wait - how did you know?

Do all siblings fight or something?

"fell victim to one of those kickball leagues around 2007."

they have hipster kickball hypnotherapy now. completely wipes the memory away.

Never been to a dinner party - can't believe these actually exist outside of plays and films.

lol where do I sign up?

It wasn't my idea - I was a reluctant participant and it was as bad as I had feared it would be. Its not like I loved kickball in school. I think I thought the drinking afterwards would make it worth it. It didn't.

Never been to North America (although I've been to every other continent).

Same as tom d as regards dinner parties, never been to one and am doubtful as to their existence.

Never been drunk or high.
Never been in hospital as a patient.
Never worked in an office or in hospitality.
Never been to the theatre.
Never moved house as an adult.

Never been in a riot.

Omar, do you live in the house you grew up in?

Scott you need Jimmy John’s.

Omar, do you live in the house you grew up in?

Never moved house as an adult - I lived in the same apartment for 24 years before moving in 2023.

Xpost I just think having siblings might serve as kind of physical fight prep course? Idk

I have never gone to see live classical music. and i like classical music! i could have walked down the street from any of my apartments in philly and bought a cheap ticket to see the philadelphia orch. muti was all the rage when i first lived there. i have also probably never listened to an entire opera. i will play one record or one cd and be done with it. though i enjoy those overtures.

Xpost I just think having siblings might serve as kind of physical fight prep course? Idk

Yeah, if you grew up with siblings you had physical fights.

I've never been to the southern hemisphere; the farthest north I've been is Sweden, Norway, and Finland and the farthest south is Barbados.

Classical music is much better live! If you can get used to the weird formality of the presentation anyway. I'll happily see Chopin or Sibelius or some other composer I wouldn't listen to at home if I'm actually in the same room as the performers, unless that room is the Barbican Hall which is a horrible venue.

Eventually I’m going to want explanations for some of these mind-boggling claims.

I’ve met more than one person who has never even tasted an alcoholic drink in their life, which I simply cannot wrap my head around.

Never gotten a tattoo; almost all of my friends have at least one, but I've never wanted one. Also never been in a fight, though I've come close to it once or twice. Until pretty recently, I'd never traveled outside the US.

* been to the USA / the Americas
* eaten at (almost every famous US restaurant)
* broken a bone (possibly my little toe, have stubbed that thing extensively, just grows back doesn't it?)
* had a mortgage, getting to the point that I wonder if this will ever happen tbh
* seen a marvel movie, though put one on for the kids once and it completely failed to draw me in
* played organised sports as an adult, cannot stand exercising with other people, which reminds me
* been inside a gym
* got a tattoo or a piercing (have a theory that there's a sharp line somewhere between 1979 and 1981 where vast majority of people born before have no tattoos and most people born after have at least one)

Curious at the "not seen the first two Godfather films" as it implies that Unperson has seen Godfather Pt III.

have never driven a stick shift

have never owned cargo pants or shorts

People in england are very weird about automatic transmission, like it's not considered proper driving or something.

Kind of specific, but I’ve never been to Boston despite having lived in New York for roughly 30 years

xps

People in the US are like that too! At least some of them. I learned to drive on a manual, and continued to drive one for many years. Frankly I think they're kind of a pain in the ass

I got into an argument with a guy in youtube comments who was insisting that it wasn't safe to drive an automatic on UK roads

Have never had a credit card.

I've never gotten a new job while still in a job.

the only people i have ever known in my life who drove stick shifts were women. which is why i laughed when i saw buffalo 66 and gallo was like "i don't drive a shifter car. my cars shift themselves." haha. paraphrasing.

I've never been on a date.

I've never been to the southern hemisphere; the farthest north I've been is Sweden, Norway, and Finland and the farthest south is Barbados.

I've never been to the southern hemisphere; the farthest north I've been is Elgin (probably, somwhere in Scotland anyway), the farthest south is Malta.

Never been further south in the world than just west of Marbella but am going to Tenerife later this week.

Furthest south I've been is Singapore, which is 85 miles north of the equator

Scott about operas, this is why I am a huge unabashed fan of orchestral suites carved out of complete operas. The cunning little vixen, pelleas et melisande and die frau ohne schatten are examples which work great this way. All the Richard Strauss operas actually.

"Have never had a credit card."

only just got my first credit card this year. You need them these days for buying food!

Worked for Lloyds TSB credit cards in 2004/2005 and HATED it, swore never to get a credit card. Now I have four.

Never had a broken bone, though three times I've been in fights where the other guy wound up with breaks.
Never gotten a tattoo. I joke at work that I'm the world's only uninked bartender.
Never voted for a Republican, which seems pretty common.

furthest south i've ever been is captiva/sanibel in florida. but i was one. or two. the only time i've ever been to florida. other than that, one fabulous stop in the dallas tx airport. other than that, tulsa oklahoma.

my north/south is Shelby MT & El Paso, I think

Edinburgh and Buenos Aires for me

xp so close to getting out of the US, in both cases (I did manage it once, to the most southern part of Canada)

North is Seattle; South is Key West. So, much of the continental US.

never gotten in an argument with anyone on YouTube comments
never been skiing on snow
no tatts

Curious at the "not seen the first two Godfather films" as it implies that Unperson has seen Godfather Pt III.

True! Saw it in a theater. (I read the book The Godfather when I was in junior high.)

I'd be curious to see the results of a grand poll done on all these statements, to see which experiences really are common or rare, especially among the "shockingly old".

maine is my north. i've only been to london ontario in canada and where i've been in maine is more north. went to ll bean in rockport once. they had a lot of canoes.

Would like to see a bell curve on number of bones broken

oops. i lied. since christine mentioned seattle that would be my north. its more north than rockport, me.

"Never gotten a tattoo."

I'm quite snobbish about tattoos, just for crude oafish people my mother's voice still tells me!

Many xps
To the person who asked. I've lived in the same street my entire life. We moved 10 doors down when I was 5 and been in this house ever since(almost 50 yrs)

i got a tattoo in the 80s in high school and i didn't show anyone! i thought it would freak people out. little did i know ever grade schooler would have them in 5 years.

No to tattoos also.

I got a tattoo when I was 18 and that was it. I had an idea for a matched set of tattoos on my shoulders but I know how long it takes for cuts and bruises to heal now that I'm an old diabetic, so there's no way I'd get another tattoo; it would just turn into a hideous scar.

I'm not allowed to have a tattoo as my wife says it would attract ghosts

I’d be curious to hear back story or elaboration on the following:

I don’t own a phone
I have never ridden a bike
Never flown on an aeroplane
I can’t remember the last time I had a really in-depth
conversation with anyone outside my family

(If anyone is willing)

i kinda want to get some pandemic-related tattoos. the logo for the band Gel. tony tony chopper. a line from ducks, newburyport. i still might.

Never been to a family reunion? I can’t think of a lot of common things I haven’t done.

I have no offline friends, and I haven't worked a job where I saw coworkers regularly for decades.

"I don’t own a phone"

i have never wanted one. that's basically it. i have never ever even contemplated buying one. i have a landline at my store and i have a landline at home. i am almost always at work or at home. so, there you go. i have no doubt if i ever had one i would never get off of it and never see a tree. i have really bad ocd. also, i am on a computer at work all day and a laptop at home on and off all night. so, i get plenty of internet. i have zero interest in apps. unless they are potato skins!
my father and i are the only people i know who have never owned cell phones. we also both really like the doobie brothers and candy.

also, i really like looking at everything around me. even looking at people looking at their phones. everywhere i go i'm checking stuff out. i do love trees.

i also have no need for any internet stuff. the only thing on my desktop is google chrome. that's it.

No tattoos
Have never dyed my hair, not even the temporary dye
Never been on a roller coaster
Never broken a bone
Never gotten a manicure or pedicure

things i have in common w some of us:
never tattood nor pierced
never dyed hair
never broken a bone

things i havent seen yet:
i have never been intoxicated before, and never done any illicit drugs

Scott, that’s cool, I was worried that you didn’t even have a landline. Relieved.

Scott, the Jimmy John’s app is really nice.

everyone should dye their hair though its fun do it! i might dye my hair for the fun of it. i haven't since i was, like 20-ish.

Increasingly fascinated by the idea of breaking a bone as a normal thing everyone does. I’ve broken bones, but I was relatively reckless as a youth plus it was the 1970s

"Scott, the Jimmy John’s app is really nice."

haha, i'll bet.

i've never even looked at other people's phones! i don't even know what things look like on there. i have never once used maria's or my kids' phones. i have dialed phone numbers before on a cell phone when maria needed me to. i have talked on a cell phone a few times. maria did get me an emergency flip phone and its here...somewhere...dead as a doornail.

Oh wait. I’ve never had a baby.

xp I've never met anyone else who hasn't broken a bone.

I've never smoked a cigarette

Furthest North and South I've been are Copenhagen/Lund (Sweden) and Mexico City/Virgin Islands, and the only continents I've been in are North America, Europe and Africa. I didn't realize until looking at a map that most of Mexico is further South than Morocco

Otherwise I don't think there any of these things that I haven't done or experienced, except get a tattoo/piercing or get a mani/pedi

My most 'common thing I've never done' is that I've never been in a relationship, even one that lasted more than a day.

I've never smoked a cigarette

same

I think I've taken one puff of one cigarette; does that count?

I too am a one-lifetime-puffer, I'll bet there's a lot of us out there

What if I were to come to you with a pack of cigarettes saying, please try one of these, you only live once, do it for me, aren’t you curious?

What if I offered you a $10 bribe to do it?

I wouldn't be curious because both my parents smoked and I know exactly what it smells like. Also I have a collapsed lung.

Another one-puffer here, that was more than enough. Smoker friend who offered it to me (we were 12!) gave me a look of disgust as I was hawking up for about 5 mins afterwards. Now he probably has emphysema.

Eventually I’m going to want explanations for some of these mind-boggling claims.

Likewise. This thread is bonkers!

Also a one-puffer but I'd think the most common numbers of puffs would be like 0, 1, or 1,479,357

Never been to a football match. Watching my brother play in the under 12s doesn't count

i have never shot a gun. a real gun. bb guns don't count.

I'm a bit intrigued by people who have never left their home country. I'd be burning with curiosity as to what it's like elsewhere! I'm guessing this is mostly a US phenomenon, is there anyone here not from the US who has never been to a foreign country?

Never had a tattoo or piercing, no.
Never been in a threesome or sexual situation involving more than one person

I don't think the latter is as common as generally believed

True

I'm struggling to think of things I haven't done. Not been South of the equator. Thought I had when I visited Sri Lanka, but alas

There's loads of stuff like the breaking bones thing where I think "Yeah I've not really done that" byt then I remember I broke my leg when I was really little, although I don't remember it.

I don't think I've been to A&E before, not for myself at least

*touches wood*

"I'm guessing this is mostly a US phenomenon"

the thing with here is you could literally travel for years and and never see half of the u.s. and i think this makes people feel like its just an endless place to explore on its own. other places seem so far away. and then if you add canada...

and i do think americans are intimidated by other languages/peoples. we are so used to driving thousands of miles and getting out of the car and its just people who sound like us eating hamburgers all day.

but i've never known anyone who just drove through mexico into guatemala/honduras/el salvador and i feel like that would be the adventure of a lifetime! if you were bold.

also not everyone can afford to travel. its expensive. i can't afford it! but i also hate flying.

if i lived in europe though! that would be cool. you could just take trains to other countries. that's so cool. maria went to lots of places when she lived in holland. she lived there...six years or so.

I've been trying to work out if I've ever eaten a stuffed crust pizza. My partner and my sister were talking about it the other day and saying stuffed crust is a guilty pleasure. So I thought I'd give it a go and got one from Tesco. Reader: It was stuffed WITH TOMATO SAUCE.

You could keep going until you hit the southern tip of Chile, admittedly this would be quite a long haul. Then of course you'd have to come back again, although you could cut up through the Brazilian rainforest for a different and possibly fatal experience.

xxp

I have never eaten a grilled cheese sandwich.

I think my only contribution to this might be movies; there’s a ton of classics including all 3 Godfathers I haven’t seen.

Otherwise I’m a car driving, bike riding, airplane flying, other country visiting, smart phone using, mortgage holding, credit card owning, chain restaurant eating, bone breaking ultra normie.

Yeah I get the vastness of the US and the expense of travel. But there must also be some kind of cultural resistance. After all, vastness and expense of travel apply even more strongly to Australia, but backpacking around the world is like a rite of passage for young Australians.

There is unquestionably a cultural resistance. Maybe not nec for the people itt of course! but generally absolutely

i have never gone on a cruise and i have never wanted to but this world travel talk makes this seem pretty cool! 41 days. yikes. but look at all the countries you get to see.

https://www.globaljourneys.com/trip/viking-cruises-vknya

"But there must also be some kind of cultural resistance."

also people are afraid of going overseas because their grandfather still owes 40 drachmas for that mule!

like, literally, 75% of this country is hiding from the law out there in the world somewhere. shhhhh....

the thing with here is you could literally travel for years and and never see half of the u.s.

One day after moving from New Jersey to Montana I looked up the square miles of each state and you could fit 20 New Jerseys into Montana. And/but New Jersey has nine times as many people as Montana (almost 10 million vs just over 1 million). There's one "city" (28,000 people — ha!) half an hour from me, but the next nearest city is three hours down the highway.

When I lived in NJ I traveled to Canada (twice), Mexico (three times), the UK (twice), Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Because I lived 10 minutes from Newark Airport, and you can fly from there to anywhere. Now that I'm here I may never leave the US again because no matter where you want to go, you have to fly to Salt Lake City or Denver or Seattle first. Of course, I'm only 60 miles from the Canadian border, so I guess I can drive up there when Trump's militiamen seize power in November.

When I was teaching English in Paris, I had a student (in his 20s or 30s) who told me he'd never been outside France, which I found astonishing given you could literally hop on a train at the Gare du Nord and be in Belgium in an hour and 20 minutes - shorter than some people's commutes!

"backpacking around the world is like a rite of passage for young Australians."

i believe this is called "Roeging aroun' the Pom". okay, i might have made that up. and i still need Walkabout on blu-ray.

backpacking thru europe was totally a thing here for decades for rich young white people. they would even take a "gap year" and work at the Gap for a year to pay for it.

Montana is a world. you probably don't feel the need to leave. when Maria and her brother and sister went east to college they got blank stares. nobody at their high school had EVER applied to a college that far away. its insanely beautiful. maria's house was in the bitterroot valley surrounded by these huge mountains. its another world. and most people in the u.s. never go there!

i like it there a lot! but i wouldn't want to live there.

Never once puffed on a cigarette - my parents both smoked and I saw dad offer my younger sister a puff once (she was begging to try). She coughed so much I thought she was going to die.

No tattoos yet - needle phobic

Lots of movies never seen - Titanic, Dances with Wolves, many many others

I've been trying to think of things I want to do but haven't yet, because at 64 I hear the click ticking. I tried painting a month ago for the first time - it was fun so I'll be doing more of that. Maybe yoga?

Never been on a cruise but also never want to.

this is her hometown.

https://puritymontana.com/wp-content/uploads/Hamilton-MT-by-Flickr.jpg

Never seen Titanic either, and I was in high school when it came out so I'm not sure how I escaped it.

Coke

the boat sinks at the end.

I tried smoking 25 years ago or so. Bought a pack of Lucky Strikes, took a few puffs off of one every day for a couple of weeks. It did nothing for me. I didn't hack up a lung or anything like that, but I also didn't feel any pleasure or become addicted. I don't think I have the get-addicted-to-drugs-and/or-alcohol gene. I have the buy-records-I'll-never-listen-to-and-books-I'll-never-read gene. (Hi, Thomas Piketty! I'll get around to your capitalism book one day! As soon as I finish the collected works of Albert Murray!)

Scott, that photo is very much like where I live — the Flathead Valley — except with even fewer houses and the biggest lake you've ever seen in your life. I swear it's so beautiful here it makes my head spin. The clouds are the size of cruise ships. I look around sometimes and I just grin. Teeth showing and all.

i'll bet! how does your partner like it?

speaking of books. i have never listened to a book or read an e-book. i hear those are popular.

I’ve never touched a gun to my recollection, def never shot one.

Remembering my first smokes in high school in an alley down the street from where I lived. So tasty. Loved it. Not enough to start smoking but as a treat I guess. Thinking of ways to explain the smoke on my breath to my parents …”these kids blew smoke in my face”

i'll bet! how does your partner like it?

She loves it. She's from a mountainous part of the world anyway, so she feels right at home. And our neighbors in New Jersey were horrendous assholes who made noise all the time. Our new neighbors have some assholish tendencies, but they're much quieter, and nobody lives upstairs or downstairs from us; it's a one-story building. So it's easy to never think about them.

Never been to South America, Africa, Australia or Asia (except for nipping across the Bosporus for lunch when I was in Istanbul). Hope to remedy all that eventually.

Never did lsd despite opportunities, never seemed like the right time. Mushrooms are my only hallucinogenic experience. Nor MDMA — big regret was I had a chance to do E at the Hacienda but it would have taken all the money I had and I was worried about getting home lol.

I did shrooms once in college, walked a golf course and then chilled in my dorm room with a friend and listened to aphex twin, which sounded really good, almost as good as jimi’s “1984” on weed did a year earlier

Shrooms are super fun ime.

You could keep going until you hit the southern tip of Chile

the darién gap will fuck you

was it here or elsewhere that i encountered someone who had never had a hamburger (or cheeseburger, etc.)?

Not being to a bunch of continents is not “common thing” tho

I’ve never eaten a Big Mac or a whopper nor have I tasted one.

I guess that’s true. I know a lot of people who have traveled a lot, so it seems common to me. But I know only like half of Americans have passports.

(xp)

Do even the most popular movies have such penetration that "virtually everyone" has seen them? I would suspect that even an Avatar or Titanic have viewership ceilings of at most two-thirds of the population.

31 years ago there was a special involving two big macs for two dollars. so i ate four of them for dinner and watched the habs tear through the NHL playoffs

they probably won in OT on a john leclair goal, but i cannot pinpoint a date because that was like all their games

i ate four of them for dinner

tbf i used to play a lot of basketball

I haven't seen any Avatar movies -- pretty sure I've already seen the best Cameron will ever come up with. Also haven't been on a cruise.

I know a woman in her 50s who confessed to me that she’s never eaten a shrimp. It wasn’t a kosher thing, it wasn’t because of an allergy - she’s simply never had the desire or inclination to try a shrimp. This kind of thing is mysterious to me.

Have also never eaten or tasted an egg salad sandwich or tuna salad sandwich.

Never seen any Star Wars movies, any superhero movies, Avatar, Titanic, Top Gun and probably a million other big commercial movies. I guess they're just not my thing.

No cell phone, never skied, never broke an arm or a leg (possible connection between the second and third).

oh i've seen none of the movies of the past 15 years. i only know little bits about them from the crosses in the crosswords. olaf! elsa!

I’m shocked at the people without cell phones tbh. That’s the sort of modern convenience that I dreamed of my whole life — a phone I could put in my purse and reach anyone I needed to reach without a cord or a plug or anything???!!

Movies less surprising to me bc it’s easy to not-watch movies

No cell phone also seems kind of risky due to the disappearance of public pay phones

yeah but everyone has a phone...

not that i've ever borrowed anyone's phone on the street. but if i REALLY needed a phone i could probably find one.

also nobody cares about long distance anymore. you could go into any store and borrow a phone.

rip morbs

The real problem is no one knows anyone’s number anymore. They’re just a “contact” ffs

Montana is a world. you probably don't feel the need to leave.

we hardly went anywhere when I was growing up there, it was kinda impossible to imagine. the main reason to leave town was to go to the one with the better music stores (Missoula).

i dug rockin' rudy's in missoula. this is over 20 years ago...

our honeymoon was flying to maria's mom's house in oregon outside eugene and driving her mom's old chevy truck from oregon to philly. that's when i visited montana. it was summer and really hot. and no AC in the truck. and maria was pregnant. it was a good test for our relationship. to say the least.

whoa, might've seen you there. Rudy's was the place, along with Ear Candy. was probably there once a summer for all of the '00s.

would suspect that even an Avatar or Titanic have viewership ceilings of at most two-thirds of the population.

if 2/3 of the population of the planet is the standard, I think we can delete every post itt

sic have you seen titanic

until like 23 months ago I had seen no post-T2 Camerons! but now I have seen the 3D-converted Titanic

I've never been to a doctor as an adult.

Also never seen Titanic.

When I was teaching English in Paris, I had a student (in his 20s or 30s) who told me he'd never been outside France, which I found astonishing given you could literally hop on a train at the Gare du Nord and be in Belgium in an hour and 20 minutes - shorter than some people's commutes!

I've met lots of people in England who've never been to Scotland - or Wales, or Ireland.

i’ve never had a cavity or filling

I've never learned to swim. I've never learned to drive.

It's not too late, I got my driver's licence at the age of 46

Well I would have to want to learn to drive. I got a whole lot of lessons once - for free, I certainly wouldn't have paid for them - and sat my test. I always say I failed due to disinterest.

I started to qualify for free prescriptions.

Not had any

I've never been in a betting shop/bookmakers/turf accountants. There are probably a dozen within a ten minute walk of my house; UK high streets are full of them.

I've never read a 20th (or earlier) century classic/canon adult novel start to end by choice. I was an avid reader into my teens but no-one steered me onto the 'important' stuff and as an adult I'd pick up a few fictional books from time to time but just never get very far. I blame internets.

(getting that ADHD diagnosis any decade now..)

Never listened to an audio book
Never skiied
Never got a tattoo

Furthest south is Queenstown NZ, furthest North is Iceland. On the Mercator, furthest east is Tokyo, west is Vancouver. I've been pretty jammy with travel and have been to Europe, North & South America, Asia, Africa, Oceania & the South Pacific.

I was already an audiobook listener (Henry's Cat, Will o' The Wisp, Droidworld, terrifying tell-a-tale version of Hound of The Baskervilles) at the age of 4 or 5

My furthest North is Tromso which I doubt I will ever surpass.

Never listened to an audio book
Never skiied
Never got a tattoo

Ditto audio book. As for the other two, I don't think they are that common?

I've never listened to a podcast. Certainly not the all the way through.

I've never skiied, did spend a week working in a ski resort but was always too lazy/hungover to give it a go.

I have never seen an entire episode of: Friends, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Big Bang Theory, Full House, Modern Family, Baywatch, Sex and the City. In fact most 90s culture left me behind; I was doing something else.

I have never smoked an entire cigarette, though I love how they smell before they are burnt. A couple times I bought a pack of unfiltered Camels because I loved the design and smell. Ended up giving them away unused.

No broken bones, no team sports or organized sports at all ever. No gun use at all ever.

Never fired a gun. Never said "LOL" or "OTM" (except in the way I just did).

Re: international travel. I have been to England, France, Mexico, Francophone Canada, the Bahamas. So, only countries where I had a comfort level with the language.

I am not an uncurious American cretin, nor am I scared of new experiences. But I am squeamish about going somewhere where I would have to depend on local people's command of English.

I know it's common, but there is a part of me that feels it would be... disrespectful? Tacky? Not that I am calling you intrepid globetrotters that. Just something I would feel awkward about.

I have never watched an entire episode of Coronation Street, Only Fools and Horses or 'Allo 'Allo (speaking of languages)

Never have I ever…

Driven a car
Eaten haggis
Taken cocaine
Heard Pearl Jam
Broken any bones
Gone to Starbucks
Fired or held any guns
Gotten a piercing or tattoo

Traveled south of the Equator (Sri Lanka is 6 deg N)

I've never watched more than a handful of cable shows.

I've never been to therapy or taken therapeutic drugs.

I've never gotten a tattoo.

I hang out at Starbucks all the time b/c it's the only cafe two blocks from me but I've never had a frappuccino or other blended beverages (I'll order tea or black coffee).

my local Starbucks is situated right next to a 90 odd percent Muslim area, Saviletown. Just across the road from where every weekend lads are doing bucket collections for Palestine aid. It is empty most days, and there is only so many times they clean off the Free Palestine graffiti off the prominent side wall.

I've never broken a bone despite being KOed by a car + asphalt combo that put me in the hospital. I'm a mystery. At this point I think they're made of a little something extra.

“Xpost I just think having siblings might serve as kind of physical fight prep course? Idk”

Got in a big fight with my brother about ten years ago. I’m 45 now and he’s seven years older

"I know it's common, but there is a part of me that feels it would be... disrespectful? Tacky? Not that I am calling you intrepid globetrotters that. Just something I would feel awkward about."

i do kinda feel that way about visiting poor/third world countries. that it would be disrespectful. to be some big fat american tromping around taking pictures of the local color. i've always had a problem with people visiting nepal or africa and then posting pictures of sad children or old men in their natural habitat or putting up pictures in their house of the sad monks they saw that time in tibet. like national geographic or a safari ride in a nature preserve. i feel like the only way i would go to any of these places is if i was INVITED to go there by someone who lived there. someone who could show me around. which almost certainly ensures that i will never go to any of these places. maybe i wouldn't feel that way if i just went to a big city in africa or india or south america. stayed in a rich people hotel. i don't know. hyperbolically, i also feel that if you go to a poor country and you are an american that it is okay to kill you. i'm not saying someone SHOULD kill you, just saying i'm okay with the idea. its only fair. chances are, the government here fucked that country over in some way shape or form.

I’ve been thinking about the common things I haven’t done that I’d like to do but will likely never do for a variety of reasons, e.g.,

- tattoos
- drugs
- a variety of sexual activities
- ride a motorcycle

Now I feel old.

btw surprised more people didn’t mention sex or drug related activities, we’re either very adventurous or very boring

I've never been coked out and had sex with a dog.

lol I will say that the unending celebrity/politico sex-and-drug party scandal stories make me feel pretty square! Like, the nerdy NYC COVID czar is out there rolling on molly at underground sex parties and my wife and I are just watching Netflix and Hulu series on the couch.

The big ones/ones already listed here:

- never got married
- never had a kid
- never got tattoos (I want one now but I'm quite anaemic so not sure if I'd be able to)
- no driving license
- no credit card
- never been south of the equator
- don't think I've broken a bone? Does having my front teeth ripped out count?
- never worked at a bar or restaurant

Some other stuff:

- never eaten at Subway or KFC or Nandos (no virtue signalling here, I've been to most other common fast food places in the UK)
- never eaten sushi! I should try that. Probably a bunch of other obvious foods I've not tried too, I'm not that adventurous.
- never called an uber (I have had uber rides with other people but no account myself and prefer not to use them if possible)
- never properly learnt a second language (lots of bits of languages, got an A in German GCSE, but no fluency in anything but English)
- ummm, never been mentally stable?

This was a poll thread recently but I've never had food or a meal delivered. I mean, I've done at other people's houses when they've said "Let's get a takeaway" but I've never done it at home.

i've never done it with a dude. i never met the right dude! the majority of dudes just don't do it for me sexually. i have lived in this town for 15 years and there has been a total of ONE dude who made me think DAMN i'd uh butter his uh toast or something. hotsy totsy. then again there have been like two women who have made me feel that way as well. i guess i'm just picky. also there are no good looking people here.

- never lived in halls at university (I know not everyone goes to university, but I feel like it's a common enough experience to count as slightly odd that I didn't, maybe?)
- further to having not been married, I've never been in a wedding party (e.g. bridesmaid/groomsman/usher)

I am not an uncurious American cretin, nor am I scared of new experiences. But I am squeamish about going somewhere where I would have to depend on local people's command of English.

I know it's common, but there is a part of me that feels it would be... disrespectful? Tacky? Not that I am calling you intrepid globetrotters that. Just something I would feel awkward about.

If it helps any, non native speakers use english all the time to communicate between ourselves - like if I go to Korea or somewhere most of my interactions will be in English, not Portuguese or Korean, and same for most Korean tourists visiting Portugal.

The geopolitical reasons for this are fucked up ofc but y'know, pragmatically it works.

Thank God I've never been a best man at a wedding. My brother got his best friend to do it. I live in fear of my best friend ever getting married.

i have never done ketamine. i would totally snort ketamine. or peyote. or meth. i LOVE the speed medicines. ritalin, etc. which is why i haven't tried that hard to actually get a prescription for them despite the fact that i know that they help me a bunch in an ocd/adhd way. cocaine is my fave drug. i love it to death. it makes me feel so great. which is why i completely stay away from it. i did snort some heroin once for a couple of weeks but only because i was trying to quit smoking. wasn't my kind of thing.

i love my new adhd medicine that i started taking and it is my final drug. don't want anything else. done with them all.

Never done a flip into a pool. Scared me too much

Looking back over the thread and spotting the people who never tried cigarettes makes me think:

- never tried to quit smoking. Not once in the 20+ years I've been a smoker.

quitters never win!

Lol I’ve quit and restarted at least once a year for the last twenty

In an inverse I guess I've smoked like one cigarette a year for most of my adult life. Circumstances are generally the same, out drinking and someone's smoking and I bum one. The fun thing about not smoking cigarettes is that when you do, that first one really hits. Nicotine is a nice drug. But after a couple puffs I'm usually sick of the taste.

I've never had a filling or a tooth removed

Never been a best man or had to give any kind of wedding or funeral type formal speech

Apart from some fooling around when I was very young, I've never got it on with another fella. Not ruling it out, like, but assuming it won't happen.

I've been a best man twice and spoken at two funerals.

I have never driven a car.

that's the big 1^^^

no credit card

Never had surgery

but I'll be having at least 1 routine one in the next months

and a bunch of others already mentioned that seem like nbd?

never been in an airplane! wow. they are scary. you aren't missing anything.

something I have done even though I was shockingly young: survive a plane crash

I have a thought and feel free to tell me to gtfo:
Getting dental work/surgery/mental health support or medication/remedy for a broken bone is not something people tend to do bc they make a choice one day to do it. It’s somehow required of them (via doctor’s orders or the presence of pain or infection etc). Not having to do these things is a privilege rather than a choice? Imo?

Those of you without mobile phones: do you pay for landlines or do friends and relatives use smoke signals or flares?

I agree - not having broken bones is definitely a privilege! But the original question didn't specify that you had to have chosen not to do a thing, it was just about experiences that are common that you've never had. So we've got answers that run from "never wanted to do this" through "never had the opportunity to do this" to "had a lucky escape here" etc.

xp

As a vegetarian growing up and a pescatarian most of my adult life, there are a ton of common meat-based dishes I've never had. I have had hamburgers, cheeseburgers, Big Macs, etc because my peak meat-eating years were in college and fast food was cheap and easy. I have also had like one single bite of steak, one single piece of bacon. But never had most chicken dishes, no duck, no ham, no pork, definitely no lamb. I DID have a barbacoa taco in a small village in Mexico that was likely goat. And I accidentally ate blood sausage in Spain due to poor translation skills lol.

True. I guess i needed to see it acknowledged. Thanks emil.y <3

once get permanent metal attached to any of your broken bones it's life altering, especially to legs or ankles. I've got a plate on my right ankle that gives me pain sometimes and I also get pain in my left ankle from compensating for how dodgy my right ankle is!

"Those of you without mobile phones: do you pay for landlines or do friends and relatives use smoke signals or flares?"

i answered that and if you weren't on a phone you would have seen my post.

I've never signed a cheque.

at some point we may need to circle back to this...

"something I have done even though I was shockingly young: survive a plane crash"

- walked out during a movie, play, show or gig
- done any kind of trick on a bike or skateboard
- lit a firework
- got a pet (tho gf already had a cat when we moved in together nearly ten years ago)
- slept on a train or a plane (possibly nor a boat, maybe some v light dozing)
- driven a car
- broken a bone
- did coke nor anything 'harder'

i answered that and if you weren't on a phone you would have seen my post.

― scott seward, Sunday, September 22, 2024

sorry, missed it!

(I'm actually on my laptop)

Getting dental work/surgery/mental health support or medication/remedy for a broken bone is not something people tend to do bc they make a choice one day to do it. It’s somehow required of them (via doctor’s orders or the presence of pain or infection etc). Not having to do these things is a privilege rather than a choice? Imo?

but I def think there are lifestyle choices one can make that are more or less likely to result in broken bones, for example.

done any kind of trick on a bike or skateboard

at some point we may need to circle back to this...

"something I have done even though I was shockingly young: survive a plane crash"

like, never having broken a bone might (though not necessarily) be indicative of a more cautious, less adventurous history
xp

Anything could happen (and it could be right now) but the choice is yours to make it worthwhile.

also I haven't seen a dentist since I was... 9 years old? I just practice oral hygiene as best I know how.
I certainly needed orthodonture and probably a Herbst appliance! which due to aversion/fear/neglect I haven't done...
and continue to kick the can knowing the longer I do so, the more aggressive the eventual treatment is likely to be! I haven't had an acute unbearable toothache that forced me to drop everything and go to a dentist right away, but there are multiple issues I'm aware of lol.

So we've got answers that run from "never wanted to do this" through "never had the opportunity to do this" to "had a lucky escape here" etc.

I guess I'm just saying I think there's a lot of gray area

I miss Hamish :(

posted on Twitter, used dating apps, met anyone IRL that I've engaged with online.

I have done weed, shrooms, and acid; cocaine only once. Nothing else in the harder categories.

I have never played a video game in the way that people mean in 2024 when they say they play video games.

Like, I was alive and tweenaged in the arcade era, and must have played Pong-Man or whatever on someone else's Atari. And I have done the stupid phone time-wasters like Angry Candy or whatever.

But gaming qua gaming, as the gamers do? An archipelago of complete indifference to me.

My dating career predates apps, but when I met my now-wife I was in charge of the personal ads section of a once-respected metropolitan newspaper.

all of your mothers

I’ve never made a quasi-random-ingredients “pantry pasta” dish.

Never drank coca-cola or any soda pop whatsoever. Never eaten lobster, clams, cherries, sauerkraut (really don’t care the for the taste). Never dived headfirst into water. Never smoked a cigarette or gotten a tattoo/piercing. Never drunk a shot of Jack, done a line of coke, or anything stronger on the ups/downs spectrum than a quadruple espresso or Californian weed. Never had a mortgage. Never listened to an audiobook. Never seen a UFO.

I have never listened to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Nevermind, Thriller, Back In Black, or any Oasis album all the way through - start to finish.

I’ve never owned a Xbox, PS-anything, or any dedicated home video game. I’ve never owned a television - someone did give me one last century but I gave it away pretty soon after.

4 continents, 31 countries, all 50 states. I’ve driven in car in most of them
Further points:
North: Tok, Alaska - 63.3359° N
South: Cape Otway, Australia - 38.8345° S
East: Byron Bay, Australia - 153.6105° E
West: Honolulu, Hawaii - 157.8581° W

Many xps
Feel the same as tom d re being a best man. When my best friend asked me I declined and the friendship didn't really recover.

Elvis T, are you a Trappist?

idk I've been a groomsmen in two weddings, it was great fun. I guess a best man has more pressure?

I've never done a doughnut in a car in a snowy parking lot, which coming from the rural Midwest and having learned to drive at age 15 is actually shocking. I was too responsible and cautious (and afraid of getting caught by my car-obsessed dad).

I've never dessert for breakfast (i.e. pancakes, French toast, crepes, etc.). I too haven't played a video game since the Atari days. I've never tried heroin or a vodka martinin.

never seen that one TV show you talk about so much

Everyone should watch Murder, She Wrote once.

I was too responsible and cautious (and afraid of getting caught by my car-obsessed dad).

https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2022/12/896/500/ferrari-wreck.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

Elvis T, are you a Trappist?

I've never listed to a commentary track or podcast.
I've never been a bridesmaid.
I've never gotten a tattoo (although I've thought for years about getting one, and specifically bought a certain refrigerator magnet to have the image at hand).

Never had sex with a woman, or even made out with a woman.
Never spent a night in a tent.
Never had a pet.
Never skated/skateboarded/rollerbladed etc.

I can’t think of anything else that hasn’t been repeatedly covered above.

Never listened to a podcast, or an audiobook.

i've never played a video games online with other people. it used to drive me crazy when my kids would be playing a game and you would see the ghosts of other players playing at the same time! how do people do it? and the multi-player thing with a million people no way jose.

i have never listened to an Insane Clown Posse album or single despite the fact that i am a hardcore juggalo. Whoop Whoop!

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/nFAAAOSwZxZec41z/s-l1200.jpg

I've got a good one, I think.

I've never consumed a whole cup of coffee. And the first time I had more than a sip was just a couple years ago, under very unique circumstances.

The asterisk on this is that I loved coffee ice cream as a child.

all of your mothers

― he/him hoo-hah (map), Sunday, September 22, 2024 8:51 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

hall of fame entry here

no

I've never consumed a whole cup of coffee.

same

love the smell of coffee beans and (especially) curing tobacco, but have not/will not consume the end products

don't really know how 'common' this is -- apparently the kids can't stop doing it these days, and i am kinda old -- but i have never recorded, sent, or received nudes, demure or otherwise

Had a health check-up.

If we're going there, I scored 53 on the https://ricepuritytest.com

North Carolina going wild. Most of Robinson's staff quit and now some criminal vote-fixer is his campaign manager.

Jack Burkman says he’s Mark Robinson’s new campaign manager. I’m seeking confirmation.

A felon due to his past political work, Burkman plead guilty to a multistate fraud scheme using robocalls to spread “misinformation about mail-in voting leading up to the 2020 election” #ncpol https://t.co/QcWcZTYCwh

— Will Doran (@will_doran) September 23, 2024

lol wrong thread sorry. But it's true I've never done any of those things.

I don't think I've ever played a video game. I've played computer games, but not the kind with a controller.

"Had a health check-up."

bbbbbbbut they have to like check your butt and stuff in case you have a thing! damn. even i go to a doctor sometimes and i hate to do it.

I like this thread. I have some in common with others: never smoked a whole cigarette, never listened to a podcast, never driven a real motorbike (except a small one in a field), no tattoo and never considered one, no skateboarding, never fired a gun.

I'll try to think of others:
- Never "scrolled" (I had FB for 3 years on the computer, never used any other social media, dislike the concept of reels)
- Never seen a psychologist (I don't take that as a badge of honor)
- Never had a cavity (actually, except a minor one once)
- I have never slept under the stars / without a tent (but now the idea has been planted in me)
- I have never tried any of the water activities that everyone thinks are fun: surfing, kite-surfing, snorkeling, scuba diving, sailing
- Haven't jumped from a greater height than 7 meters, and for the longest time that number was 5 and I still remember the terror of jumping 5
- Never been in a helicopter

Since moving to Scotland, I've had about five jury service citations but have never been picked out of the hat, so have still never served on a jury.

would suspect that even an Avatar or Titanic have viewership ceilings of at most two-thirds of the population.

if 2/3 of the population of the planet is the standard, I think we can delete every post itt

That's sort of my point, surely it's more common not to have done most of than to have done them?

most of these things

Yes, unless it's something like "I've never heard a Michael Jackson song", the cultural ones don't really work.

80% is considered saturation level in media studies.

the cultural ones don't really work

and, for example, many more people haven't ridden a helicopter or crossed the Equator than have.

I admit I'm the pedant who likes to define terms before we start the exciting process of listing lines of longitude and latitude.

what an awful thread now how did that happen

I think it's fair to define common as "common in your realm of experience." If you grew up in a farming area, something like milking a cow or collecting eggs could count as common even if statistically only a small percentage of people have done them. (done both fwiw, though only eggs as a regular household thing)

speaking of citations, i've never gotten a ticket or been pulled over by a cop. the closest i came was once i was driving to work and i parked in the parking lot at work - the hospital on marthas vineyard when i worked there - and when i got out of the car there was a cop behind me! it scared me. he said he had followed me and that i should get my tail light fixed.
but i'm glad a cop has never made me pull over in traffic because i think i would freak out and put my windows up and call 911 out of fear. cops scare me.

I don't take common to mean "most of the world population has done this". An overwhelming majority of people have never left their country of origin, it doesn't mean traveling isn't common.

never been hang-gliding

i've never done any height-related thing. rock-climbing. bungeeeee-jumping. climbing mountains. not a fan. though i'm sure its the most awesome thing if you are into it and i do like to torture myself by watching rock-climbing movies. haven't had the nerve to watch that doc about russian people who climb buildings yet on netflix but i probably will watch eventually.

Never been to London never been to France
Never wore a sari never learned to dance
Never walked down to 42nd street fairs
Never smoked any filtered air

(kazoo solo)

honestly though, i've never ridden a bike... i'm dyspraxic and i don't have good enough balance to ride one
i don't have any tattoos either. never wanted one. i used to say that i didn't want any "body modifications", but in light of subsequent experience i don't think that's true.

i haven't smoked a cigarette but i did try chewing tobacco once. i did it wrong and wound up puking, though. probably the best possible outcome, if you ask me! my gums are bad enough as is.

never had my wisdom teeth out.

I think my only contribution to this might be movies; there’s a ton of classics including all 3 Godfathers I haven’t seen.

― Glam conspiracist (Dan Peterson)

the thing i run into is that people think i've seen all kinds of movies when really i haven't. i haven't seen any of "the godfather" films, but i have seen "the conversation", so people kind of assume that i've seen all the Great Films. no, i haven't, i just skipped straight to "the conversation", i felt like it'd just take a really long time to watch "the godfather" films. i'm not actually sure if i've seen the entirety of "apocalypse now". really fucking long movie. unless i'm watching something in a theater, i get bored easily and turn off films. the other thing with films like "the godfather" is that i _feel_ like i've seen it even though i haven't. all the cultural references have come to me through osmosis. i know what it means to take the cannoli or to wake up with a horse's head in your bed, and i guess most people who get those references _have_ seen the godfather, so it makes sense why people would think i have.

Yeah I get the vastness of the US and the expense of travel. But there must also be some kind of cultural resistance. After all, vastness and expense of travel apply even more strongly to Australia, but backpacking around the world is like a rite of passage for young Australians.

― Zelda Zonk

i'm autistic. i hate having my routine disrupted. i hate going to strange places and being expected to have "fun". that's not a judgement on anybody else! if someone says to me, "hey, let's go to sydney and see that opera house", i mean... that doesn't interest me. i'm sure it's a perfectly fine opera house. i've been to washington DC and i saw the white house and the capitol. i climbed to the crown of the statue of liberty when they still let you do that. the main thing i remember is that climbing all those stairs was scary, and that there was a lot of graffiti. there's this kind of "bucket list" mentality that some people i know have, and i have, in fact, done most of the things on my "bucket list". except dying. haven't done that yet. i'll get around to it.

that said i do have cultural resistance to traveling. for instance, most of my life i didn't have a passport. it's the last piece of paperwork i need to get updated. obnoxious, bureaucratic. i went to canada, once, when you didn't need a passport to go there, and i went to mexico, once, when i think technically you needed a passport but they let me visit without one because i'm white.

i don't feel _safe_ when i'm not at home. that's not a fact-based belief. all the things trans people say about travelling, they don't apply to me. i still haven't been on a plane since transition. it's just on a higher level of maslow's hierarchy than i'm at right now. i wanted to go to my brother's wedding last year, but i was in intensive outpatient mental health treatment, and i wasn't sure my then-girlfriend could get on the plane because she's 500 pounds, and she doesn't pass, and my mom would be there, and...

i mean, my priorities are making sure i have a job, making sure i have insurance, making sure i have housing and casual in-person social interactions. there are lots of people (not buildings) i'd love to travel to meet, and it's not super viable for me right now.

-

I've never been coked out and had sex with a dog.

― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

how are we defining "dogs" for purposes of this thread. do puppygirls count?

I admit I'm the pedant who likes to define terms before we start the exciting process of listing lines of longitude and latitude.

― Halfway there but for you

shhhh, you're interrupting my train of thought

oh also never having a phone means i have never looked up the price of every goddamn record in a goddamn used record store. #amateurs

sorry monday is the only day that i'm out front at the store. maria deals with the boneheads now.

there's this kind of "bucket list" mentality that some people i know have

As a pessimist I aspire to keep things out of my bucket, like illness, accidents, conflicts etc. If anything nice happens, that's just a bonus.

i like a low stakes bucket list. "I want to make paella for dinner next month."

Yeah I get the vastness of the US and the expense of travel. But there must also be some kind of cultural resistance. After all, vastness and expense of travel apply even more strongly to Australia, but backpacking around the world is like a rite of passage for young Australians.

Well, we also get barely any vacation time, and that's if we get paid time off at all, which a lot of people in non-salaried jobs don't even have to begin with. The backpacking thing, Idk, I wonder if Americans are just hyper aware that they would be alone and away from their support network if anything happened? People do pick up and move across the entire US on a regular basis, sometimes multiple times during their lives. But going to other countries feels way more tenuous.

so how do young australians do it? do they fly to japan and then just start walking? they all must be so rich.

or i guess they could canoe out to borneo and then swim to cambodia and then start walking.

do people in australia fly to borneo and new guinea and indonesia to eat? it must be so cool to be that close to those places.

you could walk from kuala lumpur to portugal. i'm going to try that sometime. i'll put it on my bucket list after the paella i'm gonna cook for dinner next month.

I dunno! I guess you'd have to ask a young Australian.

) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah I get the vastness of the US and the expense of travel. But there must also be some kind of cultural resistance. After all, vastness and expense of travel apply even more strongly to Australia, but backpacking around the world is like a rite of passage for young Australians.

Well, we also get barely any vacation time, and that's if we get paid time off at all, which a lot of people in non-salaried jobs don't even have to begin with. The backpacking thing, Idk, I wonder if Americans are just hyper aware that they would be alone and away from their support network if anything happened? People do pick up and move across the entire US on a regular basis, sometimes multiple times during their lives. But going to other countries feels way more tenuous.

― Ima Gardener (in orbit), Monday, September 23, 2024 11:59 AM (thirty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Also cost. Even just getting and maintaining passports is cost prohibitive for a lot of families. Let alone the tickets hotels etc. Its not like you can hop on a £25 easy jet flight. Not even somewhere where like Mexico. I do think there's prob other stuff involved but for most American international travel is just too expensive.

Interestingly I got more vacation time at my last two jobs in the US then I do here but they were salaried. Like laurel said some people get barely any or none at all.

I can't imagine never moving as an adult. I think I've moved around 15 times in the last 20 years including two transatlantic moved. Would not recommend. I can't wait to be somewhere for even ten years.

I have never, to my knowledge, been pregnant.
I have never had a Slurpee.
I gave never met a single relative on the maternal side of my family.

Cost is absolutely a big factor for people in the U.S. — unless you're traveling within North America (Canada, Mexico, Caribbean) it can cost a lot just to get across these oceans. But there is also just an orientation toward travel, or lack of one. The most traveled people I know aren't the wealthiest people I know — I know people who have done a lot of globe-trotting on public library salaries. It's just something they prioritize. (And are willing to plan trips around wherever they find cheap flights to, e.g.)

On moving: We bought our house 10 years ago this month, when I was 45. I calculated that between graduating college at 21 and then, I had moved on average every two years. This is now the longest fixed address I've had in my whole life, including while growing up. I liked moving in the sense that I liked going new places, but I don't miss the hassle.

they’re also still close to their support network even if they’re in a different hemisphere

d’oh xp to 9:22

Iirc from knowing some Aussies in NY, it's typical in Aus to get at least 4-5 weeks of (paid?) vacation each year from their jobs, because the fact that Aus is farther away from places makes travel only worthwhile if you can stay long enough.

That makes sense.

Tipsy - I didn't move a lot as a kid but had the same pattern as an adult. I've moved roughly every 2-3 years between 21 and now (46).

One plus is that it keeps you from accumulating too much stuff ime, because you do that paring-down-to-move thing regularly. Now I have a basement where stuff tends to just pile up.

I have some things on this list that have been extensively discussed already (cigarettes, cocaine, broken bones) but one I haven't seen mentioned is that I've never donated blood. I'm sure it's not actually that common but I feel conscious of it

X-post very true but I also feel like I lost a lot of things in the moves too. That could be my ADHD.

Aw why? I have donated a bunch of times because my dad always did and I work in hospitals but a lot of people really hate needles/the idea of doing it.

I’ve never used a soldering iron

Oh and I’ve had a few surgeries but never a general anaesthetic

I’ve never donated blood. Actually, my first attempt to donate blood at age 19, not knowing that it was a “no gays allowed” thing, almost outed me to my friend group. I asked the nurse to give me a bandage and a cookie so I could pretend that I’d donated, my friends none the wiser

I refuse to use this thread to post about medical things I’ve not experienced. Seems like horrible juju.

Xpost - ugh, I'm sorry. I think they have changed those laws now in a lot of places.

I've never had any kid of anesthetic other then novocaine and one of my biggest fears is having to get GA and then saying some wild shit when I am coming around.

I gave blood today.

Xp to fgti, that is horrible, sorry to hear that too. I don't think it's a thing in the UK any more

increasingly the prohibitive part of traveling for me is the actual travel. 10 + hours in airports and tiny seats makes me feel more like dogshit the older i get. physical leg pain after 10 minutes of not being able to move and extend. difficult to justify. also, the older i get the more that the disruptions to my sleep and diet that travel bring will cause havoc with my mood and general energy level.

and yeah i guess i have a cultural thing. mine is: people suck everywhere. i travel to get away from them, not to be swept along through lines and hordes of them for a week. i'm perfectly content driving a few hours to get to some of my favorite wilderness areas for the rest of my life. if i'm ever not poor, my goal is to buy a nicer newer car and drive further to other wilderness areas in the western us and canada, west coast definitely included. sorry, east-of-the-rockies, you're too far away and boring to cut it lol.

Oh, I think I can give blood again. Because I lived in the UK for a bit in the early '90s, I was blocked from donating for a long time because of Mad Cow fears. But I believe they lifted that a few years ago, I should get back in the habit, I used to give fairly regularly.

Yeah they had a mad cow law in the US for a while but I think that's also been changed. I totally remember that though.

feeling the travel nightmare talk. a big reason why i never want to go on a plane. every time i see those holiday airport stories on the news i laugh like crazy and say whooooboy sucks to be you dumbasses!

xps I didn't know that thanks!

In October 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration updated its blood donor eligibility guidance on variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), eliminating the deferral for those who spent time in the U.K., Ireland and France between 1980 and 2001.

"if i'm ever not poor, my goal is to buy a nicer newer car and drive further to other wilderness areas in the western us and canada"

i feel bad because a lot of my thinking along these lines starts with "once my dad dies...."

but its kinda true. i never feel like leaving him long. i would worry.

la la la I've never visited Alcatraz!! But it's right there if I need it

xp a little gross that i left out mexico, i've always wanted to road trip down there. like in old timey movies or in eagles songs or whatever i wanna drive down to baja and spend an unspecified amount of time there one day.

xxp totally normal to see and anticipate "continuation of my life" possibilities after the death of someone you're caring for, or so i hear :)

Staying at home can also be boring and a hassle. The pains of travel are more than worth it, ime (assuming it's financially viable etc).

I suspect it's probably a weird thirst of novelty/completist thing of mine but it's mad to me that Mexico is _right there_ and people don't go.

And a healthy dose of my own privilege. And I've never been to Ireland. I'll stfu.

I used to donate blood regularly and the questionnaire was always good perspective correction re:whatever minor annoyances were upsetting my relatively privileged life that month. Are you currently homeless? Taken money for sex in the last 10 years? Been hospitalized for critical injuries in in West Africa recently? No? Ok, despite that argument I just had with my boss I'm still extremely lucky in many ways.

As a pessimist I aspire to keep things out of my bucket, like illness, accidents, conflicts etc. If anything nice happens, that's just a bonus.

― Halfway there but for you

yeah i spent a lot of my life avoiding adverse experiences out of fear, i've reached the point where there are things i'm more afraid of not doing than things of doing

plus a whole shit-ton of stuff i was afraid would happen to me has happened anyway.

making paella is _not_ low-stakes for me. maybe that's kinda the issue, i'm afraid of trying to make paella.

Xpost - ugh, I'm sorry. I think they have changed those laws now in a lot of places.

― Benson and the Jets (ENBB)

i think in the us it's now something like "ok you have to have not had receptive anal intercourse in the past three months". which i was mad about for a while because but you know what, as long as it's applied equally to everybody, which it is, fair enough. it's not _that_ much of a risk but neither is traveling overseas necessarily, so...

I used to donate blood regularly and the questionnaire was always good perspective correction re:whatever minor annoyances were upsetting my relatively privileged life that month. Are you currently homeless? Taken money for sex in the last 10 years? Been hospitalized for critical injuries in in West Africa recently? No? Ok, despite that argument I just had with my boss I'm still extremely lucky in many ways.

― waste of compute (One Eye Open)

no, seriously, you can still hate your fuckin' boss, please do hate your boss. i encourage it. though i haven't done sex work personally, i have a number of friends who have, and my observation is that sex work is in fact better than a lot of "respectable" jobs out there.

Hospitals are very nervous about malpractice lawsuits. And false negatives for HIV do occur. They're eliminating groups statistically most like likely to have HIV from donating blood. It's an insurance thing.

I dunno! I guess you'd have to ask a young Australian.

― Ima Gardener (in orbit), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 2:34 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I have never met an Australian who hasn’t been overseas. Actually not strictly true because our one year old hasn’t yet but I just booked to go and see his grandparents.

Australia is a colonial enterprise, more than 75% of Australians have at least one grandparent overseas. So that means so many people have close and living relatives to visit. Even if you are descended from a sheep stealer transported on the first fleet you are going to be surrounded by people with close relatives overseas.

Theres also colonial legacies like long service leave every 7-10 years, a few months paid time off so you can visit the old country by ship.

Going abroad is part of the culture, the cheap beach destination is Bali; if you want to go to a big city you have to go to London or Tokyo or wherever.

Theres also a massive number of dual nationals, and Australia has a lot of reciprocal working holiday visa arrangements. Young (not just young I guess) people going to work overseas is really common. We traded a bunch of Aussies making coffee in New York for Koreans making coffee in Melbourne.

An Australian I met in Canada said that Australians travel overseas to meet other Australians.

they want to check out what normal looking animals look like.

ed im not sure id heard that news or have i just forgotten? congrats!

lil' ed.

I’ve always been embarrassed that I don’t drive (I’m 44) so it’s nice to see how many other ilxors don’t drive either.

I think I’ve done most of the things mentioned here (except firing a gun, operating a motorbike - I’ve been a passenger - or been member of any wedding party except my own) so the only thing I can think of is that I’ve never had Covid, despite being in very close contact twice with people who had it (one of whom was my husband, and we made no effort to quarantine).

*quarantine from each other

I've never really skied before! My dad grew up in Minnesota and hated anything resembling snow, so we never did anything alpine like that even though I love snow and high alititudes

I've screwed around with a snowboard, toboggan, snowshoes, etc... but never actually skied

i've never had covid either. or at least that i know of. maybe i did and didn't know it.

Never broken a bone, see Titanic (or Avatar), or been to Canada.

I had covid for you Scott... at least 3X as far as I know

I broke (har) my unbroken bone streak over New Year's weekend 10 years ago, making a careless leap from a boat to a concrete dock. I slipped on the jump and came down on my arms and heard a distinct little crack. At first I wasn't sure it was broken because it mostly ached, but after a night in the ER (St. Petersburg, Fla., on a holiday weekend is quite a scene in the ER) an X-ray finally showed the tiniest of fractures in a little bone near my elbow. At first the doc didn't even see it. But he eventually did and I had a sling for a few weeks. It still doesn't really seem like a "broken bone" to me, but I'm not eager for one that seems more real.

"I had covid for you Scott... at least 3X as far as I know"

oof yeah that sucks. hope the residual effects were not terrible.

I’ve broken several toes and fingers but broken elbow was the weirdest. My forearm felt like it was no longer attached to my body - just sorta dangled and I couldn’t feel anything. Looked very creepy.

Add my name to never broken a bone club. Never donated blood. I love movies but never seen Top Gun.

Travelled tons tho. Always met Australians. I feel like they’re everywhere

Never owned a Black Sabbath album. Never heard a Black Sabbath album. I have "Paranoid" on a K-Tel-type compilation.

its never too late!

Ozzy says "but it's too late"!

Never:
went on a “date”
went to Disney World , or Vegas, or been to a bachelor party
had a tattoo, or a piercing , or dyed my hair
wore a polo shirt
milked a cow
rode a horse
wore boxer shorts
referenced the Simpsons
sneezed quietly
whistled loudly
used heroin
got called up for jury duty
baked a cake
intentionally killed a spider
made it to an ilx gathering (aka FAP)
went to a school reunion
got past the first of the LOTR trilogy (book or movie)
saw someone die
went to a comedy show or club
visited Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, or Oceania

If you want to check off two, people die onstage at comedy clubs every night.

never:
ridden a bicycle with no hands on the handlebars for even 1 rotation of the pedals. I don't know how people do it.
had a credit card
had a mortgage

Yes, forgot to mention, never owned property.

This thread calls for a companion thread: Uncommon things you have done even though you are shockingly shy ?

I want to hear all about these threesomes, heroin, and visits to Antarctica

How about all three at once.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrtEJJO6Dwc

Never listened to a Cure album all the way through that wasn't Standing on a Beach, Wish, or Disintegration

Had plenty of injuries by never broken a bone (yet)

Never been to Asia or any part of the Americas south of Miami or Baha Calafornia

(xp) I think the only one I've heard all the way through is "Three Imaginary Boys", though I'm not sure I actually did listen to it all the way through.

whistled loudly

― keen reverberations of twee (collardio gelatinous)

i can't whistle. i can say "france", though.

can't snap my fingers, either.

This thread calls for a companion thread: Uncommon things you have done even though you are shockingly shy ?

― Nabozo

i mean if you start that thread i will be strongly tempted to tell you about some of the depraved and immoral acts i have committed

seriously my purity test answers would be all over the map

I think the most common thing people do in the UK that I hear about, and that I haven't done and have no interest in and will never do is camping. That's the main one bar driving/mortgage.

Also I haven't been to a football match as an adult. In general I consume sports via TV.

Culturally, until reading a manga (which an ilxor lent to me) I don't think I have seriously engaged with comics since I was about 12. No computer games since my teens either.

I have never watched music in a stadium or big arena. Nothing much more than a thousand people, I think

Traveling wise I have been to most continents bar Australia and Africa. Don't ever care for Australia but I would love to explore African cities and parts of the continent.

Oh wait scrap the music one I have been to one music festival. But still I haven't been to a stadium concert.

Shout out to the can't drive won't drive massive

Other than that...omg i'm a complete normie ive just done all the things

Yes, never read a graphic novel or any comic books you're supposed to take seriously. I did read some Marvel and DC stuff when I was a kid.

No comics, superhero movies, RPGing, larping, cons, cosplay etc.

Never seen an entire football game (of either kind) or car race. No hunting, very little fishing. No waters kiting, bungee-jumping, snowboarding, skateboarding, or other thrill sports.

Never owned a new car, and I can't think of anyone in my family / close personal orbit who has.

nevwr bought nor sold a monorail

I’ve been to every US state except Nevada, Hawaii and Arkansas

never eaten a full meal with tony bennett

Never seen Star Wars (in its entirety) or any of its attendant films.
Never watched Doctor Who
Never heard any music by The Grateful Dead.

Yeah they had a mad cow law in the US for a while but I think that's also been changed. I totally remember that though.

I also don't know my blood type (but more from blithe ignorance)!

I don't know mine either; I just went looking through the notes from my last doctor's visit thinking it might be in there, and it wasn't, but I did see the phrase "appears somewhat younger than stated age," so that's my day made.

late congrats, Ed!

i’ll bet a mini-ed is super cute

Alongside the usual things mentioned; no broken bones, tattoos, piercing etc. I’ve never visited a casino or strip club. I’d find them more than a bit awkward.

Tried eating most things but never had goose, hare, crayfish or tripe.

I had goose in Finland (and reindeer!). Goose is really good; incredibly fatty. Reindeer just tastes like stew beef.

despite being surround by punks/goths/general ne'er-do-wells most of my life, i've also never gotten a tattoo or piercing

Never listened to a Cure album all the way through that wasn't Standing on a Beach, Wish, or Disintegration

Had plenty of injuries by never broken a bone (yet)

― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, September 24, 2024 6:37 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

lol at that Cure criteria

"Never did X except for these instances which I'll now list"

several of those itt already

feel like most people in UK have never visited a strip club, they just aren't that common here.

Gone are the days of lunchtime pub strippers...I think?

I cannot claim that one anyway as I was once taken to one by an Irish girl in Bangkok, apparently just so she could tut at everything and tell me how disgusted and appalled she was, she was an odd one.

"I’ve never visited a casino or strip club."

same here. i have never ever wanted to gamble. aside from the odd scratch ticket. i think strip clubs would just make me feel sad. plus you have to tip people money the whole time you are there and i need money for food and records. i lived with a girlfriend for a couple of years and she was a stripper and i never went and saw her. she made tons of money. years later she bought a house with cash.

bing crosby has never poached me a satisfactory egg

I've never been to a casino or a strip club either, and I used to work at a porn magazine, so you would think I'd have gotten "out into the field" at least once, but nope. I did have to go to a couple of porn conventions, though. (Not the big one in Vegas, just some smaller, sadder New York ones.)

Been to plenty of casinos but have never gambled.

I have also never paid for sex. I can't even imagine. OMG, i really can't. I would be so embarrassed. Also, just the idea of a stranger...no way. Though I get that that can be the appeal for people. random strangers never my thing. i never even picked up strangers in bars. i just ended up doing stuff with people i already knew back when i did such things. i have a friend who enjoys the sex worker thing and i dunno for him it works. he's a social worker. I think he likes specific stuff sexually. so, it makes sense.
I did make out with someone in a brothel once though! That was kinda hot. Someone I knew and had a crush on. Right on one of the massage tables. My brother was working the front desk at a place in Connecticut owned by a friend's aunt. We all went there to party after hours once.

A Japanese friend took me to a titty bar in Tokyo once, his job involved entertaining overseas corporate visitors so he knew where he was going. It was very polite, very weird and pretty funny. I'd imagine some bear pit in Scunthorpe or Ft Lauderdale (as referenced in "Girls, Girls, Girls" of course) to be a different matter.

This thread is raising a lot more questions

Thread of things you've done only one or two times against your better judgment, as a lark, or because someone else made you do it, as opposed to things that you have either never done, or done a lot of

heroin, lol

I've never watched a late-night TV talk show ie. Letterman or whoever.

I've never been to a female strip club, but I was once taken to a male strip club in Manila, where (as my hosts explained) the audience divided neatly between gay men and late middle-aged Korean ladies. It was not even remotely erotic.

do people think "i haven't done [insert hard drug past weed]" some big right to life passage that should have been accomplished at a certain point? i'm just genuinely curious.

i remember never having a cigarette until i turned 21 and that's one of those retrospective shockers for me that it took that long.

i *have* been to a bachelor party at a las vegas casino and can tell you it is even more unpleasant than you suspect

I've never been to Spain. But I kinda like the music.

As may easily be guessed, although piercings and tattoos have become very common in the past three decades, I was of a generation where those were not common and I've not done either. On the whole, there's not much I would consider as 'commonly experiences' for my cohort that I haven't done at least once in my life, but I've never been big on wild or risky behavior and much of the wild or risky stuff I've done never saw a sequel.

xp spain is a wonderful place to visit as long as you don't mind eating dinner at 11pm

I did have a pierced ear in college but long since grown shut. No tats, but I leave open the possibility. My wife has a few nice tattoos and we've talked about getting some together.

i don't have a tattoo. but am i supposed to have one?

this thread should be regulated for the "i'm 40 and i've never been on a plane" kind of criteria

I have also never paid for sex. I can't even imagine. OMG, i really can't. I would be so embarrassed. Also, just the idea of a stranger...no way. Though I get that that can be the appeal for people. random strangers never my thing. i never even picked up strangers in bars. i just ended up doing stuff with people i already knew back when i did such things. i have a friend who enjoys the sex worker thing and i dunno for him it works. he's a social worker. I think he likes specific stuff sexually. so, it makes sense.
I did make out with someone in a brothel once though! That was kinda hot. Someone I knew and had a crush on. Right on one of the massage tables. My brother was working the front desk at a place in Connecticut owned by a friend's aunt. We all went there to party after hours once.

― scott seward, Wednesday, September 25, 2024 1:08 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

^ a "don't do this" post for the thread going forward.

Ya, we’ve definitely wandered from the original idea some.
And in that spirit - eating diner at 11 is great. As are standard afternoon naps.

oh *i* didn't mind

Been to plenty of casinos but have never gambled.

― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, September 25, 2024 12:44 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

gold standard post

I think it's more interesting to see how people interpret it tbh. The idea of what's "common" is variable.

And I think tattoos definitely count as common! They used to be a pretty rare niche thing, but surely we all know lots of people with tattoos (and/or I'm sure there are plenty of tatted ilxors). The communications chief for our local (Republican) county mayor has tats, he has to keep his shirt sleeves buttoned at work but everyone knows he has them.

Never been to London never been to France
Never wore a sari never learned to dance
Never walked down to 42nd street fairs
Never smoked any filtered air

Guess It's true what all the people say
Gonna have to mend my old time ways
Yeah i guess it's true
Guess I led a sheltered life

Never walked about on the streets at night
Never got into an uptown fight
Never smoked a hookah never saw a rug
Couldn't even squash a beetle bug

Guess it's true gonna have to change my ways
Guess it's true what all the people say
Oh I guess it's true
I guess I lived a sheltered life

[Kazoo solo]

Never went to parties in a chauffeured car
Never wore a top hat guess i won't get far
Never learned to handle all the things that I've seen
Maybe I'll grow up to be big and mean

Guess It's true what all the people say
Gonna have to change my old time ways
Yeah i guess it's true
Guess I led a sheltered life

never bought a National Lottery ticket

ive never attended a motor auction MC'd by richard pryor

Here’s something genuinely common I’ve never done: voted for a Republican

ive never attended a motor auction MC'd by richard pryor

― tuah dé danann (darraghmac), Thursday, 26 September 2024 bookmarkflaglink

Getting the feeling this is a cry for help?

well its too late now certainly

They say Spain is pretty, but I've never been
Daniel says it's the best place he's ever seen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVLs7OJVp-k

I have never eaten a lobster. But I don't know if eating a lobster is more common then paying for sex/going to a strip club/going to a casino. probably a lot of people who go to a casino and eat lobster.

I have been to Spain though! The only place I have ever been.

Never got to a drive in theater, and I think the windows has closed on that one.

Was going to say, someone please acknowledge darragh, the poor lad is gasping here.

Never acknowledged Darragh.

Lol

ive never been to lithuania

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdYYcMH4dmw

something millions of people do _every day_

I guess the quibble here amongst some posters is between "this is a common thing I have not done" and "it is uncommon not to have done this common thing".

For instance, I would say it is common to have or to not have tattoos, so not much glory in either side.

Never cared about mission creep ITT or in any thread tbh

I never had chicken pox. That's all I got

wait, were we supposed to be looking for glory on this thread? shit. my bad.

the pox never got did by octobeard. tbf, that is some straight up glory right there.

Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man that he didn't already have.

Never acknowledged Darragh.

― pisspoor bung probe prog (Tom D.), Thursday, 26 September 2024 bookmarkflaglink

Upset I didn't post this.

there is no quibble itt we are all just posting things we have or have not done or maybe have done just a little bit or a few times its good

do people think "i haven't done [insert hard drug past weed]" some big right to life passage that should have been accomplished at a certain point? i'm just genuinely curious.

Yes tbh, I was too risk-averse in my teens & 20s when people usually do party drugs or psychedelics. But it also feels like it's becoming increasingly common & acceptable for people over 40 to do and talk about doing certain drugs (but definitely not others).

I direct you to the ILX gay thread.

all the shroom talk out there now. sheesh. only a matter of time before the weed stores are loaded with choco baby bella smoothies and lollipops.

they have weed industry expos at the fairgrounds here and people totally just sell all the shrooms out on tables in god's shining sunlight. no big deal.

Oddly enough at every job I've had in the last decade+ people have been ever more accepting of drugs and psychedelic use, to the point where I acquired an online hookup for mushrooms from an exec/investor at my last gig (and no he wasn't younger than me). It's kinda wild how the taboo has somewhat dissipated entirely in some circles. If anything my extremely occasional consumption is a bit light in comparison to some peers these days.

Guess this is not an industry where drug testing occurs?

Speaking of: I’ve never been drug tested (which is an immense privilege tbh)

My controversial (west coast US) take is that IN-N-OUT fries are fantastic BECAUSE THEY USE REAL FRESH POTATOES and not some factory/chemical bullshit that McDonalds weaned infant palates cannot appreciate. 𓁹‿𓁹

― Mrs. Ippei (Steve Shasta)

my controversial (pac nw) take is that in-n-out is fucking overrated, goddamn californian supremacy bullshit. every couple months i go to the keizer in-n-out with my ex-girlfriend, who is constantly telling me how much better everything is in california. i mean it's a fast food hamburger. it's a fast food hamburger and this "secret menu item" stuff is complete bullshit, it's just another way of saying "have it your way". and they put bible verses on their wrappers. people can believe what they want, but i don't like that shit. the best hamburger joints come from the midwest. culver's butterburgers are better than in-n-out. steak 'n shake's hamburgers are better than in-n-out. and steak and shake's fries are the... i'm sorry, i know there's a word for this that's not offensive, but the pencildick fries. i don't like thick cut fries, i like twink fries.

five guys uses fresh cut fries too, the problem is they have no idea how to train or retain staff so literally every time i go there they get my order wrong.

---

I had goose in Finland (and reindeer!). Goose is really good; incredibly fatty. Reindeer just tastes like stew beef.

― Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson)

least it doesn't taste like chicken

i've had elk burgers and bison burgers, which are like leaner cow. ostrich, though? chicken.

Alongside the usual things mentioned; no broken bones, tattoos, piercing etc. I’ve never visited a casino or strip club. I’d find them more than a bit awkward.

― Dan Worsley

i was working at a chemical plant in rubbertown and on a business trip my boss took me to... i think it was a casino. it was really awkward. i'm very autistic and the whole thing is sensory overload. it's disorienting and loud and filled with lights and they don't even have donkey kong. i don't really see the appeal of gambling. there are a lot of things i avoid because i believe i'm predestined to fail, even though the odds are stacked in my favor, so when i look at gambling, a game where the odds are literally stacked in the house's favor, i don't see why i should bother.

i haven't been to a strip club but i _feel_ like i have. i kind of lump strip clubs and casinos together in the realm of "things i don't get the point of". like, why should i go to a strip club when i could just go to a sex dungeon? i mean of course i understand i'm not the target audience. when i was on T i used to like looking at topless women and thinking to myself "god i wish i looked like that", while simultaneously not ever consciously acknowledging that desire. now this kind of porn male gaze stuff, i look at it and i'm like "yep, those are tits alright." it's kind of affirming, actually, knowing that i'm not the target audience and having no interest in it.

"male gaze" shit is really complicated for me in ways i'm not gonna get into here. but sometimes i see something and i know it's not for my benefit.

I have also never paid for sex. I can't even imagine. OMG, i really can't. I would be so embarrassed. Also, just the idea of a stranger...no way. Though I get that that can be the appeal for people. random strangers never my thing. i never even picked up strangers in bars. i just ended up doing stuff with people i already knew back when i did such things. i have a friend who enjoys the sex worker thing and i dunno for him it works. he's a social worker. I think he likes specific stuff sexually. so, it makes sense.
I did make out with someone in a brothel once though! That was kinda hot. Someone I knew and had a crush on. Right on one of the massage tables. My brother was working the front desk at a place in Connecticut owned by a friend's aunt. We all went there to party after hours once.

― scott seward

paying for sex is fine. before transition i read chester brown's book on it and since then i've thought about it and i think he does a good job talking about SW from a client perspective. there's a lot of shame around people who pay for sex. certainly i got a lot of internalized shame about it, which is one of the reasons i've never paid for sex. (the other, larger reason is that i don't particularly have any desire to have sex for its own sake.) the sense i get is that brown doesn't want to be responsible for a partner's emotional needs, he'd rather just support someone with money, and that's valid. if i was a sex worker, i'd love to have clients like brown, or at least like the way brown portrays himself in his memoir - steady, reliable, respectful. because he's not having sex with strangers, is the sense i get, he has this steady professional relationship with this one woman. he pays her, they have sex, done.

personally, i think i should be able to consent to being treated like meat. i don't think just anybody should be able to treat me like meat, but i think it's something i should be able to negotiate with specific people. i mean the jobs where i work, they're not interested in me as a person. they're interested in me for the work i do. any job, you know, i kind of feel like i'm being treated like meat. i don't see sex work as anything different.

but i mean yeah, outside of work? i'm not interested in bodies, in sexual acts. i'm interested in people. which is difficult because i am interested in specific stuff sexually, and that's pretty difficult to get without doing things professionally. one of the most important things for me in any intimate act, though, is that i need to feel like i'm valued and valuable as a human being. i don't know that a sex worker could provide that for me. if i'm paying someone for a service, i can't reconcile that with a feeling of being desirable or valuable as a person.

i would never shame anyone who pays for sex or anyone who is or was a sex worker. but for ME, its just the last thing i would ever do. i would be too embarrassed/shy/etc. i lack whatever it is in men that would make paying for sex or even going to a strip club something appealing/attractive/erotic/fun/etc. though some people do it for none of those reasons they just want human contact and i get that and totally understand it. i had no problem with my girlfriend stripping for a living. she did bachelor parties too at private homes. i worried about her. she worked so late in an area of philly that was desolate. dancers were always escorted to their cars by security but still... that part of it scared me. she always went to private parties with a chaperone/bodyguard but those scared me too.

and its not even really about being shy for me either. it would just never occur to me to do it in a million years.

and even though i am pro-body and pro-sex and pro-women/men/people doing what they want, there will always be a part of me that wishes that everyone on earth could do work that wasn't dangerous and prone to more abuse/addiction than other jobs. some jobs that can be dangerous are taken out of necessity/bad situations whether they are sex-work or meatpacking and i just feel bad that so many people have to have crappy jobs. this world just sucks for so many people and i kinda hate that.

(basically i just wish that if someone does sex work that they get paid REALLY really well for it and its a totally safe environment and that they get health/dental/vision.)

i would never shame anyone who pays for sex or anyone who is or was a sex worker. but for ME, its just the last thing i would ever do. i would be too embarrassed/shy/etc. i lack whatever it is in men that would make paying for sex or even going to a strip club something appealing/attractive/erotic/fun/etc. though some people do it for none of those reasons they just want human contact and i get that and totally understand it. i had no problem with my girlfriend stripping for a living. she did bachelor parties too at private homes. i worried about her. she worked so late in an area of philly that was desolate. dancers were always escorted to their cars by security but still... that part of it scared me. she always went to private parties with a chaperone/bodyguard but those scared me too.

― scott seward

no i totally understand, i'm in the same position as you. and i mean, speaking as someone who does know people who do sex work... i believe that there is an objectively right opinion to have about sex work and it's yours.

anyway this isn't a _common_ thing but i live in the pac NW and i've never had a seattle dog. i've had chili dogs, and i've had chicago style dogs, but i've never had a seattle dog. everywhere that sells seattle dogs also sells chicago dogs and i can't find it in myself to choose something i've never tried over a chicago dog.

i don't even know what a seattle dog is!

every time i see a picture of a chicago dog i just think....uh, that's too much information.

i've had elk burgers and bison burgers, which are like leaner cow.

Trader Joe's used to sell frozen buffalo burgers, which were so fucking good. Then one day they just stopped. We go to a grocery store that has elk (and venison) but I haven't been able to convince my wife to try it yet.

Craving a buffalo burger from the Santa Catalina Island airport cafe rn

i don't even know what a seattle dog is!

every time i see a picture of a chicago dog i just think....uh, that's too much information.

― scott seward

i mean they don't have them outside the pac nw afaik

Hate to break it to you Scott but (last I checked) 70% of people who teach at the college/university level do not have health/dental/vision coverage. Fortunately we are allowed to wear clothes.

* coverage through work that is. Thank goodness for the ACÁ.

A common thing I have never done: not paid for heath care received

before we moved to greenfield we had my union health care for the family at my hospital job. it was really good! and included dental and all that for all four of us. kind of the reason why i took the job and not for the glamour of being a custodian on a vacation island. and then when we moved and opened the store we were eligible for massachusetts romney-care and thank the friggin' lord for that we have not paid a dime for anything its amazing. i think it goes away when our kids are 20-something? 25. i forget. by then we will almost be ready for old people health insurance.

i've never had a seattle dog

oh - i've had this. would recommend!

Oh, I missed out on Covid.

Oddly, my wife went on holiday to Budapest with Amber, and had a very husky voice when she got back. Tested, negative. She went to visit/stay with her mum, 2 days later tested positive, so had to stay in the back room up there. Alice (living in Brighton) got it and missed out on Christmas up north (we did Xmas morn via conference call).

So, Amber and myself missed out.

Plenty of time yet.

That's the spirit.