I've been thinking, of late, about some of the odd occurences in my past. Silly things, strange things,
just stuff that I didn't want to forget. So I've decided that perhaps jotting them down here
might be a good thing, for myself more than you.
A number of these rotate around my delinquent youth, where I did numerous silly things.
I do not recall these events to suggest that they are a wise use of time, nor am I particularly
ashamed of most of them - they sit simply as things I have experienced.
This being said - I do not recommend these actions to anyone else.

Casing the joint.
At a location I was scouting out to break into and perform questionable deeds, the people I was
with (there were three of us) had discovered that this was to be a considerably more fortified compound
than previous others we had looked at.
The yard was located at the base of a range of hills, with only one main access road. However on
the other side of the site was a train track, and then surburbia. I had parked in this residential
area, on a corner without a street lamp, and then we trekked through an alleyway and over the
tracks to get behind the target.
We made our trips at night, of course, but never particularly late - eleven or twelve at night. The
yard had trees and shrubbery surrounding it, so we felt relatively safe, even given the hour. This
was the first time we had been here, so we had brought no tools, we were simply evaluating the site
to go home and plan and then return a week or two later.
But this was the most ferocious looking place we had visited yet. They had the usual tall chain
link fence, topped with four strands of barbed wire which leaned out over on the outside for
some two feet. We had seen this most places, nothing a carpet thrown over the barbed wire couldn't
solve - although the majority didn't even need this, as where fences joined gates one could usually
shinny up where they met. What made this site different was the ten foot high electric fence that
sat outside the chain link fence. There were many strands of electric wire, held absolutely taut,
with no more than eight or ten inches between the lines.
This was a surprise. There weren't that many exciting things inside the compound at all, we couldn't
imagine what was being so protected at this site than at any other. But regardless of what was inside,
now we had a challenge to respond to. And I wasn't going to be put off.
I had bought some leather gloves, World War II German tank gloves to be specific, some months
earlier, in an effort to conceal fingerprints. These also served as a nifty voltage meters. So
I sucked it up, and grabbed ahold of one of the electrified wires to see how much of a bang I
should expect. Thankfully there was only a gentle tingle, although had I grasped the line with
bare hands no doubt I would have been slightly more surprised.
We continued our walk around, discussing various options, and looking for any lapses in security
where we might find an easier way in. The three of us had stopped at a side door, right where the
fence met the building and the electrical lines went inside when I made a minor error in judgement.
A quick education in electricity for those less famaliar; You know how we have AC and DC? Batteries
are DC (whether car batteries or for your flash light), where as the juice coming down the power
lines and into your microwave is AC. DC is, for the most part, easier to handle electrically - but
AC runs for significantly greater distances without reducing it's voltage so much. That is to
say, the reason we don't use DC along power lines (as Thomas Edison wanted it) is that you wouldn't
be able to run lines very far from the generating station without the voltage having to be very
high on the station end, and becoming low on your end - very inefficient.
Why is this relevant?
Because electric fences run off DC. Which means that the voltage drops the further from the power
source you are. So if you grab ahold of a pair of lines at the far end you'll get a twinge. But,
regardless of how damned thick your leather gloves are, if you grab right next to the building
where the juice is being generated... Well, then you, or I as the case may be, feel like you've
been instantly kicked in the stomach, your hair raises, and you are thrown backwards to land
flat on your back in the damp grass, staring up at the stars wondering what in the hell just happened to you.
Not something I recommend, but I suppose it was probably karma.

We did, in the end, get into this site. I took short pieces of wood plank, maybe a foot in length,
and cut V shaped notches in each end, slid these between the electric lines and stood them upright,
increasing the distance between the wires. We had raised a building site and grabbed some short
cut-offs of plastic drain hosing, which I slit down one side and wrapped around the upper and
lower wires, giving us more protection. And then I ruined my father's best pair of tin snips by
using them to cut a hole in the chain link fence. I was vindicated, and this place was violated.
A triumph only important to the teenager I was at the time.