The New Coffee Room

Playing golf in retirement is probably top 10

Count the number of old men who died after playing years of golf

It is not a small number

@axtremus said in When Helping People, Be Humble About It:

Nah, that's asking for too much. If you help people and feel like bragging about it anyway, I'd say go ahead. I am not going to dissuade a braggart from helping others just because he's braggart. Lots of assistance to others are motivated by PR considerations, beliefs in karma, and/or tax benefits. So what? Go ahead and help anyway.

Even more democrat

Use someone else's money to help people and take credit.

@doctor-phibes said in Don't Feel Guilty:

@rainman said in Don't Feel Guilty:

Mik: We give a fair amount of money...

I was just talking (ranting) about this again, after getting our mail.

If you give to anything or anywhere, it pisses me off that I get on some sort of list, or lists, or listss, and then get flooded with hardcopy junk in the daily mail, or the tons of unmeasurable spam. And, they think that their tricks get by me, with their personal correspondences as if I am a friend. How can a friend turn down another friend pleading for money?
Or, a friend of a friend. Or, a friend of a friends friend. How can I be so cold, when the personal letter or email addresses me in such a warm, likable manner. I'm an awful person. All they want is money, what's the big deal.
Thanks, Friends!!

Aqua would send them something unspeakable in the little envelope they so kindly provide for donations.

I'm not recommending, just saying.

Hah. Never thought of that.
And, it wouldn't need to be anything disgusting, necessarily. Just questionable, to get people to gather around and ask, "what IS that?"

I love having cats, but they don't usually travel well, and that matters at this point in life. Hubby has also made it clear he doesn't want a cat right now, maybe not ever again.

Frogs have made their way into our family, despite his anti-pet position. They've won him over, perhaps only because they are the lesser of the other pets he can imagine me raising. They travel easily, too.

They're not as cuddley as the kitties, but they have their charms. Lately, they call for attention by trilling. They like to trill to hubby's voice, too. It must be a guy thing, because it's the male frogs that trill. It amuses me when hubby's on a call for work and the frogs decide to talk, too. We sometimes have four or five of them that trill together.

I never was going with any spherical objects moving through space and time. I was good a weightlifting - though my body is not longer able to do that - broken disc in back and arthritis in hands means I need to be careful with any of that. I was an OK runner in my 40s and 50s - but now, I'm a back of the pack runner. It's all OK. "Don't mean a hill of beans" in the big scheme of things - but still fun to be in the game.

@mainermikebrown That's excellent, Mike. I agree that volunteer work can be some of our best experiences.

True story. As part of a high school class, I participated in a music group that performed weekly (and weakly) at what was called the State Hospital in the city where I then lived. Lo and behold, my own great-grandfather was there. Some sort of family rift had occurred long before I was even born, and I had never gotten to know him. I would stay to visit with him, then ride home on my motorcycle.

Even after the class ended, I'd go see him every week. The only thing I regret is not rolling my cycle into the facility for him to see it. He was so amused by the idea that I had my own, and that I rode it to come visit him.

I did that until just a few days before he died. I had no idea what the family rift was about, nor did I care. We were separate from that mess, and enjoyed seeing each other. He was quite a character.

Mike, I'm so sorry you went through trauma earlier in your life. You're correct that some victims don't really understand what happened, and have a distorted perspective about their experiences. Sometimes getting into adulthood helps the victim understand, but some still can't even as adults.

If it's something that the person grew up experiencing in the home, especially if it was the parent causing the abuse, the child thinks it's normal or deserved. It's amazingly difficult to mentally and emotionally break free from a mess like that. Some people never do. I'm glad you're one who has moved forward from it.

What kind of relationship do you have now with the person who abused you? Has your abuser made amends in any way, or are they still abusive, or is there some other outcome?

MainerMike, you come across as such a nice guy, I would have stood up to the bullies for you if we were kids together.

With some exceptions, I had a great childhood. Like many, I did some really stupid and dangerous things, lucky to have lived through the really boneheaded stuff. Lucky I wasn't caught.
I'd say being a kid, compared to being an adult, was easier. I didn't have to worry about food, clothing, place to live, etc.
Curious what others may think in looking back.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens to the Pats and the Bucs now though. It has the potential to greatly shift the relative reputations of Belichick and Brady.

Mike, you have a good doctor. Larry, you have a god doctor. You're just a bad patient. 😆

This sounds really stupid, but it's definitely true for me: when people (oh let's just say my pathological co-workers) piss me off, staying calm and pleasant because it's the Christian thing to do is almost entirely ineffective for me. But if I can find a way to fully empathize with them, even if I disagree and think they're terrible humans, I can keep from getting pissed. Their actions may be disgusting, but at least they make sense, they're understandable. I don't know why that douses the fuse, but very often times it does.

What’s the modern day analogy for this?
Close the old MP3 and open the new MP3?
Trash the old MP3 and download the new MP3?