Who Was the Craziest Person You Knew?

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Discussion Overview

The thread explores personal anecdotes and reflections on individuals perceived as "crazy" by the participants. The scope includes humorous and serious accounts of reckless behavior, unusual experiences, and the nature of craziness, with contributions ranging from personal stories to observations about others.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant recounts a high school acquaintance with erratic behavior, including reckless driving and bar fights, ultimately finding a stable job with the postal service.
  • Another participant humorously mentions a person named Ivan without elaboration.
  • Several participants express difficulty in identifying "crazy" individuals, suggesting that such people are more common in urban settings.
  • One participant humorously reflects on their own past reckless driving experiences, including joyriding and near-misses with the law.
  • A participant shares a story about a large biker named Toot who experienced a humorous realization during a bar fight, highlighting the chaotic nature of such encounters.
  • Another participant mentions a football player in their class, expressing concern about potential legal troubles rather than athletic performance.
  • Multiple participants share their own reckless driving stories, including near accidents and the thrill of risky behavior, while acknowledging the consequences of such actions.
  • Some participants reflect on the passage of time and the shift from reckless youth to more responsible adulthood, expressing nostalgia for past adventures.
  • One participant distinguishes between reckless behavior and actual mental disorders, suggesting a broader definition of "craziness."

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants share a variety of personal stories and perspectives on what constitutes "craziness," with no clear consensus on definitions or the nature of the individuals discussed. Some express nostalgia for their reckless pasts, while others caution against glorifying such behavior.

Contextual Notes

Participants acknowledge the complexity of their experiences and the potential consequences of reckless actions, but do not resolve the moral implications of their past behaviors.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in personal anecdotes about recklessness, humor in storytelling, and reflections on youth and responsibility may find this discussion engaging.

Ivan Seeking
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Today I was thinking about a guy I knew in high school. At first he just seemed a little high strung and strange, but after I observed his behavior for awhile, it became evident that this guy was simply wired differently than most people. He was absolutely nuts! I remember him taking off on a motorcycle, full throttle, right across a blind intersection. He took out a toll both with his car while drunk, played soccer on LSD [the coach loved that one], crashed his car into a tree, later, joined the military and got kicked out. Eventually he got into bar fights and was arrested several times. Rumor has it [started by him] that he even might have killed a guy in a bar one night - he couldn't remember.

Here is the best part: He found a home with the postal service.

Okay laughing head removed, but I couldn't help but laugh when I heard. :redface:
 
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One word: Ivan.

:-p
 
Why? Are you a fan of the postal service?
 
Craziest person I know? This'll take a while...
 
I have thought long and hard and can not think of any one, crazy people
must live in towns and cities.
 
wolram said:
I have thought long and hard and can not think of any one, crazy people
must live in towns and cities.

:smile: :smile: :smile:

Don't be coy Mr Easy Rider.
 
Blast, but one knows me so that does not count, i think Astronuc has done
some quite crazy things, so i put him in the frame :smile:
 
wolram said:
Blast, but one knows me so that does not count, i think Astronuc has done some quite crazy things, so i put him in the frame :smile:
Now, do I look like I would do 'crazy' things. :biggrin: Yeah, I've had some interesting experiences.
 
Astronuc said:
Now, do I look like I would do 'crazy' things. :biggrin: Yeah, I've had some interesting experiences.

Well; erm, err,
yes, but one can not tell by looks alone, it needs a certain intuition.
 
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  • #10
Oh, you people are so way inhibited, i will tell about my best crash, in the hope that you follow.

It was the one where i took off on my bike over a hump backed bridge, the
road bore to the right immediatly after the bridge, and a brook ran along side the road, me and bike cleared the brook, the bike only just, me a bit more,
we went quite high as attested by some damaged branches on a tree, the bikes front wheel was embeded in the mud of the far brook bank, i ended up
a few yards further, it took three of us to pull the bike out of the mud, and
i was able to ride it home (slowly), this is the only one i would like to repeat
as i can not remember the flight bit, or would it be the one with all the sparks, that was good too
 
  • #11
One of the best biker stories that I ever heard came from a 300 pounder named Toot [one guess how he got the name]. To be sure, Toot was not a guy you wanted as an enemy. He had arms as big around as my legs, and when he was a younger guy, he was big time trouble.

At some point, as I imagine was true for many nights in his life, Toot was in a bar and got into a fight. Eventually he found himself on top of another guy and was pounding him into the parking lot. Suddenly he had the strangest sensation: When he to hit the guy, he saw a yellow flash. What the heck was that, he thought. He hit the guy again; yellow flash. Toot hit him again, and again, a yellow flash. Toot finally realized that every time he hit the guy, a cop was hitting him on the head with a nightstick.
 
  • #12
Ivan Seeking said:
One of the best biker stories that I ever heard came from a 300 pounder named Toot [one guess how he got the name]. To be sure, Toot was not a guy you wanted as an enemy. He had arms as big around as my legs, and when he was a younger guy, he was big time trouble.

At some point, as I imagine was true for many nights in his life, Toot was in a bar and got into a fight. Eventually he found himself on top of another guy and was pounding him into the parking lot. Suddenly he had the strangest sensation: When he to hit the guy, he saw a yellow flash. What the heck was that, he thought. He hit the guy again; yellow flash. Toot hit him again, and again, a yellow flash. Toot finally realized that every time he hit the guy, a cop was hitting him on the head with a nightstick.
:smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile:
 
  • #13
The cops only ever did me over once, but i did not care, the breakfast of
bacon and eggs was the best i ever tasted, i often wonder if the desk copper, took pity on me.
 
  • #14
Despite my maniac driving as a teen, I managed to never get arrested or kill anyone. When about fourteen I took a buddy's car joyriding and got caught, but I had permission to take the car, so no one pressed charges of any kind. I did have to sell my dirt bike to pay for the bumper I tore from the parked pick-up truck I hit...and the damage to my friends mom's VW. That was my closest brush with the law.
 
  • #15
Ivan Seeking said:
Despite my maniac driving as a teen, I managed to never get arrested or kill anyone. When about fourteen I took a buddy's car joyriding and got caught, but I had permission to take the car, so no one pressed charges of any kind. I did have to sell my dirt bike to pay for the bumper I tore from the parked pick-up truck I hit...and the damage to my friends mom's VW. That was my closest brush with the law.
My friends compared me to Mario Andretti and Parnelli Jones. :biggrin:

Hey, Ivan, want to race? :smile:

I had a similar situation to Wolram, but without the bridge (although I have been airborne in a car). One winter, on an unfamililar road, I came to a T-intersection, and while gently braking, hit a patch of ice. So I had to let off the brake, slide across the perpendicular road (fortunately no cross traffic) and steer between two large trees. I threaded the needle and missed the trees. Fortunately a guy in a pickup truck had a heavy duty rope to pull me up the embankment.
 
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  • #16
Craziest person I know is this football player in my class(I'am afraid of him being on the news but not about football but on a legel news show)
 
  • #17
Ivan Seeking said:
Despite my maniac driving as a teen, I managed to never get arrested or kill anyone. When about fourteen I took a buddy's car joyriding and got caught, but I had permission to take the car, so no one pressed charges of any kind. I did have to sell my dirt bike to pay for the bumper I tore from the parked pick-up truck I hit...and the damage to my friends mom's VW. That was my closest brush with the law.

A dirt bike for a bumper seems so not fair, but we must take the punishment,
Ivan you were very very bad :smile: but it is or was so much fun, i wish i could do it all again, with you and astro we could have a ball.
 
  • #18
It's hell getting old and responsible. I bought a old Blazer/thrasher 4WD that had a brand new Chev 350 V-8. This was purchased for the sole purpose of thrashing in the hills adjacent to our property. But when push came to shove, I couldn't see ruining a perfectly good engine, so I sold it before I ruined it.
 
  • #19
I probably couldn't handle the excitement anymore. :smile:
 
  • #20
,Ops, my bad side has come through, i must say that i no way want to say
that breaking the law is clever, one suffers if one does, i am still suffering the effects, plod never let's go, remember that.
 
  • #21
Yes, I was worried about this as well after starting the thread. I certainly don't mean to glorify either of the people mentioned or my own actions as a kid, but we all do things we shouldn't, and years later we can look back with a smile if nothing really bad ever happened, but at the time...not so fun when it's happening - getting in trouble, that is.

Astro, I'll race you. Would you like to race to the bathroom or the refrigerator?
 
  • #22
One should not break the law, but if one does, one should willingly accept the consequences.
 
  • #23
I know several people with actual mental disorders, not just recklessness or drug-induced permanent reality distortion.
 
  • #24
Ivan Seeking said:
Astro, I'll race you. Would you like to race to the bathroom or the refrigerator?
:smile: Refrigerator and beer!

Then to the bathroom! :smile: :smile:

Outdoors we could use wheelchair or bicycle.
 
  • #25
Ivan Seeking said:
Yes, I was worried about this as well after starting the thread. I certainly don't mean to glorify either of the people mentioned or my own actions as a kid, but we all do things we shouldn't, and years later we can look back with a smile if nothing really bad ever happened, but at the time...not so fun when it's happening - getting in trouble, that is.

Astro, I'll race you. Would you like to race to the bathroom or the refrigerator?
I glorified in my actions, every one talked about me, but when push came to shove i was the [Ivan edit:] weiner head, it was me that got hurt, me that had bits of metal holding my bones together, i was so stupid.
 
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  • #26
My first husband's mother was a bit of a nut. She would buy a carton of milk, drink a glass, then decide she didn't want anymore, so she would walk door to door through the neighborhood trying to sell the used carton of milk. Same thing if she had left over cheese, or part of an un eaten sandwich.

She would go the junk shops and buy absolute garbage, then call me and tell me to come over to see what she'd gotten me. I 'd show up, see a pile of crap and she'd hand me an itemized list with a dollar total and ask me if I was paying her by cash or check?. :rolleyes:

His mother made me crazy.
 
  • #27
Evo said:
My first husband's mother was a bit of a nut. She would buy a carton of milk, drink a glass, then decide she didn't want anymore, so she would walk door to door through the neighborhood trying to sell the used carton of milk. Same thing if she had left over cheese, or part of an un eaten sandwich.

She would go the junk shops and buy absolute garbage, then call me and tell me to come over to see what she'd gotten me. I 'd show up, see a pile of crap and she'd hand me an itemized list with a dollar total and ask me if I was paying her by cash or check?. :rolleyes:

His mother made me crazy.

Now that is crazy, i mean real crazy, how did you pay :smile:
 
  • #28
Many people tell me I'm the craziest person they've ever met, but I don't know why.

It's probably the time I tried to hit on a girl at a bar by talking about Lie Groups.
 
  • #29
wolram said:
Now that is crazy, i mean real crazy, how did you pay :smile:
Check usually. :frown:
 
  • #30
Evo said:
My first husband's mother was a bit of a nut. She would buy a carton of milk, drink a glass, then decide she didn't want anymore, so she would walk door to door through the neighborhood trying to sell the used carton of milk. Same thing if she had left over cheese, or part of an un eaten sandwich.

She would go the junk shops and buy absolute garbage, then call me and tell me to come over to see what she'd gotten me. I 'd show up, see a pile of crap and she'd hand me an itemized list with a dollar total and ask me if I was paying her by cash or check?. :rolleyes:

His mother made me crazy.

I think the great depression had its toll on her.
 

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