Thursday, July 17, 2008

Weekend Assignment Results: Our Bad Ideas

The ballerina wallpaper is mercifully not seen in this photo.*

For last week's Weekend Assignment #224: Bad Ideas, I asked for your stories of ideas you've had that really, really didn't work out. Here's what people came up with:

Bea said in comments...

A bold act to spray paint the interior of your car... I chuckled as I remembered around 1976 or so, my dad had spray painted his (68 or 69) Charger a bright yellow. It looked awful. You could tell it was spray painted with canned spray. But he loved that car. My dad had a wild and crazy streak every once in awhile. My wild and craziness shows up in clothing... most of the time I'm conservative, but then I get some wild idea that I could possibly look good in something that would make me a great candidate for What Not To Wear! If I think of something more specific, I'll do a journal entry.

Julie said...

...I did what I was supposed to do in such a situation: I ran into the studio, checked the transmitter readings to make sure we weren't off the air, and then sat down, opened the microphone and made the, "we're experiencing technical difficulties..." statement. The tape was still rolling because I hadn't thought to stop it. Just as I reached for the button to start the filler music, I heard....

Florinda said...

I've bought things without being exactly sure what I'd wear them for - they just appealed to me aesthetically, or something. However, the most annoying examples are the clothes that really didn't seem like a good idea at the time, but I bought them anyway - the color wasn't especially flattering, the fit wasn't just right, something about the style wasn't ideal, but I was sure I'd make it work one way or another. I wore it once or twice, and it really didn't work after all - those are the "I should have known better" purchases.

Mike said...

...So, after a couple of days of watching the kids have all the fun on the mini-bike, my dad decides he should give it a whirl. And give it a whirl he did. He was fine leaving the house and heading away from the house, the problem came on the return trip as he tried to negotiate the curve and the hill....

Sarah said...

When I was a kid, maybe about 10 or 11, I decided I was going to paint my bedroom dresser white . . . with whiteout.

An interesting assortment, although I can't help but notice that hardly anyone copped to an actual screw-up!

The new Weekend Assignment will follow as soon as I think of one. Meanwhile here's another bad idea of mine, just to justify the photo above. By the time I was in junior high, I'd really come to hate the ballerina wallpaper I'd picked out at the age of four. It was old and faded and discolored. One day I tried to clean a bit of it - and that patch immediately turned brown. Rather than leave it alone, a friend and I scrubbed the entire wall, on the theory that at least it would all match. It actually dried white, but most of the gilt was gone from the figures. I covered the entire wall (the one I'm facing in the picture) with posters as soon as I could. Later, Mom let me have the room painted raspberry. Much better!

Karen

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