The Moment you realised you're in the big bad world now

stefan idiot jones · 03-09-2013 11:14AM

Malia Fancy Frost wrote: »

Arriving in Lebanon in 1988 and being issued a rifle, ammo, flak jacket and helmet.. Then seeing the first 'Landmines' signs, then the drive from the Israeli/Lebanese border to our area of operations and into a war ~ I was 19 years old.

You can't just leave it at that !!!!

Tell us more, please.

Did you fire your rifle at anybody ?

Did you get em ?

positron · 03-09-2013 11:21AM

When I was 22, I moved to a big busy city in India for work reasons, into rented accommodation etc, and the first evening there as I walk around to find my bearings of that busy inner city area, humid and hot as you would expect, dodging masses of people, street vendors and their make-shift setups, mountains of rubbish on the side of the road, cows standing around munching on this rubbish, bikes and three-wheelers cutting thru this human-animal river, I finally managed to find a decent restaurant which offered a temporary respite from the din of typical Indian city night. Food was delicious but I thoroughly missed my mom's delicious cooking and the my own corner of the our dining room at home and my cat and dogs at my feet while we eat etc.

As I finish the dinner and walk back to my rented accommodation thru all this chaos around me thinking how much I miss the calm and starlight nights of my village, I hear someone whispering in my ear:

"Sir, Do you want some fun? We have all types right there Sir. What do you like Sir? Tamil? Malayalam? Good Malayalee girls sir, New girls sir. Just 50 rupees sir".

That's when it really hit me then in then that I was truly a million miles away from home.

o1s1n · 03-09-2013 11:27AM

The day other people started referring to me as 'The Man' to their children

vitani · 03-09-2013 11:40AM

I flew over to the UK for an open day to a university I was considering doing a postgrad in. On the way back to the airport, the train broke down, and I realised I was at risk of missing my flight home.

Knowing that I would be responsible for getting myself home if I missed the flight was a real wake-up call. Before this, I always had somebody with me to ask advice or to take charge of the situation.

Fox_In_Socks · 03-09-2013 11:41AM

Looks like I reached adulthood at a very early age. I was but a mere pup when I was released into the big bad world.

HalloweenJack · 03-09-2013 11:48AM

When my flat got flooded and I had to deal with all the insurance company and repair people all by myself. That was the biggest adult moment of my life so far.

LoonyLovegood · 03-09-2013 11:52AM

Getting my P45...it was an "oh crap, I'm actually an adult now"

danniemcq · 03-09-2013 12:10PM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Na, I was cooking breakfast for a gang of people after a party, no cooking oil so used a tin of harp lager.

just wondering.... was this in Galway by any chance?

Green Mile · 03-09-2013 12:45PM

positron wrote: »

"Sir, Do you want some fun? We have all types right there Sir. What do you like Sir? Tamil? Malayalam? Good Malayalee girls sir, New girls sir. Just 50 rupees sir".

That's just 50 cent. Are you sure? Should I move over and live like a king?

positron · 03-09-2013 01:13PM

Green Mile wrote: »

That's just 50 cent. Are you sure? Should I move over and live like a king?

When I was 22.... which is 15 years ago. So work out the inflation and take out recent INR depreciation etc.

Okay, forget the maths, it would say if you were walk around that part of that that city today, I am sure pimps would offer something similar for say not much more than ten euros.

Pai Mei · 03-09-2013 01:19PM

For me it was yesterday when I arrived in college and had a teary goodbye to my parents

Sobering ****

The Backwards Man · 03-09-2013 01:25PM

danniemcq wrote: »

just wondering.... was this in Galway by any chance?

Na, those days are a bit of a blur now but I'm pretty sure it was Portrush.

heretochat · 03-09-2013 01:26PM

Being sent out to work as soon as I finished school and being told by my parents that my days of getting things off them for nothing were over and I had to start fending for myself...

Don't think I have stopped working since... And don't think I ever got anything off them after that either :eek:

Rented Mule · 03-09-2013 01:29PM

About 20 years ago, I realized it when I was living out of my car

I was thankful at the time that I paid it off early.

starlit · 03-09-2013 01:32PM

When i first left home and started working away from my home town.

WoollyRedHat · 03-09-2013 01:35PM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Would you like a lollipop?

STRANGER STRANGER, DANGER DANGER!!!!

Ciarabear · 03-09-2013 01:41PM

When I started using a trolley in Tesco, I knew sh1t got real

NegativeCreep · 03-09-2013 01:55PM

I still feel like a child (I'm only going 20) but more and more frequently I'm being asked if I have children or if I'm planning to have any soon. No

Cienciano · 03-09-2013 02:05PM

o1s1n wrote: »

The day other people started referring to me as 'The Man' to their children

As in: "Stay away from the man in the bushes with no trousers on"

vitani · 03-09-2013 02:07PM

Ciarabear wrote: »

When I started using a trolley in Tesco, I knew sh1t got real

I have my very own supermarket trolley token which I keep on my keyring.

salacious crumb · 03-09-2013 02:10PM

Penny Dreadful wrote: »

I agree.

My mother always said if you're feeling sick and think you have the flu and see a €5 on the ground by the front door and stop to pick it up you only have a bad cold.
If you see €50 and still think "I'll die if I bend down to pick that up" you have the flu.

Really annoys me when people walk around complaining of "dying of the flu". If you have the flu you're not walking anywhere.

Indeed, I always used to say I had the flu when I had a cold etc., until the one time I actually got a real proper f*cking flu :pac:

Cienciano · 03-09-2013 02:11PM

I remember moving out. I spilled come tea onto the floor while walking into the sitting room and forgot about it. A week later I noticed it again. It dawned on me that my mother wasn't there to clean shít up anymore.
I was 19 years old. N-n-n-n-n-n-nineteen

jimgoose · 03-09-2013 02:17PM

It is a rather hairy old cliché, but it's happened - I've turned into my father. In a corner of my shed is a collection of sticks-for-stirring-paint-with. We in da Red-Light district. :cool:

Vladimir92 · 03-09-2013 02:18PM

o1s1n wrote: »

The day other people started referring to me as 'The Man' to their children

This happened to me, sitting in a room full of strangers signing on, holding my queue ticket - sobering sh*t (21)

newmug · 03-09-2013 02:19PM

The day I realised I was lucky to get dinner. The aul fella had emigrated and was sending home money, my mother was at her wits end trying to raise me and me brother, and it dawned on me that sh1t doesn't just magically materialise and fall into place. I understood just how fragile our happy little lives were, and that we could be like the black babies on tele overnight. I was about 5 years old.

bumper234 · 03-09-2013 02:21PM

The first time some kid shouts "here Mister...have ya gotta light" instead of "here young fella"

o1s1n · 03-09-2013 02:24PM

Vladimir92 wrote: »

This happened to me, sitting in a room full of strangers signing on, holding my queue ticket - sobering sh*t (21)

It's really weird isn't it?

Even just;

'stay quiet! you're annoying that man!'

/me looks over shoulder - 'oh'

The worst is;

'Be good or that man will take you away/sell you to the child catcher/IS the child catcher'

I really have to shave off this beard

Vladimir92 · 03-09-2013 02:27PM

Yeah and this kid kept leaning against my leg thinking I was his mum, who was sat next to me

little sh*ts

OneArt · 03-09-2013 02:33PM

Moved out of home when I was 20 and lived with housemates for two years and moved to another country by myself, no problem. Was perfectly capable of paying my share of the bills, my own groceries and whatnot. Then I got my own flat when I was 22. Only then it hit me that I was in the real world.

A year later and I'm still okay!

salacious crumb · 03-09-2013 02:33PM

Just after I'd left school, first job working in Atlantic Homecare, some lady called me Mr. Daly, I was like, eh Mr. Daly is my dad :pac:

The Moment you realised you're in the big bad world now

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