So my son, who was maybe 6 at the time, had a hamster who died. Much sadness and a day or two later my wife went out and got a new hamster. Son gets home from school and my wife suggests I surprise him with the new pet.
I call him to come upstairs and proceed to remove the hamster from the cage. This cage had a removable section, which the hamster was conveniently already in. I remove the section, and the little guy decides to dart out at the exact same moment. He’s pinched between the hamster tube and the section I’m lifting out, falls to the floor of the cage, paws up in a classic “dead hamster” pose.
So, my son is bounding up the stairs, I’m in his bedroom with an ex-hamster, quick thinking is the order of the day. I meet him at the door. “Get back downstairs and tell your mother to come up here.”
Mrs. Cheesesteak comes up, I’m still at the door. “What’s going on?”
Me “Just go in there and look.”
She walks into his room… “Seriously what’s going on?”
Me - thinking ‘Is she really that unobservant?’… I walk in. the hamster is fine! He’s an ex-ex-hamster who was apparently just stunned for a few seconds.
[spoiler]Circa October 1978 – over 40 years ago! Pardon my memory.
I found my friends in Corning. They were staying in an abandoned house with a bunch of other people. Maybe 12 people in all? We had water but no electricity. We were the Party House! Someone would come over and we’d glom onto them for cigarettes, beer, weed… whatever they had. Nobody had jobs, we were squatters. I used to go steal vegetables out of people’s gardens just for something to eat.
I got tired of that fairly quickly and being so close to NYC (about 250 miles), I decided to take off and see The Big Apple. I stopped off at a church to get a voucher to some diner and got a burger and fries. Stashed half into my backpack and headed out. I never had trouble getting a ride and got dropped off outside of New York. I remember it started to rain, and it was dusk. I was eating cold fries with one hand, my other thumb out to traffic.
A car pulled over! I got in, and the man was super nice. He ended up driving me all the way into the city, to his friend’s apartment. He gave me $5, a rain slicker and his friend’s phone number. This is kinda hazy in my mind – it was night, and rainy, but I remember having to call the friend who had me come up.
I was a bit freaked out and worried about what I was getting myself into, but he just showed me a bedroom to stay in. I crashed out on the floor even though I’m sure he meant for me to sleep in the bed. I was soaked and dirty and didn’t want to mess up the beautiful bed.
The next morning, he gave me coffee and muffins or something. I asked where I should go and he said, “You’re probably looking for Washington Square Park.” He gave me directions and I walked there.
It was amazing! All sorts of people – businessmen, mothers with strollers, dudes selling joints. I’m from southeast Texas where marijuana was NOT out in the open. So of course, I paired up with a guy who had weed. ������
While we were hanging out, this guy with a camera around his neck walks up with his hands clasped behind his back, looking at his feet. Suddenly he stops near me and asks, “Who’s backpack is this?” I told him it was mine.
He says, “Do you want to earn $10?” My new friend and I look at each other, like WTH? The guy hands me a business card, and says, “Come to this address in an hour. I just want to take your picture.”
Well, ok. Weird! But it was $10… I left my friend at the park after getting vague directions and walked over to the address in Greenwich Village. I finally found it and slightly anxious, walked up to a studio! The photographer was there and had me put on my pack and turn this way and that, took a few pictures and gave me $10! I asked, and it was for some recreational magazine.
I headed back to the park after stopping for a soda and a pack of cigarettes. I learned how to panhandle later.
[/spoiler]
When Mid-daughter was a little 12yo. SJW, she had an opinion on EVERYTHING. And loudly let us know them.
One Saturday when went to a pet shop to simply buy fish food. She wasn’t happy about all the caged pets. (She had PETA leanings).
She wanted, NO demanded I should purchase all the pets so we could release them so they could have freedom and live happily ever after.
I tried explaining to her the foolishness of this plan. Nope, she wouldn’t hear.
I tried telling her the massive amount money this would take. Nope, she wouldn’t hear.
I finally just told her to shut up about it.
As it turns out she had recieved her allowance of $10 that very morning. She insisted she was gonna buy pets with this money. Ok, sez I. Whatever.
Hours later we came home with fish food(I paid for), 4 feeder mice and a small bag of mice food(she paid for). I allowed this because we had a empty aquarium, and to shut her up.
Oh, IDK, maybe 3 weeks later, I look in the mice aquarium and we had 22 mice. Alarming:eek:
I told her we had to get rid of them. Now!
She gave mice to several friends. She gave mice to neighborhood kids.
I quit answering the phone or going out anywhere w/o a disguise.
We singlehandedly added to the invasive mouse problem in that suburb and people were angry at us the rest of the time we lived there.
Never was I so glad to move!