• @[email protected]
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    2461 year ago

    I found a kickass stick 4 years ago in the Smokies the weekend my wife and I got married. It’s literally the perfect stick. Straight, smooth, nice thickness, durable as hell. Must be of a rare hardwood variety, I would imagine. I still have that stick in the corner and I see it everyday when I’m sitting at my PC. Have I ever used it for anything? I wouldn’t dare. It’s too nice of a stick to just use on a whim. Why do I keep it around? Well, if I ever had a problem that required a really nice fuckin stick, I’m covered. Every year or so, my wife says to me, “JPSound, you still have that stick?! Why do you keep that thing around?” I look that woman dead in the eyes and say, “there will come a day, my bride, when the creator of all shall lay before us an obstacle, nay, a challenge that only a mighty stick of such grandeur may aid us in such a lofty trial. And this stick, my dearest, this stick awaits our call to guide us into the sunkissed valley of victory so sweet. Only then shall you see what I see. Know what I know now, that this mear stick, is far more than it seems. Then you will know, I am the mighty protector of this home and family. You will see, my love. You will see.” Then she usually just rolls her eyes and says, “whatever… I gotta run to the grocery store. Do you need anything special?” And I respond with a mighty boom, “yeah, that fancy chocolate milk I like, please.”

    • SokathHisEyesOpen
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      841 year ago

      I used a perfect stick once. I was backpacking in the high Sierra’s and found the perfect walking stick. I carried it the entire trip, used it to poke at fires, kept my balance with it over difficult terrain, and imagined it would be a formidable weapon should we encounter a bear. When we finished the trip I decided to bestow my perfect stick upon the next fortuitous hiker to pass the trailhead. I carved my name and the date into the middle of the stick and left it leaning against the trailhead. I have thought about that stick many times since that trip. I was a fool to leave it there. Never again have I found such a perfect stick. After many disappointing treks into the wilderness I finally gave up seeking that stick’s equal and instead purchased trekking poles. Wherever you are stick, I miss you.

  • Ms. ArmoredThirteen
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    571 year ago

    Woman here, this is my prized stick. I found it maybe 15 years ago I think? I was camping on the Oregon coast, the absolute straightness of it stood out from a mile away. Brought it home, cut the ends off to be flat, and hand-smoothed the handle. For a long time I used it for killing spiders (it was perfect for that they never got away) but it has since retired now that I’m less scared of being poisoned and just catch/release them. One day when I’m decomposing I hope for this to be doing the same by my side.

  • kersploosh
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    501 year ago

    Love for sticks is hardwired deep in our brain. What’s the first thing a toddler does outside? Find a stick and swing it around. Dig with it. Hit stuff with it. Invent games with it. Build with it. Sticks are fundamental to human behavior and civilization.

  • @[email protected]
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    451 year ago

    It’s a free and useful material to go along with a child’s imagination (it can be a gun, it can be a sword, it can be a teacher’s pointer, it can be a flagpole, it can be used as basis for all manner of constructions, you can use it to poke a things or make small holes, it lets you reach things which would otherwise be beyond your reach and so on…) plus its a complex enough object to be interesting in itself not just in shape but in texture, plus sticks come in lots of variations in shape and size.

    Even the process of selecting the right stick for something you have in mind can be intellectually stimulating.

    Or to put it in another way, sticks are a great basic elements for kids to invent and play their own games, they’re usefull for a lot of things and you can find them for free on the ground.

    • @[email protected]
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      71 year ago

      Stick battle your best buddy, spit roast a wild boar, balance while crossing a raging rapid on a slippery log, return to the past and defeat Aku, ahhh childhood memories.

      • ditty
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        21 year ago

        Pretend it’s a sword or gun or staff or wand or microphone

  • @[email protected]
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    421 year ago

    It’s a starter weapon until they get a long dagger or short sword, which is the first step up on their way to earning a katana.

  • @[email protected]
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    1 year ago

    It’s a shovel. A hole-maker. An imaginary sword. A club. A whacky-thing with which to hit things. A thing to drag along the ground and leave marks. Drag across fences or walls to feel and hear the sound. A spear, after you’ve sharpened it in the campfire. A pointer. A poker at strange and unknown critters you find under rocks. A tool to remove spiderwebs from your path. A pry bar. So, so many things.

    Truly, she has no clue what “just a stick” is.

    Sticks are incredible.

  • @[email protected]
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    401 year ago

    It’s not just sticks though. Sometimes you find a perfect stone. Flat and round, triangular, square… Good stones.

    • @[email protected]
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      41 year ago

      Welcome to the wonderful world of suiseki! Please sign your name on our guest rock with that chisel.

    • @[email protected]
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      41 year ago

      if you’re really lucky the stone will be sparkly or transparent or somesuch, in which case not bringing it home is a crime

      • @[email protected]
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        41 year ago

        Apparently, so I’ve heard, it is an actual crime to bring it home. I have a very nice crime shelf.

            • @[email protected]
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              11 year ago

              obviously the legal system would disagree, but they can cry themselves to sleep if that’s what they want.

              you’re not going to be recorded as having committed a crime unless you’re convicted.

  • @[email protected]
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    1 year ago

    It’s our ancestral birthright. The instinctive allure of a quality tool. The mightu stick. Simple yet sublime. One of the original old reliables.

      • @[email protected]
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        51 year ago

        That was a good one. I really miss reading people’s sci-fi stories on r/HFY. It was just fun to see what people could come up with.

    • Outcide
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      21 year ago

      /r/justguysbeingdudes

      Thank you, that’s just what I needed today!