I e-mailed a teacher to say thank you, and he posted it on Facebook saying "I really needed this." What's something you've said/done that you didn't expect to have such a big impact?
submitted by bemundolack to AskReddit
This guy is my Drawing 2 professor, and he takes his job very seriously. My skill level in drawing has completely changed since the beginning of the semester. The very first day in class, he says good morning and everyone gets quiet because he looks like he's about to start lecturing, and then he says "I love drawing. You don't understand. I LOVE drawing." That really carried through in his class, and everyone that took it has really improved. So I wrote him a thank-you e-mail after he sent me a summer reading list.
So today, i was wasting time on facebook, and remembered that he strictly refused to add any of us. Naturally, that made me want to stalk his page. He had posted my e-mail with the words "E-mail I got from a student, I really needed this." In the comments, his friends and family were all telling him how proud they are of him and stuff like that.
Ever do or say anything like that that had a positive impact on someone?
Edit: I'm in college.
Like most people, I used to be into my gaming a lot when I was younger and had a big collection. I had most of the major consoles (SNES, Dreamcast, Sega Genesis, Wii, Playstation, Xbox 360, etc, etc...) and a pretty big collection of games for each. I never had the time to play them but nor did I feel particularly attached to them either.
Around about Christmas 2003, one of my close friends had just got a new job but money was tight for him and he worried over how he would be able to buy presents for his family. Somewhere along our conversation he mentioned that his Dad used to play videogames with him when he was a child and he wanted to get him a SNES and a couple of games in particular and wanted my help in finding him one (this was before eBay got really big so it wasn't especially easy or cheap to source games). Of course, I had the games already (Secret of Mana, Illusion of Gaia, Mario Kart, F-Zero, Legend of Zelda and Super Bomberman) so I didn't think twice about it. I told him he could just have it since I no longer used them at all.
He was absolutely astonished and taken aback, almost in tears, and kept asking how he could pay me back, laying out elaborate payment schemes, and making all sorts of promises on how he could make it up to me but I told him to forget about it and have a nice Christmas.
A couple of years ago his Dad passed away from a sudden heart attack. My friend told me how much it meant to him when I gave him the SNES. Whenever he went to visit his family during his holidays, he and his father would spend hours into the night playing old games. They filled him with nostalgia and he told me that, even as an adult, those nights made him feel like a young child again. My friend still has the SNES at his home now, in pristine condition.
The saddest thing, though, was when he showed me his fathers last save file from Zelda. It was the game he was playing before he passed away. He had saved somewhere near or around Zora's Waterfall. My friend sometimes loads up that save file just to wander around, as if he is 'walking' with his Dad before his final hours on Earth. He says to me that even though he wasn't with his father on that day, just being able to play that particular save file makes him feel closer to his Dad, as if he is sitting right next to him and being a kid once again.
edit: Jeez Louise, at the hostility and abuse I am getting from some of you in my PM's! Thank you to most of you for the nice comments, but some of the abuse I am personally getting in my PM's is overwhelming! Yes, I have heard of that Animal Crossing story before and no, it's even remotely comparable to me and my friend. There are a lot of parents out there who play games with their kids and my story is not unique either as I know of other people, friends and strangers alike, who have donated their consoles and other childhood memorabilia to others as well. I did not do anything special, I done something hundreds of people have done.
Playing a game and wandering brings back the same nostalgia as watching a movie with family. This is something I done for my friend and I just wanted to share it because I saw this thread. I am just awe-struck at the determination of some Redditors to constantly send me PM's calling me a 'Cunt' and 'motherfucker' for it.
My Dad would always bitch about how much we played video games as kids and what a waste of time they were..
Then he'd wake me up at 3 in the morning because he didn't know how to get to the fishing spot in Zelda. Then completely destroy me at Goldeneye despite claiming to have never played it before.
But yeah, he hated games and all the wonderful, infuriating memories that came with it...
My dad introduced me to Doom and Duke Nukem and he would occasionally break the PC so that my mother could be convinced that it needed new parts. (A SoundBlaster here, a Voodoo there...)
He's the only person I've ever met IRL who has completed Doom, Doom II, and Final Doom on Nightmare difficulty.
Dads are awesome.
here's an upvote. be sure to pass it on to your dad, because holy christ.
christ, that's impressive. Got through the first one alright, but doom II and final doom? wow.
Your dad does sound awesome!!! My dad bought me all the videogames I wanted when I was a kid (NES), and got me a great gaming PC when I turned 16, and got me a Dreamcast too!!!. Awesome Dads are Awesome.
I got lucky too, my dad introduced me to gaming, he would let me watch as he played Starcraft, and he even let me play this one strategy game he had called Lords Of Magic. One day he let me play his copy of Warcraft 3, and I think it was on that day I became a true gamer.
Aww yes wc3 and Doom and Starcraft... i remember those being my first games and my dad actually first introduced me to doom =)
When I was 6 or 7, I couldn't sleep one night and wandered downstairs to see my dad playing Doom. He used to let me watch and let me play when I started coming downstairs every night after. To this day, he's completed all the games on nearly every difficulty, and the same goes for Tomb Raider. My dad is a man of few words and while he doesn't necessarily appreciate the same things I do, we share the closest memories mostly about games. I know that will last a lifetime.
I had my first LAN party with my dad at the age of six. We had borrowed one of his friend's computers and hooked them up so we could play Doom. I don't think we slept - we stayed up and played coop all night long. It's one of my fondest memories.
I miss you, dad.
Nothing personal or against you, and I'm not calling you a liar, but I love how everyone says OP is lying and no one says you are :P
The SNES was in the living room and to go downstairs it was right by my room, I would wake up to my dad telling the dog to shut up while he woke up at 3am to play Super Metroid for the 100th time, before having to be at work at 6am. Then fast forward till when I'm in highschool and get done working at the restaurant at 1am and he would wake up and there I would be playing Rainbow Six or Gears of War when he would wake up to have coffee. I never realized how much insomnia he and my dad had till now.
I'm not trying to take anything away from your amazing story, but eBay was big well before 2003.
EDIT: Guys, don't be a dick to PIMA, if his story was for whatever reason made up, oh well (it's not like it's going to change your life). People calling a random person online a 'cunt' and 'motherfucker' should be ashamed of themselves, you're worse than PIMA would be if they were in fact lying.
Glad I'm not the only one who had to do a double-take at this. That was just the first of many parts of the story that scream "bullshit".
P_I_M_A, I enjoy all your comments and you're probably a lovely individual, but I can't help but wonder whether you have fabricated some or all of everything you have ever written for karma...
See you at the bottom of the comments after I get downvoted to hell.
You're not alone. I really enjoyed the story, and I hate to tarnish it with doubt...
So is this story true or not?
This is a case that can only be solved by the Hardly boys!
Wikipedia Brown, it is the future, get down.
What I thought of when I read Hardly Boys. Dogs in costumes solving mysteries. Kind of absurdly humorous.
I've got such a raging clue right now.
My clue's pointing over there....
oh tankosaurus seriously i have SUCH a raging clue right now! i think we better follow my raging clue
Ok let's follow your raging clue...
cue music
I'm gonna shoot clue goo all over your face!
I say this with all due respect but it is clearly a fabricated story designed to garner maximum upvotes. PIMA almost always appears in top AskReddit threads with a surprisingly relevant story. The odd one might be true but it's now evident that he'll just make up and post anything for the karma. It's a nice story though.
Especially the last part about loading up the save game and wandering around. I can't be sure but I think I've read something very similar to that before, perhaps as a copypasta somewhere.
Reminded me of this: http://imgur.com/gbsCR
(Should probably warn you that if you got attacked by onions before, then you're going to have a bad time reading this).
That's the one! Thanks.
I love that story so much. always with the onions though
This is one of those stories that always make me cringe. In Animal Crossing, your virtual "Mom" sends you letters and packages about once a week, as well as on your birthday. If you haven't played in a while, they pile up. "Mom" has probably sent me several thousand by now.
What tipped me off is when he said early 2003, but said xbox, ps3, and wii.
damn you I believed till you said that just because I wanted to and its a nice story.
Also, "Before eBay was big"? eBay was big in 1997.
Huh.
he said he had always had all the consoles, that doesn't mean he had xbox and wii in 2003.
Also, eBay was already pretty fucking huge in 2003...
And "eBay wasn't big yet".
If anything, that made it more realistic. If he had named everything exactly as it was it would have been even more questionable.
Here
Bingo. Thanks.
Yes! This was the story PIMA's story reminded me of! It's so obvious where he got the backbone of his story now.
To be fair, alot of adults and kids play their games together and it's not uncommon for people to do this. Both my folks are alive and I still have the games me and my Dad played when I was a kid and get hit by the same nostalgia when playing particular games. PIMA's tale and the Animal Crossing one are largely different and not very comparable at all.
It's a shame that internet has made us all cynics.
Hi PIMA.
Is that story real?
That's what tipped me off as well.
Reminded me of this.
I've Ben Drowned in that waterfall before
He is the Ryan Seacrestt of Reddit.
I doubt the story's truth, too. But, if P_I_M_A's stories are true, he has lived a fascinating life.
Yeah, I would be more likely to believe this if it didn't come from a user who seems to do/say anything to get karma (silly). Plus you can see big similarities in the comic that houghty referenced.
I'd have to say I don't buy it.
Pretty similar to this
I think his.name.just makes his stories seem more touching and beautiful because you're all like, "This story is nice but a guy who shoves tubers in his bum wrote it. He must be a sweet, misunderstood man. Karma+"
Would a man with a potato in his anus lie on the internet? I think not friendo.
Also, isn't there a conspiracy about him being karmanaut/PHOY?
The first thing that made me call it into question was that "I used to be into my gaming when I was younger" was then followed by naming two of the three modern consoles.
Even more so, the two modern consoles which were named hadn't been released (hell, hadn't even been announced) until after the Christmas 2003 season when this whole story supposedly transpired.
As with lulzcakes, it's all made up for comment karma.
Speaking of which, so close! http://imgur.com/2ySn9
you're definitely nowhere close to getting downvoted into oblivion
Why would you get downvoted? Nobody is that interesting.
Sometimes you have to find solace in a lie, because the truth might hurt.
Did you steal that line from a 14 year old girl's facebook status?
ROFL, mean but hilarious. I was just waxing philosophical, rather lamely obviously. Thanks for the laugh, you have my upboat. :p
lol so mean, but so true.
I remember my Mum waking us up in the middle of the night because she got to the secret warp room on Crash Bandicoot Warped. We didn't even know it was there so she was pretty excited. She must have been just playing it by herself after we all went to bed. The only other time she woke us up was when 9/11 happened.
Sigh, I guess I have to be the guy to point out that there's no way to save your game "near" anywhere in the The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. If you save and quit anywhere in the Light World, you're given three options for where to start: Sanctuary, the old man's house on Death Mountain, or Link's house, and none of those are particularly near Zora's Waterfall.
I suppose it's possible there's an exception for if you're in the Zora area, since it's not on the main map; can someone else confirm whether this is the case?
That's not the only thing that makes this a blatant lie.
Damn onions... Fuck it there are no onions... It's all a lie. I'm am shedding tears.
You should feel so happy with yourself for doing something as amazing as that.
It's just raining on my face
All that rain...
NONE OF YOU CRIED
My retinas are just sweating.
So ... how's the midgets?
So glad I'm not the only one who's tagged him.
"Midget Pornography Man" yes?
And llamas...
Honestly, I don't remember the context, but I definitely have him tagged as "Midget Porn"
I have no idea either, but I can add that he enjoys it, albeit guiltily.
I did
Speak for yourself. I'm of a sensitive disposition.
I'm not weeping because he's not here to hold my hand, for your information there's an inflammation in my tear gland.
I'm not upset because you led me astray, my eyes are just a little sweaty today.
Inflammation of tear gland causes person to lose the ability to cry. I read this somewhere and I hope it's wrong.
Don't be scared to admit it. You're crying. Let it flow.
EDIT: Oops... I accidentily made a reply instead of editing this post. Sorry guys!
Bullshit. This story sounds too familiar to a well known tale.
We all know PIMA is a well known karma whore. In fact, his average comment nets him over 200 karma. How, you may ask? Most of the average Redditors' comments is in the double digits if we're lucky. PIMA carefully words his posts early in a thread to get one of the strongest possible reactions out of us without making it look too suspicious. We then give him an upboat because our lives have been "changed". Stop karma whoring. You're killing Reddit.
"Oh no, a heart-warming tale is killing reddit while it gathers worthless internet points! Quick, everyone bitch about him and downvote!"
Who cut the potatos?
Did you know potatos are 80% water? Well, until I googled "potato facts" about 20 seconds ago, neither did I!
I really hope it's the last time potato in my anus is making me cry.
It might be if you stopped reading his stories.
I'm sorry but you always have some retarded awesome story for every occasion, I CALL BULLSHIT.
Sorry guys, but this story is probably not 100% true :(
Well that wasn't very epic at all.
That's alright! Because guess what, it wasn't even a comeback. stupid
Don't be a dick.
It's not nice, stupid.
What??? Someone on the Internet lied???
I can personally vouch for something like this, where people feel a connection to abstract things. My dad died too last year and I continue to feel a strong connection to him when I check out his Facebook account, see his profile posts and comments. Even though I still have pictures and videos of him, it's his written comments that look like the realest pieces of evidences he has left behind of his existence. It's almost like they are his voice suspended in the air.
Beautifully put.
That part got me...
that was the part that was supposed to get you
You are a compulsive liar and attention seeker. I do not envy your loneliness.
Good story though.
Reading this whilst listening to this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVr4UP9ntLs made my eyes leak.
I'm very glad this was not the youtube song that shall not be named..
I thought it was a nice story. Just block the haters
Oh gosh it is going to be so sad when the battery dies and he loses his save file. At least I think that can happen.
Such a touching story from POTATO_IN_MY_ANUS
Came for the username, stayed for the man-tears.
Oh man. Don't let the battery in the cartridge die!
You are an amazing person. Don't ever forget that.
Agreed. I feel that this guy is the most loved guy on reddit
Post affectionately, get hated on. Got it, Reddit.
that gave me chillls
This is an incredible story. POTATO_IN_MY_ANUS, I have misjudged you in the past, but you have more than earned my respect. Thank you for making this man's loss a little less tragic
...and now I've got a ache in my chest and tears in my eyes. That's a wonderfully bittersweet story.
Once again, you have proved yourself one of the most eloquent and moving commenters on reddit, POTATO_IN_MY_ANUS.
Yes. Let us all caress the anus of our eloquent and most gracious Dear Leader.
PITA, please feel free to cross post this in /r/GamerStories
It is beautiful. I wish there were more people with potato's in their anuses.
I began reading this and then quickly glanced up to the username.
I read, "Like most people in my anus..."
Such beautiful word from POTATO_IN_MY_ANUS.
You make me cry, man.
I don't cry easily because I'm a robot, but I've never been this close to crying on Reddit as I am now.
This made me tear up. I don't even care if it's fake.
Potato anus man, you need to do an AMA.
It is always nice to hear such heartfelt stories, POTATO_IN_MY_ANUS
Damn these potatoes always making me tear up :')...upvotes for everyoneee
I knew I liked you, despite your name. That is amazing.
That Potato in my anus is making me cry.
Logged in just to upvote:) Awesome story.
bloody onions!