just_a_tech

My son is 23. He's a store manager for a national chain and looks fast tracked to move to district manager in a few years. He was given a hub store his second year as a manager. That store went from last in a district of 25 stores to 3 in his second year. He's got a great girlfriend, and they moved into a nicer apartment last year. He's far ahead of where I was at his age. Plays drums in a band, has a few solid friends, goes to therapy, stays on top of his bills these days. Wasn't always this way, of course. He came of age during covid and I've helped him a fair amount, but that's what I'm here for. They're kids, this time in their lives is for learning and finding their footing. Don't be too hard on them yet.

This is where I've landed to. I'd rather go hike with my dog.

Same here. I started going rock climbing with some fellow vets. Our local vet center teamed up with Adaptive Adventures to do indoor rock climbing groups over the winter for "group" therapy. I fit in better with other vets, too, so I get you. Sadly, the group sessions are on Saturdays now, and I have to work.

I got you fam. You ever make you way to Colorado, first drink is on me, we can even enjoy them in silence if you like.

I know the feeling, I deal with PTSD and anxiety myself and spent the last decade isolating myself. It honestly took this separation and being on my own to force myself to go out and try and socialize. I got outdoors, I like to camp and hike with my dog or go off-roading, but hang with people? Hated it for the longest time. But much like you, I started to realize how lonely I've been, so now I'm trying to fix it. I live 1100 miles from my family, so if I don't go and make some friends it'll just be me, my dog, and my cat.

Hobbies. I'm currently going through a separation after a 20 year marriage and live in a place I've only been for a few years. Other than coworkers, I haven't made any friends here. So, the last few months I've been forcing myself to be more social. There's a dude I see at the gym all the time, I took some time away while I was moving into my apartment and when I went back, he asked me where I'd been. I told him what was going on, and found out that he was going through something similar. Started chatting and discovered we have some common interests and are close in age, we're both in our 40's, so we exchanged contact info. A few weeks later he invited me out with some of his friends, which is great because this is his hometown. So I ended up meeting 2 more people that night. My local vet center has always offered group stuff, so I decided to attend something. Not only did I enjoy rock climbing, I spent 3 Saturdays climbing with a group of great folks, even if I didn't make any lasting friends. If you have hobbies, find a local group that engages in those and see if you can join up. If you don't, see if you can find something you like to do and start your own group. As hard as it's going to be, you're going to have to confront your shyness and put yourself out there, you don't have to accept being alone. It can be as easy as just going to the dog park and making small talk with other owners and seeing if something sticks. You never know.

Eh, I get the appeal and they're talented for sure, I just never got into them. Come to think of it neither did most of my friends.

41 also, and my son convinced me to try out some 5" inseam gym shorts. Honestly, I love them. I bought a similar pair of the same brand but for hiking and another pair for the gym. Not sure I'll go back to knee length again now.

For real! Asscheek couldn't take it anymore.

Same. Minimalist, easy to fit my cards and a small amount of cash and fits nicely in my front pocket.

She's a late boomer almost gen x born in '62. So she was in her 20s when Bon Jovi was huge. I was born in '83, thrash and grunge was formative for me.

Considering my mom has seen Bon Jovi in concert I disagree!

Yeah, Journey and Bon Jovi came from our parents. The rest is for sure generic millennial radio stuff. But really though, music is a personal thing. I regularly jam to music from several genres, some kinda old, some very new. It's all just taste.

Yeah, I would have talked shit about it when I was young. These days, IDGAF.

I just watched a 20 year kid do this 2 hours ago. I don't really care, I'm just there to lift, but I see a lot of guys posing in front of the mirror. But shit, if you got it, rock it dude. I ain't hatin.

Thanks for the tip, I'll check them out.

Wranglers still work for now. They used to last a decade, now I get a few years out of them. In fact, most clothes now only last a couple of years and fall apart.

I like gen x as I'm more similar to them being born in '83 and most of my friends are a little older than I am. Most of the cultural influences I grew up with come from gen x. I get along with most millennials until you get to the ones born around say '92. And it isn't even that I don't like the younger ones, I just don't relate to them the same. I do find it funny when boomers bitch about millennials and I remind them that I'm technically one also. The response is always the same, "you don't count."

I think a lot of hope for the future or expecting that things would continue to get better died that day, too. The change was so stark that it was frightening. The only thing that was "good" afterwards was how we all came together for a but there.

Me too.

Fry's was the dream. All the electronics, movies, games, and whatever you could want. They also had all the electrical components to fix things. Used to take my kids there just to look around and all the cool models and robots and stuff you could build.

I didn't like him either for quite some time. Kung Fu Panda and King Kong made me give him a second chance. Now I'll watch just about anything he's in. Still not a fan of some of his early stuff but he's a solid actor when he wants to be, and, well, to be honest, he amuses me.

Grew up in the '90s one. My first home I bought was... also the '90s one. Just bigger.

Was never as awesome as Voltron anyway.

That's wisdom strands showing through. Embrace that shit.

I'm waiting for my shrubs to get tall enough to hide the hive and then I am lol.

Adidas Moves when I was young. Now I hope I smell like my sandalwood and vanilla beard oil.

That's exactly the same reason I switched to boxer briefs. I still wear the compression shorts when I go to the gym.

This is me. I can still eat whatever I want, I just eat a lot less of it than I used to. Same as you, cutting like 98% of the alcohol in my diet was a game changer. I didn't start losing weight, though, until recently. Got started on some treatments from my doc, and things are working again.

Hawaii, Guam, Japan, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, the Netherlands, Belgium, Yucatan, Qatar, Kuwait, and Iraq.

Mario Kart and Smash Bros are the best for this.

Add Rage Against the Machine to that list, and I could almost accuse you of stealing my CD case, lol.

Yep, pretty much.

So, same as it ever was?

There's a fuckton of us, so I stay cautiously optimistic.

>the masses creep closer to poverty. What's that saying? We're 3 missed meals away from anarchy or something? When folks can't afford food anymore shit will hit the fan.

Same, never knew there was such a variety of flavors in terps.

Nothing so far. Reading through this thread makes me sad for some of y'all. I don't eat too much of anything because I watch my weight now that I'm 40, but nothing is off the table so far because it jacks up my insides.

Because: <gestures broadly at everything>

> crippling anxiety and existential dread You just described quicksand lol.

It's either this or Warcraft: Orcs & Humans

The problem is, if you don't make money you starve and end up homeless. And we're doing a pretty good job of making being homeless illegal.

Nothing like trying to break up brick weed. Or going weeks or months without any smoke because the whole county was out in between harvests and ships. Getting a "decent" oz only to find half of it is stems/seeds. On a rare occasion you'd get some white widow or the original sour diesel come through and it was the best shit ever lol.

I think we're starting to see the signs that more heading into a dystopia right now. War in Ukraine, open conflict between Hamas and Israel ( that others are getting involved in), problems with wage slavery/inflation. Also seeing a resurgence of ultra right wing parties in various countries. Some of which look downright fascist. I would guess that things get worse and then they'll get a little bit better just in time for full on climate collapse. I expect The Road after that.

17

There's a barcade in Austin called Pinballz. Used to take the kids probably 5 or 6 times a year. Would have gone more often but it gets spendy with 4 people playing games, having drinks, food, or playing laser tag. Favorite game? Cabinet wise probably Mortal Kombat or TMNT.

Summer Sanitarium in 2000. Metallica, SOAD, and Poweman 5000 freaking killed it. Korn was also excellent and while I'm not really a fan of Kid Rock he does really try to please the crowd.

Nah not really. I'm going to be 40 this year. Most movies, shows, and games these days seem made for me. Rings of Power, The Northman, Baldur's Gate 3, more Star Wars shows, Yellowstone, the list goes on. I also seem to get at least one or two messages a week on LinkedIn for job recruiting. I feel like we're the prime target for most things these days. All that said, making friends at this age is really hard. I got out of the service about 10 years ago. So far I've made zero friends outside of work.

'86 F-150 from a junk yard. Had no rear bumper after being rear ended, no stereo, and a broken window.

My son went to see Hall and Oates with my wife a few years ago and he jams to 80's and 90's thrash with me.