Either of the 2 times I came dangerously close to dying.

First time was during the spring. The snow was melting and running down the creeks on the mountain, so all the rivers and **** were moving pretty fast. I was floating the river with some friends. It's kind of a tradition down here. Anyway, one friend and I decided to go down a small spillway that usually acts as a pretty nifty water slide. We slid down before realizing all the increased waterflow turned the bottom into a frothy whitewater basin-thing. We both kept getting pulled under by the whitewater (and that's with wearing life jackets). Lucky for us there's a rope along the side of the spillway for just such an occasion. And lucky for me he's a lot stronger than I am, and managed to pull my ass up.

I'm still afraid of rivers and oceans to this day because of it.



The other wasn't as prolonged. I was taking my little brother to McDonald's one night. I was at a fairly large 4 way intersection in town, in the left turn lane. I was dicking around, changing my music. Saw the light turn green out of the corner of my eye and gunned it. Forgot you need to yield when turning left. Nailed an SUV with my little 4 door sedan. He was going about 40, luckily I wasn't going nearly as fast. Neither my bro nor I were wearing seatbelts. My car was absolutely totaled. The paramedics who arrived on scene later told my brother and I we were lucky to get out of it alive.