# Everybody! Come and meet the spaz (me) who got lost in her own neighborhood **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 15, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-come-and-meet-the-spaz-me-who-got-lost-in-her-own-neighborhood/308301 "2005-06-15T00:22:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-come-and-meet-the-spaz-me-who-got-lost-in-her-own-neighborhood/308301/21 "2005-06-17T21:20:27Z")
We will not discuss the number of times that when returning from my brother’s house I get off the Thru-way at various weird exits (taking me far east or west) and must then figure out how to get the last 30 miles home. I’ve never had a problem when driving to his house, just on the return trip. ---
**Author:** ![Cranky\_Hermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cranky\_Hermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cranky_Hermit)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2005, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-come-and-meet-the-spaz-me-who-got-lost-in-her-own-neighborhood/308301/22 "2005-06-17T22:37:32Z")
When I first started college I had to go in early to register (not for classes, just admin stuff). Well, I got to the campus and checked the map they’d sent me to get to the admin offices, but after about an hour of walking here there and everywhere-all OVER that damn campus, and not finding the offices, I found a payphone on campus and called the admin office to get directions (obviously, I’m not male). I tell the nice lady whereabouts I am and she says “OK, honey, turn around”. I do so and see her waving and smiling at me from the window of an office I must have passed 20 times. I almost went home without registering, but I’m so used to my lack of a sense of direction I calmly accept all scornful comments. _Sigh_ I really hate being lost and it happens to me all the time! ---
**Author:** ![hiebram](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5fc32e/32.png) [@hiebram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hiebram)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-come-and-meet-the-spaz-me-who-got-lost-in-her-own-neighborhood/308301/23 "2005-06-22T21:07:59Z")
I was in Brussels once, and went out to get a bite to eat. Fifteen minute walk down a main street, 30 minutes at a restaurant, then I start out towards home. There was one turn in my path home, and in order to save time I decided to cut through a side street. Three hours later, I wander into a train station, travel 4 stops back to the one that’s near my apartment, and finish my odyssey, having proven that I will not let Belgium coerce me into asking for directions. Another time, in my home city (of roughly 30K people), I went to fill out an application at a job placement firm. I knew their address, but I wasn’t completely sure where the street was. So, I left a little early, just to be safe. I drove down Main Street, and hung a left at the appropriate block. For half an hour I kept driving, thinking, “What if it’s the next block?” Finally, having run out of city, I turned around and headed back to look in the other direction. It was the very first street on the opposite side of Main! The lady who took my application gave me a look for being 45 minutes late, but I didn’t tell her what had happened. Which is better, to be considered untrustworthy or incompetent? Hiebram ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-come-and-meet-the-spaz-me-who-got-lost-in-her-own-neighborhood/308301/24 "2005-06-22T21:53:52Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > Well, I wasn’t going to bother posting about my stupidity today, but it might make you feel better, so here goes: I had a 4PM doctor’s appointment, so I left the 5-year-old in the care of her father, and left the house. Got in the van, turned on the key, adjusted the air conditioning (damn it was hot today!), selected the CD to listen to on my drive. Then I depressed the brake pedal in preparation for pulling out into the street. Hmmm, the brake pedal doesn’t seem to want to depress. I put the van in gear. Nothing. I go in the house to whine at hubby that something is wrong with the van. He comes out, takes one look at the control panel, and starts chuckling. Then he says “Well, it helps if you _start_ the van”. Yup. I had turned the key far enough to start the accessories, but had not actually started the engine. :smack: > > Oh, I forgot to mention: I’ve had my driver’s license for 24 years. This would be perfect if you would have gone in the house yelling at your husband about what a POS the van is and it is all somehow his fault. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-come-and-meet-the-spaz-me-who-got-lost-in-her-own-neighborhood/308301/25 "2005-06-22T21:57:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Michel … Kar … Lind … Nanc … Meliss … Rebec … Laur … Sar … Jenn … Michae … Dan … Matthe … Andr … Jaso … Jona …" I am the only long awaited most perfect girl in my family. I have had to deal with my mother rattling off not only my brothers names, but my cousins, her cousins and her sister’s name before she finally looks at me going, “What.it.your.name?” (And it happened at a teacher’s conference Junior year…so 22ish years ago?. w00t!) ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-come-and-meet-the-spaz-me-who-got-lost-in-her-own-neighborhood/308301/26 "2005-06-23T12:34:03Z")
I also have no sense of direction. Navigation is entirely reliant on maps or memory. (And I hate my mom’s way of giving directions: “The third light on the right…” lady, when I’m driving a two-ton vehicle, I have to dedicate all my brain cells to keeping said vehicle on the road, not to counting lights.) I still don’t know how the heck I got lost the last time I came home from Orlando–I missed the connection to the Turnpike and ended up in like the middle of nowhere. I also don’t know how the heck I finally found a road I was familiar with. (I guess it helped that I had been heading sort of south-west and eventually drove back into civilization.) ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-come-and-meet-the-spaz-me-who-got-lost-in-her-own-neighborhood/308301/27 "2005-06-23T13:33:39Z")
Oh, jeez, my “lost” thread made Threadspotting. So now \*everyone \* knows I’m a spaz who can’t get home. :smack: Of all the threads of mine that could have made it… I’m thinking about attaching a compass to my bike. It probably still won’t help, but at least I’ll know what direction I’m going. ---
**Author:** ![moonstarssun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@moonstarssun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moonstarssun)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-come-and-meet-the-spaz-me-who-got-lost-in-her-own-neighborhood/308301/28 "2005-06-23T20:27:38Z")
Mr. m and I get lost all the time. We learned a lot about Madison after we moved here just by wandering around trying to figure out how to get home. And I’ve found that yoga makes me stupid. After yoga classes, I’ve been unable to start the car (the wheel was locked–I had to call home and ask how to fix it), gotten lost (it’s a route I travel regularly), forgotten how to use the toaster (wasn’t plugged in), and wondered why the clothes dryer wasn’t working (the door was open). Fortunately, my brain usually doesn’t take more than an hour to kick in again after class. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-come-and-meet-the-spaz-me-who-got-lost-in-her-own-neighborhood/308301/29 "2005-06-24T13:52:44Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Oh, jeez, my “lost” thread made Threadspotting. So now \*everyone \* knows I’m a spaz who can’t get home. :smack: Of all the threads of mine that could have made it… > > I’m thinking about attaching a compass to my bike. It probably still won’t help, but at least I’ll know what direction I’m going. Nah, the only thing a compass will do is let you know where the compass is. You’ll still be lost, but you’ll know which direction you’re lost in. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-come-and-meet-the-spaz-me-who-got-lost-in-her-own-neighborhood/308301/30 "2005-06-24T22:09:35Z")
Unlike **dotchan** ’s preference above, I want landmarks or at least a count of the traffic lights when somebody gives me directions. “Turn right at Smith Street” doesn’t help when I’m busy trying not to run into anything! “Turn right at Smith Street, that’s the third light” is much more useful. (Last week I was trying to pick up my wife at work, and missed a turn because I had no advance warning. Like **Aesiron** ’s neighbourhood, this area was not on a grid so I took a while to get straightened out.) I also want to see the map before I start. I’ve always figured that when you’re driving you want all your attention on not getting in an accident, so directions should be as mindless as possible. ---
**Author:** ![quilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/839c29/32.png) [@quilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quilter)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-come-and-meet-the-spaz-me-who-got-lost-in-her-own-neighborhood/308301/31 "2005-06-25T01:48:37Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > My grandmother, when talking to me, invariably begins by calling me by my mother’s name. Realizing that’s incorrect, she then runs through the names of her three daughters, then the names of all her female grandchildren, oldest to youngest. The thing is, _I’m_ the oldest, and she invariably skips me–and then goes to the boys’ names. It sounds something like this: > > “Michel … Kar … Lind … Nanc … Meliss … Rebec … Laur … Sar … Jenn … Michae … Dan … Matthe … Andr … Jaso … Jona …” My maternal grandmother, now deceased, used to start with her younger sisters and then work her way down through the generations until she got to granddaughters and great-granddaughters. Best part was, she’d stamp her foot and demand, “Raise your HAND when I get to you!” as she went through the litany. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-come-and-meet-the-spaz-me-who-got-lost-in-her-own-neighborhood/308301/32 "2005-06-25T04:16:26Z")
I read this thread, then ran out to get somethings done, then didn’t make it back til now. I looked in IMHO, The Pit, GQ…everywhere…I searched and searched til I found it, but until I did, I was in a serious panicky snit… PHEW!!! Yeah I’m a sarcastic dumbass.(Dumas??)…next time you get lost, call, we’ll get you home. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everybody-come-and-meet-the-spaz-me-who-got-lost-in-her-own-neighborhood/308301.md?page=1)