Close Call

[+Jackalgirl]

I design challenge coins for people (and commands, and events too) where I'm currently stationed. When people talk to me about coins, I usually bring in some geocoins to show the different kinds of unusual effects you can get. There are challenge coins out there that are shaped, and challenge coins with cutouts, and occasionally a coin with two-tones or a photo insert, but it's unusual to see glow-in-the-dark, or designs done under transparent enamel, or any of the other really cool stuff that gets done with geocoins, because geocoins push the envelope (and, in fact, some geocoins are not really coins anymore, and I'm totally cool with that).

 

So I take coins in to work to show to people who've expressed interest in coins so that I can give them a broader appreciation of what can be done.

 

I am an extremely forgetful person, so I am always very careful to put the coins back in my pocket. I know that if I put them down anywhere at work, I will forget they are there, and I have had a coin stolen in my very own work center, so I don't want that to happen.

 

I have a Chinese-style "treasure box" (actually a box designed to hold wine, but I took out the insert) where my geocoins live. I was going through the box and realized that my four favorite coins were not in there: a YemonYime ("Citrus Ridiculus"), my beloved Tiki Stomp, my blue Tranquility coin, and my Tengwar coin.

 

HEART ATTACK!

 

I tore apart the house but couldn't find them. And the thing was, of course, that I distinctly remembered putting them into my pocket so that I would not leave them anywhere. But I had long since gone through all of my pockets. Have you ever been looking for something and you find yourself praying every time you open a drawer: "please please PLEASE let the coins be in here."

 

So I discussed this with my husband, who generally keeps house and would know if I'd left them anywhere. He hadn't seen them. : ( But I said, "they've got to be at work or in the car, then".

 

I went out to the car and opened up the glove compartment and THANK GOD there they were. I remembered at that moment that I'd put them there because they were bulky in my uniform pocket and I wanted to put them somewhere safe. Well, they were safe -- safe from me, that's for sure!

 

Have you ever had any heart-stopping moments like this?

[+dhenninger]

I have done that. I know that coin was here a minute ago. Where is it? where is it?!?!

[ATMouse]

Oh...I got a very cool pin from a coiner at MWGB two years ago. When we got home, I could NOT find it. I about ripped apart the truck, our luggage, our swag bag - no go.

 

This summer, my husband pulled out a pair of nylon cargo pants to wear and said, "Say, there is something in this pocket..."

 

 

It is now securely attached to my A-Mass Towing baseball cap (thank you, Torry!!!) along with my other very-valued pins.

[MotoCycleBoi]

I once was on a solo Euro-Tour on my Ducati. I had driven through country after country without ever having to show my passport. On the French Riviera in Nice I went into a local police station to report a stolen bag.

To identify myself I reached into my pocket and pulled out....

My brothers passport!!!

[+Jackalgirl]

I once was on a solo Euro-Tour on my Ducati. I had driven through country after country without ever having to show my passport. On the French Riviera in Nice I went into a local police station to report a stolen bag.

To identify myself I reached into my pocket and pulled out....

My brothers passport!!!

 

Oh my God! What happened next?

Edited December 12, 2008 by Jackalgirl

[+dhenninger]

I don't normally post stuff like this, but I JUST got this emailed to me

[+Cheesy pigs]

Hahahhaha Dave - that pie chart is so true for me!!!

 

But my scariest moment (when it comes to coins) was after an event. I always take my coins to events. Sometimes they stay in the car if nobody asks to see them, but not this time. I allow people to fondle my coins, take them out of the plastic and really look at them, as I trust Tassie cachers. And yes, sometimes I do go home and polish them afterwards

 

Anyhow, I was going through my coins, admiring them, giving the ones that needed it a clean, sorting them etc when I realised my precious Lord Pomsby was GONE!!! If anyone has been around for any length of time, they'd know how desperately I wanted a Lord Pomsby, and to have traded for him, then have him go missing was a catastrophy of geocoin proportions.

 

Of course I didn't immediately think someone had stolen it, but I did think that maybe one of the young children had taken a liking to him and pocketed him.

 

I was in a state. Wondering if I should put a post on the forums or the event listing to ask people to check their kids pockets, but then thinking that maybe I had dropped it at the event site (which was about a 4 hour drive away!), or I had dropped it in the car. So I searched the boot of my car, and searched the house, and asked the family if they'd seem my Lord Pomsby. All in vain.

 

After stressing about it for ages, I decided he was gone, and sorrowfully resigned myself to the fact of not having him anymore. Until I vacuumed under the couch cushions! And there he was! Looking sad and sombre, but very very cute! Seems like my very own Piglet had taken a liking to my Tiki's, and Lord Pomsby in particular, and had (before the event) taken a heap of coins out of their boxes to play with. He thought he'd put them all back, but obviously Lord Pomsby wanted to be alone, and had skulked off.

 

I was so relieved!!! It matched the day when I was first told 'someone' ( ) would trade me for him!! And the day when I first saw him with my own eyes! Ah happy times

 

And yes, I know I am pathetic.

Edited December 13, 2008 by Cheesy pigs

[+snowball's-keepers]

LOL Dave that is so true!

 

At least for me

 

My scariest coin moments have been two times when I thought I misplaced someone elses coins. One I vividly remember had fallen under the seat in my car and I cannot remember where the other one was "lost" to but loosing someone elses item feels WAY worse than my own most treasured coin!

[MotoCycleBoi]

I once was on a solo Euro-Tour on my Ducati. I had driven through country after country without ever having to show my passport. On the French Riviera in Nice I went into a local police station to report a stolen bag.

To identify myself I reached into my pocket and pulled out....

My brothers passport!!!

 

Oh my God! What happened next?

I had a hard time explaining that to the Police since I did not speak French and the police did not speak any English. Maybe they understood some English because they let me go after a while.

I had to go to the Swedish consulate and get a temporary passport. It took a week.

 

On my way back the only time I had to show my passport was when I returned to Sweden

(This was way back when Sweden wasn't part of EU).

 

A LOT of crazy things happened on that trip! A wrote a story about it and got it published.

[MotoCycleBoi]

It's funny because it's true