h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We've all lost stuff.
Keys, wallets, people's names and addresses.
We've lost love, jobs, money and our balance from time to time.

We've all lost slips of paper with phone numbers.
And most of us have lost a loved one. Or two.
I guess everyone has lost their footing at one time or another.
Women lose their earrings.
Men lose their bearings.
And some people have lost their way while others are lost at sea.
Getting lost can be pretty scary. As Homer Simpson said,"
"Help, I'm somewhere where I don't know where I am."

Some of us have lost our minds. In my case it was deliberate. I had to lead it into woods, tie it up, shoot it and away. Then I got lost myself, and like Homer said, " Help, I'm som...."

Have you ever been lost? [Do you know where you are now?]
Have you ever lost something? Something important? Expensive? Something that didn't belong to you?
Or someone ..important ..expensive? Or didn't belong to you?

What did your biggest 'loss' mean to you?
I invite your anecdotal experiences for a future entry on the subject.

~jwf~

I lost my father (careless, I know) nearly 9 years ago. I still miss him, sometimes, but admit that his death was a 'blessed release' - especially for my mother. It hurt like hell at the time, and it was a long time before I could think of him without crying, but I'm all right now. Time does heal.

I've been lost, but never so badly that I couldn't either find my own way back to where I wanted to be (with the help of a map), or that I couldn't get there without the help of somebody's directions. On one occasion, I got lost because the map I'd been sent mentioned loads of landmarks that weren't where they were supposed to be, and not the ones that would have helped me! I let the people I was visiting (the Human Resources department of a large company) know what I thought of their map - in no uncertain terms.

I've never lost my mind, but a couple of years ago I partially lost feeling in the right side of my body. This was very scary at the time, and it took an MRI scan to find the source of the problem. (Some of the nerve endings in my brain had lost their myelin sheath, which caused the nerve signals to be distored.) The problem cleared up, with a few minor attacks some months later, but at the time I was really worried because I couldn't do things like tying shoe laces or playing my tin whistle (which Richard was relieved about! ).

As for losing items, the only things that spring to mind that I care about are a box of books that got lost 12 years ago when I moved house. They weren't at Mum's, which is where they were packed, and they're not here, and we checked the truck we hired for stray items before we took it back. So there's a black hole somewhere between Coventry and Redditch. There are also two pairs of ear-rings, given to me by Richard. The first pair got lost some years ago and the second pair was bought as a replacement. These went missing a couple of years ago, after a trip to Iceland, and haven't been seen since.

I have lost countless keys over the years. Big ones, small ones and some important ones. I really really wish that we could do without them and just chop the hands off of theives or something.

I have been on the losing side in a football cup final which is a pretty darn depressing thing at the time (especially when you blast a penalty miles over the bar instead of scoring the equaliser!).

I have been lost in thick mist on what I thought were very familiar hills. This is especially spooky when you realise with rising panic that everything looks so different in the mist and you really have no idea which way to go to get down again.

The worst of all, as any parent will know. is losing track of your young child even for a few moments in a busy place.

Despite clutching an AtoZ map, my hitherto reliable navigational skills were found wanting when I moved to London, but only when exiting tube stations.

My southern hemisphere brain incorrectly sensed that the sun (what I could see of it) was on the northern horizon and so I would boldly stride off, alas in precisely the opposite direction intended.

The penny finally dropped when walking *up* Regent St from Oxford Circus (instead of down, towards Piccadilly). The map indicated a gentle curve to the left, not a chicane!

I got lost in the Byers Road area of Glasgow at two o'clock on a Sunday morning. I thought it would be a good idea to try a short cut back to the hotel. Hmmmm.

Not lost... yet. My dad suffers from a rare disease called Wegener's Granulamatosis. At diagnosis he was given 7-10 years to live. He is 2 years into that now. I'll leave this subject now.

Liam.

I lost my virginity, but I don't want it back...

This sumer holiday I've been lost in Derbyshire, walking along imaginary public footpaths in the middle of no where. I also got lost on vacation in Milton Keynes several times around the saame area. I am an idiot.

I also got mildly lost for a while when going to get some Red Bull one morning, I should have remembered to walk towards the place that I am hoping to get to.

I've lost many pens, keys and groups of people. CDs I have lost recently include Age Of Empires, Dido 'No Angel' and the case of a Papa Roach album. I've lost a lot of computer filesincluding pretty much all of my Year 10 IT course work. Not that there was a lot of it to lose.

Lost my mind? Maybe, I've ever looked for it.

I lost Lion.
I first heard about Hootoo from a RL acquaintance who was really into it. A couple of days after finally joining myself, I met her and mentioned it. She sent me some stuff (by RL e-mail) to post, and a couple of my early Entries are really hers. In those early days, she also suggested various ideas around which I built my Space and Pinniped's persona.
I didn't want to take credit for someone else's stuff, so I attributed it to a co-resident of my Space who got called Lion (mainly 'cos she'd once called me a LI-terary ON-anist, can you believe it?)
I haven't seen her in RL in about a year, and I haven't been sent any more titbits since Xmas 2001. I'm convinced she's still around h2g2, probably well known, but I've never yet been able to identify her.
(Don't let on if you can ID her, anyone. It's kinda fun!)
P.

Hey folks. Thanks for those.

I'm still wondering...
Do we know anyone who lost an eye or a finger or a foot?
What's it like to lose a war?
Why does the elastic in waistbands lose its compression?
Have you ever deliberately lost someone? On foot or in a car chase?
What about lost socks? Lost causes? Lost worlds? Lost time?

The possibilities are now appearing endless aren't they.
So keep these postings coming and soon I'll be able to write my first Editted Guide Entry.
With all your help, I can't lose.

~jwf~

I lost consciousness once.

Don't know how long I was out.

Then there was this Big Bang. A flash of light and everything started swirling and expanding. The rest as they say is stellar history.




the lord thy goat

Cloviscat,

I lost my virginity too! I know where mine is too but it's pretty useless by now.

PP

You can probably get virginities at Cash Converters but they would all be broken and knocked off.

PP

I've lost my temper on a few rare occasions - I'm usually a very patient person.

Also lost my father nearly 10 years ago after a stroke - but already lost before that to Alzheimers. Time does heal, but certain situations/occasions still get me a bit choked.

Also lost an umbrella on a Station platform seat many years ago. Fortunately it didn't rain. Then.

Got completely and utterly lost in my house once, but I probably shouldn't have drunk so much.

I don't know if I lost my mind, but I do loose "things", all the time

I used to be a loose woman.
Does that count?
GW

Hmm, in no particular order.

I lost a guitar amp, a power amp for my Hi-Fi, about ten CDs, my pewter beer mug, a multieffect unit for the guitar, a guitar neck, some clothes, when I moved a few years back, and a few times before this when I moved I lost a four month old laptop (OK; it was probably stolen from the van).

Socks; After noticing the "Sock dissapearance situeation", a few years back, I began cataloging sock loses.

2000 Five complete pairs lost, and four pairs socks with one sock missing.
2001, 9 lost pairs of socks, 5 more pairs of socks with a sock missing in each.
2002 (Thus far) 3 complete pairs lost, two odd pairs giving two individual socks lost in addition. How sad am i to catalogue that <?> Hmm, lost my book of telephone numbers a couple of moves ago; had most of teh numbers elsewhere, and knew a lot of them, but lost a few for people who's numbers I'll not ever get again.

Lost a very good friend, when he died about a year after I first met him.

Lost my mother when I was 14 years old.

must admitt I've been pretty good with keys : lost them in student bar a few times, but always got them back the next day Lost face on quite a few ocassions Oh, and got completely lost in the winding country lanes in Norfolk/suffolk, quite a few years back, which I quiet enjoyed, as I was off for a few days cycling and didn't really mind at all Actually when being (geographically) lost, you can often find things that otherwise you would never have found.

Oh, lost two court cases; both of which where I was in the right now, that really peed me off I'll leave it up to you to decide if I have lost my mind, and if I have how many times it has happened

Hey 2legs, you forgot to mention the greatest loss of all, the lost, but never (if you can help it) forgotten, Nighthoover!

You honestly deserve a prize for your constant vigilance and maintenance of those 'where has Nighthoover gone' threads. I'm a big fan.

~jwf~

*sniff Some losses > are just too painful to mention : Not only myself maintains the vigal for the second coming of nighthoover, the one true mighty prophet, son of The One True Bob others too have taken up the challange and call themselves nighthooverites searching for the nighthooverly path and nighthooverable beings that we all wish to come a big loss indeed and, the anaversary of nighthoover's last known post is the 25 September, iIt will have been one year without nighthoover I really don't know how we have coped

ROFLOL! you 2 legged bass.

>> 25 September - one year without nighthoover - I really don't know how we have coped <<

A most auspicious anniversary. Thanks for pointing it out;
I had LOST track of the time. And here it is quarter past September already;
we must not LOSE any more time but prepare immediately for our sad celebrations.

We are all but LOST without him.


~j~

HooToo is lost without nighthoover