# Mundane things you've done but probably will never do again
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 18, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519 "2011-07-18T23:46:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/1 "2011-07-18T23:46:32Z")
This isn’t for depressing things like “pee without excruciating pain” or “kiss my dead grandma” but more mundane things that due to “time moving onward” you’ll likely never have the need or opportunity to do again. Examples:
THINGS I’VE DONE BUT PROBABLY WILL NEVER DO AGAIN
-Rewind a VHS tape
-Transport a grown goat in a hatchback car
-Change a record player needle
-Adjust a TV antenna (or inserted a coathanger when there was no antenna)
-Formatted a floppy disk
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### Author:  [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/2 "2011-07-18T23:50:30Z")
Make a campfire without matches. Did it as a girl scout, but short of the apocalypse, don’t expect to do it again.
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### Author:  [@David42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David42)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/3 "2011-07-18T23:58:28Z")
Click on this thread.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/4 "2011-07-19T00:06:46Z")
Watch a black and white TV.
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### Author:  [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/5 "2011-07-19T00:29:44Z")
> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> -Rewind a VHS tape
>
> -Transport a grown goat in a hatchback car
>
> -Change a record player needle
>
> -Adjust a TV antenna (or inserted a coathanger when there was no antenna)
>
> -Formatted a floppy disk
One of those items doesn’t seem quite as mundane as the others..
How about…unpack a tube TV from a box?
-D/a
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/6 "2011-07-19T00:32:37Z")
> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> -Formatted a floppy disk
Or just, -Used a floppy disk (Though the days of formatting them are even longer gone)
-Paid for gas with cash
-Mixed up a pitcher of Kool-Aid (although, now that I think of it, maybe I should, for old times’ sake)
---
### Author:  [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/7 "2011-07-19T00:44:48Z")
- stitched myself up with dental floss (protip: do not use the minty variety)
- filled a fountain pen
- cleaned the ball and rollers on a non-optical mouse
- painstakingly sorted 45-rpm records onto that stacking gizmo the record player had (fast, slow, fast, slow)
- had a roll of film developed
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### Author:  [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/8 "2011-07-19T00:45:53Z")
- Dial a telephone
- Tune in a radio or UHF TV station by using that very persnickity knob
- Cook popcorn on the stove (JiffyPop!)
- Write a BASIC program
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### Author:  [@YaraMateo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaraMateo)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/9 "2011-07-19T00:55:07Z")
-Go to my campus again. Anything I need from them I can get online.
-Go to the lake I went to as a child. It was a great spot, but I don’t remember the name and don’t talk to the family members who took me.
-Have jello shots.
-Shop at Forever 21.
---
### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/10 "2011-07-19T02:15:13Z")
Begin a paper with **C:**
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### Author:  [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/11 "2011-07-19T02:46:39Z")
Use a dwell-tach and a timing light.
Work as a pump jockey at a full service gas station.
Go on a date to a drive-in movie in a Rambler.
Go to restaurants/gas-stations with 3 bathrooms (or if I do, the third one will now be for family or handicapped).
Write my programs on IBM cards, or do programming in 360 assembly.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/12 "2011-07-19T02:51:52Z")
Ride a horse
We had a couple of horses on the farm I used to work at and I could ride. And later I rode a horse a few times when I was working my regular job. But I haven’t ridden a horse in over twenty-five years and I don’t even know anyone who owns a horse. So like the OP said, I don’t expect I’ll ever be in a position where I’ll have the need or opportunity to ride again.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/13 "2011-07-19T03:02:20Z")
Have a summer vacation!
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### Author:  [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/14 "2011-07-19T03:36:02Z")
[ul]
[li]Use a slide rule to make a calculation.[/li][li]Write a program in BASIC or FORTRAN.[/li][li]Make a call using a rotary phone.[/li][li]Buy gas for under $1 per gallon.[/li][li]Go to class.[/li][li]Change an incandescent bulb.[/li][li]Use an encyclopedia.[/li][li]Pay rent.[/li][/ul]
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### Author:  [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/15 "2011-07-19T05:46:28Z")
-Ride in the back of a pickup on the freeway
-Ride/drive motorcycle without helmet
-See my natural hair colour (on my own head, anyway)
-Give a stylist free reign to cut my hair ‘whatever you think looks best’.
-Use a floppy disk for anything but a frisbee
---
### Author:  [@KinkiNipponTourist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinkiNipponTourist)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/16 "2011-07-19T06:09:28Z")
1. Listen to music on those–what are they even called?–little discs, about 2 inches across, that go into a special player, not much bigger? Whatever they are. The band I used to be in put all their songs on them. I got kicked out of the band and what a pleasure it was to throw those fuckers out.
2. Turn on my old Dell desktop. I got Mr. MacBook Pro a year ago, and kept telling myself I’d someday figure out how to download stuff (whatever’s on there after 7 years) onto Mr. Mac. Now I can’t even remember what’s on there, so I’m tossing it.
3. Use one of those stupid tokens that IT gives out to get on-line somewhere. The ones where a secret passcode changes every 30 seconds, and you have to plug in whatever one’s showing at that moment to hop on-line. Buh?
4. Go home for Christmas. ::cough::
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### Author:  [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/17 "2011-07-19T06:19:59Z")
1. Give a graduation speech.
2. Check the time on my wristwatch.
3. Ride in the open bed of a moving pickup truck.
Edit: I swear I didn’t see **Taomist** ’s post when I made my list!
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### Author:  [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/18 "2011-07-19T08:54:07Z")
Take a pregnancy test.
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### Author:  [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/19 "2011-07-19T12:04:29Z")
-make a mixed tape (i.e. record a lot of bands onto a cassette tape)
-roll a cigarette (we were talking about that in another thread. I quit smoking ages ago, but the thread brought back memories)
-go fishing (my Old Man used to take me, but I have no interest whatsoever in going on my own)
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [July 19, 2011, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mundane-things-youve-done-but-probably-will-never-do-again/589519/20 "2011-07-19T12:29:40Z")
> [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#):
>
> Make a campfire without matches. Did it as a girl scout, but short of the apocalypse, don’t expect to do it again.
My first thought was “oh, I can’t believe you had fire lighters in girl scouts!”
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