In a message dated 6/9/00 11:18:53 AM Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> Had my first out of body experience while being hit by a car, on my Bike
>  @ age 12...

DD,

Loud and clear.

I saved up allowance at $2 per week to earn enough for a new bike. My first
ride on the bike I went down the hill from the house and decided to turn into
my friend's driveway, yelling all the way, only nobody had shown me how to
use the back-pedal brakes. It never occured to me I would have to stop as
before this I usually fell off before I had to worry about it. I rode at full
speed right into the biggest elm I ever struck and somehow managed to fly
past it, leaving the bike behind. I did not think much of this but my mother,
who was watching the whole thing, figured that was going to be the end of me.

The tree used to nest Baltimore Oriels.

This was about the same location as the calicoe cat in the culvert that I was
teasing with a stick ran out and got squashed by a dump truck. Funny how we
remember these things. My first OOBE was in the Tompkins County jail in 1970
around July 4th.

I have repeatedly told my son that it only takes to be stupid once to be
extinct forever and that the most important sign of intelligence is survival.
I also tell him that he should get used to chickens and people dying as not
all sentient beings get to stay around.

][<en