# Things you once swore you'd never do but did anyway. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 5, 2005, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812 "2005-04-05T07:03:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/41 "2005-04-05T23:55:52Z")
Drinking. Somewhere in senior year of high school, I swore I wouldn’t drink again. That lasted until three days before I graduated. Stopped again in August, swore I wouldn’t drink at school, which lasted until my first night at college. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Aquafina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/50afbb/32.png) [@Aquafina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquafina)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/42 "2005-04-06T00:11:53Z")
> [@Bites When Provoked](#): > > Hey, I got a mention in an OP! Go, me. > > I’ve certainly made a bundle of those kinds of statements in the past, but the most obvious ones that came back to bite me in the backside were: > > **1: Any woman who gets involved with a guy who is mean to her - be it physically or mentally - is a damned idiot.** > My second boyfriend made a great job of scarring my psyche. What I’d never realised was that most people who are \*really \* good at mental (and presumably physical) domination don’t show it at the outset. They work it in slowly and convince you it’s _you_ that’s the problem. > > **2. Cheating on your SO is reprehensible and unforgiveable. > 2a. With his best friend is even worse. > 2b. Particularly if that Best Friend is sharing a house with you.** > Yet, at a point very near the end of the relationship with the ex (above), I turned to his best friend - who, it should be noted, is also \*my \* best friend, though we met through my ex - who had seen the decline of our relationship, always been keen on me, and basically turned away from his friend because of his treatment of me. I didn’t actually sleep with him, but I did wind up kissing him passionately. (Not a stoning offence, but since I have an extraordinarily low sex drive it’s probably on par with jumping his bones). > > **3. Anyone who’s in a stupid situation and doesn’t get out has to be totally mental - and probably deserves it. (subtitled: stupid situations are for stupid people)** > So my ex and I break up. We’re co-owners (or at least mortgagees) of the house we’re in though, and I can’t afford rent anywhere else. So I move out to the lounge room and sleep on the couch, while he keeps the bedroom and MY bed. I make it clear to BestFriend that I’m not in a position to be involved with anyone right now and that one kiss thing was under the influence of alcohol (I don’t normally drink) and I’m terribly sorry to have lead him on like that. He’s still renting out the spare room. > > I throw myself into online gaming as an escape from the depression, confusion, and low self-esteem situation I’m in, and - (no, wait, this needs a new headline) > > **4. Anyone getting into an ‘online romance’ needs their heads read.** > > - get unreasonably attached to a charming man who I probably left more messed up than I was, frankly. We were awfully compatible on a lot of levels but it certainly didn’t justify the obsessive zeal which I pored into it. He did his best to keep me at arm’s length while still being affectionate and supportive though, and I’m forever grateful for both those actions. > > \*\*5. Rebound relationships are NEVER a good idea. \*\* > **6. And anyone who gives me an ultimatum can go to hell.** > So anyway, it’s been about 7 months since ex and I ‘broke up’ but I’m still living with him (on the couch) in the house we bought together. My life is going to hell in a handbasket, my online boyfriend doesn’t love me (though he’s awful fond), my ex never loved me (and found me unattractive as well - a whole 'nother story) and now BestFriend (remember him, from points 2 and 3?), tells me that he’s loved me for years and can’t go on being just my friend anymore because it’s too painful for him. > > Basically, he says either I give him a go as a boyfriend or he’s outta there. I soul-search and decide that I could lose him if I go the boyfriend route, but then he’s outta there as a friend if I don’t…and besides, he’s funny and clever (AND thinks I’m dead hawt - can you imagine?) and the fact of the matter is that I’d be utterly bereft if I lost him. > > _So_, I think to myself, _I guess at this point I have nothing to lose_. > > **7. (never stated publically, but pretty much a given)And if you do take up with the ex’s best friend, continuing to live in the same house but in a different bedroom is totally whack.** > So I move in to BestFriend’s bedroom, which bothers my Ex not at all, since he wasn’t ever that keen on me anyway and is more concerned that this doesn’t affect his relationship with his friend (too late by about 12 months, but Ex was never insightful) and as long as the mortgage money (or ‘rent’, if you prefer) keeps coming, he’s not bothered. We continue to rent there for about eight months before being booted out because Ex has someone else he wants to move into our room. > > [ul]But hang on, Bites! Don’t you still half-own that house?[/ul] > Why yes, yes I do. But I allow myself to be kicked out anyway. Which leads neatly into … > > **8. Don’t let anyone shaft you out of your legal entitlements. Especially yourself.** > So BestFriend and I move out, and I force the change of house ownership issue. All I want back is the 5k I paid as deposit (donated by my grandparents) and he can keep the house which has doubled in value during the last 2 years, and we’ll write off as a learning experience all the money I’ve paid into the mortgage since that time. I could \*easily \* force him to get the house valued and ‘buy me out’, but I elect to just leave it at that. (I still think that was a small price for closure, actually.) > > ======== > For anyone who cares about happy endings, I’ve been with BestFriend for about 7 or 8 years now, we have our own home that we love, and this will be our fifth anniversary of marriage. He’s my soul mate and we’re as happy as clams - and still best friends! It took a really weird, totally screwy and morally/socially/logically ambiguous road to get there, but it all worked out for the best. Ex is happy too, in case anyone cares. > > But that, dear reader, is why I \*never \* say never. I honestly believe that as soon as I go declaring a moral absolute, karma or perhaps my own contrary psyche immediately start putting into motion events that force me to become/do the very thing I condemned from my position of holier-than-thou superiority. And when those things come in quick succession, it can really take the wind out of your sails, let me tell you. > > Karma doesn’t play fair - it not only kicks you when you’re down, it wears steel-toed boots. 😃 It has thankfully been a number of years since I’ve been booted significantly…though I do still get minor prods when I get too cocky. God, I saved your stories. :wally ---
**Author:** ![gfloyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d2c977/32.png) [@gfloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gfloyd)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/43 "2005-04-06T01:51:03Z")
I swore I’d never, ever LARP (live action role playing). I swore I’d never, ever under any circumstance enter a goth club and would certainly never enjoy it. Yeah, the same damn friend wore down my resolve on both. I’m going clubbing tomorrow night and an thrilled I actually get to play my Eshu in the Changling LARP on Saturday. ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/44 "2005-04-06T01:55:02Z")
1. Get all giggly and stupid around someone I have a crush on 2. Call an ex while drunk 3. Start smoking 4. Start smoking _again!_ 5. Use my credit card to buy something I really can’t afford 6. Take back a certain ex who broke my heart 7. Take back a certain ex who broke my heart _again!_ 8. Gain back the 10 lbs I worked hard to lose 9. Take criticism of my work personally 10. Cry in the office (I did manage to lock myself in a bathroom stall before the tears came) Okay, I’m going to quit now while I still have some self respect! ---
**Author:** ![Lathe\_of\_Heaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Lathe\_of\_Heaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lathe_of_Heaven)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/45 "2005-04-06T03:13:08Z")
Oh, man. This happens to me so often; I swear, the cosmos is trying to teach me humility or something. **Episode the First** I go visit UC Davis with my sister when she’s a senior in high school and I’m a junior. I spend the whole day ragging on the place, how you wouldn’t catch me dead at UCD, how I had my sights set on Berkeley and only Berkeley, etc., etc. I turned down Berkeley to attend UCD. Then I stayed on for a master’s. **Episode the Second** All my young life, I looked down on Los Angeles as only a native Northern Californian can. I was often heard to sneer that I would never ever live in LA, yea, even if the heavens fell. Then the jobs in my field were not to be found in NorCal, and I got offered this really GOOD job in LA… **Episode the Third** OK, OK, so I was resigned to move to LA. But to make it more bearable, I swore that I would only live on the Westside. The Valley, you say? Pfui. Leave it for the brain-dead, and leave the Westside for me. Escrow closes early next month on my new place in the Valley. So now I’ve sworn that I will never swear off anything… ---
**Author:** ![START](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@START](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/START)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/46 "2005-04-06T03:19:59Z")
When I was 10 I learned about masturbation and came to the conclusion that it was disgusting, gross and plain wrong. Then a few years later I was disgusting, gross and plain wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/47 "2005-04-06T04:44:47Z")
I used to swear that I’d never swear. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/48 "2005-04-06T06:01:02Z")
> [@Harimad-sol](#): > > I swore I’d never get drunk. I’ve only done it once and I have no plans to re-visit that state. It just reminded me how little I enjoy even moderate drinking. Oh man, I forgot about that one. Did you eventually decided that you wanted to try it or did it just happen? I was always very careful about alcohol and always swore I’d never get drunk but then the bartenders at my work gave me this awesome drink in which I couldn’t taste the alcohol, and then another which was just as deadly. I woke up the next morning with very few memories from the night before. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/49 "2005-04-06T13:31:52Z")
99 times out of a hundred, when I say I won’t do something, I’m right. I’ve got just enough willful stubbornness in me to not do something, all else being equal, just because I said I wouldn’t. The only exception that leaps to mind at the moment : I promised myself I wouldn’t get a Playstation (the original). One of my college roommates had a Playstation. I picked up a secondhand game or two to play on that Playstation. College roommate sold off his Playstation. I couldn’t play my games. The PS2 - a legitimate exception to my previous decision - was still over a year away. I bought a secondhand Playstation. ---
**Author:** ![Fringe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5a626/32.png) [@Fringe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fringe)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/50 "2005-04-06T14:21:03Z")
**1. I swore that I would never have sex before being married** That didn’t quite pan out. **2. I swore that I’d always be a Christian** Wow, that one really didn’t pan out. **3. I swore that I’d never drink alcohol** Haha. **4. I swore I’d never use drugs** I’ve broken that one a few times. **5. I swore I’d never move for a girl** Well, sort of. The location of my SO has influenced some of my decisions, but I’ve made sure to have plenty of legitimate reasons for relocating as well. **6. I swore I’d never pay monthly subscriptions for online games** Too late for that one. I’ve also learned that life can be suprising, and it’s usually not a good idea to swear that something will never be done. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/51 "2005-04-06T14:58:22Z")
I swore (as a geology grad student) that I’d never move to Houston, work for an oil company, and correlate well logs all the livelong day. But I did. Fortunately, the grease company laid me off, and I never looked back; but I’m still in Houston. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/52 "2005-04-06T15:09:30Z")
I swore that I would not have a Catholic Priest officiate at any wedding where I was the bride. See, I really resent all the stuff required beforehand like the class and the prenuptial investigation and being asked to raise your kids in the church and stuff, not to mention the requirement my husband’s parish has that the wedding must take place in a church when I wanted it to take place in a catering hall. I even think it’s ridiculous that they want to see your baptism certificate; to me, religion is sort of along the lines of a hobby and should not act like it has rules . It’s all about compromise though and we were lucky enough to find an order of priests who don’t do any of that and so we did have a Catholic priest at my wedding along with my dad, who is a minister. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/53 "2005-04-06T15:12:50Z")
Ditto to the “start smoking” and “start smoking—AGAIN” posts. Others: -Return to Alabama after leaving -Date somebody much younger than I am -Try the Atkins Diet ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/54 "2005-04-06T16:37:33Z")
Drive drunk. Sleep with someone who already is with another woman. Sleep with someone who already is with another woman ever again. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/55 "2005-04-06T18:55:18Z")
I was never going to smoke. (Blew that one) After I quit for 3 years I would never smoke again. (dammit!) I would never drink. (really blew that one) No drugs. (I spent my early twenties flipping the bird to that promise) I would never get involved with a man. (that smarmy asshole) I would never marry that man (I have no resolve) I would never stay with someone who cheated on me or hit me. (took six years to remember I made that promise) Would never cheat on an SO. (well it was only one time and man that was a long time ago and I cheated on the bastard ex husband) Would never fall in love again. (I pulled that off for about 7 years after the divorce but fell in love with my current girlfriend a year and a half ago) Would never ever again live with someone I was dating. (ooops) I would never ever date someone more than 2 years younger than me. (um, yeah, she’s alot younger than 2 years but at least she falls within the “half my age + 7 rule”) I would never buy a house, especially with a lover. (welcome to my mortgage) I would never have kids (HA! This time the Universe loses. Unless my girlfriend brutally attacks me with a loaded turkey baster, I am free and clear) I haven’t done drugs in years, I quit drinking, but hey I still smoke. I’m in love with a great girl, we moved in together and we bought a house last fall. Oh yeah, I would never move to a smaller town, and I would never take a desk job. I can hear the gods laughing now. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/56 "2005-04-07T01:08:15Z")
> [@kimera](#): > > Oh man, I forgot about that one. Did you eventually decided that you wanted to try it or did it just happen? I was always very careful about alcohol and always swore I’d never get drunk but then the bartenders at my work gave me this awesome drink in which I couldn’t taste the alcohol, and then another which was just as deadly. I woke up the next morning with very few memories from the night before. :smack: I do not put things that don’t taste good in my mouth, and the taste of alcohol has always disgusted me. Besides, both sides of my family are liberally populated with alcoholics, including my father, who drank himself out of any ability to work. I reasoned that one drink leads to another, especially in the case of someone like myself, who can tend to compulsion. Don’t have that first drink, I always thought, and kept to it. Well, I went out with a bunch of people I didn’t know that well once. Their preferred entertainment was drinking. Someone bought me a beer. I struggled through it, because I hate beer. Someone bought me another. I struggled through it. Someone bought me another. The third beer, to my surprise, was not nearly so disgusting as the first two had been, and the fourth wasn’t bad at all. Continued drinking more, with a few vodka and cranberry juices just for variety. I expected to have a hangover but did not. I decided drinking wasn’t that much fun. I try to avoid alcoholic beverages as much as possible. Occasionally I would like a drink, but it’s generally something where the alcohol would be disguised so I couldn’t really taste it. I drink maybe twice a year now, one drink each time. I keep thoughts of my father close in mind, and that keeps me from drinking. Didn’t intend for this to become a sob story. I was just trying to answer the question. Oh, well. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/57 "2005-04-07T01:18:42Z")
\*\*(1) Answer my cell phone while in the men’s room. \*\* I broke this rule once, but only when I was expecting a really critical call. I avoided accompanying the conversation with any exotic bodily noises, but had to hang up quick when someone else came in to take a leak. \*\*(2) Eat veal. \*\* I’ve fallen off this wagon once in 25 years and have no excuse for it. (But now I try not to get too lit before I order the meal to go with my wine.) **(3) Move back to Kentucky.** I’m a Cleveland native who moved to rural Kentucky in early high school. I depised it and couldn’t wait to leave at the end of high school. For a number of reasons, 21 years later, I moved back. (To Lexington - I still won’t live in the rural counties.) ---
**Author:** ![Fringe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5a626/32.png) [@Fringe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fringe)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/58 "2005-04-07T18:49:48Z")
> [@Kilvert's Pagan](#): > > **(3) Move back to Kentucky.** I’m a Cleveland native who moved to rural Kentucky in early high school. I depised it and couldn’t wait to leave at the end of high school. For a number of reasons, 21 years later, I moved back. (To Lexington - I still won’t live in the rural counties.) I can’t break that rule, I’ve still not left Kentucky. I think I did once swear that I would leave Kentucky, but that desire has long since diminished. I wouldn’t say it won’t ever happen though, that would kind of defeat the general mentality of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/59 "2005-04-07T19:11:42Z")
I swore I’d never set foot back in Rochester, N.Y. after I left it. A year later I was back. It was because of a woman, of course. After we broke up, I swore I’d never set foot in Rochester, N.Y. This time I was able to hold out for almost a decade, but then someone actually paid to send me there and put me up. Since then, I’ve been back several times. Despite what the other parents are saying in this thread, **MilliCal** never used a pacifier. Maybe it’s because we never swore that she’d never use one. ---
**Author:** ![Leviosaurus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Leviosaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leviosaurus)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812/60 "2005-04-07T19:18:11Z")
I’m in a resturant in Japan, my Japanese friend orders a heck of a meal, I’m chowing through all kinds of dishes I don’t recognize, all of it tastes amazing. At one point I say to my friend “These fish nugget things are great!” He says “Yeah, that’s blowfish.” Oops. I had always said that eating blowfish was the stupidest way I knew of to risk your life. But eating blowfish without even knowing it’s blowfish has to rank a few points lower on the stupid scale, I’d say. :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-once-swore-youd-never-do-but-did-anyway/297812.md?page=4)