Had yearly membership at the local shooting range that was renewed last January. If you just shoot every other week, the fee pays for itself. So, what did I do? Just had zero motivation at all to go even once. Yeah, not once in the entire year. Totally wasted the money. So, I stopped by and canceled it, before the auto renewal. Man, what a moron!

Let's hear your dumbest story this past year.

Not difficult to confess this one, I attempted to pick up where I left off with an old girlfriend. As a widower you could also say I'm inexperienced at dating at a senior age. Seems pretty stupid to think someone is going to be easier to get along with, they don't, and it was worse.

To quote a meme, "Sometimes God sends an ex back into your life to see if you're still stupid." I was

After my layoff earlier last year after 17 years, I decided to take a few months off from doing anything, and floated on my severance pay for a bit too long before starting my job search.

I don't regret taking some time off, but I should have started my search far earlier than I did.

I should be starting my new job next week if all things go as expected, so that's some good news for this year.

I bought a pass for 30 rounds of golf. Small town politics ramped up. (Wife's hometown, I didn't read the tea leaves well). Anyway I used about 4 of the 30 rounds.

I am blissfully ignorant or forgetful of the dumbest thing I did last year. I suspect it's more of the latter. Having a short memory is a blessing. I do remember saying "stupid, stupid" a couple of times to myself.

ETA: I left this thread and moved on to the pitch my bitch section and I remembered the dumbest thing I did.

The year before last, I had planned to move back into stocks by October and only dipped my toes. My excuse was I wasn't done finishing with an Excel file I was building for my portfolio. Then early in the year, I was certain we were going into recession and great stocks to have in a recession are suppliers of basic necessities such as groceries. But did I put any money in Costco? Fuck no. And I see it's up 40% over the last year. That's pretty dumb.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Had yearly membership at the local shooting range that was renewed last January. If you just shoot every other week, the fee pays for itself. So, what did I do? Just had zero motivation at all to go even once. Yeah, not once in the entire year. Totally wasted the money. So, I stopped by and canceled it, before the auto renewal. Man, what a moron!

Let's hear your dumbest story this past year.

Look at it as “supporting local business and shooting sports”.

I did the same thing with a gym membership…

Got my first speeding ticket in 37 years.

Not stop drinking. I like my beer. She likes her wine. I saw signs of a potential problem with my wife. I should have ceased the booze coming home. Now, she needs a liver transplant to survive.

I have been complaining about sore back and shoulders so my wife went ahead and paid up front for 20 visits for me to see a professional massage specialist. Never went.

I'm capable of dumb things but don't recall any that stand out for 2023.

However, if you ask my wife she may be able to recall a few.

I let another year go by without working on my 70 Mach I.

I fear I’m running out of time.

I backed into a palm tree.

quote:

"Sometimes God sends an ex back into your life to see if you're still stupid."

I went back into supervision at work. I ask myself at least once a week why.

I fell for a scammer on the phone pretending to be Chase fraud department. Helped him hacked into my Chase online profile. He tried multiple times to wire 50k out of 2 of my business accounts. Chase system was actually really good at stopping fraudulent activities so no monetary lost on my part but I did ended up having to replace all of my accounts including credit cards. What a PIA. I was in the middle of dealing with a business issue and was not thinking straight. Hindsight, there were so many clues that the guy was a scammer... I feel so dumb!

I really can't think of anything notable . I'm sure I fucked up somewhere but I just don't remember it .Maybe that's a good thing .

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Had yearly membership at the local shooting range that was renewed last January. If you just shoot every other week, the fee pays for itself. So, what did I do? Just had zero motivation at all to go even once. Yeah, not once in the entire year. Totally wasted the money. So, I stopped by and canceled it, before the auto renewal. Man, what a moron!

Let's hear your dumbest story this past year.

This story makes me sad. Why not set a calendar appointment to go shoot at least once a month, instead of cancelling the membership? You have an amazing collection...they need to be exercised!

I spent three days and $500+ in tools and materials trying to fix the crappy factory driveshaft in the truck we bought for my kid, failed, and then spent $275 on a better aftermarket driveshaft that I should have just bought in the first place.

Wasn't wearing gloves doing yard work

I have 2-part compost tumblers (base w/ the rollers and the tumbler itself) and have an organic garden. Late Feb / Early March, I was expanding my garden 5x its previous size. I rolled out the tumblers and used my homemade compost as one of the layers in the new raised beds. The, I took the sod I cut out, filled the tumblers with sod, and left them in the middle of my backyard.

Lawn needs mowing and I have to roll the tumblers back to where they belongs and stick them on the bases. I wasn't wearing gloves and the bases are up against a fence (i.e. cool, dark spot). As I rolled the tumbler on one of the bases, I feel a bite on my hand between my thumb and wrist. It didn't feel like a fire ant bite (those are obvious) so I went in the house, put the little anti-itch device on it, and resumed my day. By the end of the day, I have 3 postules on my hand that look like fire ant bites which shocked me. Oh well, applied some corticosteroid cream on the bite and went about the rest of my Sunday. Monday morning arrives, everything is swollen around the bites, and it looks like I scratched the 3 postules off. Applied some more corticosteroid cream. As the morning goes on my hand swells more and more. Coworkers say that looks like an allergic reaction, I call Urgent care and they say they don't do allergic reactions, and so I head off to the ER. Fortunately, it wasn't busy so I saw a doc right away (it's painful at this point as there is more swelling than skin) and he informs me that I've been bitten by a brown recluse spider. The only guy I know who had been bitten by one was the Corporate safety moment for brown recluse bite for a decade as he had 4 surgeries and barely managed to keep his hand. I get 4 prescriptions and a referral to a hand surgeon as there isn't much flesh in the area but lots of moving parts. Everything turned out fine and I never had to be debrided or have surgery.

Simply wearing gloves would've saved a lot of discomfort and hassle.

I said some things I should have kept to myself even though they were true and my prediction was right. Damaged my relationship with one of the Jr DFs. Since repaired but it was a bad time.

quote:

Originally posted by Nismo:
After my layoff earlier last year after 17 years, I decided to take a few months off from doing anything, and floated on my severance pay for a bit too long before starting my job search.

I don't regret taking some time off, but I should have started my search far earlier than I did.

DITTO - BUT for me, thus far, no new job. To date I have applied for 21 jobs in the last three months with no confirmed offers. My last job lasted 32 years.