My sister went hang-gliding yesterday, and now I feel like a big wimp. My most daring acts were probably cutting off my long hair in one fell swoop and finally moving out of my home town (not at the same time).
But you guys must have more interesting tales to tell. What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done?
I wore white shoes ** after ** Labor Day. Once. Ended badly.
What type of daring? Daring do? Physically daring? Emotionally? Financially?
Anyway, I’d say the most daring thing I’ve ever done that could risk my life is climing the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming about 1/2 way up, without any climbing experience, with no equipment, on my 13th birthday. I just wanted to, so I did.
–Tim
I guess I was thinking physically, but no one’s really biting anyway. 
but actually, let me tell you about the reference I made. The movie * Serial Mom * a John Waters flick starring Kathleen Turner. Rent it. Unless you don’t like odd humor. If you don’t, then let me know and I’ll type out the reason. Honest. the line was funny. (my entire office laughed - [sub]ok, so I was the only one here [/sub]
ok, I’ll play nice. I’m a scardy cat myself, turn green in Ferris Wheels, startle easily, am afraid of heights etc. So, risk is not my best friend.
Riskiest physical things I’ve done:
attempt to capture a bat while locked in our bathroom so my 3 year old son wouldn’t get scared.
Hung up on an angry inmate - next time I saw her, she threw me up against the wall, took 3 people to pull her off of me.
Carried a paper bag (that had been in a waste basket) down the hall to the incinerator (did I forget to mention that I’d emptied my ashtray into said wastebasket and it was smoking???).
Drove on Woodward Avenue (near Detroit).
there. Better?
I went skydiving once. Did a tandem jump. Basically you’re strapped doggy style into a harness with the “expert.” The expert was a nice guy, but not my type. 
The advantage of doing a tandem jump is that you get 30 seconds of free fall on the first (only, in this case) jump. The free-fall was pretty scary ("OMG, I’m plummeting to my death!!!’). Once we pulled, it was more like an amusement park ride.
The bruises I got from the “pull” were so bad it looked like I had been sexually assaulted. But all in all, a very memorable experience.
I’d say the most physically daring thing I’ve ever done was stepping off a 150 foot cliff backwards.
Of course, I was roped in at the time. Rappelling is fun, but don’t ask me to climb higher than the 4th step on a ladder!
Most physically daring thing I’ve ever done? My ex-girlfriend. Don’t ask.
Don’t stress, wring. I got the joke. And you’re right, that is a pretty good movie considering Ricki Lake is in it. ::shudder::
The most physically daring thing I’ve done? I guess it was probably a year or two ago when I was with my friend in her car, “chasing” this guy that she had a crush on. He worked at a convenience store in town and we warned him we were going to follow him home. He decided to make it a bit hard on us.
Anyway, when we left the gas station, Pam was driving. After we got out of town, the guy started to speed up, turn suddenly, “cat and mouse” type stuff. She wasn’t used to driving this way and actually was kind of scared by it. I can’t remember whose idea it was, but we agreed to set the cruise at about 70mph and switch drivers. It happened so fast and went so smoothly that neither of us could believe we’d actually done it.
We both heard it from our parents as we, giggling, told them about it the next day. Car keys hidden from us, both “grounded” for weeks, having to listen to the “You’re lucky to be alive” speech hundreds of times. We both were very lucky and definitely learned from the experience.
The most daring thing I did involves a old restored farm house that my boyfriend lives in with 4 other guys. The upstairs rooms are all connected together–you walk up the stairs and end up in the first room, then walk through a door into the next room then walk through another door into the back room. My boyfriend has this middle room that you have to walk through to get to the back bedroom.
One night we were getting hot and heavy and his room mate was in his room in the back with his girlfriend. We threw off the covers and started doing the deed with our heads towards the foot of bed, knowing that at any moment the roomate and his girlfriend could walk through the room. They did walk through about 5 seconds after we got back under the sheets!
Is this whas you’re looking for? 
I’ll keep this one short.
I did the highest bungee jump in the world (at least, it was the highest in November 1998 - not sure now). This meant diving off the Bloukrans bridge near Knysna, South Africa, down 216 meters towards the Storm river.
I’ll tell you one thing: that is an amount of adrenalin you’re not likely to forget. Man, what a rush.
running into a burning building, woo hoo what a blast!
Umm, when I was 19, I had the brilliant idea of trying to beat the train on my bicycle.
The crossing’s view was obscured at the time by foliage, and buildings, beyond the width of the street. It was not possible to see the train coming from the road.
I was on my way to a friends house, and was in a hurry. The gates were down. The lights were flashing. The bell was dinging. I pedaled as fast and hard as I could, and flew across the threshold of the crossing. The instant I enetered the track-zone, I heard the, “FFWAAAAAAAAAAAMP!” of the horn to my left. I glanced and saw the locomotive no less than 15-20 feet away from me. I didn’t hesitate and flew safely across the crossing, being JUST barely missed by the train by about one second. It was moving pretty fast.
Needless to say that to this day, I have never since made any attempt to cross while the gates are down, unless I can see there’s absolutely nothing coming for like over a half-mile. If someone else tries to go around the downed gates while I am in their car, I go into a panic. Some jerk-asses have done that to me as a joke, and it is NOT funny! It’s fucking stupid. We’ll see how fun it is when you, I, or all of the people in the car, end up dead, in several dozen twisted bloody pieces.
To anyone reading this: PLEASE, for your own safety, and everyone else with you, NEVER try to beat a train!! It’s stupid. I got very lucky. God was watching over me that day. Most people aren’t so fortunate.
At nineteen, a few of my friends snuck on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, in the attempt to go ghost hunting. We were on deck when we got the brilliant idea of climbing the smokestacks. So we did. Did you know those smokestacks are about 100’ tall? Great view of Long Beach, though. Thought I was going to die when I had to climb back down.
Actually, the advantage of doing a tandem jump is that you don’t have to do any work, and have to go through almost no training before bailing out of the plane. You also, of course, have an expert strapped to your ass.
Probably the most daring thing I’ve done was doing a non-tandem skydive. Longer training, scarier, but also well worth it.
Physically ? Hang-gliding. In Denmark, where there are no mountains, you learn the basics by gliding down a couple of hills (easy), then it’s off to wire starts - i.e., 1000 m nylon rope goes through a block and is attached to an old Volkswagen - and to you. Balancing 35 kgs of nylon wing on your shoulders, saying “Drive, drive, drive” over the intercom for the first time and seeing the rope tighten - whew, talk about adrenaline.
It’s the one activity I’ve stopped doing because I wanted to live longer - people got seriously hurt all the time. Great parties, though…
S. Norman
Oh Yes ! It might only take about 5 seconds but the rush lasts at least 24 hours. The thing that surprised me, probably cos I hadn’t thought it through, was the second ‘jump’, the one after you bounce almost back up to the top. I thought “OK, that was great” and then whoa ! it starts all over again.
Did mine at what they called the “highest bungi jump in the world from a building” - actually it was just a gigantic crane hanging over the Thames (by Battersea Bridge) - unfortunately, the tide was out :eek:
Serious rush.
Once, at the request of my mother, I retreived my sister from the home of six brothers. I had had a confrontation with these boys years earlier and knew that they were trouble. My sister was sixteen and running away with one of them.
I boldly walked into their house, demanded that she get her “shit” . The boys just sat there in disbelief. They were all home and not one of them objected.
Of course the nickle-plated automatic in my waistband (clearly visible) may have had some impact.
After delivering her to my mom’s , I bravely went home and changed my underwear.
I was a security guard at Kelowna’s City Park.
I abruptly woke up 12 fruit picking Frenchmen with a 5 cell Mag-Lite who were sleeping in a tunnel under the floating bridge.
4 of them didn’t like being hit in the feet with a 6 lb flashlight. The beat the living tar out of me.
Daring or stupid?
Beating up Frenchmen? Daring or Stupid? NOBEL, I’d say