Which of these cliches from film & television have you experienced in real life?

Cafe Society
61

Looks to me like #64 is the winning number so far.

62

  1. Flushing pills down the toilet, or booze down the drain, etc.

  2. A love triangle.

  3. Friendship torn apart new-found wealth, jealousy, etc.

  4. Hellish descent into booze and pills.

  5. Police interrogation (unavoidable during hellish decent)

  6. A psycho ex. 37) 57) and 60) and 61) - all the same girl

  7. In vino veritas: a revelation or admission while drunk/high.

  8. Abusive drunk for a father.

  9. Dating the boss’ daughter. *37) 57) and 60) and 61) - all the same girl

  1. A charming psychopath. *37) 57) and 60) and 61) - all the same girl

  1. Having sex with someone to get back at someone else. 37) 57) and 60) and 61) - all the same girl

  2. Blowjob in a car while driving.

  3. Picking up a one night stand at a bar.

  4. Cops breaking up a party.

63

Thank you for the clarification! ( cute first meeting story! )

64

  1. Running to catch someone at the airport/train station before they leave. (My parents and brother.)

  2. Deus ex machina – a crisis is resolved by something which is unexpected and totally out of your control. (I didn’t have my homework, and the teacher didn’t collect it because she caught a classmate with–gasp–a calculator! She spent the entire math period lecturing the class on the evils of calculators.)

  3. Being called out of retirement (to complete a specific task).

  4. From the Mouths of Babes: a child who speaks an unrealized truth. (I mentioned a “friend” to my niece, and she asked, “Is he your friend, or is he your boyfriend?” Reader, I married him–Andy L.)

  5. Exceptionally inspirational, once-in-a-lifetime teacher. (I’ve had a couple of these.)

65

Who doesn’t have a psycho ex?

Also I once once a bridesmaid who was hooked up with at a wedding. Well, at the reception. Could barely get back into the stupid dress and try traipsing through San Antonio in THAT on a Sunday morning.

I believe I have flushed some stuff down the toilet in a panic. It clogged the toilet, of course, then turned out to be a false alarm.

sigh I miss my youth sometimes.

66
  1. Manic Pixie Dream Girl

My first girlfriend prided herself on the fact that she was a quirky pixie-like person who loved to live in the moment… it got tiring after four months and we called it quits.

  1. In vino veritas: a revelation or admission while drunk/high.

My cousin got rip-roaring drunk at his brother’s wedding and admitted to me that it seriously depressed him that we don’t hang out anymore like we did when we were little kids… we still don’t hang out.

  1. (Legitimately) crazy mom.

Not my mom, but I’ve witnessed it with other people’s moms.

67

I’ve had a fairly boring life I guess. The only one that truly applies to me is #45, the hard ass drill instuctor.

68

I’ve had a fairly boring life I guess. The only one that truly applies to me is #45, the hard ass drill instuctor.

Although I did tell my then-husband to leave the house, kicked him out, after he confessed to having messed around with another woman.

69

What is odd is that quite a lot of the things that have happened in my life are a lot more unusual than anything in the list. Childhood in a nudist camp. Father was Ronald McDonald. Was a ventriloquist.

70

#2…sort of. I got really high once and felt guilty and paranoid about smoking pot so I scattered almost an ounce* of good weed all over the front lawn at about 2 AM.

Had most of it recovered by 10 AM the next morning. Probably smoked a little lawn debris as well.

*About 40 bucks at the time.

71

#7 and #40 as well.

72
  1. Flushing pills down the toilet, or booze down the drain, etc.
  2. Any shootout/armed standoff/ hostage situation, etc.
  3. Dirty cops.
  4. Jumping or being thrown through a window.
  5. A fugitive from justice.
  6. Voices in your head.
  7. Bribery
  8. Loan sharking
  9. Embezzlement
  10. Police interrogation.
  11. Wearing a wire or bugging someone.
  12. Street gang (or prison gang, etc.)
  13. A charming psychopath.
  14. Extortion/blackmail.
  15. Dramatic “I quit!” moment.

Say what you will about working in a prison but it had its interesting moments. Heck, I’ve got three separate stories that involve looking for somebody’s missing finger.

73
  1. A love triangle. - ugh, college and crushes best forgotten
  2. A great underdog triumph - amateur co-ed rec soccer team, a rag-tag bunch of pick-up scrappers, climbed the ranks from a new bottom division team to win the top division over the course of 2 years or so.
  3. Car chase. - Late teens, brother Gargoyle and I pissed of some rednecks on a country road late at night, were chased hard for a while bumping bumpers, waving weapons, etc.
  4. Manic Pixie Dream Girl - I’m a sucker for them. Found one to marry :slight_smile:
  5. Hard-ass drill instructor - had a flight instructor that straightened my slacker ass out to shape me up for the big exam
  6. Cops breaking up a party. - a few times at college parties
74

Oh, I thought of a (6) Deus ex machina – not quite a crisis, but near enough.

Had a philosophy course in college one time where the grade was based solely on five papers. The semester was about to end in a few days, and I had never gotten around to writing the 2nd paper. Not an insurmountable problem, but I had a couple of term papers about to come due right then, as well as a few late assignments in other courses, plus of course getting ready for finals, so it was a packed schedule, and this paper was going to cost me one of the few evenings I had remaining.

Anyway, at the end of probably our second-to-last class, the professor runs down the list of who still owes her which late papers. To my surprise, she never calls my name, and know I missed that paper. Trying to play it cool, I go up to her after class:

“Excuse me, I was wondering what grades you’ve got down for me for the four papers so far?”
[checks] “Ummm … three B’s and an A. Is that … ?”
“Yep, that sounds right.”

And then I got the hell out of there. The paper had just written itself. I think I pulled an A- in the course.

75

5,10,25,36,37,39,43,44,48,52,53,56,58,59,65,75
And I still consider myself #77 … boring life.

Meflin

76

I already posted in this thread (#29) but all day long today I kept getting those “oh yeah, there was that time” moments. But one that I can’t believe I didn’t remember last night, maybe because it’s so “every man’s fantasy” type and came near the beginning of my WTF phase of life.

In the summer of the year I turned 25 (1980) I had a fairly serious truck wreck when the driver of a car going the other direction crossed the median and hit my rig more or less head on. By November I was ready to work but wasn’t sure I wanted to drive truck again. (I did go back driving in 81) So I became a mall Santa in Orange County California. And I was very surprised, pleasantly I might add, to discover how many women have sexual fantasies involving Santa Claus. It was the best Christmas of my life.

77
  1. I wasn’t a participant but an innocent bystander. Twice.
  2. But in a dance club. It was the '70s.
  3. People tend to talk to me and people tend to blab when they are drunk.
  4. Because fuck that shit. I work, you pay me!
  5. It was the '70s. In The Bronx. Where the cops hated us.

This list is sorta guy-ish. I’ve never been to a bachelor party with a stripper because I’ve never been to a bachelor party. But my husband went to my best friend’s then fiance’s bachelor party and people still talking about it. It’s surprising they waited 15 years to get a divorce.

78

  1. Jumping or being thrown through a window. - I ran through a window when I was 10, resulting in over 130 stitches. Does that count?

  2. From the Mouths of Babes: a child who speaks an unrealized truth. - My kid has done this, but I can’t remember exact quotes, sorry.

  3. Stabbed in the back by an underling or partner. - Yes, gave thoughts of a lawsuit.

  4. (Legitimately) crazy mom. - Stepmother, but yes.

  5. Blowjob in a car while driving. - Change it to handjob and “yes”.

  6. Dramatic “I quit!” moment. - Yes.

  7. Cops breaking up a party. - Yes. Actually, just two of us about to smoke some weed. 2 cops came by to serve my friend with a warrant and the idiot just threw the door wide open w/o bothering to wait a few seconds while I put everything underneath the couch. Pretty funny scene - for some reason, I wasn’t arrested nor was my friend charged (later I realized the reason why: the cops kept the weed for themselves!) Fortunately, I put one of the two bags in my pocket prior to my friend being led out, so when he was bailed out a few hours later, he could properly “relax.”

  8. Other (explain). - An “I beat the bully!” scenario.

79

7) A love triangle. Several times actually :o.
36) Police interrogation. Very unpleasant although nothing bad came of it.
37) A psycho ex. Linked with 36.
53) Slapped in the face by a woman. The first time it happened, I was 12 and it made me feel all grown-up :rolleyes:.
58) Exceptionally inspirational, once-in-a-lifetime teacher. Not as exceptional as what you see in the movies but he’s still my definition of a “great teacher” 20+ years later.
71) Picking up a one night stand at a bar. Several times. Also includes nightclubs, student parties and work.
74) Meet-cute. Picking up her bottle instead of mine at a nightclub.

80

Re: Flushing pills down a toilet. This was many years ago but when my father passed away, the hospice Nurse flushed all his pain meds down the toilet and we had to all sign a document stating that that had been done.