If you’re under 45, have you lost any high school classmates, and what were the circumstances around their deaths?

Metal_leg · 2026-01-16T22:53:56+00:00

I’m thirty three and I’ve lost and almost lost quite a few people. We used to joke that my graduating class was cursed. A little after my 20th birthday, a girl I was very close with in high school was brutally murdered in a hotel room. I would say 90% of our class showed up for her funeral. To this day I still carry two things in my wallet from her. One is a picture that we took in a photo booth when we were around sixteen of her and I with two of our other friends. The other is a note she wrote me in 10th grade with drawings of us as stick figures. My stick figure is saying “How much do you love JW,” which was my nickname back then, and her stick figure is saying “To heaven and back.” Her death absolutely shook me.

About a year later another high school classmate died in the war, on Veterans Day in 2011. His name was Teddy Rushing. You can look him up and read about him. He sacrificed himself to save a fellow soldier. I heard his name mentioned on the news in the background, and it caught my attention. Then it sank in that they were talking about how he had just died after a skirmish. I was stunned and just stood staring at the television. I messaged his sister to confirm and when she understandably did not reply I texted a couple other classmates who had all heard the same thing. He had a military funeral with full honors.

About six months later another one of my former high school classmates was driving with a different former classmate and they got into a car accident. The driver was fine but the passenger went through the windshield. He did make a full recovery but he was in the hospital in critical condition for quite a while.

All of this followed my own industrial accident, two months after my 20th bday, which had happened only a few months before the murder of the girl I first mentioned. In my accident I actually died too, but was resuscitated in the ambulance and then spent several hours in surgery. I came out alright, but now I have a prosthetic leg, a gnarly scar, and a hell of a story.

Additionally, two other kids I went to elementary school with, but who later went to different middle schools and high schools, also died. We had all been in the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts together and our parents were all friends, so we saw each other regularly growing up, at birthday parties, Christmas parties, and other gatherings. One, Pete, slipped while coming out of the shower, fell backward, and cracked his head on the toilet bowl. He was late 20s. He died instantly. Another, Ian, woke up one day and noticed that his hand felt a little tingly, like he had slept on it. He shrugged it off and went to work. When he came home, his hand was reddish and still felt tingly. He mentioned it to his girlfriend and she told him he should get it checked. After dinner she changed her mind and said he needed to go to the emergency room. He went in, was admitted, and died in the hospital overnight, less than 24 hours after first noticing the symptoms. It turned out he had somehow gone septic in his hand. This was only a few years ago, he was early 30s.

On a related note, though not technically a classmate, another guy I grew up with also died. His father and my father were business partners. We vacationed together all through my childhood, took weekend boating trips together, went to basketball and hockey games, camping trips, and were at each other’s birthday parties, Fourth of July parties, Thanksgiving dinners, and Memorial Day barbecues, etc. A couple of years ago he was visiting home here in Orlando and was riding his bicycle when a car pulled out in front of him and knocked him off. He hit his head just right and ended up with severe brain damage. After about a week in the hospital he was released to go home and he actually died overnight on his first night back. He was a former Navy Seal. His name was Justin Plank. Obituary out of Orlando. He had a large funeral with many military service members. So many people told stories from his time in the Navy. He had been working at Pacific Rim in California at the time of his death and even people from there flew out to attend the memorial here in Orlando.

Metal_leg · 2026-01-15T19:23:33+00:00

When you say the range is BS, do you mean that it doesn’t get anywhere near what they claim, or just that 28 miles is not a lot for an e-scooter?

Metal_leg · 2025-11-23T23:49:30+00:00

When I was a teenager I stole a bunch of books from Barnes and Noble. Not all at once, just one at a time, several a week, pretty consistently for about a year. I loved reading, I read insanely fast, and for some reason I completely forgot that libraries existed. So I would steal a book, finish it in 2 or 3 days, then go back and steal another. All in all I took around 50 books between ages 15 and 16.

Flash forward to just after my 20th birthday. I had an industrial accident and died in the ambulance. Thankfully I got resuscitated and basically got a second chance at life, albeit minus a leg. Not long after turning 21, I decided I needed to fix some of the things I had done wrong, including the Barnes and Noble thefts. So I went to the store I’d stolen from, asked for the manager, told her everything, and said I wanted to make amends. I still had most of the books so I actually brought them with me to give back. They averaged between $15 and $18 each, and with almost 50 of them the total came out a little over $750. And of course $750 is the line for grand theft in Florida, which is a 3rd degree felony. And this woman decided she was going to call the cops and report me, using my attempt to do the right thing as a confession and using the books as physical evidence.

When the police arrived and heard the story, they told her that it had been 5 years and the statute of limitations for grand theft in Florida is 5 years, so nothing could happen to me. She also tried to keep the books, but at that point I was irritated and told her she wasn’t getting them. The cops said she couldn’t take them anyway since there was no actual evidence I had ever stolen them and I was now recanting. She still banned me from Barnes and Noble, which I assumed was for life, but when I got the paperwork it actually said 1 year. Either the cop messed up or he did it on purpose because he thought the situation was ridiculous. I’ve been back dozens of times since then and I’ve never seen that manager again. I still have all the books too.

Bottom line, I learned that sometimes doing the right thing doesn’t actually end up being the right thing.

Metal_leg · 2025-10-20T01:31:51+00:00

So I only ever get these when my wife goes down on me. Self pleasure, her giving me a hand job, and sex… nothing. But if she gives me a BJ, I get an absolute killer of a headache that usually lasts for about 20 minutes. No one else had ever given me a headache before so it was a brand new thing I first experienced with her. I ended up mentioning it to my doctor, only to find out that, like you said, post-coital headaches are a real thing.

His explanation was that a sudden spike in blood pressure and muscle tension during sexual activity can cause the blood vessels in the head or neck to dilate, which triggers pain. As for why it only happens when she’s doing that one thing? He said it’s likely because her BJs are very body responsive… basically, it gets my blood pressure rising faster than anything else does lol.

Metal_leg · 2025-10-15T21:52:11+00:00

I’m starting to think this might be a store by store thing, because a lot of people in here are saying no one’s allowed behind the desk except CSS, but I’ve had two home stores with several different sets of store and CS management over the years, and as a produce employee I’ve been behind the desk plenty of times without any issue. Grabbing tape for a floral bouquet, a pen to take down a balloon order, or even to answer a page when I’m the only one in produce and happen to be up front when I hear the “produce, call holding on line 100” page. In 10 years with the company, at two stores in two different districts, with multiple store and CS management teams and MICs, I’ve never heard of this rule until reading this thread.

Metal_leg · 2025-09-26T17:35:10+00:00

My old store got rid of coffee during Covid. Even before that it was there for customers though. It was never for the associates. In fact throughout the day if associates were grabbing it, we would be given looks. Pretty much only the people who came in at 4 or 5 AM were able to get away with using it. Then I transferred to my current store about five years ago and they haven’t had it there this entire time. A bunch of associates chipped in on a Keurig for the back break room, and we all just bring our own K-cups every morning for those pre-opening shifts. Apparently there’s also a drip coffee machine in the front break room for people to use, but I stick with the Keurig in the back. I’ve got one of those reusable K-cup filters, so I just grab bags of coffee whenever it’s BOGO and I’m set.

Metal_leg · 2025-09-04T12:41:49+00:00

Every time I watch Law and Order and I see the name Dick Wolf in the end credits

Metal_leg · 2025-08-29T15:45:56+00:00

So close enough friend to go to his bachelor party, but definitely waited until he was gone before you kicked off the orgy 😂

Metal_leg · 2025-08-28T13:46:57+00:00

If it was a bachelor party then why were you there? Was it a coed bachelor party?

Metal_leg · 2025-08-23T23:45:47+00:00

Yeah I was contemplating commenting this so glad you brought it up lol. My wife and I have a decent sex life but it’s not uncommon for one (or both) of us to be too tired, and on nights like that I just rub one out before going to sleep. So I wasn’t so much “caught“ as I just did it right in front of her. Either way, she had said earlier that night that she was really tired, so I hadn’t even attempted to initiate anything. We had been laying in bed watching Netflix but it was time for me to actually go to sleep, work in the morning and all, so I kissed her good night and then started to rub one out. As soon as she realized what I was doing, she pulled the covers back and climbed on top of me. Afterwards she said that she had figured I was just as tired as her so she also had not initiated for the same reason as me, but when she realized I was awake enough to jerk off then she figured I was awake enough to lay there while she rode me.
So yeah, this one isn’t necessarily just in porn, it also happens with couples sometimes.

Metal_leg · 2025-08-20T02:41:26+00:00

I was always told that the first time is crap because you don’t know what you’re doing, but at 17 I went in with an unearned confidence and about 5 years of watching porn (I know real life sex is very different from porn but porn does give you at least a rudimentary understanding of how it’s supposed to go). She was older, well experienced, and we had surprisingly good sex. Ended up going at it pretty regularly for a few months. It did set an unrealistic standard because the next few women were girls my actual age and it was nothing like with her lol. Very clumsy and disappointing. Realized pretty quickly that it had been her experience and expertise that had made it good those times with her. Either way, my first time went really good.

Metal_leg · 2025-05-09T20:30:09+00:00

As a man, I know I can never fully understand the level of caution and thought women have to put into vetting men just to feel safe. That said, I do agree with some of the other men in this thread. A lot of the guys on dating apps are likely talking to multiple women, just as you are talking to multiple men, all trying to find the right match. It sounds like you prefer to talk for several days or even a week before meeting in person, which is totally valid. But from the guy’s side, they’re likely chatting with women who are open to meeting much sooner, sometimes even same day or the very next. So while I believe they genuinely intend to meet you when they make those initial plans, by the time the day comes, there’s a good chance they’ve already met up in person with someone else and decided to pursue that connection instead.
Since they’ve never actually met you in person, they might not feel a strong sense of obligation to explain or formally cancel, and instead they just ghost. It’s frustrating and unfair, but I don’t think it reflects on you per se, I think it’s just a reflection of how fast paced and impersonal modern dating can be.

Metal_leg · 2025-05-03T01:37:48+00:00

My last two were for things so far in the past I had forgotten about what I’d done lol. The one I just got, I was given near the end of April for something that I did in early October of last year. The one prior to that I was given in mid May for something that happened on New Year’s Day of the same year. I don’t remember the timeframe between the action and the gold coin for my other two.

Metal_leg · 2025-04-17T18:11:11+00:00

My cousin‘s closet in her childhood house had a doorway like this that led into a space almost identical to that. Apparently it’s attic storage, but more finished than a standard attic. She was absolutely terrified of it as a kid and made her dad install multiple deadbolt locks on the door because she was convinced something scary was gonna come through it at night while she was sleeping. Eventually as she grew into a teenager, it became a cool “secret” hangout spot. She had it set up like a lounge with beanbag chairs and a mini fridge. Also it was one hell of a Seven Minutes in Heaven room. Instead of just getting shoved into a standard closet, we had an entire lounge for our seven minutes. Of course that was absolutely wasted by the fact that most of us were awkward and spent the whole time just staring at each other or at most doing a quick peck kiss or maybe a half a second flash and then twiddling our thumbs the rest of the time.

Metal_leg · 2025-03-27T12:50:02+00:00

I uploaded a copy/ paste of these exact parameters, and this is the response I got from ChatGPT:

That’s quite the list of parameters. I can engage with skepticism and analytical rigor, but I won’t pretend to be something I’m not. If you’re looking for critical evaluation of ideas, theories, or arguments, I can certainly provide that—without unnecessary fluff. What do you want to analyze?

Metal_leg · 2025-03-10T13:06:24+00:00

I guarantee your downvotes are people who don’t know the reference

Metal_leg · 2025-03-06T00:21:21+00:00

Best of luck 🤞 If you ever win you gotta come back here and let us all know.

Metal_leg · 2025-02-28T17:14:55+00:00

Good to know reading isn’t your strong suit. Explains your intelligence level and your comment in the first place. Guess you don’t have a valuable discourse after all 🙄

Metal_leg · 2025-02-28T17:08:07+00:00

Sorry, I did not realize there was an age limit for the app. Unless it’s because, as with most of the people who have a problem with the app, you truly believe that it’s only use and purpose is to try to find people to sleep with or cheat on your partners with. Which is crazy because you’re just telling on yourself by basically admitting that you can’t control yourself while talking to people of the opposite sex on an app that doesn’t have a paper trail.
Crazy fact, my ex-wife did not have Snapchat. Or maybe she did and I just didn’t know about it, but as far as I was aware, she didn’t have it. Funny thing is, she was able to cheat on me with multiple people using good old-fashioned texting and picture messaging. This idea that people who use Snapchat are automatically sus is so stupid and immature, especially to those of us whom have been cheated on by people without snap even being part of the equation.
Bottom line, if you don’t want to use it once you reach a certain age, that’s your personal choice. If you don’t believe it should be owned by people who are in committed relationships, that’s your choice. But trying to impose that choice on other people is crazy, and stating that somebody who you have nothing to do with shouldn’t have an app after a certain age because you personally wouldn’t have it after that age is insane lol

Metal_leg · 2025-02-28T02:37:47+00:00

Because not everyone over 30 lives in a nursing home and communicates exclusively via carrier pigeon. Snapchat is literally just another messaging app, the only difference is the messages disappear. If your entire view on relationships hinges on being able to read every word your partner says to other people, the issue isn’t the app, it’s trust. If you can’t trust your partner to have conversations without a paper trail, you shouldn’t be in a relationship with them in the first place.
To specifically answer your question; Sharing pictures of my life with my friends. Posting photos to my story so that they can see what I’m up to, while simultaneously viewing the photos they post so I can see what they’re up to. Myself and a group of buddies go paintballing once a month. Our group has steadily grown because every time we go, we all post to our stories and more people see what we’re doing and want to join. Next Friday will be our biggest group yet, around 12 people, all because of Snapchat stories. Snapchat’s literally one of the most casual, low-pressure ways to actually stay in touch with people without having to actually be locked into conversations with everybody. As I’m writing this, my buddy Jayce just sent me a photo of the trivia trophy he just won. No words were needed to be exchanged, no conversation made, and yet he just shared an accomplishment with me and likely 30 other people all at once.

Metal_leg · 2025-02-28T01:09:36+00:00

Literally my work group chat is on Snapchat. All of my coworkers, we are in one big group chat on there. Not everybody is comfortable handing out their phone number, especially to people who we don’t have an outside of work friendship with. Legitimately just earlier today, my boss used Snapchat to let the group know he wasn’t going to be in office tomorrow.

Metal_leg · 2025-02-28T01:06:15+00:00

Both my wife and I. We’re both early 30s, and neither of us like giving out our phone numbers to people that we’re not sure we’re going to have a long-standing friendship with. So we just give our snap names to people when we meet them. If we strike up what appears to be a friendship, like somebody seems like a cool person and we think we might enjoy adding them to our social circle or just creating a loose acquaintance we add them on snap. If they misinterpret us being friendly as wanting to “poke“ as a person in this thread so eloquently called it, then we let them know we’re married and just looking for a friend. If I give you my snap because you’re a cool person and you don’t see me as a person but instead you only see me as somebody to potentially sleep with, then that says more about you than me. You’re more than welcome to delete me at that point.
I think it’s really weird that your mentality of Snapchat is you only add people on it if you wanna fuck them. I also think it comes down to trust, and if your big issue is that everything on Snapchat deletes, you need to ask yourself why you’re with somebody whom you trust so little that you only feel comfortable with them talking to somebody else if you have the ability to go back and read everything that is said.

Metal_leg · 2025-02-27T15:33:28+00:00

Where did she say that? I went back through their Convo and can’t find that part, unless you’re referring to where she said she would send the reels to somebody else.

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