# Mundane lightbulb moments **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 19, 2011, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-lightbulb-moments/603426 "2011-11-19T06:00:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-lightbulb-moments/603426/21 "2011-11-22T19:29:30Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > I grew up on Lake Superior, and when I was a kid, it always struck me as profoundly strange that people called those little pond things that you could see across “lakes”. A Lake was something huge and deep and cold and you definitely couldn’t see across it. Those other things? I dunno what they should be called, but they definitely shouldn’t have the same name as a real Lake. I didn’t grow up near the Rockies, but I do remember seeing them for the first time after spending a lifetime on the prairies, and I feel the same way about what people call “mountains” in the east - you call that a mountain? It has trees growing right up across the top of it! ETA: Like **Limegreen** , I practically had to stop my car and just stare the first time I drove into the mountains. Holy crap, those are some mountains! ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-lightbulb-moments/603426/22 "2011-11-22T20:24:49Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Eh, a lot of the Midwest has rolling hills, even small mountains and the like. I grew up in the Midwest, and my OMFG moment like that was visiting relatives in Texas. We were driving outside of Houston and it was like I could see forever, the land was so flat. I’m pretty sure I looked like: :eek: Yeah, some parts of Texas are like that. And some parts of Oklahoma, too. I don’t know how many hours I’ve spent driving across OK, from Texas to Missouri and back again, and let me tell you, a lot of that particular route in OK is flat land, just prairie with a road across it. No TOWNS, even. ---
**Author:** ![Bilbo1967](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bilbo1967](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bilbo1967)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-lightbulb-moments/603426/23 "2011-11-22T20:54:07Z")
Read in a newspaper yesterday that one of our more brain-dead celebrities realised very recently that the Sun and the Moon are not the same thing. She tweeted this, rather than, say, not ever telling anybody. This celebrity was a non-celebrity, who was ironically introduced to a celebrity reality show as a joke (pretending to be a celebrity), won the show and went on to be an actual celebrity 😕 So, to return to the topic of this thread, personal epiphanies; mine is that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that is too stupid or banal to pass for entertainment on the idiot box nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-lightbulb-moments/603426/24 "2011-11-22T21:23:36Z")
The opposite of little newly-planted trees in a neighborhood: the little ones in my neighborhood are all grown up now. I noticed this fall, how pretty in the sun the trees were, and when I moved here there were hardly any houses. ---
**Author:** ![Bri2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/48db29/32.png) [@Bri2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bri2k)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-lightbulb-moments/603426/25 "2011-11-22T22:24:49Z")
A three and a half day bus trip to California 20 years ago finally made me appreciate how vast the U.S. is and how empty some of it still is. I knew this conceptually prior to the trip, but now I have a much better understanding of it. Bri2k ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-lightbulb-moments/603426/26 "2011-11-22T23:28:44Z")
I remember being younger and being in a car on the interstate in fairly heavy traffic and suddenly realizing that ALL OF THOSE CARS contained people, for whom their life–even at that very moment–was very important to them. As important as my life was to me. They were all coming from somewhere and all headed to someplace and their lives were every bit as real and meaningful to them as mine was to me. For a little kid it was a suddenly very heavy moment. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-lightbulb-moments/603426/27 "2011-11-22T23:39:35Z")
The other day I couldn’t find my box grater thing (metal box with various cutters on each side). Grabbed my old fashioned carrot/potato peeler. Did a fantastic job. Gave perfect, thin slices of cheese. Why hadn’t I ever tried it before? Never thought of it. Luckily my carrot peeler was pretty new and sharp. Might not do as well with an old rusty one. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-lightbulb-moments/603426/28 "2011-11-23T00:47:24Z")
> [@Bilbo1967](#): > > Read in a newspaper yesterday that one of our more brain-dead celebrities realised very recently that the Sun and the Moon are not the same thing. She tweeted this, rather than, say, not ever telling anybody. > > This celebrity was a non-celebrity, who was ironically introduced to a celebrity reality show as a joke (pretending to be a celebrity), won the show and went on to be an actual celebrity 😕\ Oh, please, I have to know who this is. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-lightbulb-moments/603426/29 "2011-11-23T03:33:54Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > I was twelve or so, standing in the kitchen doorway and looking out the opposite window when I noticed something very wrong. _Aren’t trees supposed to have leaves?_ That’s when we knew I needed glasses. I also had the “tree have leaves” moment when I got my first pair of specs at age 7. I also discovered that buildings are made of bricks. Who knew? Now, having worn glasses for 37 years, you’d think I could have had this next epiphany on my own, but no, the doctor had to show me. I’ve been having trouble reading/seeing up close for about a year, and at my last exam the doc started throwing around the B word. Sure enough, by the time this year’s exam came around, I was ready to discuss bifocals. Doc prescribed them, and then he told me, “In the meantime, when you want to read something up close, just do this.” And he slid my glasses down my nose about half an inch, and the card of text I was holding in my hand came into sharp focus. It was a total :smack: moment for me. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-lightbulb-moments/603426/30 "2011-11-23T04:20:05Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > I also had the “tree have leaves” moment when I got my first pair of specs at age 7. I’m starting to gather that it’s a pretty common reaction, which is kind of interesting in itself. ---
**Author:** ![Bilbo1967](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bilbo1967](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bilbo1967)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-lightbulb-moments/603426/31 "2011-11-23T19:32:23Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Oh, please, I have to know who this is. An emarassment to our nation by the name of Chantelle Houghton. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-lightbulb-moments/603426.md?page=1)