Last weekend, I went on a St. Paul dumpling spree. If you haven't read my story about it, please do, so all those calories were not in vain.
Though I regret nothing, I joked on Bluesky about what a dumb decision it was. Which got me, a man who regrets many things, pondering dumb decisions in general.
I'll never top going into six-digit debt to earn a law degree I'll barely ever use. Then again, there was my 20s, when I somehow escaped consequences for some foolish decisions. Driving a Chevette over the Continental Divide with the pedal to the floor (and screaming at the trucks around me "please don't slow down!") and then running out of cash in eastern Washington (in the good old days of manual credit card machines when you could get away with using a maxed-out Visa)—those were not the actions of a being with a fully developed brain.
My dad always used to say, "You regret the things you don't do, not the things you do," and that, like most things dads say, wasn't entirely true. But as a cautious person, there are at least as many smart things I didn't do as dumb things I did.
But let's not get too wrapped up in my neuroses today! I want to hear about your dumb decisions. Bonus points if your mistakes of judgment are somewhat amusing rather than wholly calamitous. If someone died as a result of your actions, this probably isn't the place to discuss it!
As always, feel free to ignore this prompt and talk about whatever you want. This is your Open Thread, after all.
Take us out, Cher!
