9 Lives? (Re: Porsche Crash)

I think I'm a pretty 'normal' e-bike enthusiast.
And I think most e-bike enthusiasts probably... take some risks in life.

They say cats have 9 lives. How many do we have?

I'm ~60 years old.
In my life, at least 5 events could have killed me.
In fact, a couple of them should have.
Should have enough so... that I sometimes wonder whether they actually did, and I'm really living in some kind of very nice afterlife at this point.

Quick rundown:
1: Motorcycle accident. (Right of way at controlled intersection; older driver in Oldsmobile; lot's of eye contact; he pulled out in front of me anyway. I had 2 seconds to decide on impact point and survival strategy: behind front wheel, ahead of windshield, somersault across the hood, and go flying. My back still hurts.)
2: Recreational pharmaceuticals event as a youth.
3: 220V blow dryer exploded in my hand while standing barefoot in wet bathroom after shower in Australia. Smell the ozone.
4: Over the handlebars while riding down mountain in Colorado. AC joint destroyed, cracked vertebrae, broken ribs. Remember somebody saying "dude, you really wiped out" while I spazzed around on ground and attempted to wiggle fingers.
5: Tropical storm, south Pacific. Wrong place, wrong time. Shakedown cruise of a small refitted dive boat. Engine failed during storm. Got ugly for a while.

Plus a bunch of lighter-weight near-death stuff narrowly dodged :wink:

And I still persist in strapping high-power, high-torque, experimental power systems with China-market quality control on a consumer bike frame and hitting the go button? Am I a slow learner? Or an enthusiast for living life to the max?

Ah well, who knows.

Without asking for details, I'm interested in: how many near-death experiences have others had? How did they affect your approach to life?

Near death implies distance, so for me the closest would be a few mm, right about where the faint scar runs from the corner of my eye to the corner of my ear, where I fell 2m onto my head on a rough and rocky beach on an island in Deep Cove just off Vancouver, where I had been canoeing. I likely tripped because I had not bothered to do up the straps on my sandals, so I blame my ego for thinking I was such a goat that I didn't need to do up my straps more than I praise my reflexes from savng me from the killing blow if I went temple first into a rock like I was headed.

So one stupid little mistake can take you out walking on a rocky beach just as easily as at speed in a supercar. I have no patience for guys who risk others driving fast on public roads, but I haven't heard any evidence these guys risked others. They sure risked themselves though.

That scar is faint now, but when fresh it was gorey. Looked like I'd been slashed with a broken beer bottle in a bar fight. I was living in Toronto at the time, working right downtown. The gash immediately gave me more looks from the ladies, particluarly the ones in full business attire. I was never really the bad boy they were checking out, but I didn't mind.

chicks dig scars

I'm near 62 and like you have had my share of near death accidents most I brushed off thinking nothing of them at the time as they involved little to no body damage. Two stand out form the rest though. Back in March of 2011 I went outside to investigate a noise at 1:30am. There are often accidents at the intersection 50 yards from my front door so that is where I headed even though it did not sound right for an auto accident. Got to the corner and saw nothing other than some hooded wannabe crossing the intersection towards me. I stood there wondering what was going on till he stopped in my face within striking distance. I neither saw nor heard anything as I was hit over the head with something and out cold the first blow. I was beaten nearly to death by the gang wannabe guy for no special reason I was aware of. Woke up face down on the sidewalk and tried to stand but could not get all the way up nor could I breathe very well. As I fell to my doom for my last time a strong arm caught me as I was going down and a young EMT walked/supported me a few steps into the ambulance. Immediate tracheotomy and then I was out. Awoke here and there on ambulance rides and at hospital one and two as they were sewing up my lips and poking and prodding here and there but don’t remember much. A week in intensive care and several months recovering from a shattered larynx now have a piece of titanium in my throat so I can breathe and talk, a bit of brain damage that I can now blame everything I do wrong on, hamburger for lips, broken teeth, inner ear damage so vertigo regularly ect… I am probly here cause every time I woke up in the hospital my eldest daughter was there holding my hand. Otherwise I would not have tried so hard to stick around. Driving abilities have just returned as of late so I am still healing years later amazing what the body is capable of with the Lords help.

Then there was the drowning experience many years back. http://www.nderf.org/NDERF/NDE_Experiences/Duane's%20NDE.htm

I learned to believe in things not seen and how close and active our maker is in each of our lives. Things that elude many as they are to busy or just explain it all away. Oh, and lets not ferget I learned even birds are happy something I had never given a thought to earlier in life.

mrzed said:

...... I haven't heard any evidence these guys risked others. .

Click to expand...

Speeding on an urban street ?
I dont think they chose the time or place to have that wreck.. pure luck no one else was involved.

In chronological order

1: As a kid working on my antenna on a telephone pole, I lost control of the aluminum extension ladder in the wind. Worrying about it falling and hitting/smashing my Dad's car I foolishly held on to it as it landed on the power lines running to our house. The insulation held.
2: Motorcycling on the Blue Ridge parkway in my early 20's the bike bottomed out on a curve and I couldn't get the lean I needed to make the curve. Picking which tree I was going to hit, or the gap to launch me out into oblivion over the hill... went off the pavement, into a pothole, and thankfully the kickstand and bracket ripped off the frame and I could make the lean angle.
3: In Porsche 911 dancing through the curves in a tight mountain path in the early morning. Made a curve and went into the darkness... and the frost/ice on the pavement. Again picking which tree to hit, went off road and got enough traction to save it.
4: Working alone at night on a nuclear particle accelerator. Went to fill the cold trap with LN2, reached out to teflon tubing and saw a 2 inch spark jump to my right index finger. I was blown off the platform into a rack of high pressure bottles. Blew the fuse on the ion source, a 40 Kv supply running at 500 mA. ... this one clearly by the grace of God I survived.
5: Different nuclear particle accelerator, went to fill LN2 dewar at the fill station in the middle of the night. Hooked it up and started filling it (200 liter dewar), went back to the control room and fell asleep. Woke up, and said "Kr_p I forgot about the dewar." Headed to the filling room and saw white "steam" coming from under the door... No assessment that there was no now oxygen in the room... Went in started to unhook things, started to get weird, got tunnel vision, lost all vision, figured out what was happening... I reached for where I thought the control was to open the loading dock door. Again by the grace of God, my hand found the switch as I was passing out... door opened, oxygen flooded in, and I am here.
6: Ended up on operating table with heart blockage. Nurse said "there is no human reason you are still alive. I have never seen this before." Doc said: "only heart damage is about the size of a dime...never saw this in a man in his late 40's ever before, you should have dropped..." Again... by His grace...
7: Out hunting and feeling great after a rain a few hours before. Taking my ATV up a very steep hill and on top of the world... till it spun on the wet grass, twisted, hit a rivulet and immediately flipped folded me up like a pretzel and bounced off my chest. Three torn tendons, three broken ribs, two herniated discs and two vertebrae compression fractured. Again I was alone on the ATV, but friends at camp knew I was "somewhere" on the 400 acres.

Each and every one had a profound effect upon me at the time. The last one lingers the most, as my back is constantly in pain, and my mobility has suffered. I gained a lot of weight because of the immobility. The heart issue solidified my belief and trust in God. He allowed me to continue to live to be a father to my 6 and 8 year old daughters and to live to see my eldest married and my youngest graduate college so far. That was a great gift!

... so does this mean I have two to go?

Other than uncountable close calls in the street on bikes or motorcycles, I have three or four that stand out.

1. 5 years old, At glacier National Park, I was very nearly pushed into a bottomless hole in the glacier. The driver opened the door of the half track to give the folks a look. When the whole bus leaned forward, I got a real good look. I was shoved off the bench and out the door. My brothers grabbed me.

2. 14 years old. Free solo climbing a big rock near Santa Fe, I was about 100' up when the handholds petered out to nothing. Not able to down climb a difficult route, I clung there for about 45 min knowing I was dead for sure. Then magically, somehow I was at the top, and can't say how it happened. Either I flew, or the tentacles in my abdomen climbed it. Top of that rock was known as a power spot, ala Carlos Castenada books. Not the first too high free climb, one day my mom caught me 150' up a cliff strolling along a six inch ledge. I was 7. I didn't climb with ropes till 18.

3. 17 years old. The time I did a full body burn, but without the protective clothing. A contact cement accident, I was barefoot in jeans and t shirt. I came flying out of that bathroom fully on fire. Got out and put out fast, so only 7 days in hospital and no grafts.

4. 30 years old. Skiing at Wolf Creek Colorado. I foolishly ducked a rope to ski a closed area. Skied right off a cliff about 150' tall before I saw it coming. Fortunately, God provides Wolf Creek pass with truly bottomless power snow. I missed the big tree by luck, and landed softer than many jumps of just 15 feet. It took quite some time for me to crawl out of a hole in the snow about 12 feet deep though. I could have been stuck and suffocated. Having a snow shovel on my back that day was good.

9 lives ?
I must have had 99.
Too long to list :wink:

Death smiles at us all, all a man can do is smile back

Many days 'can run through 9 by mid-way to work, LOL...

Hmm... as a young kid, too many stupid things done that should have done me in to recount, but blowing things up was a passion, and we took it pretty far... nuff said..

Age 17, working with my dad in the woods, using my grandfather's chainsaw with poorly set carb and no chain lock, managed to slip and slash my safety pants to shreds, i would have certainly bled out were it not for the pants...

other than that, i've been pretty good and keeping myself out of death's path, lots of injuries, lost blood, fractured bones and bruises... but nothing that would have killed me on the spot.

Thank you all for replies.
Not surprised to find so many of us have been extremely -- and probably undeservedly -- lucky.
Don't know whether it is a higher power or dumb luck.
Eventually we all cross the River Styx.
Just glad that we haven't yet :wink:
Plenty of time for pushing up daisies... later!

Hoka Hey, Its a good day to die. Live that every day. It might be your day today, so make the most of it.

That might be getting out to have as much fun as possible, or making a shit task as fun as possible.

Yeah, If I counted street close calls, and stuff that happened on construction sites, It would be 9,999 lives. Stuff like a crane dropping shit where I was standing 10 seconds ago, getting thrown from the roof and landing on my feet, etc etc. Lots of that wasn't really luck though.

It's getting my ass out from under that crane load promptly, practicing flips at a pool, and never allowing that car to actually hit you. Situational awareness and making the right reaction to danger. It's never lock the brakes and hope for the best.

I don't know you all well enough to speak of my personal experiences here but ya'll seem like a bunch of lucky idiots I could definitely enjoy a beer with! cheers to being alive,,,still.

This is a coincidence. Last Friday I sat with a fellow who had been on total life support unable to open and eye or move a finger for 5 weeks and is now moving a bit and talking. Many doctors in 3 hospitals had written him off. I told him a very short story of doctors writing me off 5 times, so far. I was give a 90% chance to last 10 years in May 2004, which was revised in July this year to 90% for another 10 years. For me, close calls mean nothing, as I can't be bothered to count them. 1 foot from a fellow who got 16KV, bad smell. Car wrecks, motorcycle wrecks, skidoo wreck, boat explosion, shot at twice, fell 30' twice, broke right leg 4 times, left leg 1x, right arm 1x, left arm 2x and unknown number of knock outs, skull fractures. The human body is very tough to destroy. When you get scared, quit doing it. Until then enjoy life.

Neardeath? Can't say I know which time I could really have died. I recall sitting on my motorcycle waiting to turn left onto the college campus, going when the light turned red. The lead car in the number one lane stopped, so the guy behind him swerved into the number two lane and punched it so he could run the red light and hit whatever cross traffic was in the intersection: turned out to be me. I wound up the engine to go and found myself in a wheelie for my first time ever on a motorcycle. The guy skidded and swerved and came to a stop, but did he really almost kill me?

My first solo landing I was bringing the plane to the runway at an airport with some serious crosswinds that tend to get under that left wing and lift it. What a surprise when the right wing stayed alofft, maybe even lifted, as the left wheel settled to the runway. Soloing is about getting to the point you can put 'er down calmly, but your heartrate is over 120 before something like this happens. Theoretically you wind up the engine and go around, but I explained to my CFI later that it seemed likely that right wing would rise if I did that, the left was dang close to dragging on the ground, so I gave the yoke a little turn to the right, which in the air would cause a slight dip of the right wing. The right side of the plane settled comfortably. That's a situation where your own panic could kill you, with even veteran pilots panicking. I really didn't feel I was in serious danger, I was in control of the situation and there was no crisis.

What I'm not in control of is the woman who tries to kill me from time to time. People assume this is an old girlfriend that didn't like getting dumped, but actually in college she had me wait somewhere with no intention of showing up, we never dated. Now if she catches me walking she might drive up the sidewalk at me. Just the other day I was crossing the street and had to dodge an errant motorist, not an usual experience in the intersection. I was on the phone with my sister and suddenly laughed at not having looked at the car to see if it was psycho Cindy. She got upset and she was the one safe at home. Yeah, Cindy might get me someday, does that mean I should cower in fear. In the time this nut has been trying to run me down Dario Franchitti has won the Indy 500 3 times. I grew wanting to win Indy just once - or maybe a dozen times. Now he's hurt and not making a comeback, but even if he loses his life you can't take away the life that he's lived.

Some people are zipped away from here very quickly and easily...like stumbling off a little stepstool, getting something off the top shelf. Others are sort've forced to return, through an agonizing recovery that includes many body parts and functions. But divine intervention has many faces.
Very strangely, fitting into the second category, I must say that the earlier closecalls in my life were painful, but not exactly life-threatening. The last one was beyond every doctor's belief. Air-lifted from the Big Island to Honolulu with no blood pressure is enough of a miracle in itself, but I was also toting 147 fractures, a ruptured spleen, crushed eye-socket, flail-chest, etc. 12 surgeries and three flat-lined episodes later, I was wheeled out of Queen's Medical to make my way to the rehab facility, where I spent another three months learning to walk, talk, wash, comb hair, smile again. Amazingly.....through all of this, I honestly have to comment that I experienced very little pain, which no one seemed to believe. Especially my nurses, who, upon entering my room for quite awhile, would automatically push the little red button on my morphine-delivery system and plunge me into yet another stupor, which I did not want or ask for.
On my 50th motorcycle and after having never gone down....I was on the left side of an 18-wheeler, just behind his door... and the driver realized he was missing his turn to the left, which was a small road, cut through the lava-wall embankment that was perhaps 30' high. Nowhere to go at all for me. JAMBED on his brakes and took a hard left, right over me. Three axles ran over my body, which I amazingly was wide awake throughout. Faded quickly enough as I bled out. No pain. The pain came the next year for some reason. All the previous scrapes, I considered with nearly an arrogant pride.....but this one changed me. I obviously need to notice something and perhaps accomplish something that is more of an inner accomplishment than an outter one, before they let me out've here.

To die must not be very hard to do, since everyone before us had succeeded.
Nevertheless, it does feel good to survive, even with the pain. :wink:

One frequent gentleman here send me an PM, saying that my posts are not funny or interesting. So i deleted few of my posts.
I am aspergerian and i am not funny. Sorry about that and all non-english links.
On topic, i"ve had lot of luck. Two 60 mph car crashes, one straight on my side middle of the crossroads. That was a real bang. Luckily our car was ancient Mercedes with super-strong chassis. Other car, Toyota, was finished right there.
Another crash was caused by suddenly inflated tire middle of a curve. Rolled around four times. Me and my pal found ourselves on the hat section rear of the car. Top was so crushed that it was hard to get out through the rear window hole. Luckily my friend was not injured, that would have been a blow.
I have seen lots of aviation, around 150 hours as a passenger on a small planes and small fields, but luckily nothing bad has happened.
One bad motorcycle accident, and one "pharmaceutical experiment" gone too far. Only way i could keep on breathing with all my will power was to lie on the floor on my stomach side down. Thirty minutes or so i used all my physical power to keep on breathing. Kids, don"t try that.
My father was a passenger when old DC-6 went in to a spiral. Eight people got injured.
That Aerosmith album is their best.

Hi Eskimo,

I work in Silicon Valley. Around here, Asperger's is pretty common. About as rare as having brown hair.

Bet it is pretty common among ES members also. I know it is characterized by having an intense interest in particular topics. Like electric bikes for example.

You still getting out and riding, or has Finnish winter shut riding down until Spring?

Thanks for asking. Not riding. Last ride was 22.11. I don"t mind cold that much, but ice is pretty bad for front wheel drive. Back on the road in april.

Eskimo said:

One frequent gentleman here send me an PM, saying that my posts are not funny or interesting. So i deleted few of my posts.

Click to expand...

Darn, so why do I feel like I could play 'Name that PM'er' in 3 guesses? Now that you've survived your near brush with that, I'd like to remind that I'm unaware of being funny as a requirement around here and a lot of people would fall short if it was. Assuming I'm not missing something and under the belief you're not being abusive of others, I'll say I for one don't like the idea that you deleted posts because someone else wanted to suppress them. You bring up the point that it's usually nonlifethreatening moments that have the greater impact. Which is why I think twice about opening PM's around here.

So with my career never becoming fulltime I've spent a lot of time as a volunteer and a lot of time in school. In America in general and California in particular we have the two year college and degree: Take just a few more classes and you get another diploma. No surprise one of mine is in Sociology. (Socialwork) The biggest thing they teach you is about the interrelatedness of matters. Suchas drug addicts have health issues, relationship problems, car accidents, the steal, become violent, etc. To discuss an issue, you discuss the range of issues.

So some people want to suppress the range of issues. Funny thing is, they tend to be the type to say 'You're not funny' as a way of dismissing others. It's been my experience that the loudeest, the most abusive, those are the people who are usually WRONG. I really hate to see others let them have their way.

So if you don't know who Del Close is, he's considered one of the creators of improv comedy, as well as being one of the founders of Second City. He had a saying, "Comedy is THE TRUTH." As in people laugh the hardest when they see the truth in it. Ironic about those people who try to suppress others with 'You're not funny."

So being a late child, I have older brothers and sisters with kids my age. One such sister was sounding offf about welfare in her normal loudmouthed way: "The FIRST thing they should do away with is WIC." (Women Infants Children)

Another sister never intends to be funny, she naively reminds of something or asks a question in genuine curiosity, often with stunning (Accidental) timing, such as: "WIC? Isn't that what (Your daugther) collects?" The daugther in question has never been married or held a real job, but she has 4 kids.

The loudmouth, who had a husband supporting her for awhile and since then has mom supporting her, sometimes with the help of those of us that work, had her best 'You're not funny' look. (The rest of us thought it was, you should have seen the others suppressing their laughter. And me not bothering to.) I pay more than enough welfare within my own family, don't bother saying I'm supposed to support evveryone else, too.

So I'll tell you that you shouldn't feel bad as long as you're telling the truth. (And not deliberately trying to cause trouble.) You can respond 'I'm not trying to be funny, I'm trying to be honest.'

So another thing Del Close is known for is saying that when he died he wanted his skull donated to his old school for a production of a certain Shakespearian play. A few days after he died I was onstage in a game of 'Freezertag' at another of his innovations, the LA Improv Olympic. I took the position of the player I'd just frozen holding a hand up and said "The hell with Yorick, let's have a big hand for Del Close for donating his skull for our production of 'Hamlet.'

If anyone had said 'You're not funny' over that, I'd have responded "The HELL I'm not, you heard that crowd." More for Del Close than me, but I made it happen.

So yeah, Mr. Eskimo, go ahead and try to make things happen, just as long as you're telling the truth about it. Comedy really IS the truth, while honesty is irrepressible.

So, should I go look at what damage might have been done around here as I wrote this? Or should I try to get to sleep in peace?

Thanks, Dauntless. Peace for all. I have never been drug addict in street sense. Just continued that strong medication at my own what they gave me months in hospital. It was very easy because borders opened because of the EU and i have medical papers that able me to get it easily, if i want it. It was many years ago, and did not cause any crashes. When it"s under your own control you do get recreational with it occasionally, so to speak. After five years it"s just expensive habit that only maintains your normal condition, so it"s just stupid to continue from that point. It"s better to have that normality for free. I don"t mind if moderator deletes my posts and i do that occasionally by myself. Not fighting for any honour here. this is just a internet site. I go over the deep end sometimes politically with my passion for analysing. Communication cultures on different continents are different too.
That Cindy-type of a woman you wrote about sounds slightly familiar. Some radical feminists here are bit like that. One moved next door few months ago. We can just about say "hi" when we meet, and even that takes a lot from us both. I am simply afraid to speak more to her, coz it needs only one wrong word and they kinda explode.
This is a great site. Gotta to manufacture that Grin Tech T-shirt for the next summer somehow. Enough about this i think.

I was going to comment, yet upon reading others, I feel like I have been wrapped up in tissues my whole life. How does one compete with

bigmoose said:

4: Working alone at night on a nuclear particle accelerator

Click to expand...

The funniest part of that is that this guy has his DULL days, right? 'Another day, another impact induced event horizon. Yah seen one. . . .'

Kinda reminds you why some people get pissy at others online; they're boring even to the boring people in real life. Yeah, Eskimo, the biggest reason I don't have the moderators coming after me is that there's a point I just won't bother with a thread anymore. That's when people take any REASONABLE point out of the thread; or better yet just before. Is someone saying I'm not funny right now because I told the truth? Gosh, I don't know, I haven't checked. And I'm not going to.