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What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?
Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?
by PenultimateManStanding » Sat 17 Feb 2007, 19:22:15
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cynicalheretic', 'O')OOHHH! That sounds great. Then in 2 million years when I have gone back through the system, maybe I will be part of a chunk of galena or sphalerite. How Joyous
I know you know I meant it in a joyous way!-
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?
by erl » Sun 18 Feb 2007, 01:41:42
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('greenworm', 'B')egan writing my own screenplay, 14 pages in.
Premise?
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?
by JustWatch » Wed 28 Feb 2007, 16:11:53
Wow, that’s one heck of a question. Let’s see…..no order here…
I made about 1500 parachute jumps, it was a blast! Living large!
I never suffered any serious injury. Three rides under my reserve parachute. It was a very big learning experience. Made lots of friends.
Someone above said, “learned to walk, twice.” Me too! I had a very bad motorcycle accident two years ago. I woke up at a rehab center, 45 days after the accident, with no memory of it at all! It was like waking up in the Twilight Zone. They had me knocked out on drugs during that time. Broken ribs, collapsed lungs, brain injury, and lots of bad stuff. Fortunately, I didn’t feel a thing! Modern drugs sure are great! But when I woke up, I was so weak, I could hardly move at all. About a month of rehab and 3 months at home before I was mostly back to my normal hardheaded self. A little nerve damage in my shoulder, but I’m ok. I think it knocked a little more sense into me!
Lifetime carpenter can build most anything. Self taught machinist, as a hobby. Like to fix stuff, and figure out ways to make junk work for me. I made a log splitter and it’s a workhorse. It sure saves my back!
Becoming very aware of just who and what I really am. Kinda hard to explain that one, so I won’t try. I’ll just state that language gets in the way of doing so.
No matter how small and insignificant it might seem, any little accomplishment is one more step to where we are going.
Losing fear of death. Kinda feel like I did it a few times already. I had a lot of dreams though, during that 45 days! It was my reality at the time. I didn’t have any “moving toward the light” experiences though. Dang it!
Trying to love those around me, even when things get rough. It’s been a struggle, but it’s worth every minute.
Looking into the abyss will make it possible, you will become who you really are. To see who you are, you have to see who you are not.
All my life I have been able to think for myself, and not let others have too much influence on what goes on inside my head. Too many today can’t seem to do this, and that’s sad. But we all are doing the best we can with what we have to work with, so it’s ok, live and let live.
Many here have chess stories. Me too. Wonder why…..Hmmm.
I had a mail order business for a few years. I sold model airplane kits for some models I designed. Sold a few to Industrial Light and Magic for the making of the movie “Congo.” (It kinda sucked! The movie, not my plane! It got blown to smithereens. The model, not the movie!)
Learning that fear is only in our minds.
Learning to use language to communicate. I have a long way to go, but it is fun and interesting.
Letting go. That’s a really big part of it.
I don’t have any children. Grew up in a large family. We were a little strange but not too far out there. I simply decided that I had enough of the baby-sitting thing already. Grew up during the time when “population explosion” was being talked about. Took my cues from that, I guess. Have never regretted it.
I’ve tried to help a few others to see some things that are very simple and obvious to me now, but in doing this, I’ll have to admit that I’ve been a total loser. About the only success I’ve had is with a couple of young coworkers who I managed to convince that PO is real. But I won’t give up trying.
I’ve got lots more to tell, but better let it go before I bore you to death. Thanks very much all of you for sharing!
Joe
I made about 1500 parachute jumps, it was a blast! Living large!
I never suffered any serious injury. Three rides under my reserve parachute. It was a very big learning experience. Made lots of friends.
Someone above said, “learned to walk, twice.” Me too! I had a very bad motorcycle accident two years ago. I woke up at a rehab center, 45 days after the accident, with no memory of it at all! It was like waking up in the Twilight Zone. They had me knocked out on drugs during that time. Broken ribs, collapsed lungs, brain injury, and lots of bad stuff. Fortunately, I didn’t feel a thing! Modern drugs sure are great! But when I woke up, I was so weak, I could hardly move at all. About a month of rehab and 3 months at home before I was mostly back to my normal hardheaded self. A little nerve damage in my shoulder, but I’m ok. I think it knocked a little more sense into me!
Lifetime carpenter can build most anything. Self taught machinist, as a hobby. Like to fix stuff, and figure out ways to make junk work for me. I made a log splitter and it’s a workhorse. It sure saves my back!
Becoming very aware of just who and what I really am. Kinda hard to explain that one, so I won’t try. I’ll just state that language gets in the way of doing so.
No matter how small and insignificant it might seem, any little accomplishment is one more step to where we are going.
Losing fear of death. Kinda feel like I did it a few times already. I had a lot of dreams though, during that 45 days! It was my reality at the time. I didn’t have any “moving toward the light” experiences though. Dang it!
Trying to love those around me, even when things get rough. It’s been a struggle, but it’s worth every minute.
Looking into the abyss will make it possible, you will become who you really are. To see who you are, you have to see who you are not.
All my life I have been able to think for myself, and not let others have too much influence on what goes on inside my head. Too many today can’t seem to do this, and that’s sad. But we all are doing the best we can with what we have to work with, so it’s ok, live and let live.
Many here have chess stories. Me too. Wonder why…..Hmmm.
I had a mail order business for a few years. I sold model airplane kits for some models I designed. Sold a few to Industrial Light and Magic for the making of the movie “Congo.” (It kinda sucked! The movie, not my plane! It got blown to smithereens. The model, not the movie!)
Learning that fear is only in our minds.
Learning to use language to communicate. I have a long way to go, but it is fun and interesting.
Letting go. That’s a really big part of it.
I don’t have any children. Grew up in a large family. We were a little strange but not too far out there. I simply decided that I had enough of the baby-sitting thing already. Grew up during the time when “population explosion” was being talked about. Took my cues from that, I guess. Have never regretted it.
I’ve tried to help a few others to see some things that are very simple and obvious to me now, but in doing this, I’ll have to admit that I’ve been a total loser. About the only success I’ve had is with a couple of young coworkers who I managed to convince that PO is real. But I won’t give up trying.
I’ve got lots more to tell, but better let it go before I bore you to death. Thanks very much all of you for sharing!
Joe
Last edited by JustWatch on Thu 01 Mar 2007, 00:23:13, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?
by I_Like_Plants » Wed 28 Feb 2007, 18:14:25
OK Oh Great Poster Above Me On This Page, you got me - probably having 0 children is my greatest accomplishment in terms of Mother Earth. Thanks for reminding me.
My own? I'm learning violin. Just had my 2nd lesson and can do scales, syncopated scales, count the notes pretty well, and it seems I'm picking up proper bowing pretty well too.
ASAP I want to be a street musician! I want to own as little as possible, and not have my finances be the house of cards they are now. Or like juggling plates. Much better to live low, and hold one plate, easily in both hands.
I have 4 more months' lessons paid for, by that time I should be fairly well along.
College? Yeah, been there done that, it's not worth shit for getting a job etc - teaches you a bit about the scientific method etc although come to think of it, I learned that doing my own reading. Money I've earned? Talk about worthless! It's not in my hands, it's in the hands of the gov't, food corp's, car co's, insurance co's (but no health insurance, this is Amerukka!) and so on. I still have to run like hell to get more of it every day to give to everyone else. Owning a small biz? Boy is that ever a shit sandwich. Nothing that a normal, workaholic American would consider an accomplishment really is.
My own? I'm learning violin. Just had my 2nd lesson and can do scales, syncopated scales, count the notes pretty well, and it seems I'm picking up proper bowing pretty well too.
ASAP I want to be a street musician! I want to own as little as possible, and not have my finances be the house of cards they are now. Or like juggling plates. Much better to live low, and hold one plate, easily in both hands.
I have 4 more months' lessons paid for, by that time I should be fairly well along.
College? Yeah, been there done that, it's not worth shit for getting a job etc - teaches you a bit about the scientific method etc although come to think of it, I learned that doing my own reading. Money I've earned? Talk about worthless! It's not in my hands, it's in the hands of the gov't, food corp's, car co's, insurance co's (but no health insurance, this is Amerukka!) and so on. I still have to run like hell to get more of it every day to give to everyone else. Owning a small biz? Boy is that ever a shit sandwich. Nothing that a normal, workaholic American would consider an accomplishment really is.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?
by threadbear » Wed 28 Feb 2007, 23:03:22
double post--edited by poster
Last edited by threadbear on Wed 28 Feb 2007, 23:07:23, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?
by threadbear » Wed 28 Feb 2007, 23:05:41
Just Watch--Brain damage rocks! I love my new brain too, since the car accident and neurological illness--It's like being tossed out of the madhouse of general consensus, head first, into the streets of the sure-real. Welcome brother.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?
by Heineken » Thu 01 Mar 2007, 00:45:21
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JustWatch', '
')Someone above said, “learned to walk, twice.” Me too! I had a very bad motorcycle accident two years ago . . .
')Someone above said, “learned to walk, twice.” Me too! I had a very bad motorcycle accident two years ago . . .
I have an inkling of what you went through, JustWatch (yours is a very impressive story, BTW).
I didn't learn to walk twice, but I did twice learn to use my arms and hands.
About 3 years ago I was suffering from tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) in my right arm, the result of overwork here on my place. The doctor advised me to wear a brace on my forearm just below the elbow; he said it would take the strain off the joint. So I bought the brace (sort of like a blood-pressure cuff, with a Velcro closure) and started wearing it. Boy did it help! Relieved the pain and brought back my strength.
So I kept on with the chainsaw and the paintbrush and the shovel and the pickax and the rake and the loppers and all the other arm-intensive stuff I'm constantly doing here. When I found myself getting tennis elbow in my left arm, I remembered the doctor's advice and purchased another brace for that arm.
I wore these braces for hours at a time, most days of the week.
After about a year I noticed that my tennis elbow problem was much subdued but that I was starting to feel pain on the inner (medial) side of the elbow joint in both arms. (This is the side of the elbow opposite the side where tennis elbow occurs.) Also, both arms, especially the right arm, were starting to hurt when bearing a load, and seemed to be weakening.
I did some research and concluded that I now had golf elbow (medial epicondylitis).
I kept wearing the braces and made a mental note to see the doctor again.
In early January 2006 (a few days after I had retired from my job, and relinquished my health insurance), we had our floors refinished and I spent about four days cleaning up all the dust. I wrung out a wet rag into a bucket surely 1000 times.
About a week after this big effort, I started getting sharp pains in both forearms in response to simple movements like reaching for things. Finally I started feeling pain when I wasn't doing anything.
The pain got worse. And worse. And worse.
By February I was in such monstrous distress I could not tolerate the slightest contact against my forearms or elbows. I could not rest my arms on a chair. The friction from a long-sleeved shirt was intolerable. Under the pain was an even deeper aching that never, ever went away. I spent a lot of time lying on my stomach in bed, my elbows facing the ceiling. Moaning.
By March the only way I could type was with a pencil held between my teeth. I could just barely hold a fork and just barely transfer food to my mouth. I could not tie my shoelaces. This list was bottomless and growing.
I read deeply, darkly, and voraciously, turning the pages with my mouth and holding the pages open with a network of rubber bands.
About this time my hands swelled enormously, turned red, and felt hot. They looked like baseball mitts. Whenever I walked and swung my arms, the swelling worsened.
I moaned, I screamed, I wailed, I stared out the window at a farm from which the farmer was effectively banished. I made impossible promises to God.
I lay in bed, roaring, my family arranged impotently around me, with faces that looked puzzled and far away. There is no greater loneliness than the loneliness of illness. People from your former life may surround you, but you are a stranger to them and they to you.
I started to realize that the braces had probably damaged the nerves in my arms, and I angrily threw them away.
March became April became May became June became July. My gardens filled with weeds (and that was just the beginning of the neglect). I went to the emergency room at UVA twice (a total of about $1600) and told my sad story a hundred times to a hundred faces. I was convinced that wearing those braces had damaged the nerves in my arms, but I seemed unable to convince anyone else of this. At the same time, few had any other diagnosis to offer, and no treatment to suggest but NSAIDs, which were completely worthless against the pain.
A few docs thought I might have MS. A CAT scan was performed to rule it out.
The only way I could sleep was in a La-Z-Boy with my elbows suspended in space, through a clever positioning involving pillows, and my brain pickled in booze.
Although my hands swelled, my once-mighty arms shrank from severe "disuse atrophy." (Ultimately, my upper-arm circumference shrank from 17 inches to 13.)
I was referred to an orthopedic surgeon, who said I might have a condition called ulnar neuropathy, probably unrelated to the braces but caused, rather, by bone pressing against ("entrapping") the ulnar nerve. He wanted to operate but said I first needed an electromyogram to confirm that there was actual nerve damage.
To my huge surprise, this expensive test ($800 or so) showed that the nerve function in my arms was completely normal. On a follow-up, the orthopedic surgeon then said there was nothing he could do for me, and suggested no alternatives for me to pursue. He was one particularly cold-blooded sucker, and I wasted $400 on him.
By late summer I had decided either to sue the original doctor who had prescribed the arm braces, or to see him again (I had actually liked the guy and thought he was pretty good, one of those rare doctors who really listen to the patient). I was so desperate I chose to see him again. He listened to my story and examined me. I told him I considered him partly responsible for my condition, since he had prescribed the arm braces but not told me how to wear them or warned me about the potential risks. He apologized profusely, and I forgave him with tears in my eyes.
Well, I chose wisely, if perversely, when I chose to see him again. He put me on oxycodone, which was a godsend. He quickly diagnosed the problem as reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD). The diagnosis was later confirmed by the head of UVA's Hand Clinic. This condition is also known as complex regional pain syndrome (with an emphasis on "pain," believe me). It's a poorly understood condition; suffice it to say it was indeed the result of a serious insult to the nerves in my arms.
The mainstay of treatment of RSD, I learned, is physical therapy. You have to start to do the things that hurt, or you are finished. The affliction can actually spread to the rest of the body! I went to a physical therapist, who told me that the condition is "often incurable." That was very encouraging. I never went back to her.
However, she had given me a list of stretching exercises to do, which I then clumsily and painfully attempted to do, every day, four times a day, starting in September. To these exercises I gradually added yoga, push-offs against a wall, and about 10 exercises designed for rehabilitation from and prevention of tennis and golf elbow.
I could proceed only in baby steps, and everything hurt, hurt, hurt. But I found I that could work through the pain and that, on subsequent attempts of the same exercise, the pain was less. I became not only hopeful, but excited.
I worked harder and more obsessively on this new project of recovery than I'd ever worked on anything. It was my everything.
By November I was actually doing a few real pushups. Progress was relentless, the pain was subsiding, I quit my beloved oxycodone cold-turkey. After eight months of being swollen, my hands started looking more like my hands. Life was resuming.
Today I can do 50 pushups and 13 pullups and all the other stuff I used to do. My forearms bulge with muscle, and my elbows are normal.
Every now and then, I get a little tingle in my arms to remind me of where I've come from.
Last edited by Heineken on Thu 01 Mar 2007, 22:39:07, edited 3 times in total.
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog
"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---I & my bro.
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog
"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---I & my bro.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?
by threadbear » Thu 01 Mar 2007, 02:34:21
Wow Heineken! 
The whole episode has added a new depth and compassion to your personality, I'm sure. I haven't had that kind of intense physical pain, but understand the feeling of being isolated on a separate planet from everyone else, due to illness. God, my heart goes out to you. Your description of being propped up on the recliner, pickled with booze, arms propped at weird angles trying to sleep, reads like a kind of lonely crucifixion.
I have a weird preoccupation..whenever I see something tragic on television, like natural catastrophes or war, my first thought is always--What would it be like for a person to cope with the catastrophe,if they were in terrible health, at the same time? It's almost unbearable to even think about. I bet you think the same way.
The whole episode has added a new depth and compassion to your personality, I'm sure. I haven't had that kind of intense physical pain, but understand the feeling of being isolated on a separate planet from everyone else, due to illness. God, my heart goes out to you. Your description of being propped up on the recliner, pickled with booze, arms propped at weird angles trying to sleep, reads like a kind of lonely crucifixion.
I have a weird preoccupation..whenever I see something tragic on television, like natural catastrophes or war, my first thought is always--What would it be like for a person to cope with the catastrophe,if they were in terrible health, at the same time? It's almost unbearable to even think about. I bet you think the same way.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?
by I_Like_Plants » Thu 01 Mar 2007, 04:11:10
Geeze, I'm impressed too. Wow.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?
by Heineken » Thu 01 Mar 2007, 10:45:07
Yes, Threadbear, I do have renewed empathy toward the sick, the weak, and the injured, both human and beast.
I read a magical book while I was ill called "The Story of San Michel," by the physician Axel Munthe. It's all about sickness and death and empathy. I'm not sure if it's still in print, but I commend it to your reading. If you can't get it and would like to read it, PM me and I'll mail you my battered old copy.
Your "crucifixion" comment is right on (and a fine, literary-quality sentence); it was just like that, except my crucifixion lasted many months and Jesus's just a day. (On the other hand, I'm not Jesus!)
Thank you very much also, I_Like_Plants (I like them too).
I read a magical book while I was ill called "The Story of San Michel," by the physician Axel Munthe. It's all about sickness and death and empathy. I'm not sure if it's still in print, but I commend it to your reading. If you can't get it and would like to read it, PM me and I'll mail you my battered old copy.
Your "crucifixion" comment is right on (and a fine, literary-quality sentence); it was just like that, except my crucifixion lasted many months and Jesus's just a day. (On the other hand, I'm not Jesus!)
Thank you very much also, I_Like_Plants (I like them too).
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog
"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---I & my bro.
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog
"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---I & my bro.
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?
by JustWatch » Thu 01 Mar 2007, 19:09:48
Heineken,
Wow, what a story! I’m so glad that you are doing much better. I can’t say I’ve ever experienced anything like that at all. I was so lucky, not only that I didn’t die, but had no pain at all. My back which has a couple of herniated disks, somehow stopped hurting after I woke up! Only had a bit of pain in my shoulder for awhile, but has now gone away.
Life can be hard on the body. I’ve been wearing mine out at a pretty good clip. I see that you have been doing that pick and shovel thing as well.
It’s funny now when I look back on my own life. I see how often the old saying, “the best of intentions often go awry,” is so true and how it leads so many of us into trouble. At the same time, I see that sometimes the most tragic things in our life somehow turn out to be the best learning experiences of all, and lead us to salvation in seeing the truth. I plan to examine this combination of ideas further.
Thank you very much for sharing your incredibly moving story, I will carry it with me.
Sincerely,
Joe
Wow, what a story! I’m so glad that you are doing much better. I can’t say I’ve ever experienced anything like that at all. I was so lucky, not only that I didn’t die, but had no pain at all. My back which has a couple of herniated disks, somehow stopped hurting after I woke up! Only had a bit of pain in my shoulder for awhile, but has now gone away.
Life can be hard on the body. I’ve been wearing mine out at a pretty good clip. I see that you have been doing that pick and shovel thing as well.
It’s funny now when I look back on my own life. I see how often the old saying, “the best of intentions often go awry,” is so true and how it leads so many of us into trouble. At the same time, I see that sometimes the most tragic things in our life somehow turn out to be the best learning experiences of all, and lead us to salvation in seeing the truth. I plan to examine this combination of ideas further.
Thank you very much for sharing your incredibly moving story, I will carry it with me.
Sincerely,
Joe
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?
by jboogy » Thu 01 Mar 2007, 19:28:37
Aaron , you and monte are my hero's, if, on my deathbed I could look back and say that I had accomplished half the things you have I would die a satisfied person. All I can point to is two wonderful children and a good marriage, at least everyone tells me my kids are great , I'm not so sure but they're still young so I'll give em' the benefit of the doubht , dought ? I also have taken concrete steps to survive the coming sh*tstorm , but who knows if it will be enough. I also take pride in being able to see thru the lies of our government when so many others choose to remain blind. Lastly I'm proud I can hide my annoyance at my mother never letting me GET A WORD IN when I talk to her on the phone!
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Re: What Are Your Greatest Personal Accomplishments?
by Heineken » Thu 01 Mar 2007, 22:33:18
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JustWatch', 'H')eineken,
It’s funny now when I look back on my own life. I see how often the old saying, “the best of intentions often go awry,” is so true and how it leads so many of us into trouble. At the same time, I see that sometimes the most tragic things in our life somehow turn out to be the best learning experiences of all, and lead us to salvation in seeing the truth. I plan to examine this combination of ideas further.
Thank you very much for sharing your incredibly moving story, I will carry it with me.
Sincerely,
Joe
It’s funny now when I look back on my own life. I see how often the old saying, “the best of intentions often go awry,” is so true and how it leads so many of us into trouble. At the same time, I see that sometimes the most tragic things in our life somehow turn out to be the best learning experiences of all, and lead us to salvation in seeing the truth. I plan to examine this combination of ideas further.
Thank you very much for sharing your incredibly moving story, I will carry it with me.
Sincerely,
Joe
You are infinitely welcome, JustWatch Joe.
Actually I think that quote is something closer to "The best-made plans of mice and men go oft awry" (from a Robert Burns poem, I believe). That could serve as an epitaph on the future tombstone of our civilization.
You're so right, we never know what strange, unexpected twists our paths will take. And what seems like irredeemable disaster may ultimately prove quite otherwise.
Anyway, I rate my recovery at the top of my list of greatest personal accomplishments. I know that yet other members have similar stories to tell, and I hope that they'll tell them here.
"Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog
"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---I & my bro.
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog
"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---I & my bro.
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