5 ms·

I wrote a message in a bottle when I was young. I still have very dim memories of being excited at the possibility that somebody in another country years later

I wrote a message in a bottle when I was young. I still have very dim memories of being excited at the possibility that somebody in another country years later would find it. According to my folks, however, there were some issues. First, I was four years old and couldn't write, and second, I threw the bottle into a small pond. But my parents didn't want to dampen my enthusiasm at the time.

sshine 5y ago
What, ponds don’t have edges? An interpretation: Being told the details as a grown-up, you’re the finder of that bottle. Probably not many would appreciate the drawing you did as much as you can appreciate being enriched with the memory of yourself as a kid.
agumonkey 5y ago
heh, beside the joke, I remember being utterly excited just seeing people talk over long distance ham radio by using atmospheric reflections.. someone in california randomly bumping into a russia far of Siberia after minutes of white noise.. super eerie.
- hughrr 5y ago
  That was incredibly attractive to me when I was a kid. Then when I was an adult I worked with some engineers who were hams and suddenly found I could afford the radio kit so I got a license. Almost immediately found out it was all racist old men talking about health problems and religious matters around antennas. Disappointedly I sold all the kit and never bothered again. I still keep the license up to date for when I get old and have health problems to talk about. Much as most hobbies these days most of the ham operators don’t actually operate stuff as well. They just buy stuff and arrange it and post on QRZ forums about it.
koolba 5y ago
I had a similar experience at the beach around 6 or 7 but it ended with me getting yelled at by some surfers for littering.
- nasmorn 5y ago
  It is a very romantic way of littering though
  - sabjut 5y ago
    I remember throwing plastic bottles off a river bridge with my class in 3rd grade. While it's true that the river connected to an ocean some 400km downstream, I doubt they made it further than the next best river bank. I sincerely hope that since then schools have stopped encouraging children to throw plastic in waterways like this.
- jhbadger 5y ago
  In the 1970s when I was in grade school we attached postcards to helium balloons to see how far they could get (some people got responses that indicated they traveled for hundreds of miles). That probably would be even less acceptable today in terms of littering as deflated balloons often get eaten by wildlife to ill effect.

sshine 5y ago

What, ponds don’t have edges? An interpretation: Being told the details as a grown-up, you’re the finder of that bottle. Probably not many would appreciate the drawing you did as much as you can appreciate being enriched with the memory of yourself as a kid.

agumonkey 5y ago

heh, beside the joke, I remember being utterly excited just seeing people talk over long distance ham radio by using atmospheric reflections.. someone in california randomly bumping into a russia far of Siberia after minutes of white noise.. super eerie.

hughrr 5y ago
That was incredibly attractive to me when I was a kid. Then when I was an adult I worked with some engineers who were hams and suddenly found I could afford the radio kit so I got a license. Almost immediately found out it was all racist old men talking about health problems and religious matters around antennas. Disappointedly I sold all the kit and never bothered again. I still keep the license up to date for when I get old and have health problems to talk about. Much as most hobbies these days most of the ham operators don’t actually operate stuff as well. They just buy stuff and arrange it and post on QRZ forums about it.

koolba 5y ago

I had a similar experience at the beach around 6 or 7 but it ended with me getting yelled at by some surfers for littering.

nasmorn 5y ago
It is a very romantic way of littering though
- sabjut 5y ago
  I remember throwing plastic bottles off a river bridge with my class in 3rd grade. While it's true that the river connected to an ocean some 400km downstream, I doubt they made it further than the next best river bank. I sincerely hope that since then schools have stopped encouraging children to throw plastic in waterways like this.
jhbadger 5y ago
In the 1970s when I was in grade school we attached postcards to helium balloons to see how far they could get (some people got responses that indicated they traveled for hundreds of miles). That probably would be even less acceptable today in terms of littering as deflated balloons often get eaten by wildlife to ill effect.