Some drugged Taxi driver and me doing 140 km/h on a minor road near Tainan and getting to know later that he is a convicted murderer.
The schizophrenic sister of my ex-girlfriend threatening to kill me, and things like this had happened in the family before (schizophrenic members of the family killing people).
The worst:
Feral dogs.
Hitchiking through Glacier National Park, I came to a spot where the side of the road was so overgrown I decided to cross the street. Just as I started across, I heard a a dog bark at me from the other side. I looked up and saw two scragly canines, maybe 40 pounds or so, giving me their ugliest snarls. Being a 22-year-old male, I of course barked back. Mistake.
The dogs got really mad and called some buddies.
After a few minutes, I was staring at a small horde of maybe 10 or 12 wild dogs who were gradually getting closer to the road. Most were about the same size as the first and I still wasn’t too worried. A few well placed rocks backed them up a bit.
Don’t ask me how a pure-bred Rotweiller ended up in the Middle of Glacier National Park, but I knew I was in trouble when it and a couple of it’s buddies came over the hill, teeth a-blazing. It led the first charge across the street to my side, and I had nowhere to go. I stopped them for a minute by charging back at them, but I could tell that wouldn’t work more than once or twice.
There weren’t many cars coming by, and the ones that did didn’t stop, despite my waving and pointing at the dogs. Just as the pack started across a second–and, I was sure, the last–time, an empty tour bus came by and stopped. “Looks like you’re having some trouble with those dogs,” the driver said, and gave me a ride to the next town.
Mesheel sitting alone in a cab in mainland china, when the cab driver stopped in the middle of nowhere asking for money or he would drop me off immediately.
August 2000… coming out to my parents…
joining this forum way back when
leaving this forum forever a few weeks ago
I think this doubles as the scariest and most farsical moment in my life:
Being frogmarched to the office of the police chief at Jeddah airport and having to explain to a roomful of angry officials with long beards exactly why I was trying to smuggle a porno magazine into Saudi Arabia. 
Watching the US customs police search my car at the Juarez border, knowing I had an ounce of pot in the glove box. (That’s the last place they looked.) I had taken a wrong turn and wasn’t meaning to go into Mexico.
Watching the Tulsa police search my car at the airport, knowing I had an ounce of pot in the glove box. (Once again, they search everywhere else first.)
What happened?
What happened?
[quote=“Toe Save”]
What happened?[/quote]
I was young and stupid so for number 2, I was in highschool, they called my mom and let me go. For number 1, I was on spring break, they took all the money I had and let me go. I had no complaints.
Those were the good ol’ days. I forgot number 3, when I was toking on a joint at a Todd Rundgren concert and looked up to see Officer Bob inviting me to join him in the foyer. Police are usually cool if you don’t act like a butthead.
When I was about 10-11 while crossing the tram rails I slipped and fell.
At that very moment a tram was approaching and I got so scared that I paralized, I couldn’t move a thing, forget moving away from the rails.
When the tram was approx. 50 m away I managed to roll off of the rails. lucky me.
It’s was like in a bad dream but it wasn’t.
At 18, just got my motorcycle a few months. I made a left turn and was accelerating when I saw this car missing his curve and ending up on my side of the road.
My choices? Hitting the car smack frontal or trying to avoid it and smacking into a traffic sign. I opted for the latter but it’s too late. The car hit me bang on the left foot. That really hurt. Luckily I was wearing my offroad boots with metal plate. But despite this my foot was fractured in 5 places. Anyway, got 6 months to think about what model of motorcylce I would buy next, but in the end I opted for the below.
At 19 I had this fancy Triumph Spitfire. I was so proud and really loved that car.
One night on my way home, the moment I came out of a right curve onto a bridge I saw a car approaching from the opposite side but on my lane. I remembered that I wasn’t buckled up and brought my car in controled handbrake spin. Too late though, the other car hit me in the right door, breaking up my car. Got the fire extinguisher smacked in my face and that’s it. Later I found out that I was knocked out of my laced shoes which remained on the car floor. I was pretty mashed up sitting outside my car. Never found the spare tire that was catapulted out of the car’s trunk.
CB (citizen band radio) has been illegal in my country for many years.
But hey, rules are there to be broken right?
So, one night I was DX’ing in my car on the street as suddenly this copcar pulled up behind me. Jesus, I was so scared that I stepped on the gas and took a run. Yeah right, these guys could drive too, but not as good as I probably because I managed to get away. Nice chase BTW.
Anyway, I got home and went to bed. I think it must have been about 10 minutes later that I saw these well known lights in my window. I got out of bed to eventually invite the guys in blue in but they were only checking out the car and left without further investigation. Pfff…, what a night.
To be continued …
Let’s continue.
During my youth I loved fishing. Waking up at 4:00 AM go to the canal, trying to catch that big fish. Evidently, to be able to catch a fish you need bait. The normal bait I used was, mosquito larve, fly larve, hemp seed (yes guys, cannabis), cheese, potato you name it and it could be used as bait.
But…during summer we had special bait, wasp larve. We had two choices, go and buy it at the bait store or dig out that wasp nest ourself.
I was pretty good at that as I used a special mixture of sugar and poison. Easy, spread it onto the nest’s entrance wait a few hours and hopala, dig it out.
So far so good, not frightening until now. But…wait, things can go wrong as we discovered. My friends didn’t know how I used to do it, they just knew I used some kind of poison. So, what did they fabricate, a mixture of water and poison and poured it onto the nest’s entrance … waited a few houres and there we went … trying to dig out the nest … on arrival I thought hey that’s weired … there are still wasps flying around, but never mind … probably just a few late arrivals … yeah man was I wrong. In no time we were surrounded by 10’s, 100’s of wasps … Jesus where did they keep comming from … one sting, two stings auh auh. Pulling of some branches from the surrounding trees did the trick … hitting each others body with the branches kept the darn stingers at bay … and run, run, run as fast as possible, I never broke that record again. We had quite a few stings from the little bastards but hey it’s adventure during summer holiday.
BTW, later on I brought in my expertise and finally next day we had our bait.
Just thought I’d bump this up for the newer members to see. Maybe they have some interesting experiences too.
heychristine.com/journals/earthquake.html
921 Earthquake in Taiwan
"… This is the email that I sent to my friends and family right after the 921 earthquake hit in Taipei. For reference purposes, Gus was my .ORG site partner and was also my housemate at the time of the incident (which is how we met). Also for your reference, I clearly have nothing better to do with my life. Also for your reference, the quest for an EARTHQUAKE BOYFRIEND still stands… "
Back in the old days of .ORG, Gus and I used to meet every Monday evening OUTSIDE the apartment (usually at a nearby coffee shop) since our lives were so meshed together (we lived together, worked at the WTC, and were building this website project together as well, face time over kill!). We would often meet until very late in the evening, which is why I was still up when the earthquake hit. 921 of course, happened on a Monday evening.
Hello everyone.
Sorry for the incommunicado (is that a word) and the mass email. There were so many messages to respond to, I haven’t been able to get to everyone. It’s Wed. morning and I am finally at a computer. I’ve had no electricity since the earthquake happened so I haven’t been able to log on until just now. (Mark, Bob, etc. how the…) News of how serious the damages were didn’t trickle in until much later on in the day, on top of the fact that we didn’t have access to a radio or tv for the first day and a half.
Yesterday I spent the afternoon roaming the city with friends (thank God for friends) as was the rest of Taipei it seemed, no one wanted to be indoors in the dark, lights were out in many parts of the city and kept blowing out wherever we went, we finally had to dispatch one person to go in search of any place that had electricity so we could have at least one decent meal (literally sent out a scooter-in-search-of-food before the rest followed), and we kept each other company for the latter part of the evening.
It wasn’t until this morning when I checked my emails, that the emotional stress of the whole situation actually hit me. I couldn’t hold back the tears for a split second there (ok, 15 mins). Can you believe that I, Christine Hsu, shed a tear?! Have stranger things happened?
I’ve been overwhelmed by the number of phone calls, emails and ICQs that I’ve been getting. I can’t tell you how much it HELPS. I’ve always thought of myself as a relatively strong person who could handle emergency situations such as these, but I’ve been put to the test, and the official results are as follows: I’M A TOTAL WUS.
I can’t help but feel this tremendous sense of guilt knowing that I’m here, alive and well, typing on this computer and sitting through an aftershock while people down south are still trapped. Smaller after shocks took place over night (can I say that I’m getting used to this feeling?), and as I write this, a big one just occurred. It was so big that I am certain more people in Taichung just perished as I wrote this paragraph. I didn’t even realize how stressed I was about this until I started typing this message. I guess if there was ever a time to be emotional, now is the time.
I don’t know how many of you have been through earthquakes like this… all I can say is, it is FRIGHTENING. I think if I had been asleep and was abruptly waken by it, it wouldn’t have been so traumatizing b/c I would have just been clueless and groggy like my other do-do friends here (I’m not a morning person) … just had a 2nd big after shock as I write this paragraph … but b/c I was still on my computer at 1:45 am or whenever it happened and was wide awake (abusing a friend on ICQ but of course), the events that took place scared the LIVING DAYLIGHTS out me.
First, the power started weakening and the lights flickered on and off. I ignored it, thinking oh great, another power outage. The electricity came back on for a second, and then BOOM. Everything went out, lights, A/C, fans, computer, the building started rocking violently, people (me) started screaming and car alarms outside were going off outside like firecrackers. All within the same few seconds. The worst part of it was, I was half dressed.
I have no idea how I managed to throw my clothes on (and the right ones too) in the dark, plus my room was sort of messy, but I remember running out of the room screaming, GUS! GUS! GUS! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD, WHERE ARE YOU?!!!
That in itself was funny b/c if any of you know Gus, you can imagine how difficult it was for me trying to imagine him coming to my rescue. Gus is not your typical macho macho man who beats his chest and flexes his muscles on impulse; he’s a logical, intellectual, let’s-think-this-through-first kind-of-guy while I’m here jumping up and down and screaming my head off like a freakin’ cheerleader. (It’s amazing that we actually created a decent looking website together now that I think about it LOL…)
Mind you I am NOT cutting up Gus! He’s a terrific guy, MAN I mean, but I just can’t picture him playing Tarzan while I, a damsel in distress, scream for help. ANYWAY. I couldn’t see a thing, and all I could hear was Gus fumbling around and saying “I’m here! I’m here!” instead of telling me exactly WHERE he was. WHERE? HERE! WHERE??! HERE!!! Later on I realized that Gus, the poor guy, had no idea where he himself was. He had passed out on the living room couch while watching t.v. and wasn’t totally awake when the earthquake hit (read 8th paragraph again). While I yelled into his room, he was actually behind me the whole time. We were… disoriented!
Then this heated debate took place about whether or not we should stay inside (we’re on the 4th floor of a 4-story building) and an entire discussion took place about the chances of survival if the building were to fall. If it were to happen and we were caught in the stairways, would we survive? If we do make it out, would the falling debris be even more life-threatening? Would we have a better chance of surviving by staying in the apt. since we’re on the top floor? And perhaps rescuers would find our bodies first on top of all the other dead people… oh that’s good.
Gus: Christine don’t you know that we should go UP and not DOWN during earthquakes?
Me: FINE let’s go UP. NOW. LET’S GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE. (I’m running to the door…)
Gus: No, just stay here. (still horizontal)
Me: DIDN’T YOU JUST SAY TO GO UP??!
Gus: No just stay here. We’ll be FINE.
Me: NO DAMNIT. I GOTTA GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE, I CAN’T STAY IN THIS BUILDING.
I ended up staying anyway duh. And the whole time the building was rocking violently. Words of wisdom to you folks out there who are reading this and thinking, how can Christine even think about being witty at a time like this. PRE-DETERMINE WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO DURING AN EARTHQUAKE SO YOU DON’T SIT THERE AND ARGUE ABOUT IT WHILE IT’S HAPPENING. I’m serious. Drop whatever you are doing right now and turn to those beside you and make your decision now.
Anyway, I’m fine. So far as I know, all my friends and family in Taiwan are all fine although still shaken up. I can’t say any more that I’m not afraid of the dark. Each time the power goes out, my heart starts jumping out of control, even if it’s just someone who accidentally pushed the OFF switch!! I don’t think I’ll ever forget that moment when the earthquake hit.
One thing though. Throughout it all, I kept thinking, I NEED A BOYFRIEND! ANY boyfriend with do! Forget the successful, tall, dark and handsome profile who makes me laugh and can have insightful conversations with me over coffee. Forget the soul mate, The One, someone from a happy home who likes to play video games and pool with me but who doesn’t have dragon tattoos all over his body or drive around in beefed up Chinatown gangster-style hotrods. IT DON’T MATTER. I JUST NEED SOMEONE TO BE THERE WITH ME WHEN THIS HAPPENS AGAIN, SO MOM, DO SOMETHING. I promise I won’t be picky any more! If you know of any one who is willing to be my boyfriend during earthquakes and other natural and/or man-made disasters, please give him my phone number here in Taipei. I’ll take the first one who calls!!!
Seriously though… (well I was kinda serious there…)
I have always lived my life under this one basic concept: I could die tomorrow. Therefore, today, I am going to “live”. Embrace life with a passion and have as much fun as possible. People often accuse me of being a “really intense person”, I either love with a passion or hate with fury or work like a maniac or laugh hysterically at things that others don’t think are funny. Hey it’s not easy being me! But I wouldn’t want to live life any other way.
Life is too short to be apathetic about ANYTHING, or to accept anything in our lives (relationships, mostly) that is less than true, or to be anything less than happy. There is no excuse to take anything we have or anyone we care about for granted. This earthquake only serves as a reminder to me of why I am the way I am (neurotic, obsessive, focused, die-hard about everything, PSYCHO… whatever you want to call it LOL!!). So for those of you who weren’t sure before, well, now you know.
Anyway. I’ll shut up now.
I’m not sure if this is frightening, but it sure did get the heart pumping.
I had spent the night with a girlfriend in a college that was a city away and had to get to work in the morning. I woke up late so I had to make a speedy trip back home. I’m going about 130mph (210kph) when I zip past a cop that’s on the side of the road looking for speeders. I almost shit my pants at the moment I saw him pull out in pursuit. I remember all of the things that went through my mind. Do I stop? Do I keep going? If I stop what am I gonna say? I just pasted an exit so there was no escape. Well I decided to keep going and lucky for me a truck stop appeared like some kind of oasis. I dipped into the truck stop, jumped out of my car and ran to the bathrooms (I figured I tell him I really had to go). To my suprise I never saw the cop car. I sat at a pick nick table for a few minutes and decided that the coast was clear so I took off. Right when I got out of the truck stop I saw flashing lights ahead of me. As I passed I saw that he pulled over another car that was the same color as mine. 
I felt kinda bad, but what was I gonna do?
After spending about 6 hours playing the newly realeased (at the time) game Driver (for playstation) a friend called and asked me to pick him up. Playing that game for so long affected the way I was acting in real life. I was speeding around turns, going too fast, etc. I picked him up and we’re heading back on the expressway. I head into this turn going about 90 or 95 mph (way to fast for this turn) and the car spins out, does a complete 360 and hits the concrete wall (I thought for sure there would be some major damage). Took it off the first exit to check everything out and there were just some scratches on the bumper. I never felt so out of control of a situation before.
Both of these adventures were brought to you by my 87 Mazda RX7. 
Bungee jumping off a 216 metre bridge. It was the worst thing that I have ever done to myself. Never again!!
Something I never really talk about, since it is a sensitive thing for myself and other Americans in general:
Working with a rescue search team post-9/11 in the rubble of the WTC (i was in the Navy at the time and stationed at NAVSTA Newport, RI). The whole situation itself was frightening, intense, depressing, and more. The worst situation happened a few days after the attacks. Myself and a few others in my search group experienced a section of the rubble bottom out while we were on top of it. Keeping in mind that this pile of WTC debris was a good 13 feet off ground level. Luckily, all of us managed to get off before the whole thing totally caved in.
My first and only car accident when I was 19 - I was running late for work, but I needed to go back home to get something. I got to an intersection, but there was a huge truck with a tinted truck cap parked blocking my view. I eased my way out to see around the car, but didn’t hit the brake in time. A black van was speeding down the crossing road and swerved to avoid me (I hadn’t crossed the line), then overcorrected and crossed the line, took off the front end of my car before overcorrecting again where it went over a curb and flipped over a few times. I sat in the car watching all of this happen. They were okay, despite what they told their insurance company. I am still afraid to drive a car.
When I was 10, I was swimming in a pool at summer camp when some kid jumped in, feet first onto my head. I had been coming up for air only to be pushed very deeply underwater and when I gasped, I got a mouthful of water. I could have very easily drowned.
I bought a new 1981 Mazda 626 two-door five-speed and the really frightening thing is that it is still in use (by my uncle)! 
The first time I went to see the Grateful Dead was in 1976 at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh… great place… less than 5000 seats (the Dead were still not wildly popular then and you could get tickets at the window the night of the show. Sometimes you didn’t even need tickets.
I was young (9th grade) and still heavily into recreational drugs, and that evening, I just got incredibly stoned on weed. I got so high that I couldn’t get up out of my seat, although I was perfectly conscious of events surrounding me.
Being that it was my first Dead show, I didn’t realize that they would play for three hours and then take an hour break before coming out to play a second three hour set. So, the Dead stopped playing and the lights came on and people started heading out of the seating area… I thought the show was over… but I’m paralyzed in my seat. I thought I would be busted for sure.
Frightening.
after a trip to china i found out i had a tapeworm. wouldn’t have known until it started to come partway out of me while i was a-squatting. i freaked out when i saw it dangling there and made a grab for it and frantically pulled and it snapped in two and the part that was hanging down retracted back up inside of me. went straight to the doctor with the part i’d accidentally snapped off (after rinsing it off) and he gave me medicine he said would kill it after a few days. i didn’t sleep well that week and the nightmares were awful
funky illnesses can be frightening 2. anyone else ever had giardia? i took something called flagyl to get rid of it, later found out it is a known carcinogen
slurpy cheesethrust