# What's the most surreal moment you've had lately? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 30, 2004, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014 "2004-10-30T13:52:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/21 "2004-10-31T03:33:12Z")
I was at work, late, meeting friends for a movie in 15 minutes, and one of my coworkers had snapped and was running around the office wearing a rabbit hand-puppet and biting people on the ear with it. She managed to pull out one of my earrings, and we spent 10 minutes crawling around on the floor looking for it. When I showed up at the theater, I got to say, “I’m so sorry I’m late, but a rabbit bit my earring off.” ---
**Author:** ![Anise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anise/32/21721_2.png) [@Anise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anise)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/22 "2004-10-31T15:06:25Z")
I thought of another one. At least I think it counts… I’m not sure… we may need to have a vote… Last week, I was digitizing a tape at work for CMT’s _12 Greatest Outlaws_ show (rather surreal in itself.) And what should I see but an interview with Shooter Jennings, Waylon’s kid, with the Mullet of the Apocalypse and the most god-awful aviator sunglasses on the planet, sounding (IMHO) extremely stoned. We all snickered about what a loser Shooter was, who would NAME a child Shooter in the first place (well, Waylon Jennings, I guess), the evil of mullets, how he was probably returning to his exciting career at Circle K after the interview, etc. (You wouldn’t believe how horrible celebrities sound and look in raw interview footage.) Then, in last week’s Star, there was a huge STORY splashed across the center page involving Shooter and a hot Hollywood starlet. Apparently he isn’t such a nonentity after all. So, you decide. Was that surreal? It sort of FELT that way… ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/23 "2004-10-31T15:32:38Z")
The “doors” in my building are offset so you can’t just stare into another office. I say “doors” because there is an opening but no shutting. Think Les Nessman with walls. Friday, my boss walks by argueing with someone about hanging up office decorations. As he passes, he yells, “ **Well, if I had a hammer…** ” What an opening! I had to finish the song lyric so I sang out, “_ **I’d hammer in the morning** _.” Then a disembodied voice from the office next to mine sang, “_ **I’d hammer in the evening** _.” And a voice from farther down the hall sang, "_ **And all day through!!"** _ You don’t get more surreal than disembodied folk tunes on the last workday before Halloween! ---
**Author:** ![noname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@noname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/noname)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/24 "2004-10-31T23:54:18Z")
A few days back, the entire city was covered in thick fog (visivility down ot two meters), and I went cruising down on my fav. stretch of road. Suddenly, the street lights went out, and I was driving in total darkness, my headlights unable to pierce the thick fog. That felt like just out of a classis horror movie, and totally surreal. I half expected a woman dressed in white to be standing in the middle of the road. Surreal. Totally surreal. Another one, only yesterday. A woman at an eatery I frequent, whom I had been trying to ask out suddenly disappeared. For a few day, I hoped that she would return, but when she didn’t after nearly two weeks, I gave up. So yesterday, I went to the said eatery, to get a bite, not hoping to meet her, and who should I meet there?? Yes, the girl had returned. Both of us were surprised. She managed to say ‘Hi’, but all I could manage to say was my order. My feelings were a mix of surprise and extreme joy. Surreal. Truly Surreal. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/25 "2004-11-01T02:47:01Z")
I was at lunch talking about this creepy, awful guy who I really loathe. He lives with this woman I know whose kids I sometimes take out for new clothes and shoes because there are 6 of them and they live in abyssmal circumstances. One of my coworkers says, “Not to change the subject, but they caught The Collegetown Creeper. His name is…” and once she said it, I shouted, “THAT’S THE GUY I WAS JUST TALKING ABOUT!!!” So it turns out I know [The Collegetown Creeper](http://www.theithacajournal.com/news/stories/20041029/localnews/1498350.html). :eek: I had had recently had a nightmare about him assaulting me and me trying to get him arrested, to no avail. Then boom, there he is on the front page of the paper, incarcerated. The sad part is, I feel enormously sad for the children, who I know well and really care about. I, however, am not allowed to go at their house anymore because I think he’s guilty and his “wife” does not agree. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/26 "2004-11-01T19:31:06Z")
> [@](#): > > …visivility… Hmm. Obviously a combination of the words “visibility” and “civility”. Put together it means “The ability to let others see that you’re a nice person” (ex. She had a certain visivility; His is a visivilous personality). Very useful word. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/27 "2004-11-01T19:58:01Z")
I was just outside in front of my apartment, smoking a cigarette. It’s an astoundingly beautiful day out; the weather couldn’t be more perfect, and I’m trying to decide what I’m going to do with my day off. A man walks by, carrying a plastic bag and some random other things, stopping at the recycling bins to dig for more stuff. As he passed by me he glanced and started mumbling something like “mumble mumble AND THE WHOLE WORLD mumble mumble that shit mumble.” He takes a few more steps, then stops, turns around, looks right at me, then spits dismissively on the side of the street. He then said, “and Kerry don’t know shit neither!” then went on walking. Okay, maybe not that surreal for city-dwellers, but a political homeless guy spitting at me was surreal enough for this morning, anyway. Everything else has been kind of routine, anyway. I mean, there is that dead donkey laying on my piano, and it’s covered with ants, and the guy who used his hand to switch his goatee to his armpit and vice-versa, but other than that: boring. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/28 "2004-11-01T20:10:38Z")
> [@Rubystreak](#): > > I was at lunch talking about this creepy, awful guy who I really loathe. He lives with this woman I know whose kids I sometimes take out for new clothes and shoes because there are 6 of them and they live in abyssmal circumstances. One of my coworkers says, “Not to change the subject, but they caught The Collegetown Creeper. His name is…” and once she said it, I shouted, “THAT’S THE GUY I WAS JUST TALKING ABOUT!!!” So it turns out I know [The Collegetown Creeper](http://www.theithacajournal.com/news/stories/20041029/localnews/1498350.html). :eek: Holy crap, talk about your six degrees of separation! I guess I can now be considered only two degrees away from the Creeper, so this is my surreal moment (for the day, at least). ---
**Author:** ![noname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@noname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/noname)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/29 "2004-11-02T17:39:27Z")
> [@Doctor Jackson](#): > > Hmm. Obviously a combination of the words “visibility” and “civility”. Put together it means “The ability to let others see that you’re a nice person” (ex. She had a certain visivility; His is a visivilous personality). > > Very useful word. D’oh :smack: Clearly, the subtlety with which you corrected the mistake is quite visivle. ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/30 "2004-11-02T18:26:42Z")
I just turned 34 last month (my last year in the 18-34 demographic ☹ ) and was driving to work that morning when I was at a stop light. I heard a car horn near me, so I looked over at the only other car on the road, sitting to my left, and the two guys waved at me and smiled! And here I thought I was approaching the crest of the hill, at 34! It made my day and was definitely surreal. Although, anytime I get “checked out” feels surreal, since I’ve only been thin for a little over a year. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/31 "2004-11-02T18:30:13Z")
It was the evening after my father’s funeral (so it’s already pretty friggin’ surreal), and I’m talking to an old friend. He informs me that an old coworker of ours _voluntarily_ submitted himself to be killed and eaten. I pray that was the most surreal moment I ever have. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/32 "2004-11-02T18:55:06Z")
Tim stop that ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/33 "2004-11-02T20:15:22Z")
A little over a year ago, a cousin of my wife passed away from leukemia. Our route to the funeral home took us down one of the main thoroughfares of Timonium, Maryland. One of the strip malls on this street used to have an Ames department store; it had been cleared out and replaced by a rent-for-two-months-then-disappear Halloween store. In order to drum up business for the store, they had a guy out on the sidewalk in costume, waving at traffic and carrying a sign for the store. So, on the way to a funeral, the Grim Reaper waved at us. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/34 "2004-11-02T20:47:56Z")
Not very grand on the surreality scale, but the other night my mother and I were out somewhere, stopped at a traffic light. A man was walking casually down the sidewalk, when all of a sudden, he started skipping. down. the sidewalk. And I’m not talking like a little teeny, tiny skip, I mean, the man looked like a Masai bounding down the sidewalk, arms swinging in that skippity way, clearing two vertifcal feet with each hop. He must have skipped for a quarter mile before we lost sight of him. It was downright bizarre. And funny. My mother and I just looked at each other, mouths open, and burst into laughter. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/35 "2004-11-02T21:57:13Z")
> [@picker](#): > > . > . > . > . > > Exciting? Damn right. Surreal? You better believe it. > > The thing that gets me is that I’m sitting here Doping while two really hot women are naked and cuddling in my bedroom. Damn…This [song](http://www.money-for-nothing.com/disco/ds/oes-eng.html#6) by Dire Straits was rolling through my head as I read your post. The steaminess of your post and the song (if you know the tune) is a perfect combination. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/36 "2004-11-07T10:34:55Z")
This afternoon, Mr. Rilch and I were down at The Farm, raking leaves, while MIL stood nearby. MIL: Look at that jet. Isn’t that awfully high up? Mr. Rilch: Not really. If it was unusually high, you couldn’t see it. MIL: When I was young, planes used to fly over here so low they had to pull up to avoid the mountain. Mr. Rilch: Well, those were probably twin-engine propeller jobs, right? Me: And the pilots waved at you, right? MIL: No, but sometimes they’d dip their wings. Fifteen minutes later, a propeller-driven plane flew over and dipped its wings at us. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/37 "2004-11-07T13:46:38Z")
When we were on our trip this summer in Germany, we did a couple of day trips to Hamburg. On one of them we did the boat tour on the Big Lake in the Middle of the city. It is very beautiful. There are sailboats and those team row boats out everywhere. Very pretty. We look out to see a team row boat with its crew all wearing business suits. Just rowing across and around the lake. It looked like one of those Motivational Posters. It was very surreal. And naturally, I tried to take a picture of it and the battery on my camera died as I clicked. Wah. ---
**Author:** ![Treviathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/838e76/32.png) [@Treviathan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treviathan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/38 "2004-11-07T16:21:49Z")
I was walking home from campus last week. I was a short distance from the university hospital when I heard helicopter blades whirring overhead. Looking up, I see this helicopter (obviously a medical helicopter, by the way) come swooping down onto the hospital landing pad. As it swoops, the force of its blades picks up an orange traffic pylon, and flings it across the street. Right into this old lady sitting on her bike at the crosswalk. Knocked her right over. A traffic cop made sure she was okay - and she seemed fine - but it took all my effort not to giggle anyways as I walked by. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2004, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/39 "2004-11-07T23:01:41Z")
Kind of lame, but I did think “wow, surreal” at the time. The other night I was ordering pizza online as my best friend went to the store to pick up a few things. I called him to ask him if I should get a 2 liter of soda. Then I thought, “Hey, I’m calling someone who’s at the store to see if _I_ should get us some soda. Surreal.” ---
**Author:** ![Ender\_Will](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2004, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014/40 "2004-11-08T06:38:00Z")
This was a little while ago, but as I’m driving through Los Angeles I pass an F250. It’s clearly a work truck, its got a tool box and a ladder in the bed, the sides are kind of scratched and dented. Then I notice the driver. A clown. In full makeup, with blue hair. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-surreal-moment-youve-had-lately/272014.md?page=3)