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Privacy Policy

LAST UPDATED: 28 October, 2020

GeorgeTakei.com in the United States is concerned about privacy issues and wants you to be familiar with how we collect, use and disclose information. This Privacy Policy describes our practices in connection with information that we collect through the website owned and controlled by us, or operated by us or on our behalf, from which you are accessing this Privacy Policy (the “Site").


UPDATES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

The “LAST UPDATED" legend at the top of this page indicates when this Privacy Policy was last revised. Any changes to this Privacy Policy will become effective when we post the revised Privacy Policy on the Site. Your use of the Site following these changes means that you accept the revised Privacy Policy.


PERSONAL INFORMATION

“Personal Information" is information that identifies you as an individual or relates to an identifiable individual:

  • Name
  • Postal address (including billing and shipping addresses)
  • Telephone number
  • Email address
  • Credit and debit card number
  • Profile picture
  • Social media account ID
  • Financial information required to invoice or pay you

  • Collection of Personal Information

    We and our service providers collect Personal Information in a variety of ways, including:

  • Through the Site
    • We collect Personal Information through the Site, for example, when you sign up for a newsletter or make a purchase.
  • From Other Sources
    • We receive your Personal Information from other sources, such as publicly available databases;
    • joint marketing partners, when they share the information with us
  • If you connect your social media account to your Site account, you will share certain Personal Information from your social media account with us, for example, your name, email address, photo, list of social media contacts, and any other information that may be or you make accessible to us when you connect your social media account to your Site account.

    We need to collect Personal Information in order to provide the Site to you. If you do not provide the information requested, we may not be able to provide the Site. If you disclose any Personal Information relating to other people to us or to our service providers in connection with the Site, you represent that you have the authority to do so and to permit us to use the information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.


    Use of Personal Information

    We and our service providers use Personal Information for legitimate business purposes, including:

  • Providing the functionality of the Site and fulfilling your requests.
    • To provide the Site's functionality to you.
    • To respond to your inquiries and fulfill your requests.
    • To send administrative information to you, such as changes to our terms, conditions, and policies.
    • To allow you to send messages to a friend through the Site. By using this functionality, you are telling us that you are entitled to use and provide us with your friend's name and email address.
  • We engage in these activities to manage our contractual relationship with you and/or to comply with a legal obligation.

  • Providing you with our newsletter and/or other marketing materials and facilitating social sharing.
    • To send you marketing communications that we believe may be of interest to you.
    • To facilitate social sharing functionality that you choose to use.
  • We engage in these activities with your consent, to the extent consent is required by applicable law.

    Analysis of Personal Information for business reporting and providing personalized services.

  • To personalize your experience on the Site by presenting content, products, and offers tailored to you.
  • We provide personalized services either with your consent or because we have a legitimate interest.

  • Allowing you to participate in sweepstakes, contests or other promotions.
    • We may offer you the opportunity to participate in a sweepstakes, contest or other promotion.
    • Some of these promotions have additional rules, which could contain information about how we will use and disclose your Personal Information.
  • We use this information to manage our contractual relationship with you.

  • Aggregating and/or anonymizing Personal Information.
    • We may aggregate and/or anonymize Personal Information so that it will no longer be considered Personal Information. We do so to generate other data for our use, which we may use and disclose for any purpose.
  • Accomplishing our business purposes.
    • For data analysis, for example, to improve the efficiency of our Site.
    • For audits, to verify that our internal processes function as intended and are compliant with legal, regulatory or contractual requirements.
    • For fraud and security monitoring purposes, for example, to detect and prevent cyber attacks or attempts to commit identity theft.
    • For developing new products and services.
    • For enhancing, improving, or modifying the Site and our services.
    • For identifying usage trends, for example, understanding which parts of our Site are of most interest to users.
    • For determining the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns, so that we can adapt our campaigns to the needs and interests of our users.
    • For operating and expanding our business activities, for example, understanding which parts of our Site are of most interest to our users so we can focus our energies on meeting our users' interests.
  • We engage in these activities to manage our contractual relationship with you, to comply with a legal obligation, and/or because we have a legitimate interest.


    Disclosure of Personal Information

    We disclose Personal Information:

  • To our third party service providers, to facilitate services they provide to us.
    • These can include providers of services such as website hosting, data analysis, payment processing, order fulfillment, information technology and related infrastructure provision, customer service, email delivery, auditing, and other services.
  • To third-party sponsors of sweepstakes, contests, and similar promotions.
  • By using the Site, you may elect to disclose Personal Information:
    • On message boards, chat, profile pages, blogs and other services to which you are able to post information and content. Please note that any information you post or disclose through these services will become public and may be available to other users and the general public.
    • To identify you to anyone to whom you send a message via the Site.
    • Through your social sharing activity. When you connect your Site account with your social media account, you will share information with your friends associated with your social media account, with other users, and with your social media account provider. By doing so, you authorize us to facilitate this sharing of information, and you understand that the use of shared information will be governed by the social media provider's privacy policy.

    • Other Uses and DisclosuresWe also use and disclose your Personal Information as necessary or appropriate, especially when we have a legal obligation or legitimate interest to do so:
    • To comply with applicable law.
    • This can include laws outside your country of residence.
  • To respond to requests from public and government authorities.
    • These can include authorities outside your country of residence.
  • To cooperate with law enforcement.
  • For example, when we respond to law enforcement requests and orders.
  • For other legal reasons.
    • To enforce our terms and conditions; and
    • To protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you or others.
  • In connection with a sale or business transaction.
    • We have a legitimate interest in disclosing or transferring your Personal Information to a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings). Such third parties may include, for example, an acquiring entity and its advisors.

  • OTHER INFORMATION

    “Other Information" is any information that does not reveal your specific identity or does not directly relate to an individual:

  • Browser information
  • Server log files
  • Information collected through cookies, pixel tags, and other technologies
  • Demographic information and other information provided by you that does not reveal your specific identity
  • Information that has been aggregated in a manner such that it no longer reveals your specific identity
  • If we are required to treat Other Information as Personal Information under applicable law, then we may use and disclose it for the purposes for which we use and disclose Personal Information as detailed in this Privacy Policy.

    Collection of Other Information

    We and our service providers collect Other Information in a variety of ways:

  • Through your browser or device:
    • Certain information is collected by most browsers or automatically through your device, such as your Media Access Control (MAC) address, computer type (Windows or Mac), screen resolution, operating system name and version, device manufacturer and model, language and Internet browser type you are using. We use this information to ensure that the Site functions properly.
  • IP Address:
    • Your “IP Address" is a number that is automatically assigned to the computer that you are using by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). An IP Address can be identified and logged automatically in our server log files whenever a user visits the Site, along with the time of the visit and the page(s) that were visited. Collecting IP Addresses is standard practice and is done automatically by many websites, applications and other services. We use IP Addresses for purposes such as calculating Site usage levels, helping diagnose server problems, and administering the Site.
  • Using cookies:
      Cookies are pieces of information stored directly on the computer that you are using. Cookies allow us to collect information such as browser type, time spent on the Site, pages visited, language preferences, and other anonymous traffic data. We and our service providers use the information for security purposes, to facilitate navigation, display information more effectively, and to personalize your experience while using the Site, as well as for online tracking purposes. We also gather statistical information about the usage of the Site in order to continually improve the design and functionality, understand how the Site is used and to assist us with resolving questions regarding the Site. Cookies further allow us to select which of our advertisements or offers are most likely to appeal to you and display them while you are on the Site. We also use cookies in online advertising to track responses to our advertisements and we use cookies or other files to track your use of other websites.
      If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows you to automatically decline cookies, or be given the choice of declining or accepting the transfer to your computer of a particular cookie (or cookies) from a particular site. You may also wish to refer here and here. However, if you do not accept these cookies, you may experience some inconvenience in your use of the Site. For example, we may not be able to recognize your computer and you may need to log in every time you visit the Site. You also may not receive advertising or other offers from us that are relevant to your interests and needs.
  • “Do Not Track" signals:
    • The Site will continue to operate as described in this Privacy Policy, whether or not a “Do Not Track" signal or similar mechanism is received from your browser.
  • Using pixel tags and other similar technologies:
    • Pixel tags (also known as web beacons and clear GIFs) are used in connection with some Site pages and HTML-formatted email messages to, among other things, track the actions of Site users and email recipients, measure the success of our marketing campaigns and compile statistics about Site usage and response rates.
  • Physical Location:
    • We collect the physical location of your device by, for example, using satellite, cell phone tower or WiFi signals. We use your device's physical location to provide you with personalized location-based services and content. We also share your device's physical location, combined with information about what advertisements you viewed and other information we collect, with our service providers and/or marketing partners to enable them to provide you with more personalized content and to study the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. In some instances, you may be permitted to allow or deny such uses and/or sharing of your device's location, but if you choose to deny such uses and/or sharing, we, our service providers and/or our marketing partners may not be able to provide you with the applicable personalized services and content.
  • From you:
    • Information such as your preferred means of communication is collected when you voluntarily provide this information.
  • Uses and Disclosures of Other Information

    We may use and disclose Other Information for any purpose, except where we are required to do otherwise under applicable law. In some instances, we may combine Other Information with Personal Information. If we do, we will treat the combined information as Personal Information as long as it is combined.


    THIRD PARTY SITES OR SERVICES

    This Privacy Policy does not address, and we are not responsible for, the privacy, information or other practices of any third parties, including any third party operating any site or service to which the Site contains a link. The inclusion of a link on the Site does not imply endorsement of the linked site or service by us or by our affiliates.


    THIRD PARTY ADVERTISERS

    We use third-party advertising companies to serve advertisements regarding goods and services that may be of interest to you when you access or use the Site.

    When you use our website, we share information that we collect from you, such as your email (in hashed form), IP address or information about your browser or operating system, with our partner/service provider, LiveRamp Inc. LiveRamp returns an online identification code that we may store in our first-party cookie for our use in online and cross-channel advertising and it may be shared with advertising companies to enable interest-based and targeted advertising. To opt out of this use, please click here (https://optout.liveramp.com/opt_out).

    You may receive advertisements based on information relating to your access to and use of the Site and other websites or online services on any of your devices, as well as on information received from third parties. These companies place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser (including through the use of pixel tags). They also use these technologies, along with information they collect about your online use, to recognize you across the devices you use, such as a mobile phone and a laptop. If you would like more information about this practice, and to learn how to opt out of it in desktop and mobile browsers on the particular device on which you are accessing this Privacy Policy, please visit here and here.


    SECURITY

    We seek to use reasonable organizational, technical and administrative measures to protect Personal Information within our organization. Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Please also be aware that we use third-party cloud service providers that provide hosting, data storage and other services pursuant to standard terms and conditions that may be non-negotiable; these service providers have informed us or the general public that they apply security measures they consider adequate for the protection of information within their system, or they have a general reputation for applying such measures. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure (for example, if you feel that the security of any account you might have with us has been compromised), please immediately notify us in accordance with the “Contacting Us" section below.


    CHOICES AND ACCESS

    Your choices regarding our use and disclosure of your Personal Information

  • We give you many choices regarding our use and disclosure of your Personal Information for marketing purposes. You may opt-out from:Receiving marketing-related emails from us: If you no longer want to receive marketing-related emails from us on a going-forward basis, you may opt-out of receiving these marketing-related emails by clicking on the unsubscribe links provided in emails.
  • Our sharing of your Personal Information with affiliates for their direct marketing purposes: If you would prefer that we not share your Personal Information on a going-forward basis with our affiliates for their direct marketing purposes, you may opt-out of this sharing by turning off this feature in any services we provide you.
  • Our sharing of your Personal Information with unaffiliated third parties for their direct marketing purposes: If you would prefer that we not share your Personal Information on a going-forward basis with unaffiliated third parties for their direct marketing purposes, you may opt-out of this sharing by turning off this feature in any services we provide you.
  • We will try to comply with your request(s) as soon as reasonably practicable. Please note that, if you opt-out of receiving marketing-related emails from us, we may still send you important administrative messages, from which you cannot opt-out.

    How you can access or change or delete your Personal Information

    If you would like to request to review correct, update, suppress, restrict or delete Personal Information that you have previously provided to us, or if you would like to request to receive an electronic copy of your Personal Information for purposes of transmitting it to another company (to the extent this right to data portability is provided to you by applicable law), you may contact us by writing to us here or to Personal Information Request, GeorgeTakei.com, 1001 6th Avenue, 14th Floor, New York, NY, 10018. We will respond to your request consistent with applicable law.

    In your request, please make clear what information you would like to have changed, whether you would like to have your Personal Information suppressed from our database or otherwise let us know what limitations you would like to put on our use of your Personal Information. For your protection, we may only implement requests with respect to the Personal Information associated with the particular email address that you use to send us your request, and we may need to verify your identity before implementing your request. We will try to comply with your request as soon as reasonably practicable.

    Please note that we may need to retain certain information for recordkeeping purposes and/or to complete any transactions that you began prior to requesting such change or deletion (e.g., when you make a purchase or enter a promotion, you may not be able to change or delete the Personal Information provided until after the completion of such purchase or promotion).


    RETENTION PERIOD

    We retain Personal Information for as long as needed or permitted in light of the purpose(s) for which it was obtained and consistent with applicable law.

    The criteria used to determine our retention periods include:

  • The length of time we have an ongoing relationship with you and provide the Site to you (for example, for as long as you have an account with us or keep using the Site);
  • Whether there is a legal obligation to which we are subject (for example, certain laws require us to keep records of your transactions for a certain period of time before we can delete them); or
  • Whether retention is advisable in light of our legal position (such as in regard to applicable statutes of limitations, litigation or regulatory investigations).

  • USE OF SITE BY MINORS

    The Site is not directed to individuals under the age of thirteen (13), and we do not knowingly collect Personal Information from individuals under 13.


    JURISDICTION AND CROSS-BORDER TRANSFER

    Your Personal Information may be stored and processed in any country where we have facilities or in which we engage service providers, and by using the Site you understand that your information will be transferred to countries outside of your country of residence, including the United States, which may have data protection rules that are different from those of your country. In certain circumstances, courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies or security authorities in those other countries may be entitled to access your Personal Information.

    If you are located in the European Economic Area (comprised of the EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, together “EEA"): Some of the non-EEA countries are recognized by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of data protection according to EEA standards (the full list of these countries is available here. For transfers from the EEA to countries not considered adequate by the European Commission, we have put in place adequate measures, such as standard contractual clauses adopted by the European Commission to protect your Personal Information. You may obtain a copy of these measures by contacting us in accordance with the “Contacting Us" section below.


    SENSITIVE INFORMATION

    We ask that you not send us, and you not disclose, any sensitive Personal Information (for example, social security numbers, credit card information, information related to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or other beliefs, health, biometrics or genetic characteristics, criminal background or trade union membership) on or through the Site or otherwise to us.


    THIRD PARTY PAYMENT SERVICE

    We will use a third-party payment service to process payments made through the Site. If you wish to make a payment through the Site, your Personal Information will be collected by such third party and not by us, and will be subject to the third party's privacy policy, rather than this Privacy Policy. We have no control over, and are not responsible for, this third party's collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information.


    CONTACTING US

    GeorgeTakei.com is located at 223 W 38th Street, Unit 114, New York, NY 10018, is the company responsible for the collection, use, and disclosure of your Personal Information under this Privacy Policy.

    If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us by email here, or please write to the following address

    GeorgeTakei.com

    223 W 38th Street
    Unit 114


    New York, NY 10018

    Please note that email communications are not always secure; so please do not include credit card information or sensitive information in your emails to us.


    ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR INDIVIDUALS IN THE EEA

    If you are located in the EEA, you also may:

    Contact us here with any questions about this Privacy Policy.

    Lodge a complaint with a data protection authority for your country or region, or where an alleged infringement of applicable data protection law occurs.

    People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

    Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

    Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

    Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

    For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

    I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

    My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

    Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

    It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

    "Give an example; how weird are you really?"

    Monsters Under My Bed

    "My bed doesn't touch any wall."

    "Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

    – Practical_Eye_3600

    "Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

    – bikergirlr7

    "At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

    – zenOFiniquity8

    Can You See Why?

    "I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

    – KingBooRadley

    Remember

    "In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

    – AquamarineCheetah

    "Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

    "Makes me think my "memory is full.""

    – Reasonable-Pirate902

    Same, Same

    "I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

    – OhhGoood

    "How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

    – notmyrealnam3

    Not Sure Who Was Weirder

    "Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

    – Frostygrunt

    Imagination

    "I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

    – RandomSharinganUser

    "I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

    – Kolkeia

    If Only

    "Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

    – ShotCompetition2593

    Pet Food

    "As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

    – drummerskillit

    "Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

    – Isitjustmedownhere

    "When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

    – -GateKeep-

    My Favorite Subject

    "I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

    "It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

    "A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

    "Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

    "The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

    "I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

    – Phormicidae

    *Teeth Chatter*

    "I bite ice cream sometimes."

    RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

    "That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

    monobarreller

    Never Speak Of This

    "I put ice in my milk."

    – GTFOakaFOD

    "You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

    – We-R-Doomed

    "There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

    – RatonaMuffin

    More Than Super Hearing

    "I can hear the television while it's on mute."

    – Tira13e

    "What does it say to you, child?"

    – Mama_Skip

    Yikes!

    "I put mustard on my omelettes."

    – Deleted User

    "Oh."

    – NotCrustOr-filling

    Evened Up

    "Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

    "I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

    – LesPaltaX

    "That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

    – MoonlightKayla

    I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

    Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
    Photo by Jen Theodore

    Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

    Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

    But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

    It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

    But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

    Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

    "Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

    Sensations

    Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

    "My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

    PeachesnPain

    Recovery

    "I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

    "My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

    "It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

    good_golly99

    Take Me Back

    "Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

    "I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

    rayrayrayray

    Free

    The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

    "I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

    TooReDTooHigh

    This is why I hate surgery.

    You just never know.

    Shocked

    Giphy

    "More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

    Admirable_Buyer6528

    The SOB

    "Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

    "Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

    1-cupcake-at-a-time

    Colors

    "My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

    Hannah_LL7

    "I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

    huntokarrr

    The Fog

    "I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

    "I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

    Fluffy-Hotel-5184

    Through the Walls

    "My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

    "She's quite alive and well today."

    Hot-Refrigerator6583

    Well let's all be happy to be alive.

    It seems to be all we have.

    Man's waist line
    Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

    Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

    The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

    Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

    Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

    "People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

    Redditors didn't see these coming.

    Shiver Me Timbers

    "I’m always cold now!"

    – Telrom_1

    "I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

    – r7ndom

    "140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

    – mr_remy

    Drawing Concern

    "I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

    – dee-fondy

    "Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

    "Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

    – LizardofDeath

    Unleashing Insults

    "I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

    "It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

    – alanamablamaspama

    Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

    "The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

    – KeltarCentauri

    "I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

    – KatMagic1977

    "It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

    – Jaew96

    These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

    Shopping

    "I can buy clothes in any store I want."

    – WaySavvyD

    "When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

    – ganache98012

    No More Symptoms

    "Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

    – colleennicole93

    Expanding Capabilities

    "I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

    – Ramblonius

    People Change Their Tune

    "How much nicer people are to you."

    "My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

    – LiZZygsu

    "Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

    "And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

    – awholedamngarden

    It's gonna take some getting used to.

    Bones Everywhere

    "Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

    – Princess-Pancake-97

    "I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

    – bekastrange

    Knee Pillow

    "Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

    – snic2030

    "I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

    – Strongbad23

    More Mobility

    "I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

    "Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

    – dma1965

    People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

    But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

    That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.