What is your most memorable event / experience that will stay with you forever? (1 Viewer)

ColinEssex

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As the title hints at, we all have memorable experiences, it can be anything, something simple like driving Route 66, getting a certain job, or car or meeting the Queen or President.
What is yours? However insignificant you think it is to others, it must be the most memorable or meaningful to you. I know we all have several, but there must be one and only list one for you.
To those that despise me, I'm not trying to knock anyone, or a country or a race. I'm just interested in your experience you put above all others.
Just a light hearted interlude from the current stresses we all face at the moment. Please keep the thread on track, people's perception of a momentous event interests me. I'll post mine in due course
Col
 

deletedT

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You made me remember I hate my life. Nothing special that can be memorable. Born normal, lived normal and possibly will die normal. Not even an outstanding event. Sigh..... I’ve never been able to sit and talk about something special I experienced for my kids. Something I frequently see in movies.
 
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The_Doc_Man

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Here is a big, memorable event which was life-changing.

In 1966 I was playing music on Bourbon Street in New Orleans and our band had an "agreement" with a business manager named Harold. Last name omitted because I don't want to get sued if he's still alive, and the exposure to a lawsuit is because he was a total idiot. He eventually got arrested for business fraud, which doesn't surprise me because he was constantly making promises he never kept. The band I was with dissolved and I joined another group, but for a while Harold and I had to interact.

Every now and then we got a meager crumb from him. My personal crumb was that he needed an organist for a concert for which he was a co-promoter. So to keep this from becoming a "shaggy dog story" I will cut to the big event. I played organ as part of the stage band for the 1966 New Orleans "Sonny and Cher" concert. Big crowds of screaming "teenie boppers" (as they were called back then). Sonny & Cher were on a tour and we had them before Houston but after Atlanta.

Afterwards, the stage band members were invited to the cast party along with the lead-in acts. When the featured artists came in, Sonny was all smiles, waving, shaking hands, definitely "Mr. Happy Face." Cher, on the other hand, was all snarls and snaps and sneers, definitely "Ms Witch" with a capital B.

Obviously, Sonny and Cher were top-liners. At that party, I had the opportunity to meet country-crossover star Charlie Rich "The Silver Fox" who was a 2nd-line star. His big hit was "Mohair Sam" that year. Anyway, Charlie was a true gentleman who told me the absolute unvarnished truth about the misery of a career as a less-than-superstar musician. He was living the lifestyle characterized by the song that claims that "your address is your bus's license plate." He (and another person unrelated to this concert) convinced me to stay in graduate school where I eventually became "Doc" legitimately. I turned down a job as a touring organist for the Lowrey organs (Chicago Music Company, who also makes Storey & Clark pianos.) I stayed as an organist but did church weddings and the occasional fashion show, fair, or other special event.
 

ColinEssex

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Tera, that's sad but there must be something, however small. Maybe passing an exam, car driving test? Meeting a special friend?
Doc, that's a dream story, I was in love with Cher in those days, she looks stunning on the video of 'Bang Bang'. You must have thought it was Christmas several times over.
Col
 

arnelgp

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musician is better word than organist (much worst if you played on exhibitions).:rolleyes:
 

The_Doc_Man

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ArnelGP, I had the versatility to play a fashion show for the pretty ladies to walk down the runway. I played on stage in a seedy bar or two. The instrument I play weighs more than I do. I was and still am a musician, but I never played trumpet publicly (even though I can play it). I only played accordion once or twice publicly, even though I can play that. I played electric bass guitar only a few times even though I can play that. I have even played piano in a recording session even though not is not my instrument. I'm an organist.

Out of curiosity, why do you think musician is a better word? Is there something in your culture about that?
 

Micron

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I guess we'll have to add that to the PC terms that are no longer allowed. Perhaps flautist is next.
 

Eljefegeneo

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When I met Gen. James Woolnough. He was a four star General and I was a lowly lieutenant. Came to my Signal Detachment in RVN for a Christmas visit. I spent weeks preparing for his visit and was prepped by my various commanding officers on what to show him, how to act, etc. I was terrified of making a mistake. When I met him he told me he wasn't interested in a tour, just wanted to meet my troops. A true gentleman. Wish there were more like him.
 

Steve R.

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What are the odds? We used to live in Ely, NV, a very rural area. We took a four-wheeling trip on some dirt roads. I believe on December 24th. As night approached, we headed back towards home. The truck stalled, due to a dead battery. We looked forward in trepidation, in the approaching cold (possibly near 11° F) night, for a very long walk just to the paved road and then an even longer walk to town. We did not expect anyone to be on the paved road that night considering the date and time. Unbelievably, another truck appeared on the dirt road so we were able to get our truck going again and drive back home.
 
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kevlray

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I have a lot of good memories. But the one that stands out right now is when I got to the top of half dome in Yosemite. It was quite a view (it is quite a hike up and back in a day).
 

The_Doc_Man

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@kevlray - that sounds like a good memory. If my "Sonny & Cher" memory listed above hadn't been so important in deciding my career, I might have picked a similar "encounter with nature" experience. I've been to the top of Pike's Peak and Crater Lake. I've been to the Seven Sacred Falls on Maui. I have driving the roads that go about halfway up Mt. Ranier. I was near Mt. St. Helens about six months before it went up with a bang. I've seen the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park. Any one of those would be memorable.
 

Galaxiom

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In 1994, aged in my mid-thirties, I was in the eastern mountains (Cordillera Oriental) of Ecuador in the upper reaches of the Rio Napo near Archidona. I was staying in a small settlement consisting of Quechua people including a man who had brought his family to settle at the edge of the small village having previously lived a traditional lifestyle in the jungle. He spoke only Quechua. Nobody spoke both English and Quechua so any conversation I had with him had to be translated via intermediate Spanish.

As a shaman, he prepared a batch of Ayahuasca which several of us participated in one night. Some just became nauseous but for me it was a unique and very powerful, psychedelic hallucinogenic experience in the very best "set and setting" that one might possibly have. It was intensely beautiful, peaceful and deeply insightful in ways that took me quite some time to fully grasp afterwards.

I will certainly never forget it and how it affected my life.
 

Jon

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I hear that some drugs can rewire your brain permanetly, and give you insights that are impossible to get otherwise. Was it like this?
 

neuroman9999

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I hear that some drugs can rewire your brain permanetly, and give you insights that are impossible to get otherwise. Was it like this?
ask Steve Jobs, Jon. He's the one that made smoking weed famous. Or was it LSD? Whatever the hell that dude thought would make him more ""creative"". What a moron. He had good timing though, no doubt about that. by the way, I thought someone said recently that @ColinEssex was not around anymore?

So....my most memorable experience? It lasted for 8 years, and it is unmentionable here. But that answers the question of this thread.
 

Galaxiom

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I hear that some drugs can rewire your brain permanetly, and give you insights that are impossible to get otherwise. Was it like this?
Any novel experience rewires one's brain to some extent. I certainly had insights and lasting effects, particularly about my self image.

Before we started, the shaman explained that I should prepare questions I wanted answered and I would experience three waves. My third question was "What is a good piece of advice for my life". The answer was spoken to me, "You are a much bigger person than you think you are."

Indeed it was truly insightful. I had really bad posture with a hunched back and a sunken chest since I was a child. I had never realised the crux was my self image of being a smaller person than I was. In a way I had never related to myself as a fully grown adult. This piece of advice was the beginning of a profound change where I eventually took up yoga and grew into myself physically. In that way it did permanently change me in a very positive way.

My wife strongly featured in the answer to the second question, "What is the meaning of life". My first "question" was about being able to astral travel to visit her. The shaman had told me that whatever I most needed would be given to me in the experience. Sure enough as the rush started, I found myself travelling at an incredible speed much like StarTrek's Enterprise at warp speed with bright stars streaking past.

There is a lot more detail to all this but it would take me a lot of writing to describe it.

After the third wave, it just stopped. I have no idea how long it lasted. Could have been as little as a few minutes but the psychological effect on me was enormous. I was so alive and ecstatic. I could still see quite well in the near complete darkness but I was otherwise completely normal again. (It causes extreme sensitivity to light and should never be taken in the day time.)

Another fascinating part happened the next day. I had been away from my wife for over three weeks. I lay on the bed and was almost overwhelmed just thinking of her. I imagined sending loving thoughts so strongly that it would make her go weak. When I got home she told me she had had a really strange experience while I was away where she had felt "paralysed with her feelings for me" and couldn't move. She couldn't remember the precise date it happened but it was in the right time frame.
 

Jon

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Wow, that is some story! It seems like the drug unlocked perhaps suppressed emotions, unblocked thoughts, gave a new perspective and blew away the cobwebs. Yes, any novel experience can rewire the brain. But the strength and longevity of rewiring varies tremendously. It seems like this one was lasting.
 

Galaxiom

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ask Steve Jobs, Jon. He's the one that made smoking weed famous. Or was it LSD? Whatever the hell that dude thought would make him more ""creative"". What a moron.

I always find it incredible how some people with no drug experiences can be so judgemental particularly when it comes to stimulating creativity. You might consider how much brilliant music and art has been dreamed up by people using drugs before you are so critical of things you clearly know nothing about.

Sure drugs are not for everyone but they agree with the constitution of some people. There are abstainers who would probably benefit from them.
 

neuroman9999

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I always find it incredible how some people with no drug experiences can be so judgemental particularly when it comes to stimulating creativity. You might consider how much brilliant music and art has been dreamed up by people using drugs before you are so critical of things you clearly know nothing about.

Sure drugs are not for everyone but they agree with the constitution of some people. There are abstainers who would probably benefit from them.
creativity is what drives economic prosperity, but you and everyone else knows by now that I don't care one bit about that. thus, it is not for me. and yes, i'm well aware that most musicians and artists used drugs heavily. and the reason is probably because they can't deal with the manipulative nature of the world's evil. or maybe it's because they just want to experiment? regardless of the reason, yes, much good music has come from drugs. hell, I should know! I listen to my list all day long, and there are 1600+ songs on it. =)
 

Galaxiom

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i'm well aware that most musicians and artists used drugs heavily. and the reason is probably because they can't deal with the manipulative nature of the world's evil. or maybe it's because they just want to experiment?

You know nothing of it but your own narrow-minded prejudices. You would not have the mental capacity to comprehend psychedelic experience. Probably best you didn't try drugs.
 

Jon

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There is some good stuff on Joe Rogan about taking drugs that produce life changing experiences. I can't remember the name of the drug he was referring to, but who knows, might be the same one that you used.
 

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