Apparently, Whiners Become Republicans [link]

(actually, that is a gross oversimplification and an indepth 20 year study is going to be dismissed with a phrase. but the article is interesting)

We should all propose our next topic! And then have a Mr. Poll on what it will be, how long it will last, and how voyeuristic it could possibly get on the Jerry Springer -- Tyra Banks -- Ellen DeGeneris scale.

When were you the closest to dying?

I was 13, and came down with a rare form of pneumonia. (I was the eighth person in the state that year to get it.) Three days on the couch at home, thinking it was the flu. When we realized it was something worse, I was in the hospital lickety-split. Three more days there, until another doctor (covering for mine's three-day weekend) realized it had gotten really bad and shuffled me off to the children's hospital an hour away. (Note: they moved me on my birthday, which, you know, suck, but I got two birthday cakes that year!) Another two weeks recovering. I found out years later exactly how bad it was, and had they not moved me when they did... well, you know.

When were you the closest to dying?

Toss-up between rolling my car and doing a faceplant onto concrete from 7 feet up. I'm really lucky to have walked away from either of those.

I was 17, took an overdose of pills, ended up unconscious in the hospital.

Vaguely remember drinking charcoal before everything went out.

Almost drowned when I was five.

I got pulled out of some very rough surf by a very alert lifeguard once. It was the sort of thing where I was just realizing that I was in trouble when he swooped in out of nowhere. Kid really earned his pay for the entire summer that day, so far as I'm concerned.

I've never stared death in the face. No car accidents, no major illnesses or surgeries.

::knocks wood::

Got stuck on the wrong side of a reef in a Sunfish that I couldn't control, and the currents were sucking us in fast. One of the beach guys at the hotel rescued us by windsurfing out and giving me directions to avoid the big smashup.

Medically the infected haematoma and the appendicitis my mother didn't believe in were probably the most serious.

I was about to say never, but on reflection, I'll have to go with dark alley + gun to the head. Funny how you can forget stuff.

I got pulled out of some very rough surf by a very alert lifeguard once. It was the sort of thing where I was just realizing that I was in trouble when he swooped in out of nowhere. Kid really earned his pay for the entire summer that day, so far as I'm concerned.

I was sorta on the other end of that once (sorta because it wasn't rough surf). This little kid just got this look on his face and started to drop. I blew my whistle and went in while the other guards cleared the area. I scooped him up and he just went limp in my arms.

The reactions were weird. One beach patron was a former guard who 'talked shop' constantly and tried to give me a little lecture on my technique ("You really should have taken a float or used a reaching implement... you KNOW its 'reach, throw, row, go'" "He was twenty feet away where I could stand. And he was too exhausted to grasp anything. Go away, I have to take care of paperwork"). The Uncle who was allegedly watching the kid started picking on him about making such a big deal. The other guards and I were just duuuude because it was all so fast and subtle and clear -- he didn't cough or splash or make any noise, just got this look on his face and sank. I can still feel him just collapse on me when I lifted him up.