Midpoint Snap

[Rebel-Fan-74]

It's a crying shame that nothing is built in the USA any more...

I just bought a new TV and it said "Built in Antenna"


I don't even know where that is?

[DeCav]

I declare this is true,

I once bought a printer and opened the box and started reading the instruction manual first. First was a list of the items that the box should include. The first item on the list read, “1) This instruction manual”

I really need to believe that somewhere at sometime several people had a deep philosophical debate about whether the list should make the list.

[DeCav]

Next up, the story of how I got crabs in Myrtle Beach and brought them back to Spartanburg. It wasn’t as fun as it sounds.

[Rebel-Fan-74]

Read the warning labels on items... and realize they are there because someone had to be told what was on that warning.

My daughter's curling iron has a warning not to stick it in to any body orifice? Wouldn't you love to hear the story behind that?

[racincowboy02]

74 you are exactly right I see some of the warning labels and start thinking what in the world lol

[DeCav]

Regarding the Trump era...

I think we all agree what a dumpster fire it’s been. Cognitively dissonant to me that some of our favorite times were under a president that so few people ever liked. I honestly didn’t realize there was the political undertow that there was between 2010 and 2016. Things seemed so great on PFT and we had so much fun. The best stories and memories for me are pre-2016, like all the great tailgates and Shrine Bowls and the Bobby Thompson plaque we made happen as a team. People claim these politics are not devisive. There was simply not this problem pre-Trump. Maybe the issue is the Trump haters. I doubt it. People who are authors, neuroscientists, generals, they all align with my beliefs. I rejected the tired and banal comment that anyone who disagrees with you is an idiot. Or, "Just because someone has a degree doesn't mean they're smart."
This is a throw away comment and vacuuos reply. Empty of any logic or critical thinking. Interesting how the people you are agree with are smart and the people you don't are dumb. Or the comment I heard that just because someone is intelligent doesn't mean they're not an idiot. Sorry, that's poor debating and the worst kind of strawman argument. The interesting thing is how often I have to defend people I know who support Trump. People know what is said out there. The vicious Facebook comments, the sweeping dismissal of the Trump supporter as a brainwashed zombie down the rabbit hole of confirmation bias. Groups of people that meet everyday on Facebook to ask questions like, "Can you even respect a Trump voter?"

I go on there and defend my friends. Yes, of course they are intelligent. Not all of them. Not all Biden supporters are too bright. Compartmentalize your politics and move on with your friends to things you can agree on. After the dust settles we will have some rebuilding to do in this country. Make it easy on yourself by not creating to much chaos and destruction in your life. Be the hero. Be the solution.

I’ve been listening to a lot of thinkers on both sides of the isles and one thing everyone seems to agree on is both parties were appallingly bad at leading their bases. If I understand correctly, it’s been a huge snow job probably since Bush Sr. I dunno.

I never really got into politics much because I suppose I was in my own happy world and had my head down trying to make my marriage work and raise my boy as best I can.

Life hit me sideways folks. Something Carlin said a lot...

“If your born into this world you have a ticket to the freakshow and if you’re born in America you get a front row seat.”

I feel like I went to sleep one night and woke up in an alternate reality. PFT and now this board have always been an outlet for me and somewhat a journal of my personal journey. And these last few years have been the most difficult. I realize I’ve always been weird to a lot of folks...the length of my posts, the personal stories, my longing to make new friends and go out of my way to travel to meet them and enjoy fellowship.

It obvious to me that some of the things I do, I’m the only one doing them. Like the lunch in Summerville about 4 years ago when I posted on the boards and FB I would be in Charleston for the weekend and 6 of us descended on a restaurant and spent 6 hours dining and talking.

Also struck me as odd over the last 10 years I’m the only one keeping a photo album of all the members and memories. CavE, Randy Grant had the same story. His daughter started dating a black man and he pretty much disowned her until she had that granddaughter of his which changed his whole life and philosophy. We’ve seen his pictures of that girl and we know how she became the light in his life. Not sure why so many older folks are so dug in now in some ways when there’s so much historical evidence that what you believe today might not be what you believe a year from now.

It’s frustrating that a server somewhere is dry-docked like a scuttled Navy ship with all the posts and pictures that Randy contributed because his granddaughter is old enough now that she could get on PFT and look back in time at part of her grandfather’s life and read his words that he left in our care.

I tell my wife every time she gives me crap about playing on this board, “look, this is just part of my life...one day I’ll be gone. If these words and pictures are still preserved my son might want to look closer.” That’s assuming he misses me when I’m gone of course.

I get all kinds of confused reactions to my recent behavior and people demand I give them a rundown in under a minute. Let’s see, my marriage started crumbling, best friend killed himself, our first dog died of cancer then a few weeks later the other dog has a heart attack minutes after we get back from being out of town, then my little brother dies, I lose my job, my marriage seriously goes south.

Been kicked out of the house three times and welcomed back three times. Me and the wife been going purple last few days so things are looking up. And the backdrop of all this chaos is the most outrageous and chaotic politics I’ve ever witnessed. The last couple of months I’ve wondered if I really would wish Chuck were still here. It’s obvious whatever he was going through wasn’t going to get better if this country had any say.

I envy the older folks and the younger ones. Somehow I think probably there’s more like me stuck at the halfway point who must be suffering. This is naturally expected to be a crisis time when things are normal. If I make it through the next five years I’m gonna buy myself a trophy !

Most of you guys will remain unmoved and I realize that but on the BLM issue, all I’ll say is what I told another member on text...

Imagine your child bleeding out in your arms or a knock on the door and it’s an officer with the worst news. During your worst grief and anxiety and through a flood of tears someone casually says to you, “It should be obvious that ALL lives matter.”

I’ve written four eulogies. Never would I utter that sentence to the family at a funeral service but that’s just me I suppose. Been having some revelations recently. A lot of confluence and odd coincidences that have shaken the ground under my feet almost as if I was on the Truman show.

Not sure how long I want to go with this...

1st and Goal sent me a cool flag video. I braced myself for a highly politicized rant and was surprised to find it was extremely inspirational and on point. Couldn’t find a single thing I disagreed with. I started furiously sharing it with all my FB friends. 3 people I hadn’t talked to in forever messaged me right back and I had some amazing conversations.

One of them was an old Dorman friend who’s a pastor in Tennessee now. We chatted for about 4 hours. He shared a great video of a Christian theologian that was phenomenal. At the end of the lecture there’s a Q&A where the speaker references MLK Jr’s letter from an Alabama Jail and I looked it up and read it. It took me all night.

For the record I now know the misery of reading one of my posts. I was wishing the letter would hurry up and end but this letter was so good I couldn’t stop. It was fevered also. I could sense his desperation to get it all out of his head and on paper.

Brilliantly he ends the letter probably as he should have begun it by saying...

“Never before have I written so long a letter. I'm afraid it is much too long to take your precious time.”

What a slam dunk. It was one of the most perfect missives I’ve ever read. It’s so passionate while at the same time being extremely delicate and air tight. He wrote as to be nothing short of bullet proof.

I posted it to Facebook and thanked 1st and Goal for starting me on the journey that whole night by posting the flag video. Strong reactions from both sides of the isle. One FB friend who has several degrees from different universities was blown away, shared it to his page and tagged me, thanking me for sharing something powerful and numinous in a way he’d never experienced.

Also my pastor friend a few days later shares a Marc Martel video because he mentoned him, thinking I’d heard of the dude and then started tripping over himself to send a link cause he new what a Queen fan I was (let the arrows fly).

Imagine my shock when I log onto Scpreptalk to share it and SLICK had shared it on the music thread the same day.
Thats where I felt the hand of something bigger at play.

I don’t know...I’ve probably been way too serious my whole life. Just way too invested in ideals. As a youngster at church I was really buying into the Christian preachings and really just paying attention to Jesus and the amazing way he lived his life. So unlike a lot of Christians today.

Lot’s of drugs and booze in my house from infancy all the way through high school and beyond and I navigated it with shame and a determination not to follow the example that the other 5 members of my family set. 45 years of my life without a puff or a drink! People say now to me they don’t even comprehend that.

At the same time I DID follow some examples set by my parents. Neither my mother or my father tolerated any racism whatsoever growing up. I almost got my ass whooped one day while playing in the front yard and repeating something I’d heard in a Richard Pryor concert on HBO.

My father heard my language and told me never to say that again. And I didn’t. It was so progressive in my home, until I was probably 7 or 8 I didn’t know there were even black people. I honestly remember asking my mother how people got so tanned one day.

I read on FB a post from an atheist wanting to know what was the point that others faith was shaken. I thought and for a minute I honestly felt like my faith had never been shaken. Then I recalled our youth group meeting up at someone’s house where our beach trip was being staged.

All of a sudden one of the adults that was there every Sunday in church storms into the house furious. Then he announces to the entire party of adults and kids...

“You’ll never believe who’s moving in next door! A bunch of GD N’s!!!”

I was floored. Looked around...no one seemed disturbed at all by his language. It sounds dramatic but my mind was reeling. I’d had several black friends by that point. Was a couple of black families that went to our church. I suppose my parents did TOO good of a job sheltering me. It never occurred to me that anyone going to church every Sunday and praying and taking Communion would even think that much less say it, and even much more less in front of other church members.

No one else seemed bothered by it. I started noticing things about the church after that. The popular kids picking on other kids, ridiculing them. Bragging about sexual conquests. I started to wonder if it was a dog and pony show that everyone was putting on.

Fast forward to 2020...Every Christian I know is supporting 45. They all had lofty reasons 4 years ago. All of those validations have slowly crumbled away. To the point now where I’ve heard his supporters in private tell me (And I wish i were making this up) “he’s an asshole” from one guy, “a monster” from chuck’s brother, “a toxic leader” from another, “Hell we all know he ain’t Christian” from a 4th Christian, “Yeah I guess he does behave just like Victory 6” from again a different Christian.

“I put God and Christ ahead of everything in my life, even the president.”

“Yeah”, I said ,”that’s what won’t let me get on board...he was asked if he believes in asking God for forgiveness and he said only if he makes a mistake.”

That person eyes just glazed over and they dropped the conversation and didn’t pick it back up ever again.

Had a member of the board tell me in a phone call that they were open to voting either way on the presidential ballot except they’re weren’t any good candidates on the left. I threw out half a dozen names to no avail and with no response. I’ve figured out i can tell when someone is blindly convicted and dug in. They always say they’re not dug in and they’d vote for someone across the isle. This after one 45er said they were disgusted that the president’s protection injured protesters so he could walk down the street and pose for a sorry picture of the president in front of a church holding the bible upside down.

I swear Satan must be howling with delight. And all the campaign promises unfulfilled to the point where all I can get from anyone is “well I have a lot more money now”. “The economy is doing so much better.”

You mean the same economy that 45 said was so good it must be an Obama conspiracy against his campaign right before the election? People forget he openly railed in his rallies against how good the economy was.

And then Comey was a traitor for not locking Hillary up. And then he was a national hero for opening the investigation back up. And then he was a traitor again for not pledging loyalty.

Again now in my life I feel like I’m taking things way too seriously. I know I’m in the weeds. Can’t help but think of all the times half of our country came out on the wrong side and demonstrably so. And each time millions of people KNEW they’re right and had God on their side.

Makes me wonder how bad things could really get if some people truly got their way.

Getting late. I’ll wrap things up. Clearly I’m confused and have it ALL wrong. I can’t be right and know so many good hearted intelligent people and they ALL be wrong.

One thing I’m not though is a sheep. If I am I’ve strayed from the flock in a BIG way.

Posted on Facebook today...”Us Christians are proud to be sheep religiously while at the same time using it as an insult to hurl at others when it comes to public health.” Again...feels like a funhouse except it ain’t no fun.

Lastly I’ll leave you with this....

The pastor friend in Tennessee served in the military. Two tours in Panama and he’s southern and white if it matters. I asked him about kneeling and braced myself as I’m accustomed to doing lately. This is what he said...

“ Lol. The Constitution that I served to uphold allows the freedom for folk to kneel. Doesn't bother me. As far as the flag is concerned. I don't like it being abused.

Too much blood has spilled to protect it. I'm reminded of the orphaned children who have lost a father and spouses that will have to raise children by themselves. I saw it the other way before I joined.

When I arrived at Fort Sam Houston for Medic School I had to drive through this cemetery. As far as you can see, white grave markers. These men and women, loved, wept, ate, had sex, most likely raised families, we sons daughters. The Flag flies flaws and all. I have watched it placed in the hands at graveside. It means something to me.”

Peace out,
DeCav

[DeCav]

Been up for about 30 hours straight now. Lots to talk about. But I need to pass out.

[DeCav]

I think I just figured out how to change the world. It seems so logical and doable that I'm inclined not to talk about it less I jinx it. It reminds me of when I thought of the Blue Light Butler. I kept it to myself the first few days. I didn't even tell my wife what I was doing. Just didn't have the patience and could not afford to listen to her negativity and lack of support.

I just Got R Done, and when the news crew drove up and knocked on the front door, I just spent the next 45 minutes letting them interview me and having them come and film in my office while my wife stood slack-jawed watching the spectacle. After they left she asked me what the Hell that was all about. Only then did I tell her I think I had a good idea for an invention and that I was not going to let her discourage my confidence because in a very real sense the channel 7 news had just left with an interview that was going to air that night on T.V.

She really had no argument that day. This is the same woman that has been telling me for 20 years that the frozen items from the grocery store were never going fit in the freezer even though there was never not a haul from the grocer store that had any frozen goods that did not fit in the freezer.

I'm really close to something big. I can feel it. I can see it. I have the vision. I think I have the drive. I need to keep my foot on the gas and not listen to the nay-sayers.

[DeCav]

It's a crying shame that nothing is built in the USA any more...

I just bought a new TV and it said "Built in Antenna"


I don't even know where that is?

Really? Is that the truth?

There's a website a heard about...something to do the "Engrish"

Was supposed to be a repository of bad instructional manuals from China.

We have a little Halloween decoration once with a fortune cookie paper sized instruction manual. Funny as hell.

I once unboxed a new printer. The manual for it started off with a checklist of items that you should verify are in the box. The first item on the list was, "This manual." That cause a super deep moment for me. Two opposing arguments of logic obviously. But my inclination with logical truth won out. Clearly the manual was one of the more important items that needed to be in the box and as such I could not disparage the decision to include it on the list. But still....

[Rebel-Fan-74]

DeCav, you been in the muscadine wine again?