We spend so much of our lives wishing and praying to be anywhere else but where we are in the present. Now, granted, some people are in rough situations and they need to be anywhere else but, more often then not, we're just not appreciating the fact that we are standing on the spot that was meant for us. It's true we may not be where we wanted or have gotten what we thought we wanted but maybe we got exactly what we needed. That is an important distinction we tend to over look.
Redditor u/Jaxerfp wanted to discuss all the times people came to realize how life worked out exactly how it should've by asking everyone to share.... Douglas Adams once wrote, "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be," how might this quote describe an experience in your life?Knowledge by Chance
women chemistry GIF by Diversify Science GifsGiphyWhile getting my degree, I was just taking classes that interested me that also had to do a little with my major. Turns out I was getting my minor in chemistry without even realizing it.
Trashed
I got home once and absent-mindedly threw away my socks for no reason. I just took them off and put them in the trash. When I realized what I did, I dug through the trash only to find out that both socks had holes in them. Turns out they belonged in the trash anyway. I've never found a quote that described that situation more perfectly than this one.
When in Iraq
I was a certified Ford mechanic, 2008-2009 happened, and no work was coming in. Got a job offer to teach auto mechanics in Iraq to the new Iraqi army. As a result, I learned I have a passion for people trying to better their life. I ended up sponsoring my Iraqi interpreter to come to the US.
Since then I came back and finished my degree, and now am in learning design at an amazing company.
My Iraqi brother is now married here in the states to an amazing wife, and they have a kid. He has a great job and is finishing his degree as well.
Life can be an amazing journey.
Enjoy the ride.
School Ties
kristen wiig dancing GIFGiphyIn high school, I went to a college prep catholic school and hated it. All because my parents wanted me to go there. Junior year I decided to stop wrestling after doing it for 2 and a half years (summer and spring wrestling) at this high school.
Coach decided to accuse me and teammates of doing molly although I had never seen it and only ever smoked. The school decided I wasn't a great fit and kicked me out. Ended up at a local public high school where I reconnected with a few friends from middle school. Had extremely helpful teachers and graduated. I realized I should have been at that local public high school from the start but it instantly felt like home.
Springfield MO....
In the 90s I lived in Springfield MO and absolutely loved it there. Never wanted to be anywhere else. My wife finished college and got a job in another state not far away. I didn't want to move there but did reluctantly. Within a couple of years, I absolutely loved it there. Made a ton of friends, had a great job, and couldn't imagine being anywhere else. Lived there 20 years and thought it would be where I die.
Last year we moved to Connecticut, again for my wife's job, and I love it here too and can't really imagine moving back. It turns out, it's not the place I live, but who I live with that matters. My wife is my home, and where she is, is where I need to be.
Edit:Thanks for all the awards and comments. I now understand what people mean when they write "my inbox blew up". I hope you all have a great holiday season and stay safe and healthy.
Leaving Arizona.....
Never planned to divorce, never planned to leave Arizona, never planned to remarry, never planned to leave a career I loved, never planned to be hit by a car. I've done all of that in the last 2 years.
I completely rewrote my entire life and every plan I had in every way imaginable. Would not have it any other way.
My new husband and my new life are a level of happiness I've never known. Seriously even recovering from a serious injury and everything that has gone with that is better than my previous life because of who I have to love me now.
Where you are now....
People seem to think they'll only ever be happy when they reach a certain goal. "When X happens I'll be happy." I try to appreciate what I have right now and the journey I'm on. I may have an average car, rented house and little family but I LOVE all these things. Yes a ton of money would make it easier to buy things but I'm happy where I am right now & loving the journey.
like a boss win GIFI slept walked straight to the end of the hall where there were two doors: one to the bathroom and one to my older brother's room. Opened the door, lifted the lid, and peed.
Turns out I had opened the door, lifted my brothers blanket, and peed.
Not where I intended, but I finally got back at that jerk for farting on me for years.
When the time is right....
It took several years to conceive our son. By the time he was 3 year old, we had tried many times with medical assistance for a second. We have up and started an adoption.
Well, after we got all the paperwork together and sent off to China, we found out my wife was expecting. Ok, we can deal with that. As my wife put it, "What's the worst that could happen?"
But the ultrasound showed that it was twins.
So my kids are 18, 14, 14 and 14 now.
It's not what we would have ever planned, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Edit: Ascribing it all to "Stress" seems to be common. That comes across telling them "It's all in your head", and blaming them for the years of infertility and often multiple miscarriages they have suffered. Dealing with infertility itself causes stress far more than Stress causes Infertility.
I love you past me....
I suffered an extreme trauma that took my legs. I also went through a month trapped in my own nightmares while in an induced coma. Needless to say, it is an experience I would never put anyone else through.
I came out the other side of that far more empathetic, patient, and understanding as well. The personality change is so drastic, people that knew me before say I'm an entirely different person. I'm a loving father as this new me. I met the love of my life as this new me. Despite how hard living in this body is, I love life more that ever.
If I could see into the past and alter what happened, I wouldn't. The suffering was horrific, but transformative. To become who I am now, the accident must happen. I'm sorry past me, but if I'm honest, you aren't a good person. I don't miss being you.
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Companies and products rebrand for a variety of reasons.
Sometimes they want to revitalize a dying brand.
Or stay fresh and modern.
Other times they're trying to put a negative public image in their rear view mirror.
And sometimes, someone somewhere in a company has low impulse control.
Anyway...
Reddit user PulakHasan asked:
"What's the Weirdest Rebranding of all time?"
Weight Watchers
"Weight Watchers abbreviated their name down to 'WW' and in doing so, increased the syllables needed to pronounce their new company name."
~ hambone10
"You burn more calories uttering the extra syllables."
~ jungl3j1m
waitr
"Waitr was an extremely successful delivery service here. They had full time employees and you could get food delivered in 30-45 minutes."
"Then, they made everybody an independent contractor and started calling themselves ASAP."
"'As slow as possible' caught on and they lost the majority market share within a month."
~ bravesgeek
GiphyHBO
"I still don’t understand HBO dropping probably the most prestigious name in cable tv/streaming."
~ stoneman9284
"Right?! Also it literally means Home Box Office - that’s the best name for a streaming service????"
~ oreos_in_milk
Nordic Choice Hotels
"Nordic Choice Hotels rebranded to 'Strawberry'."
"They have to mention their old name all the time, because Strawberry could be absolutely anything."
"If only it were 'Strawberry Hotels' but it's not. It's just Strawberry."
"They removed the part that explains what kind of business it is."
"Madness."
~ WoodSheepClayWheat
GiphyUSWest
"USWest-->Qwest-->CenturyLink-->Lumen I don’t care what your name is."
"Can I have more than 10mbps DSL at my address?"
~ Trickycoolj
"In Europe, and it's now Level3--> Centurylink--> Lumen--> Colt."
"I'm sure they rename in the hope people forget the incompetence."
~ ConsciousValence
"My mom has worked for them since 1977 when they were Northwestern Bell."
"She's been through a billion name changes."
~ CorporalBB
Circuit City IQ Crew
"Circuit City rebranding their PC technician division from IQ Crew (which predated Geek Squad, by the way) to..."
"Firedog."
"I worked at a Circuit City from 2005-2008 and we all thought it was a prank when we saw the announcement."
"'The intensity of fire with the loyalty of man's best friend'."
"I sh*t you not—that was the marketing."
~ Tiberius_Jim
GiphyBritish Petroleum
"When after a major oil spill, BP changed their branding to Beyond Petroleum for an ad campaign showing how they were investing in renewables."
"Logo change too."
~ RandomAmuserNew
"An oil spilled followed by a huge effort to cover it up, including dumping Corexit into the water to mix with the oil and make it sink."
"So it was no longer visible from aerial shots, but it did far, far more damage mixed with a dangerous chemical and sitting on the sea floor than slowly evaporating or being soaked up on the surface."
~ LurkerOrHydralisk
Amoco
"When BP purchased Amoco, they quickly rebranded all the stations to BP."
"Not sure if it is everywhere but Amoco had a lot of brand recognition in the Midwest and a lot of people just didn’t like BP."
"Eventually, they started rebranding some of their stations back to Amoco to cash in on nostalgia."
"I always thought it was dumb but never realized that so many people hated it until after I worked for BP (very briefly) and was told the story of how much pushback they got."
~ anitabelle
British Petroleum (BP Oil)/Paul Sableman
Overstock.com
"Overstock.com I think qualifies for weird rebrand."
"Bed Bath and Beyond went out of business and was bought out by Overstock and then Overstock just rebranded everything to Bed Bath and Beyond."
"If you go to overstock.com it’s just BBB."
~ WhatsABuckland
Snoop Dogg
"When Snoop Dogg (temporarily) changed his name to Snoop Lion to make a reggae album."
~ RomanOnARiver
"Snoop’s original name on Death Row was 'Snoop Doggy Dogg'. When he left Death Row and went to No Limit, he had to alter his name (which might have been his original name) to 'Snoop Dogg'."
~ GotMoFans
"Snoop’s mother used to call him Snoopy as a nickname which is the origin."
~ OpanaMan
"The Charles Schulz people would have had a field day."
~ GotMoFans
GiphyBooks-A-Million
"Books-A-Million to 'BAM'."
"I was in a parking lot with one and had no idea it was a bookstore, as I was a bit too far out to see more than 'BAM' from where I was parked."
~ lynnyfox
KIA
"Everytime I see the new KIA logo I assume its a NIN [Nine Inch Nails] fan."
~ vinyalwhl
"I thought it was KN for an embarrassingly long time."
~ VulfSki
"KIA changed their logo on their cars and Google showed an uptick in the searches for 'K N cars' because people liked the look of them but didn’t realise it was a KIA."
~ User_Deleted_Content
Mark Chan on Unsplash
Royal Mail
"Royal Mail deciding Consignia was the way to go forwards."
~ PonITdude
"They wanted to go international but they lost so much money that year they had to stay national and reversed the name back."
~ ShinyHead0
"Twitter to X."
~ sandiercy
"And then everyone still refers to it as Twitter."
~ Safety_Drance
"'A user on X, formerly known as Twitter, posted…'.”
~ tommyk1210
"Rather like to see 'A user on Twitter, erroneously known as X, posted...'."
~ SagittaryX
"'A user on twitter, largely unknown as X, posted...'."
~ Pinksters
"A few days ago, I saw an article that said 'Twitter, which Elon Musk incorrectly thinks is called X for some reason...'."
"That was pretty funny."
~ temalyen
GiphyCity Landmarks
"In Chicago we still call it the Sears Tower [renamed Willis Tower in 2009]."
~ baccus83
"And in Pittsburgh, it’s still Heinz Field [renamed Acrisure Stadium in 2022]."
~ NoVaBurgher
"And in Toronto, it’s still the Skydome [renamed Rogers Centre in 2005]."
~ nonanarchist
"And in New York when you take 287 across the Hudson it's still the Tappan Zee Bridge [renamed Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge in 2017]. "
~ keytarin
"A lot of LA people still call it Staples Center [renamed Crypto.com Arena in 2021]."
~ New_Simple_4531
"In Denver we will always say Mile High Stadium [renamed Empower Field at Mile High in 2019]."
~ SheBrokeHerCoccyx
Some rebrandings make perfect sense to the public.
Others are utterly baffling.
What would you add to this list?
Reddit user b-secret asked:
"What is the most embarrassing thing you have ever Googled?"
How Much?
"what's the alcohol percentage in 70% rubbing alcohol?"
~ LightsJusticeZ
"55% alcohol, 15% rubbing"
~ FishOfFishyness
Who?
"I Googled my work because I couldn’t remember my boss’ name after working there for 8 months."
"I just blanked and couldn’t think of it."
~ HCxTC
Spellcheck
"I Google how to spell restaurant all the time."
~ ParkOk6450
"I'm like that but with Febuary."
"EDIT: February"
~ NeoNero_x
"I go into incognito mode to check spellings of words I should know how to spell."
~ LordCaptain
GiphyUm, No.
"I was trying to find the name of those signs where a word is written down the side and each letter is used for a descriptive word."
"Confusing I know."
"So here’s an example: False Evidence Appearing Real"
"I know it has to have a name. So I googled 'Sign where every word starts with a letter' and Goggle responded with 'Did you mean a sentence?'.”
~ Team_Lift
Looks Like...
"Googled green beans once, was super high and forgot what they looked like."
~ testies2345
"I did the same thing with beets."
~ Jjetsk1_blows
Gaby Yerden on Unsplash
That Movie, With the Guy and the Stuff...
"I'll forget the name of a movie and just type in random sh*t I think I remember. Usually it works."
"Like 'that movie where the kid sleeps and has weird dreams and flies on a bed'."
"Works like a charm."
~ fohsupreme
Did They Have Blue Feet?
"big boobies"
"I was only 10."
"I was surprised to find some."
~ PoopPower99
"I’m 39 and I Google this every day."
~ dekkact
"They're nice birds but are they really worth Googling everyday?"
~ redwolf1219
Blue-Footed Boobies
GiphyPredictive Text
"I used to search something like 'no clothes' or 'without clothes' or something like that when I was a kid."
"Then I learnt the word NAKED because of the TV show Naked and Afraid."
"Then searched it so many times that my autocorrect started to show that word first when I wanted to type something."
~ sniper8207
NSF...S?
"My favorite band growing up was 'The Barenaked Ladies'."
"When I was at school, I once Googled them and clicked on a link that said 'free shows!'."
~ BW_Bird
Good Description
"I forgot what a 'gondola' was called so I typed in 'Thing that carries you through the mountains in a basket'."
~ TheGreatJaceyGee
"I once forgot the word for 'door' so my brain reached for adjacent concepts, smashed them together and threw them out my mouth: 'house portal'."
~ Tail_Nom
GiphyIt Just Doesn't Translate
"I have to search a random word 'auf Englisch' or a random word 'auf Deutsch'."
"Every damn day."
"It took me a minute to realize that there was no way to translate Schadenfreude into English."
~ grammar_fixer_2
Ah, Memories...
"I found out that as long as you're logged into Google, all your searches are saved to your Google account (I'm not talking about browser history)."
"So I looked back, and the 1st thing I ever googled after getting a Google account was 'Can ducks fly'."
"I've no idea why I googled this. I know ducks can fly."
~ caca__milis
GiphyYou Ate What‽‽
"Once I was with some friends and I was telling them about how when I was a kid we only got to eat nuts as a special treat around Christmas."
"Then I mentioned how much I liked squirrel nuts and no one knew what they were. So I Googled 'squirrel nuts' with image search."
"Not at all what we ate at Christmas time."
"Finally found out what my family called 'squirrel nuts' were actually called hazelnuts."
~ 123fofisix
100% NSFW
"A few years ago my coworker and I were looking at the calendar at work. It had pictures of birds and we were trying to figure out what kind of bird was pictured for that month."
"I can’t remember what she thought it was, but I darned sure it was a Great Tit."
"We have a great relationship and have been working together for a long time but we tend to argue like an old married couple. So we went to Mr Google for the answer."
"Let me tell you that Googling Great Tit at work isn’t something I will ever do again."
"For the record, I was right. The bird was a Great Tit."
~ pi11bott
Great Tit holds an insect in its beak
A Perry on Unsplash
Hope some of these folks remembered to clear their browser and search histories.
So, what's your hilarious—or embarrassing—little Google secret search?