# Stuff that has happened to you that you are pretty sure that no one else has experienced. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 10, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449 "2015-01-10T00:35:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/21 "2015-01-10T13:21:43Z")
I’ve played cello onstage in Carnegie Hall. With an audience in a real concert sort of thing, not, like, at night after everyone’s gone home. I’ve had my pancreas shrivel up and die. Neither of those are unique, but I bet I’m the only one that’s had both. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/22 "2015-01-10T13:58:43Z")
A .308 rifle blew up in my face. Ouch. I dropped a big cannon ball on one of my fingers. It is rather deformed now. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/23 "2015-01-10T14:33:20Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > **Count Blucher:** What is “pennied in?” I think I can answer this: From outside the room, you forcibly insert a penny, or any coin, in a strategic spot of the doorframe, which prevents the door from being opened. Whoever is inside the room remains trapped inside. (Ah—college pranks!) ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/24 "2015-01-10T14:51:31Z")
When _Time_ magazine was interviewing students about the protest at Gallaudet over the president, I was interpreting, and then they asked to interview me. It was very brief, but they did ask me why I was there as a hearing person, and what my view, as a hearing person, was of the woman with no knowledge or experience of Deafness or sign language trying to become president of the university. As far as I know, I was the only hearing student interviewed, and I was definitely the only one quoted. I don’t remember the exact quote (it was in 1988), but it was something like “There’s nothing wrong with hearing people being here, but it’s not to take care of Deaf people. If we don’t want Deaf people to be leaders, we need to re-examine why we are here.” I’m not the only hearing person who has had the experience of being an undergraduate at Gallaudet, but there have been precious few of us. They were admitting about five a year starting in 1985 or 86; I went for the 87-88 academic year. After the Deaf president protest, the school was flooded with applications from Deaf students who might not have considered college before, or grew up in mainstream programs, and might have struggled with a hearing college before dropping out (it was very common; some eventually transferred to Gallaudet), and international students who didn’t even know about Gallaudet before. The hearing student visiting program was suspended for a while. Last I heard, it had been reinstated, but I don’t remember exactly when. Something straight out of a “very special episode” also happened to me once: when I graduated from high school, my drama teacher gave me the bracelet that _her_ drama teacher had given to her when she graduated from high school. Also, I’m not one for writing fan letters, but I have written two in my life, and I got personal answers to both, pretty impressive, because they were to pretty high level celebrities. When I was 17, I wrote to Lillian Gish, and she answered. When I was in the Army doing training, I actually wrote a response to an essay of Stephen Jay Gould’s, about the reason no terrestrial animal has evolved wheels. It was pretty cheeky, because he had compared wheels to feet, and I said that if you looked at all the parts of an engine it took to move the wheels, feet and legs were just the drive train, like a person on a bicycle. But he wrote me back and said that I was write; however, he was responding to questions from a number of readers who had asked him many time over the years why no creature had evolved wheels “instead of feet.” Lillian Gish and Stephen Jay Gould have probably answered other fan mail personally if they answered mine, but I don’t know anyone else who has gotten personal answers from famous people when there wasn’t some “hook,” like a relative or experience in common, or the writer was also somewhat famous. Meg Cabot answers my emails, but we were friends in high school, so that doesn’t count. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/25 "2015-01-10T14:55:46Z")
I had eight impacted wisdom teeth out. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/26 "2015-01-10T15:12:50Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > Three years later, a second agent asked me to visit his office. He handed me a box of folders, each containing a proposal. To my relief, they weren’t mine. They’d been written by a co-worker, and to the best of my knowledge, there was anything wrong with them. He admitted that he hadn’t read them, but he still wanted me to explain why I was a criminal. After a surreal half-hour, I left without any clue of what was going on. Is there a typo there? Don’t you mean "why I _wasn’t_ a criminal? ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/27 "2015-01-10T15:26:00Z")
> [@RiCu](#): > > In the depths of a cloud forest on the border of Uganda and the Congo I was punched in the stomach (and winded) by an adolescent Mountain Gorilla, one of ~500 remaining in the wild. > > Visitors aren’t allowed within 3 metres of the gorillas. But the gorillas don’t care for rules. While I haven’t been punched by a gorilla I have been smacked by a macaque. I was in Gibraltar and a bunch of them were around. I know better then to play with wild animals so I sat down a few feet away from him to get a photo. He walked over to me and slapped me. I guess he thought I was going to take his food or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/28 "2015-01-10T15:29:47Z")
I was once hit on the head by a hoe, Alex. No, not professionally. I was out playing with a neighbor kid, and we were taking turns waving a gardening implement around. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/29 "2015-01-10T15:44:01Z")
I read **Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator** before learning that it was the sequel to some book called **Charlie and the Chocolate Factory**. (It was a used copy with no dust jacket.) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/30 "2015-01-10T17:10:06Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > In 2005, I received a call from a federal agent. The conversation started politely, with inquiries about my education and technical background. Then she asked about research proposals I’d written for a company I’d worked for years earlier. She considered these proposals to be evidence of heinous criminal wrongdoing, on a par with Al Capone’s tax records. At the end of the call, she made it clear that she intended to put me away. > > Three years later, a second agent asked me to visit his office. He handed me a box of folders, each containing a proposal. To my relief, they weren’t mine. They’d been written by a co-worker, and to the best of my knowledge, there was anything wrong with them. He admitted that he hadn’t read them, but he still wanted me to explain why I was a criminal. After a surreal half-hour, I left without any clue of what was going on. > > I sent a request to the Office of the DoD Inspector General asking for information about the agents’ investigation. They had no idea what I was talking about. This… is the thread winner. Don’t think I’d be able to sleep at night. ---
**Author:** ![InsomniaMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ad7895/32.png) [@InsomniaMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InsomniaMama)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/31 "2015-01-10T19:09:36Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I’ve had my tonsils out three times. My dad did as well. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/32 "2015-01-10T19:15:45Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve had my tonsils out three times. > [@](#): > > My dad did as well. I had a cat who was spayed twice. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Idilia\_Dubb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c2a13f/32.png) [@Idilia\_Dubb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idilia_Dubb)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/33 "2015-01-10T20:00:43Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/34 "2015-01-10T20:40:16Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Also, I’m not one for writing fan letters, but I have written two in my life, and I got personal answers to both, pretty impressive, because they were to pretty high level celebrities. Your college story was pretty cool. I don’t have any unique experiences, so I wasn’t going to post here, but I did want to address this. I write fan letters to writers all the time. I always get a reply that tells me that he or she has taken the time to read what I wrote because points in my letter were addressed. Writers depend on us, the reader, for their living. They all seem to enjoy hearing from their fans and they seem to value our feedback. Sometimes it takes a while to get a reply, but I always get one. That makes me happy, so I write back. They write back 🙂 They even seem to remember me from past correspondence because they will often refer back to points I made in past letters. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/35 "2015-01-10T21:07:27Z")
I walked out of Iraq during the US invasion, twice. The second time, I posted about it as it was happening here on the dope. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/36 "2015-01-10T21:11:27Z")
> [@InsomniaMama](#): > > My dad did as well. Did your Dad’s grow back “naturally,” or did my Mom drag _him_ to the same incompetent doctor she took me to, twice? > [@chappachula](#): > > I had a cat who was spayed twice. 🙂 Hopefully, different doctor. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/37 "2015-01-10T21:53:29Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Hopefully, different doctor. :eek: I know someone who took a cat to be spayed a second time, because she didn’t know that the shelter spayed eight-week-old kittens, since they’d gotten tired of adopters’ non-compliance with promises to spay/neuter. Eight weeks is pretty young, but the survival rate was high, and when you balanced the few kittens who didn’t make it against animals who had to be euthanized because they weren’t adopted, I guess it seemed like a gambit that paid off. Anyway, the shelter wasn’t publicizing the policy, because they knew some people wouldn’t like it, but they _were_ telling individual adopters “your animal is already fixed,” this woman just wasn’t paying attention. When the vet shaved this kitten (who was four or five months old at this point), she saw a faint scar, so she took an x-ray, and then called the owner. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/38 "2015-01-10T21:56:19Z")
Well, I’ve been bitten by a tiger. I know I can’t be the only one able to say that in the world, but on this board? Maybe. [Oh, sure, he was just a cub, but still counts right?](https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10731177_10205267562192318_8400680695624836555_n.jpg?oh=2f9ddd9ed7e35f7b331982baf4c71310&oe=55343557& __gda__ =1433080066_1461285ce986c1724a08d15d2f5844ee) (Yes, that’s my hand…right before he bit the hell out of it) ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/39 "2015-01-10T22:06:37Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I had eight impacted wisdom teeth out. Eight! I knew somebody who had six, but I had never heard of eight. As for me, I got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449/40 "2015-01-10T22:11:15Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I don’t know anyone else who has gotten personal answers from famous people when there wasn’t some “hook,” like a relative or experience in common, or the writer was also somewhat famous. Meg Cabot answers my emails, but we were friends in high school, so that doesn’t count. I’ve had multi-round email correspondence with Brooke Breathed and Steven D. Levitt. They’re chatty guys and not super A-list celebrities, but it happened. Oh–and a multi-round Twitter chat with Diana Gabaldon. I guess I caught her at a loose moment; she’s usually a one-response kind of girl. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-that-has-happened-to-you-that-you-are-pretty-sure-that-no-one-else-has-experienced/709449.md?page=3)