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Monocrom said:
With regards to cellphones.... Only reason I even own one is because if I need to make an Emergency phone call, I can't just walk up to a payphone anymore. For decades, two quarters was part of my daily carry EDC gear.
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I still carry 2 quarters....so that I'm never completely broke.

I have only been on cpf twice on a regular computer. The celphone is a tool or a toy depending on your perspective.

Social media is a tool like any other tool. Keeping your friends list small and private while not entering public chats thwarts any drama.

When BiC lighters started making them "childproof" I had a devil of a time getting one to work with sweaty hands. One day out in my yard I saw a boomers kid approaching on my street. Hippy parents had a hippy son. I said "hey kid, how do you make these stupid lighters work?" He said "toss it here". He pulls out a knife and plucks out the safety device and tosses it back to me.

Want to know how to get around a rule or undo some child proof object, ask a kid. And believe it or not someday they'll ask your opinion. One day that hippy kid asked me to help fix his bicycle.
 
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Monocrom said:

"With regards to cellphones.... Only reason I even own one is because if I need to make an Emergency phone call, I can't just walk up to a payphone anymore."

The lone pay phone in my town sports a sign that reads, "Drug deals only"
 
its weird todays 30 year olds look 55 are gens 55 year olds look 30. not sure why maybe becuase we excercised more outdoors or what
 
I was watching an old man feeding birds at the park when I thought to myself...

"I wonder how long he's been dead for...?"
 
I honestly feel that growing up in the 70s and 80s was the best time to be a young adult. There was no real fancy and expensive gadgets that we had to have and saving money was easier. It was easy to stay focused on work, rent, food, and clothes. Every once in a while a date night would be a trip to blockbuster to rent a movie and take out pizza. Simple easy life and no social media to distract us.

I very much see a huge difference today in the length of time young people remain with their parents. I very clearly remember my parents ,and everyone else parents, reminding us daily that at 18 it is time for a job and to leave their home. My mother was very clear on this and although she was never mean about it she was very serious. I worked at 14 years old in a horse farm for under the table pay and although it was not much I was able to save it as again there was not a lot to spend it on.

At 15 I started at a grocery store and worked pretty much full time while attending high school. I was in the work program that allowed you to leave early and get credits for working. My parents helped me open a checking account and that is where all my pay was deposited. At 17 I had enough to buy a $1500 dollar vehicle and with transportation was able to then have a better job at a large tire warehouse. (I worked this job for 10 years) My mother knew how much cash I had in my account and would always check nearby rental properties. Just before my 18th Bday I put a $500 dollar deposit on a small rental home. It was maybe 800 sq feet with a window unit and small furnace. Yes she was very serious as I did move out on that day. I actually stayed the first night there without power as I had to have it activated in my name the following day.

I think I had maybe 800 dollars remaining however I was now on my own and never looked back. Once again I began simply working and saving and remained in that small home for 7 years. I then had enough cash and credit to find a better home and a few years later started my police career at 27 years old. Then my pension was started and fast forward to today I am double dipping. I collect a pension from Birmingham Police while working full time at my current police job. In 3 more years I will qualify for a 2nd retirement in my current state pension and 3 years after that can apply for social security. I think the message in this post is that you can do a lot with staying power and patience.

Along the way it was tough however I had the occasional vacation, hobbies, and other fun times mixed with long hours of work and misery. My point with this post is to say that I feel many of todays youth are waiting far too long to start. Yes it is easy to live in your parents home or maybe spend too long having fun. Many that do start young today do so expecting far too much such as a 400k home with a 60k vehicle and then throw in the latest tech gadgets ,eating out nightly, partying ,travel and it is simply hard to afford that lifestyle starting out.

You should also have a very clear plan in mind and stick with it. I have no doubt that my life was much easier as I never had children. I knew very early that children were a huge responsibility and also very expensive. Now I have friends my age that are financially stable and they have children however it took them many more years than it did for me to become truly financially stable. Anyway I had no idea this post would be this long however for those who remember me from the old days I kind of get going at times...
 
I remember in the 80's cocaine and crack cocaine ruined a lot of lives. I tried cocaine once. I remember it being like drinking a Jolt cola. My brain said "$80 for that and you get addicted, where a Jolt is $1.50 and you don't get hooked, easy choice".

As a lad bird food had pot seeds in it. That's correct. Maybe the canary sang so much because it had a buzz. Anyway my mom would toss the leftover bird seed in a flower bed to grow wild flowers. Vietnam was on the 6:30 news each day and drugs were a topic of conversation at the dinner table at times. My oldest brother was a hippie wanna be. Flower power and all that.

One afternoon a sheriff knocked on our door. I answered it. I'm like 5 years old and my parents would say from a distant room "see who's at the door". I said "hello" and he said "I'm here to arrest your mother". Panic set in "DAD DAD, THE SHERIFF IS HERE TO ARREST MOM!!!" I hear "WHAT, NO WAY" as he comes running to the door. My dad never ran. Back then grownups walked, they didn't run. They were old...over 30.

So he goes out on the porch and I hear them mumbling. "Get away from the door" my dad said. Be seen not heard, right? My mom goes out there. I'm yelling MOM MOM DON'T DO IT, HE'S HERE TO ARREST YOU". I hear "be quiet" as she walked past. I'm freaking out. Are both of my parents going to jail?

They walked out of my sight. Soon after I see the sheriff leaving with some plants tossed over his shoulder. It turns out my mom had quite the marijuana crop going on the side of the house from the bird food. She had asked the sheriff to come by the house and check what she thought may be illegal plants. She had not told my dad. The sheriff was playing a prank on the kid who answered the door (me).

Looking back later I wondered if bird food actually came with pot seeds or was my hippie wannabe brother dumb enough to try to grow some weed in my mom's flower garden. As a grown up I asked him that. He said no but he sure was bummed when he came home and that crop of pot plants was gone.
 
im lucky my parents was never in trouble but a course it sucked becuase they was so strict
 
never tried hard drugs was to afraid but smoked weed some. and drank .btw i quit drinking 2 months ago not even a drop. i was afraid i was getting addicted plus its not cheap
 
Drugs and alcohol were also something I never even thought about. I have never drank alcohol and never used any other drugs including cigarettes. The absence from drinking was the best decision of my life as I have seen many great men go down in flames over a little can of alcohol. I have seen great men lose their pension, their respect, their careers, their freedom, and even their life simply because they wanted just a little more alcohol.

I can not claim to be fully pure as I chewed some type of tobacco for many years. I started with Gold River in a can then moved on to Hawkens and finally Skoal. In between I would use Levi Garret and Lancaster in a pouch. Finally I settled on Copenhagen and used this for many years. I quit a few years back and it was difficult. It was getting to be too expensive as when I started it was 79 cents per can and today it is over 6 dollars.
 
I remember Gold River. Tasted like Swisher Sweet cigars. Also dabbled with Levi, Red Man and Lancaster. I didn't use much, but eventually quit because the nicotine gave me really bad restless legs, and limb movement and leg cramps at night.
 
Robocop said:
Drugs and alcohol were also something I never even thought about. I have never drank alcohol and never used any other drugs including cigarettes. The absence from drinking was the best decision of my life as I have seen many great men go down in flames over a little can of alcohol. I have seen great men lose their pension, their respect, their careers, their freedom, and even their life simply because they wanted just a little more alcohol.

I can not claim to be fully pure as I chewed some type of tobacco for many years. I started with Gold River in a can then moved on to Hawkens and finally Skoal. In between I would use Levi Garret and Lancaster in a pouch. Finally I settled on Copenhagen and used this for many years. I quit a few years back and it was difficult. It was getting to be too expensive as when I started it was 79 cents per can and today it is over 6 dollars.
Click to expand...
i recall watching cops in the 80s when i wanted to be a leo and saw cops and guys on pcp and said hell no lol plus im a super small guy. . there was one nothing could take him down
 
Robocop said:
Drugs and alcohol were also something I never even thought about. I have never drank alcohol and never used any other drugs including cigarettes. The absence from drinking was the best decision of my life as I have seen many great men go down in flames over a little can of alcohol. I have seen great men lose their pension, their respect, their careers, their freedom, and even their life simply because they wanted just a little more alcohol.

I can not claim to be fully pure as I chewed some type of tobacco for many years. I started with Gold River in a can then moved on to Hawkens and finally Skoal. In between I would use Levi Garret and Lancaster in a pouch. Finally I settled on Copenhagen and used this for many years. I quit a few years back and it was difficult. It was getting to be too expensive as when I started it was 79 cents per can and today it is over 6 dollars.
Click to expand...

🤓 I'm reminded of -

Goody two, goody two, goody goody two shoes
Don't drink, don't smoke, what do you do?
Don't drink, don't smoke, what do you do?

 
Chauncy believe me there were times when my so called friends would poke fun at me for being too boring. They wanted to go get drunk and party when I chose to stay sober and go to work. I managed to stay "boring" through my teens and still had a great childhood. I really believe that a persons choice of close friends has much to do with how they turn out.

I had one very close friend and to this day we still get together at times for a night of camping or a day of fishing. My best friend all through school was much like myself as he did not drink nor mess with any drugs. He worked all the time and had his own apartment at 18. We basically had the same interests of camping and outdoors stuff and spent every off day on the Cahaba river. I can not count the times we had a big fire by the river while trying to catch huge catfish.

We basically ended up with very similar lives and neither of us were influenced by others thinking us to be boring. My brother is 5 years younger and he had a few close friends who were dopers. He turned out much different than myself and had a few years of trouble. He did eventually straighten himself out yet I feel it was his choice of friends that caused such a difference between us. I am still a pretty good size guy and in high school I was still pretty tough even then. Although my school mates did poke innocent fun with me none of them would ever really take it serious as they were afraid of me. Although I was known to be a little boring I was also known to never shy away from a little knuckle up session...(smile)
 
Iron Horse if you remember Gold River you may also have seen Silver Creek which was the wintergreen version of Gold River. I remember the Gold River tasting like pipe tobacco with a little maple syrup kick thrown in. It was very mild compared to others yet the original version was just a good taste. I have heard that Swisher acquired the brand later on and was making it available a few years back. Not sure if it still available.

Lancaster was my favorite pouch chew followed by rough country as it was cheap for a teenager back then. I used Skoal in the cardboard can for years and when they switched to the plastic can I found it tasted much different. The only brand to stay with the cardboard can was Copenhagen Straight natural so I switched. I used Copenhagen for 20 years then just one day decided to quit. I was able to do so however not without some help from todays milder options such as Rogue nicotine pouches and Grizzly Snus.

So basically I still have some type of pouch in most of the time yet I do not have to carry around a dang spit bottle everywhere I go.
 
My best friend going on 35 years.... had some ambition.
If he had a ton more, I'd have felt obligated to try harder to keep up with him. Though I'm far from penniless, today. It's just, he's very laid back; and so am I. He got lucky that he married someone who genuinely loves him. (She's like the Little sister I never had.)
 
Robocop said:
Chauncy believe me there were times when my so called friends would poke fun at me for being too boring. They wanted to go get drunk and party when I chose to stay sober and go to work. I managed to stay "boring" through my teens and still had a great childhood. I really believe that a persons choice of close friends has much to do with how they turn out.

I had one very close friend and to this day we still get together at times for a night of camping or a day of fishing. My best friend all through school was much like myself as he did not drink nor mess with any drugs. He worked all the time and had his own apartment at 18. We basically had the same interests of camping and outdoors stuff and spent every off day on the Cahaba river. I can not count the times we had a big fire by the river while trying to catch huge catfish.

We basically ended up with very similar lives and neither of us were influenced by others thinking us to be boring. My brother is 5 years younger and he had a few close friends who were dopers. He turned out much different than myself and had a few years of trouble. He did eventually straighten himself out yet I feel it was his choice of friends that caused such a difference between us. I am still a pretty good size guy and in high school I was still pretty tough even then. Although my school mates did poke innocent fun with me none of them would ever really take it serious as they were afraid of me. Although I was known to be a little boring I was also known to never shy away from a little knuckle up session...(smile)
Click to expand...
Howdy, Robocop, I wasn't poking fun at you or implying that you're boring. 😀 Me being the most boring person I know, everyone seems more interesting than myself.

As far as the consumption of adult beverages, well, I've never woken up wishing I'd imbibed more the night before. Once when our sons were young, the oldest asked me what I was drinking. I think he was six or seven years old. "This is beer, son. You can have a sip, but I don't think you'll like it." That was it. The mystique was removed. It wasn't a forbidden pleasure Dad was keeping from his sons. Neither of our sons, now in their middle and late 20s, drink alcohol. They never have. I also took the same tack concerning firearms. "You guys can handle these anytime you want as long as I'm with you." ...... There was always beer in the refrigerator, but the firearms were locked up. 🤓 Trust but verify.

As far as choosing one's friends, my Mom used to say, "If you lie down with dogs, you're gonna get up with fleas."
 
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