My Biggest DisappointmentOften the things we look forward to the most turn out to be a huge let down. As Freddy Woo puts it, "High heels in bed? No fun at all. Porn has a lot to answer for."
Well, Freddy, you are supposed to get someone else to wear them.
What's disappointed you lot?
null points for 'This QOTW'
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chthonic, Thu 26 Jun 2008, 14:15)
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MountainsI have never got to the top of a mountain bigger than Snowdon. It's not for want of trying.
In 1995, for example, I had a go at climbing Tungurahua. A couple of hundred metres from the summit, I couldn't face any more. I untied myself from the ropes and told my companions I'd meet then back down at the snowline. I took two steps, my crampons fell off, and I slid back down into the crater. My friend grabbed my ice-axe and threw it down to me: it missed my head by inches. Landing in the crater, I fell asleep: well, it was warm. The compensation is that I can legitimately claim to be one of the few people to have fallen into, and fallen asleep inside, an erupting volcano.
Or take my attemt at Kilimanjaro in 1999. I knew all about the need to go slowly, and had what I thought was a lovely pace. Arriving at the last hut, I felt great, and sat looking out over the silent moonscape where every sound fell from the soft sky like a leaden snowflake. And then I began to feel ill. Within minutes, I felt like I had fallen off the floor. I crawled to bed, where I spent the next 12 hours vomiting and clutching my head and cursing the thin air.
I'd just finished my (unfunded) Masters at the time, and was about to start my (unfunded) PhD. I had no money at all. I didn't need to waste my precious funds like that.
Disappointed? No. That comes nowhere near it. Flying home a couple of days later, I could see the peak of Kili above the clouds. It sneered at me from behind its mask of victory. But, oh, Kilimanjaro: one day I shall return. And I shall walk on your head. For you are merely a lump of rock...
...and I am a fool who seems unable to learn that he's just not good at altitude.
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Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 27 Jun 2008, 10:42,
3 replies)
Well your a dark horse.Erudite, witty, and an dashing explorer to boot.
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girlinthehole, Fri 27 Jun 2008, 11:19,
closed)
don't worrysomeone will invent robo-lungs soon enough
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Iananan Formerly known as el-rodente, not that you care, Fri 27 Jun 2008, 19:47,
closed)
Robo lungs?No! They'll become self aware and turn on their human masters. Don't say I didn't warn you.
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gareth_alien will be human again at, Tue 1 Jul 2008, 14:12,
closed)
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