bassicallytom | LJ Idol Prompt #1

I thank God that cell phones weren't around when I was growing up.

No, I never did anything that required bail money; but I have plenty of cringe-worth episodes.
There were never any newspaper articles featuring me as a wayward youth.
I am thankful that there remains no evidence of my mistakes and humiliations.

One afternoon in the summer of my eighth grade year, my buddy, Keith, and I decided to fly our balsa wood model airplane off a basketball court. The intent was to actually take off from the court instead of taking off through our usual launch by hand. A court launch would be more realistic, we theorized.

There are two basic requirements for successful control line flying; 1. a gas engine to propel the plane and 2. control lines that are tight to control the elevation of the plane. The 'pilot' stands in the middle and the plane flies around and around and maybe up or down. Really experienced pilots can actually make the model do a loop; we never did a loop. We did, however, get very dizzy going around in circles.

What we did not theorize was the amount of movement that is required to keep the control line to the model taut. Keith was taking a step or half step with every revolution.

Did I mention that we were doing this dance on a basketball court that has goal posts at either end?

About two minutes into the flight Keith took a step closer to the goal post. I watch the model fly past the post and immediately wrap around, with each successive revolution going faster and faster, until BOOM and there was an explosion of balsa wood that now resembled toothpicks.

Keith and I were the only people that experienced this tragedy; and we only have our memories of it.
There was no one to critique our skill or even our judgment [or lack thereof].

It was a blessing to be able to make a mistake and share it only with a friend.
I miss those days,

Current Mood: reflective

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

pixiebelle

I’m grateful for not having photographic evidence of a lot of things too. And just the general nature of sharing everything publicly, I already look back and cringe at my posts from 10-15 years ago, I can’t imagine what my posts as a teen would have been like. Scary stuff.

Thank you for sharing even if there’s no video evidence :)

From:

bassicallytom

I feel pity for the kids that live so publicly and what they are missing. Thank you for your comment.

From:

adoptedwriter

The good old days…

From:

bassicallytom

Indeed! But these are still good days!

From:

simplyn2deep

I’m with you on being grateful that so many childhood mistakes happened before everyone carried a camera around in their pocket. 😂 There’s something wonderful about the fact that this disaster exists only as a memory shared between you and Keith. No video, no viral clip, no comment section analyzing precisely where your eighth-grade aeronautical engineering went wrong!

And the image of that poor little plane wrapping itself around the basketball goal faster and faster until it basically becomes a cloud of balsa-wood toothpicks made me laugh. 😂 But I really liked the reflection underneath the story, too. Kids today grow up with the possibility that every embarrassing mistake can be photographed, recorded, and preserved forever. There really was something freeing about getting to do something spectacularly ill-advised with a friend, learn from it, laugh about it later, and have absolutely no evidence that it ever happened.

From:

bassicallytom

Not everything is meant for the public view. In management we learn to critique in private, praise in public. Thank you for your heartfelt comment.

From:

gardeningatnight

It's true that today's youth are in a worse position for being able to make mistakes and move on from them. I think about it a lot. I feel like it also extends to things like the construction of identity as a whole -- I spent a lot of time trying out different ways of dressing, different kinds of music, different ways of talking, different philosophies of life when I was young. And, when I changed, there were maybe a couple of photos, an old CD, or a book still lying around, but it wasn't something that the rest of the world could easily revisit and remind me of years later.

From:

bassicallytom

Changing is good, trying new things is good, particularly when it's done privately or with a few close friends! I pity the kids that must do it publicly. Thank you for reading and getting it!

From:

drippedonpaper

I love when you share your memories :) You have such a great sense of humor :)

From:

bassicallytom

Thank you for getting me into this.

From:

humanbeansradio

I love this. I agree wholeheartedly that there was something wonderful about being able to do something spectacularly ill-advised with a friend and have it become a memory instead of permanent evidence. 😂❤️ Im pretty sure the statute hasn't run out on some things I did so I'll leave it vague. 😀

From:

bassicallytom

Here's to that statute of limitations!! :)

From:

bsgsix

I, too, thank the gods for a cellphone-free existence up until I was about 18 (I turned 18 in 1999, and I don't think cells had cameras until... maybe 2005? I barely remember, but I was in my 20s when I had one that took photos)! But the way everything is documented is almost too much. Sure, I have photos of things - myself, my kid, my engagement, my cat, you name it - but the stupid shit that I did when I was too young to understand? The evidence is erased, either from memory or from the simple passage of time.

You're right - it was a blessing to make a mistake a share it only with a friend. Life was so good then! It's good now, but it was a DIFFERENT "good" back then. I hear you, and am grateful you shared this humorous and nostalgic moment! :)

From:

bassicallytom

Thank you for reading and getting it! I appreciate your comment and thoughts.

From:

penpusher

Aw, but see, if there WERE cell phones, you might have been able to show us the footage of that fateful crash, your own personal Hindenburg moment!

Still, this was a cute tale of a failed flight, and I'll avoid the "three point landing" commentary even though I would normally lean into it!

From:

halfshellvenus

That must have been quite a mess to clean up! Especially if you didn't have access to any brooms, given that it was not an outcome you would have foreseen. :)

From:

ofearthandstars

This sounds like a fun memory - I can just imagine the horror of realizing what was about to happen and being unable to stop it, then boom!

My dad had a few balsa wood plane kits back in the day, that he got my Oldest child interested in - they still sell on eBay, apparently. I always loved the soft wood, but it did not hold up well to collisions.

From:

poppetawoppet

I’m so glad my little humiliations are only mine to remember

From:

legalpad819

I think about this all the time- oh if my parents could have tracked my every move and there were photographic evidence of our shenanigans!

From:

purplepetrichor

I’m glad phones with cameras were not a thing when I was young.

But this seems like a mostly fun memory to have.

From:

n3m3sis43

I was still fairly wild through a lot of my 20's and LJ existed then. While I did have the sense to at least not publicly post about the things I got up to, I can only imagine what it would've been like if there'd been real social media when I was that age -- let alone when I was younger. It's rough that modern kids can't do anything without being watched.

From:

murielle

Oh, the things we do when young.😊
I believe that make us wiser. At least, I hope they do.
😊

From:

roina_arwen

That poor plane! I think most of us of a certain age are grateful we didn’t have lasting proof of our idiocy and misdeeds!

From:

bleodswean

Sometimes I miss those days, too. This was a fun memory, though!

From:

scribblesinblue

Yeah, that was just the right age for that kind of misadventure. I miss those days as well.

From:

lapis_lazuli615

Nice commentary on today's constant online-ness. You're right - we're lucky the memories of our *ahem* exploits only remain in our heads instead of out in the world for everyone to see.

Although some days, I wonder if my memory would be better if I had little digital bits of that past.

From:

muchtooarrogant

until BOOM and there was an explosion of balsa wood that now resembled toothpicks.
Oh no!

This was very engaging, and I knew from the moment the basketball court was mentioned that disaster would ensue, just not exactly how. :)

Dan

From:

oxymoron67

Oh, I feel this.

There was a summer when my friends and I did some... nreathtakingly stupid things.

From:

eeyore_grrl

Growing up now is.... Very different. Public, scrutinized.

From:

banana_galaxy

I dunno, I kinda feel like that's something I would've liked to see on video. Imagine watching it in slow motion!

From:

onda_bianca

You know...valid. Sometimes capturing everything on video for a viral moment takes away from the magic of memories.

From:

kandigurl

“It was a blessing to be able to make a mistake and share it only with a friend.” So true!

From:

spaciireth

I'm also relieved that we didn't all have tiny cameras in our pockets when I was a teen! Thanks for sharing this story, though. It gave me a good chuckle!

From:

alycewilson

Thankfully it was only embarrassing and didn't actually hurt anyone! But yes, it's a really good thing that the only photographic evidence of my misspent youth came from actual film cameras.

From:

mstrobel

“ It was a blessing to be able to make a mistake and share it only with a friend” - yes, this!! I’m glad I got to go through school and dumb things without social media!