The 39 things I have learned in 39 years on this earth

By briangw
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Grand Master

briangw

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I turn 39 tomorrow. Ever since my last Grandfather passed away in 2001, I have been afraid of getting old and never seem to stop thinking about it. As a kid, you never think about getting older probably because you are having too much fun and/or don't have any cares/concerns. You feel invincible whether you take that chance on the ramp over a ditch to jumping off a roof with an umbrella (yep, I tried that as a kid).

That being said, the thought of knowing I won't be hear forever scares me...moreso because I have my own bucket list of sorts and near the top of it is that I want to get to the point where I feel I have given everything back that was bestowed upon me. I volunteer in Boy Scouts because of the men and women who volunteered for me. I am more active in church because two Presbyterian churches were there for me in the good and bad times in my youth. I want to teach my kids what my parents taught me and like parents before me, it never seems you can teach everything to your children in the amount of time you have.

I want to keep on teaching others...whether it be within the troop, a church or my own family. I learned a lot over the past 39 years and logged a lot of miles both in geographic distance and in life. And in that time, I faced a lot of perils, problems, solutions, and unknowns. And after each one, my resolve has gotten stronger.

So in honor (or dread) or turning 39 in tomorrow, I put together a list of 39 things I have learned in 39 years on this Earth. It's 7 pages long but there are some serious and fun things in it. I hope you all get a kick out of it!
 
Brian
 

The 39 Things I Have Learned In 39 Years on This Earth

  1. Put your trust in a higher belief/calling. Everything is eventual and has a purpose. I questioned my faith many times in the past, yet I have always believed that a divine intervention took place many times in my life. I can?t explain it, but it seems to renew my faith often.
  2. Give back to others what has been given to you. It may not seem important at first, but over time, you will reap the rewards and feel better for it.
  3. Do not eat pizza if it has been sitting out for a day. Learned that in college and confirmed it with my mom. The aftermath is not a pretty one.
  4. Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared. Someone once asked Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Boy Scouts, ?Be Prepared for what??  ?Why,? said Baden-Powell, ?for any old thing.?  That seems to be a lot to expect from a Boy Scout.  But, in Scouting we learn to handle a lot of life?s surprises and crises.  We learn how to give first aid, how to live comfortably outdoors, and how to clean up our environment.  We learn to do good turns for people by helping them at all times.  And, we learn how to serve God, our country, our community, and our family at home.
  5. Listen and Observe. You?ll be wiser to listen to what others have to say and observe actions that they do. Not everything will work out but through all of these observations, you?ll be able to forge your own path. Learn from the mistakes of others (including yours) so that you lessen the chance of repeating mistakes in the future.
  6. Don?t ever tell your father that there isn?t a knot he can tie you to a garage door railing that you cannot get out of. The result will be humorous for him, horrible for you, and a lesson learned. If you do, make sure to have a sharp knife on your person (hint?Be Prepared).
  7. I adopted a little saying I heard in the Navy years ago: ?Expect the worst and you won?t be disappointed.? Yes, it does sound harsh but it led me to believe to expect anything and prepare for it if possible.
  8. White Castle sliders subdue hangovers. I have successfully proved this at least three times (that I can remember). Thank you cousin Jarred for showing me that.
  9. Remember to exhale. This one is continuously hard for me to grasp because I am a pretty ornery person at times. I try to catch it but I don?t always. When I do, I step back, take a deep breath, let it out and try to move on. I have to thank my family for putting up with me at times I don?t take my own advice.
  10. If your father tells you something that?s too good to be true, please take it with a grain of salt. For example, when I was about 8 or 9 years old, I was complaining about not being as tall as him. He took me to the garden and pointed out the tomato plants to me. He said ?See those plants over there?? I nodded yes. ?Well, they?re tall because they grow from the earth,? he said ?and if you want to grow big and tall, all you have to do is grow out of a garden.? Apparently, my eyes were big with excitement and he was more than happy to bury me up to my knees. It was only when after the pictures and smiles from the deck that he said mom and him were going to the mall. I told him I wanted to go and he replied that you don?t see tomato plants uprooting themselves and walking around. Well, he didn?t let me cry very long (and I think my mom didn?t let him stand back there very long without digging me out).
  11. When I was younger, I thought my father?s advice and rules were some of the dumbest ever. It took to about my twenties before I realized how smart he really was. To this day, I still consider him a genius.
  12. Music not only soothes the savage beast but it is good for pretty much every mood. There are days that I just crank it up for harder stuff like Guns N? Roses, Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Green Day Lenny Kravitz, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and other times that I need to listen to some softer tunes like R.E.M., 10,000 Maniacs, Beatles, Elton John, and Travis.
  13. Compliment your wife, significant other, partner, etc?Sometimes you may not receive the feedback you are looking for but it really does add a ?+1? in there somewhere.
  14. I truly believe a guardian angel or something else is looking out for you in some way. I once decided to see how fast my Dad?s 1974 Toyota Celica would go on Hwy 24 outside of Jacksonville, NC when I was 16 or 17. When I reached 99 mph, the front of the car started steaming bad. I pulled over, grabbed a rag out of the trunk and unscrewed the radiator cap. I did not get burned. The radiator hose popped off and the pressure had already escaped. To the amazement of the proprietor of the body shop parking lot that I pulled into, he told me I must ?have been the luckiest S.O.B.? he had ever seen. Yes sir, I must be. It was probably one of about 5 times in my life I did not get harmed when I could have been.
  15. Hot sauce makes everything better. Try it on powdered eggs if you don?t believe me. I got the spicy food thing from my Dad, but it came in handy in the military. (And it doesn?t have to be that hot. Texas Pete/Franks Red Hot Sauce aren?t that bad)
  16. Look for opportunities when you can find them. I was accepted to four colleges while wrapping up my naval career of 2 years: University of North Carolina at Greensboro, East Carolina University, The Ohio State University and North Carolina Central University. I chose North Carolina Central University for two reasons: I loved that area around Durham, NC and because they offered me a minority scholarship. NCCU is a Historically Black College and University. To this day, the thought of me getting a minority scholarship makes my Dad laugh. Four and a half years of my life there were some of the best of my life. I learned so much, met some incredible students and professors there and absolutely loved their Public Health program.
  17. Another Dad-ism: You can either play hard now and work hard later or work hard now and play hard later. I assume later must mean when I can shoo the last child out of the house because four kids are a heck of a lot of work!
  18. Giving blood can be a pain but ultimately it is rewarding. I should know, I have small veins and have been pricked more times than a family of five gets shots. In college, we were tasked to set up the blood drive every year and one year, I did not go near the drive. My Public Health Dept. Chairman saw me on a bench and said he noticed I wasn?t present there and asked if I gave blood. I told him I did not. ?Why?? he asked. ?Because Dr. Parrish, the last time I gave blood, the volunteer twisted the needle and collapsed my vein. My arm hurt for a couple of weeks.? ?Is that so?? he began. ?Well, just imagine the amount of people that go through the pain of needing blood whether it?s from an accident or a needed transfusion. Is your pain greater than theirs?? he said as he stood up and began walking away. Dr. Parrish is up there with my father as a genius. Every year, I try to donate at least twice a year using the apheresis machine which takes out twice the amount of blood cells and returns the rest back in. The only times I skip are when I?m sick.
  19. Friends and relatives think I am a computer genius but that is far from the truth. I like computers and the technology but I?m far from being any type of ?genius.? Most of the time I look up the problem on Bing or Google and relay that info. I try to tell them that?s all I do but they keep asking me to look at their computer issues.
  20. Elliptical trainers are one of the best inventions out there. You can watch a movie/TV show on your tablet and time flies. They?re also a well-rounded workout machine. One year, with a combination of eating healthier, I lost 49 pounds in four months. The problem with elliptical trainers is that not all are the same and putting one in your house can set you back at least $1000 but they don?t feel as right as the more expensive ones. I really like the ones at the local workout place but finding time?..that?s another story.
  21. Speaking of time, use a program like OneNote and an electronic calendar whenever possible. Document everything. Because the older you get, the more you forget. My Dad used to have a pocket organizer that he called his ?brains.? My ?brains? reside in Microsoft Outlook connected to an Exchange server at work.
  22. People often ask me why I eat extremely hot, hot sauces or take part in food challenges (I once co-won a White Castle burger challenge when I downed 22 sliders within 45 minutes and was challenged to eat three Chipotle burritos against another guy. He ate one; I ate 2 ? in under an hour). In my later years, I have been more of a competitor. I wasn?t a good athlete growing up although I wanted to play sports. I came really close to joining my friends at the end of 6th grade to sign up for the JV football team and I have always wanted to play softball/baseball, but my heart wasn?t in it to commit. For this, I really wish I could go back and change it. I learned that you can always do something if you put your mind to it and that you might not always be the best. I certainly was not the best student, not the best trombone/baritone player, not the best Boy Scout?heck, not even the best parent. But what sets a person apart from those that are not the best and those that just give up is the fact that you try. And when you try, people notice. And those people in my life have been friends, peers, acquaintances and bystanders. And a little encouragement goes a long way?.both from me trying and those giving that encouragement.
  23. To add on to the blood donation story?around the same time that I was questioning donating blood, I signed up to be a part of the Marrow Donation registry. I honestly cannot remember signing up for it but it was during college and just a little more blood was taken out to classify my marrow and stem cells should someone need a transplant in the future. The odds of being  a near perfect match with another person is extremely rare, even getting close to where the person will have a chance to survive is almost just as rare. I was called one summer day in 2005 from the Marrow Donation place, telling me that my donation was almost a perfect match for someone who had leukemia. I have always been someone who feels like you need to help other people out because you might never know when you might receive help back. So I absolutely agreed to do further testing. They tested my blood and came said I was about a 98-99 percent match to this other person and they wanted to go forward with extracting my stem cells. I agreed and a date was set for the transplant. About 5 days before the donation, I started receiving injections to increase the count of my stem cells so that they would be many times larger than the current count. On the day of the transplant, I arrived about 7am, was hooked up and going about 8:30 and was done around 2pm. About a year after, the recipient and I had to agree to allow each of us to talk to one another and we both agreed. I sent a letter off to my recipient and told him that I hoped my stem cells would do some good. Shortly after, I received a letter back from my recipient, Pat Jennings, a father and husband from Tacoma Washington. I was told that Pat?s first year chances to live would be around late 20-early 30 percent but would gradually increase every year after and by year 5 should be in the clear. It is now 2014 and Pat has been clear of leukemia for 9 years. He saw his daughter get married and welcomed a granddaughter into the world. Since that time, we have gotten together three times and he never misses a call to me on Thanksgiving, thanking me for donating. True story?.As a result of this donation, his blood type changed to mine (he was a different type other than A+) and we both now share the same DNA, the only time this can ever happen in a human body. So, if he commits a crime, I can be accused as well and vice-versa.
  24. Just because you can sing along with songs on the radio and sound good doing it doesn?t mean you are the next American Idol. As my classmates from my 20 year high school reunion can attest to, Karaoke and Brian don?t go well together?.
  25. Two of my favorite sayings from a ?You know you?re getting older when? plaque I bought for my father when he turned 40: ?My back goes out more than I do? and ?everything hurts and what doesn?t hurt, doesn?t work.? Yep, seems fitting for me in my ripe, old age?.
  26. As a result of getting older, one?s memory goes (as I attested to earlier) but I remember clear as day when each of my children was born and what the experience was like. I just wish I had all of the pictures from my oldest daughter and son?s baby days. Unfortunately, I lost almost all of them from a hard drive they were stored on. Make sure to make backups of your pictures, and make another backup of them (If possible, keep some on the cloud). One of my biggest regrets and I work in IT.
  27. Speaking of kids, be a superhero to them. You can dress up or do something that they will always remember you for. Recently, we had a Princess Tea Party for Sophia where Mom, Maddy and Sophia dressed up in nice dresses and had cookies and drinks. (The boys and I had no such royal outfits). We all used thick accents and laughed a lot at the show that was being put on. But you know what? The look on my daughter?s face was more than worth it. She might never remember that night but if she could, she will cherish it.  I remember my dad and mom snuggling with me as a kid. My dad had this thing called the Double Leg-Lock-Arm-Tuttle. It was this restraining thing he used before he tickled the heck out of me. Yeah, it was annoying getting tickled as much as I did but I was a glutton for punishment coming back again and again just to spend time with them. With my kids, I tried to make some things memorable: Maddy and I chasing ducks, Jakob and I grunting together (it was his first language), Brodie always clinging to me and laughing at my silliness, and Sophia and I riding down tall slides together.
  28. Don?t go this far with your children but this story will always stay with me because it?s another ?Dad taking advantage of Brian?s gullible-ness.? When I was in high school, we had a black Shi-tzu names Bojangles or ?Bo? for short. Bo was a wandering dog when he appeared at our house one year and after no one claimed him, we took him in. Since Bo was curly and had thick hair, he?d often get matted up or where the hair sticks together. One day in my junior year, I came home from school and noticed my Dad was already home. This was strange because he never came home before me but I didn?t ask. As I left the bathroom, he was standing in the hallway with something behind his back. He then proceeded to tell me that he had good news and bad news and asked which one I wanted first. I told him the bad news. He then solemnly said ?Bo got hit by a truck today?he didn?t make it. As I started to cry I didn?t even fathom what any good could come out of this so between sobs, I asked what the good news was. From behind his back, he held up what looked like a ?Bo-skin? rug and said ?I saved his skin!? I lost it?..I literally lost it and started beating on his chest. After thinking it was a little too far, he said he was kidding about everything and said Bo was OK and was in the back yard. I looked out back and there is a hairless Bo except for a Mohawk down the top of his head. You see, when curly, thick-haired dogs fur mats, it?s like a carpet. My dad shaved him so that he was able to make the pattern of a Bo-skinned (think Bear-skin) rug with the hair all stuck together. My Dad had a great time playing that prank, Bo loved being hairless and cooler, and of course, I was upset initially, but looking back, find it quite funny now. But in all honestly, that went a little too far and I would never recommend it to anyone to do to their kids.
  29. Another Dad-ism. And this comes from my Dad?s Department of ?Things you tell your kids not to do, then they do it??so anything is fair game afterwards.? When I was 7 years old, there was a girl almost my age who lived next door named Christina. She by all accounts was my first crush. There?s a picture somewhere of Chrissy and I sharing ?the first kiss? on her parent?s door step. But anyway, Chrissy was good at getting me to go along with what she was doing. She had a swing set in her back yard and she loved to climb to the top. I did so once, my parents saw me do it and told me not to do it in case I fall off. I think they warned me a second time later. But of course the time she urged me to climb up where I forgot to heed my parents? wishes (or neglected to let common sense overpower her suggestions), I fell off head-first and landed on my arms. As I screamed, Chrissy?s dad came running out as I was clutching my left arm. He walked me back to my house and explained what happened. I could not move my arm. So, my Dad, Mom, brother and I pile into my Dad?s baby blue conversion van (yeah, we were stylin? back in the early 80s) and proceeded to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, I asked my parents what would happen. My mom mentioned that my arm could be broken and then, my Dad in all of his wisdom, proceeded to let out a long sigh and exclaim that it was probably going to need to be cut off because it was that bad. I remember crying, my brother started crying, and then remember my mom scolding my dad and telling me that they are not going to do that?.Yeah, be happy that you did not grow up with my dad. File this under something you should probably never do to your kids.
  30. My Uncle Jeff once told me to never press the ?red button.? I always asked him as a youth what the ?red button? was but he never told me. Of course this was back in the late 80s/early 90s when we didn?t have the resources to look it up. Thank you Wikipedia for confirming what I thought he meant??or maybe it?s not that. Either way, I think I get it now, Uncle Jeff.
  31. Make memories, no matter how embarrassing or bad they are at the time. I have nicknamed every vacation we take with the kids, the ?Griswold Family Vacation,? cause like that titular family, we seem to experience multiple mishaps in some shape or form. Besides, it?s good fodder to tell the grandkids when they ask what mom/dad were like as kids?One thing I remember fondly is having dinner at Famous Dave?s BBQ in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. We met one of Sara?s friends there and as they were talking, Brodie was standing, trying to get Mom?s attention. After not getting a hold of her, he finally screamed out ?Mom, I think I ###### my pants!? Everything seemed to freeze for a minute, until patrons started laughing. I grabbed Brodie and Sophia and left the restaurant. As I?m loading Sophia and Brodie in the car, I could tell that he indeed did. As I finish putting them in, Sara comes out after paying the bill and asks ?Did you clean it up?? ?Clean what up?? I asked. ?The poop on the floor.? I told her that I did not know there was even poop on the floor and said ?I hoped you tipped our waitress well.? A close second to that story was when Sara was pregnant with Brodie, Grandma and Grandpa Bushy were watching Maddy and Jake while we were at a wedding in the Upper Peninsula in Michigan. I think Maddy was close to 4 and Jake was almost 2. On our way back, Sara?s mom calls her just freaking out. The story goes that the Grandparents and kids went to Wal-Mart and Maddy had to use the bathroom. So, Grandpa, holding Jake, goes into the men?s room with them. He sets Jake on the floor by the sinks while he puts Maddy into a stall. As Grandpa leaves the stall, there?s Jake sucking on a urinal mint and not one in a wrapper.
  32. When punishing your kids, don?t take away things that affect their learning. My Dad made sure not to take away church youth group or even Boy Scouts if I misbehaved?.he was pretty good about that but one time he did something that I reminded him later that I believe affected something that I felt was related to learning. In my senior year I signed up to be a part of the school play. I had a role where I was the grumpy janitor?a type of comedic relief role. I did something wrong (what, I can?t recall) where he pulled me out of the play for punishment. I was really upset for a while. I remember going to see the play and then 9 years ago, when we visited him, I reminded him that he actually did pull me out of the play. I explained to him that it contradicted his reasoning of not taking away things that were related to learning and began to list the benefits of being a part of a school play. He pondered it for a minute and then agreed and apologized. I have been good about making sure I don?t do the same with my children.
  33. You actually DO get away with things, under your parent?s watchful eyes! I was (and still am) addicted to computer games. When my dad bought a Commodore 64 years ago, I always wanted to play but he never let me because he knew I would be on it all the time. Ahhh, but thanks to our wonderfully crafted human bodies, I took advantage of the science of staying hydrated, just more than normal. Prior to going to bed, I would drink an insane amount of water. I would wake up around midnight to go to the bathroom, and once I finished, would get on the computer for a couple of hours. I didn?t always do this every night; just every now and then so it didn?t look like I was always tired the next day.
  34. Try new and different things. When I was in Greece during my naval service, I tried a lamb gyro from a Greek stand. Loved it! Must have eaten there a few times during our port of call. When I was in France, I remember we stopped at a grocery store so I picked up some different treats and found most of them to be even better than some of the US treats. When my co-worker came back from China, he brought some different types of fish and seaweed products and they were pretty good too. One thing I wish I did more of overseas was letting more of my comfort level go. I did eat at a Burger King in France and a Pizza Hut in Israel (my pizza was meat-free by the way). I hope to one day return to Europe and eat more of the local delicacies.
  35. Dealing with my daughter in her teen years. Yep, every parent out there with a daughter in her teen years probably has gone through what I have started to go through: Hormones, dating, and rocky friendships. While I have received various ?suggestions? from cleaning a firearm in plain sight as the boyfriend comes over to passing off outbursts as hormonal tendencies during ?that time of the month,? I, like any other parent, really question if I?m ?doing it right.? Am I even going about the parenting thing the correct way? But one thing I have started to learn is that generally whatever my daughter is going through is similar to what my wife and I have gone through as teens. Sara and I both had our trying times with friends and significant others so while we joke about Maddy and her relationships, in all respects, it?s almost no different than what we went through at her age. And I can?t ask for a better daughter either. Sure, she makes questionable decisions and doesn?t always follow the rules, but what teen ever does consistently? Lord knows, I had far more problems in my teens than Maddy has and I think she?s going to do well in her teens. Maddy is one of the most kind, sweetest and overall helpful kids I know. And I truly think she gets that from a combination of her mother and me but also from the friends she hangs around with to her relatives as well. And I can?t ask for a better daughter. She helps out around the house without asking, has to watch her siblings sometimes, and is cheerful throughout it all. Now, the alpha-female in training, our toddler Sophia??that one is going to set my hair all gray as well as lose most of it!
  36. Speaking of kids, I?m in awe of how my grandparents and the kids? grandparents actually still act like kids at times. Growing up, I was blessed to see my grandparents at least once a year. And I remember almost everything I did with them. From White Castle runs and trips around Columbus and the lake with my Grandmother Wurtzel to my Grandpa Gintz taking me to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Cleveland, and the Horseshoe (Ohio State University?s football stadium), it was like my grandparents were kids with me. I am blessed that we live close to my in-laws and I never stop admiring what they do for our children. My parents are farther away but when we do get together it?s funny to me seeing them as grandparents. Here they are, not disciplining but are acting as pillows, jungle gyms, and cuddle partners. I really am in awe for all the things grandparents do and I cannot wait to spoil my grandkids (Cause, you get to send them back with mom and dad!!!).
  37. Work on your personal ?bucket list.? I have so many things I want to do before I pass on and they are in no particular order:
    1. Visit the United Kingdom
    2. Visit Germany
    3. Visit Hawaii and Pearl Harbor
    4. Visit Yellowstone
    5. Do a ?City Slickers? cattle drive for a week
    6. Visit Normandy and the World War 2 memorials there
    7. Take my Boy Scout troop to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico
    8. Visit Camp Creek in West Virginia and camp with my wife and kids, like my Dad and Mom took my brother and me years ago.
    9. Visit Alaska
    10. Take a motorcycle trip from coast to coast.
    11. See my kids get married, have children of their own, and tell my grandkids stories about their parents when they were young.
    12. Make some sort of difference that has meaning to me??(I?m not there yet, but Lord knows?.I?m trying)
  38. Live. Love. Laugh. Enough said.
  39. Never stop learning. Learning does not end in the classroom and it never really ends. I am blessed to have so many friends, relatives, my kids and my wife that I constantly learn from them and their experiences. It not only makes you that much better, but it also prepares you for situations you might find yourself in one day. And ask that proverbial question?.?What would so-and-so do?? This list is but a small sample of things I have learned in 39 years. If I were to compile the entire thing, I?m sure it would be at least several hundred, if not a thousand. But these 39 examples are things that stuck out to me and I hope they entertain and help you now and in the future.

 

Thanks for reading!

Brian

 

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Grand Master

LaP

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Nah the reason why you never think about getting old when you are young is because ... you are not getting old yet and you don't think about it. I started to show sign of getting older at 27. At 17 i was around 144lbs with all my hairs. At 27 i was 147 lbs with all my hairs and without any grey. I'm now 37 and i'm 167 lbs and i lose my hairs at a worrying pace and i started to have grey hairs too. I also think about retiring from my hockey garage league cause it's too hard now the young kids are too good for me even though i was better than almost all of them 10 years ago only :(.

 

So anyway happy birthday you still have 1 year left before being old for real XD

 

[edit] btw you should cut and paste the text here cause well RTF???

Grand Master

briangw

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Lol, yeah, the appearance thing is true. Receding hairline, gray hair in my goatee, and thinning out in the back of the head. Plus, I've had a hard time keeping the weight down.

 

As for the file, I could not attach a docx file so I changed it to a RTF. I also felt that 7 pages would be extremely long for this post, so that's why I went with it. I'll switch to it and see how it looks.

 

EDIT: Yeah, that looks better than an attachment! :yes:

Guest

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Some random thoughts written in a snarky way, no offense meant. :p

 

1. Screw that. My successes and failures are my own. I can become the master of the universe tomorrow, or end myself right here, right now.

12. Go listen to hundreds of minutes long psybient. Let go of your worries and enjoy the balearic love. Fall down and cry with uplifting melancholia. Explore your inner self with the enchanting frequencies and sounds of the psychedelic, flow back to the primitive times with tribal. Not the crap that you posted. The names you mentioned are a joke at best. This is if we're giving music a higher meaning, which commercial crap is definitely not worthy of. Agree to disagree. :laugh:

14. Physics is a beautiful thing that humans start to learn about in primary school.

34. Gyro, mmmmmmmmm.

39. And shout, don't be a loser that gets to be ignored.

Grand Master

astropheed Veteran

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Posted

Not the crap that you posted. The names you mentioned are a joke at best. This is if we're giving music a higher meaning, which commercial crap is definitely not worthy of. Agree to disagree. :laugh:

 

There are far more polite ways to agree to disagree. Taste in music is extremely subjective and personal and no one should ever be put down because of that.

Enthusiast

Jonathan Lucas

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1, 14 and the second sentence in 32 are disappointing.

 

 

Stopped reading at 1.

 

Hahaha because he mentions GOD? Wow... no telling what other great messages you both will miss in your lives because you begin your thoughts with such prejudice.

 

He was kind enough to share his experience strength and hope... you guys on the other hand care enough to write a sentence to insult him.

 

Get a life trolls, is that the word used now???

 

Btw I am 39, and will be turning 40 in September.

 

Thanks for sharing..

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Rising Star

jamieakers

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Thank you for taking the time to write this brilliant list out, as a 29 year old I can identify with quite a few on your list but I still have many to learn (not having had children or gotten married yet!).

 

Bucket list 1 (Brit born and bred) and 6 ticked off here.  Visiting Normandy was the most humbling moment of my life, simply unforgettable but highly recommended as a place to visit.

 

If you do ever want advice or tips on visiting the UK - places to visit or stay - I'll be happy to help in any way I can :)

Grand Master

T3X4S

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Good List - & Good Luck

The one thing I have learned as I get older - that the one person who I grew up thinking was the greatest, smartest person in the world, my father, is not the genius I thought he was.  It has bothered me lately, to the point where I question everything he does or says, internally of course.  When I see him yell at a dog for walking near where his laptop is plugged in, to watching Fox News all day - & especially for losing millions of dollars from careless spending & trusting idiots.

Grand Master

briangw

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Thank you for taking the time to write this brilliant list out, as a 29 year old I can identify with quite a few on your list but I still have many to learn (not having had children or gotten married yet!).

 

Bucket list 1 (Brit born and bred) and 6 ticked off here.  Visiting Normandy was the most humbling moment of my life, simply unforgettable but highly recommended as a place to visit.

 

If you do ever want advice or tips on visiting the UK - places to visit or stay - I'll be happy to help in any way I can :)

 

Thanks. In the Navy, I was able to visit Marseille (sp?) and Paris, France, but the tour never went towards Normandy. I also had a chance to take a trip to Germany but didn't have the money when we were in Italy. I saw a lot of amazing places overseas (Greece, France, Israel, Turkey, Italy (twice), U.A.E., Spain) and Europe is just beautiful but one day I will get to these other places. I've heard a lot of great things about England, Scotland and Ireland. I hope to visit them. And while there, I just want to walk into a pub and have conversations with others. I had a couple of co-workers from England who talked about pubs up there and how friendly people are. I just like meeting new people and listening to stories and history, especially the latter as I am fascinated with medieval history. Looking to tour a castle or two too. I'm sure it will be awhile before I get there but I will absolutely post questions on Neowin before I go. :)

 

 

Good List - & Good Luck

The one thing I have learned as I get older - that the one person who I grew up thinking was the greatest, smartest person in the world, my father, is not the genius I thought he was.  It has bothered me lately, to the point where I question everything he does or says, internally of course.  When I see him yell at a dog for walking near where his laptop is plugged in, to watching Fox News all day - & especially for losing millions of dollars from careless spending & trusting idiots.

 

Sorry to hear that. I was the opposite. My mom left on my 13th birthday and I resented my father for many years with his harsh rules. He was an officer in the Marine Corps, so he was pretty strict to begin with. I think a lot of it came from being without my mom being there, hoping for a better life with a mom and a dad. I really was an ass in my teen years and I am happy that I put my life on tract and wised up the closer I got to graduating high school. I think going through tough and trying times makes a person stronger and I had my fair share growing up. 

Grand Master

DirtyLarry Veteran

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I can break down the most important things I have learned in 39 years on this earth in 5 bullet points.

 

  1. Everyone's experience in this journey called life is vastly different. 
    • One size does not fit all. Up may be down, black may be white, and stop may be go. It all depends on the individuals and their perspective. 
  2. Faith cannot be defined, only experienced. 
    • See #1. What works for you will not work for others. Faith has to be learned and/or experienced and can never be taught.
  3. Empathy is imperative.
    • See #1 & #2. As hard as you may try you can never truly put yourself in another human's shoes. As such, you can only try and imagine what it has been like for them to experience what they have experienced. That is all that can be expected.
  4. Actions speak louder than words.
    • Self explanatory. Simply put, do not rely on others to make something happen.
  5. What's done is done / Time stops for no man.
    • The past will haunt you if you let it. It is normal and expected to have regrets. It is not good to let the future be dictated by said regrets. You can only learn from your mistakes.
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