More teens

[widebody911]

So I get home from running some errands this morning, and this one kid in the neighborhood comes over and says "Hey, I need a bolt" Ok, what size, lenghth? I've helped the neighborhood kids on many occasions with their bikes, scooters, go-karts, parent's cars, etc. so this isn't an unusual request in and of itself.

He doesn't know exactly exactly what he needs, so I have him describe it. He's trying to describe it to me, and getting nowhere, so I ask him what he's trying to fix, and if he has the old bolt. He's not trying to fix something, he's trying to make something. Cool! I'm always down for a little backyard engineering. "What are you trying to make?"

A bong.

That's right. 8:00am on a beautiful Saturday morning, and his punk-ass is trying to make a bong. Long story short, his parents live almost directly behind me, but he's staying at this other house with an older (like 60's) woman and 2 other teenagers who are pretty much useless. This lady either lets them do what they want, or doesn't know what they're doing, or is powerless to stop them. I have no idea what the relationship is.

I told him I didn't have anything that would be useful to him, and gave him the standard quasi lecture that he's 13 and shouldn't be doing that stuff, which may as well have been a lecture on quantum physics as applied to the mating habits of garden slugs.

Update: as I was typing this, he came by to show me his creation, proud of the fact that he was able to build it without my help.

Greeaaaat.

[nostatic]

a bolt for a bong? We used to make ours out of bamboo we would cut down by the San Diego River.

These new fangled kids...

[ZAMIRZ]

13!!! Wow, WTF is going on. I didn't even try weed until I was 15, let alone smoke out of a bong which came way later in high school.

[Scooter]

It may be time to reacquaint yourself with his parents.

[vash]

Originally posted by Scooter84
It may be time to reacquaint yourself with his parents.

stay out of it. be thankful that this isnt your kid. parents that let their teen kids live elsewhere dont want to hear of it from a stranger.

if he is living with a 60 year old woman under suspicious conditions, maybe a mind fogged by the wonder weed isnt a bad thing.

[speeder]

As an example of how times have changed, my next-door neighbor built an amazing bong out of Aluminum pipe stock, (I'm guessing), in HS metal shop when we were kids. It was thick, w/ a knurled finish for grip and machined like it was made by Weissach. He got an "A" for the class w/ this as his big project. I often wonder whether he still has it, though my pot smoking days are long past.

Oh yeah, that was in 1972. Imagine the consequences of having a bong in HS now, with "zero tolerance" type policies.

The owner of the bong will be 49 y.o. this year, and he turned out fine, as did most all of his pothead friends.

[vash]

i have a pothead friend that isnt doing fine. he has been fired about 9 times, is the most raging driver on the road, cant find a girlfriend, lives in his brother's basement, owes money to everyone, cant buy a candy bar on credit. oh yea, he has a private school college education in business. one of the smartest damn people i know. has mechanical instincts like no one i have ever met. he tells me, he doesnt know what he wants to do, and if he did, he just isnt motivated to go for it. but he does have a $500 dollar per month habit. pot is not for everyone....

[SilverPoly]

Kids will be kids.

Or you could have just gave him an apple.

[speeder]

Unfixed, I agree that pot can be a very debilitating addiction. And yes, I did say addiction. It effects a certain percentage of users like an evil Prozac, "self-medicating" for some unidentifiable ailment, and of course creates more new problems than it ever solves.

Still, for most people I think that it is fairly benign, about like alcohol for a non-alcoholic.

[serge944]

I'm 17...and i've never found a reason to try anything smoking related.

It's pretty messed up for 13 year olds to be up ot that kind of crap.

[Zeke]

How do you make a bong out of a bolt? Did the kid have a drill press handy over at the other house? If so, he's pretty clever and ought to be encouraged to make something else. Something a little more legal. He's smart and he's bored, so he smokes up.

I suppose there's nothing wrong with a little recreational dope smoking, but at 13, he's starting to waste a maybe talented life.

[Scooter]

Hey Serge,

I checked out your website. Your car is really looking good. Keep up the good work.

[morganb]

Pots not bad but at 13 yo in is maybe a but young. In my opinion they need some pressure on them.
Talk to the Mum and dad and let them know what you saw in a mature manner and let them handle it.

[Schrup]

Gee, I didn't get my first bong till my 16th birthday, my dad bought it for me. My parents let me smoke as much pot as I wanted as long as I didn't drink alcohol. Some parents don't get it, it took a raging addiction to a much more harmful drug 16 years later to set my life on a drug free path. Next weekend I will celibrate 7 years of living clean & sober, life just keeps getting better.

[pbs911]

What ever happened to just using ceramic class?

I like the apple idea. It's good in countries/states where pipes, bongs, etc are illegal. If you use one out of the frig it also cools the smoke. Pus, when you get the munchies your good to go.

[serge944]

Originally posted by Scooter84
Hey Serge,

I checked out your website. Your car is really looking good. Keep up the good work.

Thanks, it's been a lot of work, and im almost done with it cosmetically. Getting a momo tuner wheel, new shift boot, front end bra, and getting the roof painted this month. Then I can spend a little on minor modifications. I'm 17, and this is definitely my best investment yet.

[vash]

i think the bolt would go into a carburator function. you crank it open for more air, etc. i would just drink a beer out of a can and then poke some holes into it for a bowl. hey! i had friends! they were a bad influence!

[Zeke]

Originally posted by Schrup
Gee, I didn't get my first bong till my 16th birthday, my dad bought it for me. My parents let me smoke as much pot as I wanted as long as I didn't drink alcohol. Some parents don't get it, it took a raging addiction to a much more harmful drug 16 years later to set my life on a drug free path. Next weekend I will celibrate 7 years of living clean & sober, life just keeps getting better.

I'm surprised this went a day and a half with no one offering congrats. I just opened this thread again after a couple/3 days.

I'll say it: CONGRATULATIONS!