View Full Version : What part of childhood do you miss the most?
Doc Safari
08-11-16, 14:55
I'd have to say I really miss building armor models and dioramas. From around 10 years old until high school I loved building armor models and dioramas. My skills were never quite as good as the expert modelers that were profiled in the magazines, but I can honestly say I was just slightly less skilled than a lot of them and had I kept up with it I could have rivaled the works of Shepherd Paine or Francois Verlinden.
I stumbled across this site by accident and it really brought back memories of going to the hobby shop to buy models and supplies.
http://www.armorama.com/
I used to have a ream of books and magazines on dioramas and model-building techniques. I gave up the hobby through my high school and college years, then briefly took it up again after college. I had a dream one night where I visited a huge hobby shop that had every armor model I had ever wanted to build. I think that dream caused me to take up the hobby again after being away from it for so long.
A fateful accident made me disgusted with the hobby in late 1991. I cut a huge gash in my finger with an X-Acto knife while model building, and had to go to prompt care. I couldn't do anything with that hand for a week or so. About the same time I started hanging around with a couple of guys that were into AK's and other guns. Suffice it to say I got hooked and sold all my model-building stuff to buy guns. Been there ever since.
I miss the lack of responsibility. I had to do, what, show up to school? Yeah, that was about it. I laugh now at the things I worried about then.
I miss the lack of responsibility. I had to do, what, show up to school? Yeah, that was about it. I laugh now at the things I worried about then.
This.
I don't miss any one thing except for my old man.
Anything fun I did as a kid, I can do as an adult. Like a year or two ago I still managed to get in some time at an arcade, some laser tag, and some putt putt.
I kinda miss the era where nobody seemed so uptight. I miss not having anything in common with younger girls (18-25) and anyone else in my age bracket is used up or have kids from someone else.
I miss Summers of doing nothing and everyday being an eternity. I miss Winters with snow and a fire place.
But if I wanted to, I can always scare up a gypsy good time right now.
My biggest regret is not meeting a girl I actually liked, not having a boy to take on adventures and show em how to have a good time. Let him get a little dirty and let him go off and be a boy for a while flying kites, riding bikes, and tossing a football down the street. But....I'm coming up on the change of life and most women I just find disagreeable.
I'd almost be tempted to adopt a sassy black boy like Webster, but that would be weird. Plus I don't want to be a single parent.
But that's my problem....
Being able to eat as much of what ever I wanted whenever I wanted without consequence.
Taking baths with my cousin Wendy...
No, I'm not from Arkansas.
Taking baths with my cousin Wendy...
No, I'm not from Arkansas.
Arkansas......Alabama....
Who really keeps track? :jester:
Taking baths with my cousin Wendy...
No, I'm not from Arkansas.
nice!
I don't miss any one thing except for my old man.
Anything fun I did as a kid, I can do as an adult. Like a year or two ago I still managed to get in some time at an arcade, some laser tag, and some putt putt.
I kinda miss the era where nobody seemed so uptight. I miss not having anything in common with younger girls (18-25) and anyone else in my age bracket is used up or have kids from someone else.
I miss Summers of doing nothing and everyday being an eternity. I miss Winters with snow and a fire place.
But if I wanted to, I can always scare up a gypsy good time right now.
My biggest regret is not meeting a girl I actually liked, not having a boy to take on adventures and show em how to have a good time. Let him get a little dirty and let him go off and be a boy for a while flying kites, riding bikes, and tossing a football down the street. But....I'm coming up on the change of life and most women I just find disagreeable.
I'd almost be tempted to adopt a sassy black boy like Webster, but that would be weird. Plus I don't want to be a single parent.
But that's my problem....
I think that's better than meeting a girl that you like, and then realizing she's the one you should have married after you broke up because you were too focused on your career...
Taking baths with my cousin Wendy...
No, I'm not from Arkansas.
Go on...
Doc Safari
08-11-16, 15:44
I think that's better than meeting a girl that you like, and then realizing she's the one you should have married after you broke up because you were too focused on your career...
Your story?
fallenromeo
08-11-16, 15:45
I miss the lack of responsibility. I had to do, what, show up to school? Yeah, that was about it. I laugh now at the things I worried about then.
Agree with all of this. Especially the things I was worried about as a child. I thought that quicksand would be a much bigger problem throughout my life.
Hope, on a macro, world-wide scale. There are --horrible-- things that go on in the world and that is not going to change. Our own country is also spiraling down the drain. (And has been for decades if not since the split and conquer of the South) Makes me not want to have kids. Why bring kids into an increasing bad place? To watch everything get worse for them? I can't do that. But I digress...
I enjoyed growing up in a rural environment. Now I have to live close to people because I have a job. Hope to go back to that someday.
I miss the family that have now passed on.
I don't miss not having sex...so I guess that's the trade!
Your story?
I was dating a beautiful, cool, not crazy girl - the "unicorn" from the hot-crazy axis. We fell in love pretty quickly. She comes from an extremely wealthy family. Got along really well with her family, and all that jazz. I started to take her for granted, and she was living in NY. We broke up when I was studying for my first board exam, because I didn't have time for her. A few months later I realized that I f*cked up big time. Tried to get her back, but no dice. At least I'm still young, so maybe there's still hope.
Doc Safari
08-11-16, 16:01
I was dating a beautiful, cool, not crazy girl - the "unicorn" from the hot-crazy axis. We fell in love pretty quickly. She comes from an extremely wealthy family. Got along really well with her family, and all that jazz. I started to take her for granted, and she was living in NY. We broke up when I was studying for my first board exam, because I didn't have time for her. A few months later I realized that I f*cked up big time. Tried to get her back, but no dice. At least I'm still young, so maybe there's still hope.
Then again, maybe God, or the Universe, or whatever, made things turn out that way for a reason.
From high school through the first couple of years of college, a certain girl chased me and tried everything to get me interested in her. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that she had decided I was the one and didn't want to let go. I pretty much rejected her in no uncertain terms when I got good and tired of being chased. After she got married I realized she liked a certain "look" because she married a guy who looked like me.
Every once in a while she creeps back into my memory (like right now), and for just a second I wonder if I should have married her. Then I stop and realize:
1. I couldn't stand her back then. Only years later did I soften my attitude toward her.
2. I have never, EVER, wanted children, and she had kids after she got married.
3. She would have been very high maintenance, and I knew enough about her after she got married to know I had been right about that.
4. She was a cute, sexy chick with big boobs that might have been a lot of fun in the sack, but I would have worried constantly about other
guys hitting on her.
So, even if that small pilot light of "what if" occasionally pops up where she's concerned, I have to face reality that not only would it not have worked out but also I would have never ever given in and gone out with her, much less married her.
I used to make the joke to myself that the only thing that kept us from being together was that I wouldn't freaking tolerate it!
.
Then again, maybe God, or the Universe, or whatever, made things turn out that way for a reason.
From high school through the first couple of years of college, a certain girl chased me and tried everything to get me interested in her. It didn't take a rocket scientist to realize that she had decided I was the one and didn't want to let go. I pretty much rejected her in no uncertain terms when I got good and tired of being chased. After she got married I realized she liked a certain "look" because she married a guy who looked like me.
Every once in a while she creeps back into my memory (like right now), and for just a second I wonder if I should have married her. Then I stop and realize:
1. I couldn't stand her back then. Only years later did I soften my attitude toward her.
2. I have never, EVER, wanted children, and she had kids.
3. She would have been very high maintenance, and I knew enough about her after she got married to know I had been right about that.
4. She was a cute, sexy chick with big boobs that might have been a lot of fun in the sack, but I would have worried constantly about other
guys hitting on her.
So, even if that small pilot light of "what if" occasionally pops up where she's concerned, I have to face reality that not only would it not have worked out but also I would have never ever given in and gone out with her, much less married her.
Did you ever wind up having kids? My siblings' kids make me want to have them, but then I think about the current state of the world, and the responsibility, etc.
ColtSeavers
08-11-16, 16:05
Having kids is/was a great way to relive all the stuff I did as a kid with an excuse!
Doc Safari
08-11-16, 16:08
Did you ever wind up having kids? My siblings' kids make me want to have them, but then I think about the current state of the world, and the responsibility, etc.
I have never had kids, never wanted kids, and actually despise the idea of having kids now more than when I was younger.
My current girlfriend has a 12-year-old daughter, and we get along okay. Every time the daughter acts like a bitch toward her mom I'll say, "Glad I don't have no stinkin' kids."
My girlfriend usually replies, "You're lucky." Then she laughs.
Thing is: I KNOW I AM. Lucky I mean.
I always wanted the wife that would take off with me on a road trip or fly to Vegas for the weekend.
I was spoiled by a couple my dad knew. They had no kids and seemed happier than my parents' other friends that had children.
That ruined me from ever wanting kids.
Now I'm old enough that most chicks I'd date are beyond childbearing anyway, so I've dodged the bullet so to speak.
ramairthree
08-11-16, 16:19
Family/Community
I grew up in that small, rural town community where your aunt, uncle, and cousins lived next door, your grandparents lived 5 minutes away, you other grandparents lived ten minutes away, and you could go to all your other cousins and aunts and uncles in 20 or 30 minutes.
Everybody knew everybody, you went to school since kindergarten with the same 15 kids you graduated high school with in your class, and your parents and likely grand parents had gone to school together.
Worst part of joining the military or moving away to school or a job in my opinion is you lose that and your kids won't have it.
Commonality
There were a limited selection of games, toys, movies, and TV shows.
You could have a ton in common with everyone.
Now you can have nothing in common with anyone.
Similarity
Your grandparents had records, dialed a phone, needed to use maps, phone booths, get photos developed, order from catalogs, etc.
So did your parents.
So did you.
My kids have less similarity with each other than several generations used to have with each other.
One remembers watching portable DVD player or a lap top on long car trips, the other watching cartoon cartridges on a game boy and having built in DVD player, and the next streaming iPhone movies.
One remembers VHS Pokemon tapes. The other DVDs. The next why would anyone buy a dad vs stream it, etc.
Fun
It was fun to be an adult when I was a kid. They did not worry about car seats, bike helmets, smoking, having a beer while they drove, etc
I could play with lawn darts, catch snakes, go hunting at ten, etc.
The biggest loss has been wonder.
As much from the easy availability and amount of knowledge and the ease of it now as from getting older.
When you went to a fair and coughed up 50 cents for a ticket to see a ginormous Liger,
That was some serious wonder.
Uniqueness
You could find neat hotels, cool restaurants, regional things to do.
The burgers at the stand a couple towns over and the fries they made were not the same as the ones the other town over.
I could drive from Maine to Florida or Georgia to California and eat at the same restaurant and the same hotel stays the whole trip.
Options
At one stage in my life I wanted to be a Ranger, Green Beret, Operator, Huey or Cobra Pilot, Marine A10 pilot, SEAL, trauma surgeon, Ph. D. Zoologist, Astronaut, National Geographic Explorer/Photographer, etc.
As things get checked off the list, you add and do other things, but with each step you know some doors are closing.
militarymoron
08-11-16, 16:22
I miss the absence of computers/cell phones/internet electronics etc. since we had none of those things in the 70's as a child growing up i spent my time playing with my toys, or outdoors. if i had to pick one activity that would describe a large part of my childhood, it'd be riding everywhere on my bike with friends. for years. my bike was probably my most important possession from when i could ride one all the way through college (where i raced at a collegiate level).
having a kid now (he's 8 years old), i almost wish the internet/cell phones/computers didn't exist. sure, we can limit exposure at home but it's just such a prevalent part of every day life now that we depend on them.
I also miss the days of less traffic. Roads just seemed emptier back then.
titsonritz
08-11-16, 17:14
Summer vacations and Lisa.
I miss the people who aren't with us anymore. I was very close to my maternal grandparents and would go stay on the weekends whenever my parents would let me. It was like a second home to me. Never in my life, until the last of those two grandparents died in 1999, did I knock on their door. I always walked right in and announced myself. Again, it was my other home.
The holidays back then, when "everybody" was alive, were the stuff fond memories are made of.
BuzzinSATX
08-11-16, 17:30
I miss "pick-up" sports more than anything else...mainly baseball and hockey (both street and ice), but I enjoyed football and basketball as well. Sports were almost a daily event for me. My friends and I would play for hours...full on baseball if we had enough players, or just catch, pepper, or home run derby if only a few. Football was usually full tackle until high school, and then we'd go two hand touch as things got pretty rough. Hockey was always great, whether on ice with skates and gear of on the playground with a street hockey ball.
Funny thing is I don't really give two shits about sports these days, except when I get a chance to play catch or shoot baskets with friends or kids. No interest watching overpaid jerks play sports they don't even seem to enjoy...
Summer camp. But at least I can relive it vicariously through my kids. This year my son's summertime girlfriend was actually real and not a "model in Canada"...
Inkslinger
08-11-16, 18:07
My grandparents place. Climbing the trees. Running around with bow and arrow, hatchet, knife, BB gun and sling shot. Spending my days fishing or trekking through the woods sometimes miles away, showing up just before dark. Snapping turtles, chickens, goats and frogs. Digging through the treasure trove of stuff in the barn. Sitting on the bridge trying to shoot water skippers with my BB gun. Man those were the days...
I miss being a self centered kid because absolutely nothing bad had really happened to me yet. I wasn't a bad kid, I just considered myself the most important person in the world.
I miss thinking I knew everything but not realizing what a complete facade nearly everything actually is.
I miss imagining what things would be like when I grew up. I miss thinking my family would always be there and I'd be able to visit them regularly for most of the rest of my life.
Averageman
08-11-16, 22:08
Taking baths with my cousin Wendy...
No, I'm not from Arkansas.
Dont feel bad about it Man, I miss taking baths with her too.
Dont feel bad about it Man, I miss taking baths with her too.
Heyooooo
Moose-Knuckle
08-12-16, 04:55
I miss the lack of responsibility.
Bingo, it's funny as children most people are in such a rush to grow up. Not me, my dad gave some solid advice in my early teens; "Be a kid as long as you can".
https://c2.staticflickr.com/9/8873/28930013945_37a10c1b28_z.jpg
Inkslinger
08-12-16, 05:55
Dont feel bad about it Man, I miss taking baths with her too.
Remember blowing bubbles in the bath as a kid?
I saw bubbles the other day. He told me to say "hi". [emoji6]
I miss the time outside, too, as mentioned in other posts. In the summer my mother would lock me out of the house. I would bop back around for lunch, then right back out again. Stayed out till 9ish....the heat, humidity, the fireflies....someone said the lack of electronics, most definitely. Without that stuff you are forced to be creative, come up with your own fun.
I never dated in high school, and at the time I definitely wish I had. Now I am glad I didn't. I spent so much time with my friends and buddies (of both genders), just having a good time. No drama.
JackFanToM
08-12-16, 10:44
Pick up football, basketball, baseball, wall ball, kickball, etc. games. We played anywhere and everywhere. I can remember playing nerf tackle football in the streets outside my house in El Paso. Why the street you ask, cause the lawns were full of stickers (love childhood logic that road rash hurt less than small thorns).
Not being tired all the damn time.. Like wth is up with that? It's chronic exhaustion brought on by the reality that there are not enough hours in the day to accomplish everything. I don't even have kids.
When I was a kid I was on the run nearly 24/7 and never slowed down.
95% of my childhood I do not miss. Nothing like being in middle school having to feed and take care of your younger siblings every day, clean up after them, be the ass that makes sure they bathe and do their homework,...and at the same time try to monitor how much vodka and pills your mother is taking so you know when she is drunk enough not to notice that you poured out most of her vodka to water it down. Then keep an eye on her until the early hours of the morning after she passes out so you know when to call for help if she starts puking or not breathing right. Then repeat every day of the week. Yeah, screw that. My first introduction to getting by on 2-4 hours of sleep per night.
I do miss my Grandfather. As for the rest, I would not go back no matter what unless I could avoid all the bad. But then I wouldn't be the same person now.
I miss summer break, where I woke up early not because I had to, but wanted to. I miss my best friend riding his bike to my house, then riding to the creek fed pond with our fishing poles and Crossman air rifles strapped to our handlebars, with our lunch sacks and tackle boxes cramping our hands as we rode. Spending all day there pretty much doing whatever we felt like.
I'm pretty fortunate that we're still doing a modern version of that 40 years later:
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s157/Glocktogo/IMG_0742_zps9vvib6ny.jpg
Yeah, my fish is usually bigger than his. :) It was just a simpler time back them with fewer worries about the world we live in.
BangBang77
08-12-16, 15:24
95% of my childhood I do not miss. Nothing like being in middle school having to feed and take care of your younger siblings every day, clean up after them, be the ass that makes sure they bathe and do their homework,...and at the same time try to monitor how much vodka and pills your mother is taking so you know when she is drunk enough not to notice that you poured out most of her vodka to water it down. Then keep an eye on her until the early hours of the morning after she passes out so you know when to call for help if she starts puking or not breathing right. Then repeat every day of the week. Yeah, screw that. My first introduction to getting by on 2-4 hours of sleep per night.
I do miss my Grandfather. As for the rest, I would not go back no matter what unless I could avoid all the bad. But then I wouldn't be the same person now.
Amen, brother. Your story and mine are eerily similar. I was the oldest of 6. I cooked, did laundry, fed, bathed, and made sure my younger siblings didn't end up dying of neglect. All the while, my mother was hopped up on pills and blow or passed out from rum-n-coke. And that's when she wasn't having seizures due to her epilepsy.
I am the dad and grandpa I am today not because I have all the answers or know the right thing to do every time, but rather because I know how NOT to raise a child.
I wouldn't go back and go through that shit again for anything. I never had a "home" until I stepped foot off the cattle truck at Ft. Benning, Georgia and later in civilian life when I met my wife.
ETA - What I DO miss is my grandparents. My grandfather was a preacher and a sheriff's deputy and my grandmother was a very special lady. You know the song by Randy Travis, "Walked on water"? He wrote that about my Pops...
95% of my childhood I do not miss. Nothing like being in middle school having to feed and take care of your younger siblings every day, clean up after them, be the ass that makes sure they bathe and do their homework,...and at the same time try to monitor how much vodka and pills your mother is taking so you know when she is drunk enough not to notice that you poured out most of her vodka to water it down. Then keep an eye on her until the early hours of the morning after she passes out so you know when to call for help if she starts puking or not breathing right. Then repeat every day of the week. Yeah, screw that. My first introduction to getting by on 2-4 hours of sleep per night.
I do miss my Grandfather. As for the rest, I would not go back no matter what unless I could avoid all the bad. But then I wouldn't be the same person now.
Damn man, doesn't sound like it holds you back though. Good on you. My old man was an ass (called it manic-depressive back then, bipolar now) and he didn't even drink. It doesn't even compare to your situation as at least my father provided for us. He is gone now and while I don't wish the man dead I really don't miss him all that much. It bothers me to say that but you can't force feelings. It's all "water under the bridge" now and I don't dwell on it. I had MANY other fond memories as a kid that didn't include dear old Dad, and I feel fortunate for that.
BoringGuy45
08-13-16, 00:35
I honestly don't miss too much from my childhood. Don't get me wrong, I had a stable home with loving parents, and while we weren't super rich, we were definitely well off and I had more than the bare essentials. I do have a lot of good memories; lots of good family vacations, birthday parties, playing little league baseball and rec basketball, etc. But I'm filled with a lot of regret at the many missed opportunities I had, and the fact that I never pushed myself to be the best I could be, and frankly, was a total waste and disappointment.
I gave my parents plenty of reason to be embarrassed; I didn't like the pain and discomfort of long runs and working out, so my workouts were just playing games that happened to include running. I was always making excuses and playing up injuries. I wanted to be a great athlete, and I loved to play sports, but I didn't like to practice and train. But I had the nerve to wonder why I wasn't as good as the other kids. I didn't apply myself in school, and was basically called "hopeless" and "a waste" by most teachers I had. I was horrible at making friends, and I didn't know how to react to mean kids. Most kids didn't want to hang out with me, and the parents of the kids that did want to be friends with me didn't want them to. Plus, because I was so lazy in working out, I didn't have the strength and stamina to even be a match for anyone who wanted to fight me (luckily, I didn't get into many fights). I was a complete dishonor to my parents.
In high school, I got a LITTLE better. I started working out and running and, wouldn't ya know it? I actually got pretty good and made the varsity cross country and track teams! I then promptly blew out my knee my sophomore year which ended my long distance running career, but that wasn't my fault. I only worked hard in classes that interested me; otherwise, I slacked. My high school report cards were usually half A's and half C's and D's. I don't know how many times my parents told me that I was going to be flipping burgers till I was old enough to retire if I didn't get my head out of my lazy ass. I graduated with a friggin' 2.7 GPA; really pathetic.
I did get a small group of close friends who somehow accepted me, but other than that, I was a pariah. I just said and did things that you just ****ing don't do. Nothing illegal or immoral, just the stuff that you shouldn't have to learn not to do and say to not look like a total idiot. I was a weird kid. Not like "This kid is going to show up one day with a trench coat and a rifle," weird, just..."didn't quite get 'it'" weird. Peers didn't want to hang out with me, girls didn't want to date me, and even my church youth group, with my 'friends' parents' blessing, pretty much kicked me out my junior year. I still went to the events, but any social gathering they tried to organize without me knowing, and if I found out and asked if I could come, the answer would be "Um, we'd prefer if you didn't. I'm sorry, but it's only for a few people and...you're a nice guy but..." and that was often the parents!
I didn't really get my head out of my ass until I was about 21 or 22. I did okay in college but not great. My entire adult life since then has been dedicated to completely erasing the worthless piece of dog shit that was my child and teenage self. I went back to school last year, police academy to be precise, and graduated as salutatorian of my class. I've put together a very good work record as an adult since I graduated college 8 years ago. But I'm still paying for my laziness and social incompetence. I'm 31 and a store clerk. Most of my peers have an excellent record of work and school dating back into their high school years, many joined the military, and most got into their careers right out of college and/or the military, or soon after. I've had to put together 8 years of good work and STILL nobody takes me seriously.
So, if I remember my childhood fondly, it's probably not a good thing, because I was a dishonor and a disgrace. I take full responsibility, but since I can't do it over, I've had to work to erase it.
So, if I remember my childhood fondly, it's probably not a good thing, because I was a dishonor and a disgrace. I take full responsibility, but since I can't do it over, I've had to work to erase it.
You're probably being a bit too hard on yourself. Most of us didn't fully apply ourselves, I was good at the things I was good at because I was actually interested in the subject or activity or I simply had some natural ability. If it was a subject I wasn't interested in at all I usually squeaked by with hopefully a C-. I sucked at a lot of sports because I had no interest in them.
Unless you did something seriously screwed up, like burnt down the house, killed the dog or got busted dealing drugs I don't see how you dishonored yourself or your family. Most of us had an awkward stage and most of us had a few "really wish I didn't do that" moments we aren't proud of.
The kids that busted their ass to make the team or studied their ass off to get a scholarship to some great school, well good for them. They worked for it so they deserve it, but at the same time they usually weren't the type I'd hang out with anyway.
And sometimes you have to screw it all up to get your priorities in order. So if not for what you deem "childhood failures", you might not have the standards you live by today. You might not have been one of the popular kids, but I'd bet you are one of those people who never got involved in drugs and alcohol so realize sometimes it's about perspective and count your blessings.
I know lots of "popular kids" who became complete disasters as adults.
Boring Guy, I sit here about to end my broadcast day and I read your post.
It touched me. Like No joke, full on Breakfast Club because I see a lot of similarities.
I say this. Don't erase anything. Own it.
Hell embrace it. If we were both 14 together we likely would've hung out quite a bit.
I learned in retrospect that a lot of teachers waste the most time on the biggest pieces of shit. Most folks who meet me think I went to some prepatory school back east. NEEWWP. I went to majority black schools my whole live long life And I'm not black. I tried to go to a nicer school with better faculty, better opportunity, and so forth. And that shit didn't happen. No money and I couldn't transfer.
It was a hell hole, HS was. Ever see Dangerous Minds or High School High?
Just like that. The teachers and coaches were trying to get the black kids to cheat on tests both piss and academic. Guns. Knives. Oodles a teen pregancy. A no shit Chlamydia outbreak. And a few murders off campus after school. If you tried to do good or excel you got fvcked with. The teachers just wanted to do whatever it took not to get beaten, raped, or robbed.
It felt like prison. I just didn't GAF and phoned it in for my stretch. Tried to avoid fights because I was told I would go to jail, yet people are literally shanking one another and back at school two days later. Not a fun place.
No HS sweethearts. No chess club.
I did weightlifting class and got swole like a MFer (I'm not a small nor short man.) just to try to keep heat off. If you were 16, over 6 foot, and could bench 300, nobody fcked with you much. Fck fck games went on but not as bad as a few other non-black kids got. Some got seriously beaten and injured. I was encouraged to do football or wrestling but I hated that goddamned place and didn't want anything more to do with it than needed.
Anyways I was constantly berated. Constantly ebcouraged to drop out. Constantly told I should pursue a GED instead.
Nope. Did my time. Got my paper.
College was a blur and fun at times but a drag. I went through the motions too after a while. Had a few girly friends (That was the best part about college. White girls aplenty). But nobody I liked. Drama queens. Girls wanting guys with money. Flakey people. Stupid people. Nobody I ever thought "Damn, I'm in love" about. Made a few damn good friends though and made good use of the smoke pit. Older guys, GIs, old people going to school for free, art chicks, misfits, stoners, weirdos. Life, Religion, Everything, Nothing. Everyone had something to offer and nobody was cast out. It was an exclusive but voluntary club. Jocks, Frats, Preps, and the gamut of late 90s cliches totally went the other way.
In a lot of ways, M4C reminds of the ol' smoke pit. Guys from different backgrounds but were chill. A little ball busting. But all were friends. Guys who may not have known everything but what they knew, they knew COLD.
Best education I got. I graduated, but outside of a prisonish environment lost my swole and got thin (or thin for my frame). Wore a lot of spendy clothes to impress bougie girks that I ended up hating. Really wanted to join the Army but injury and surgery kept me out and no waivers for me. I got pissed because I slimmed down to a Medium Long and ran my ass off everyday but no go for that butter bar. Oh well. Still got to shoot M16A2s on College time (realistically my first exposure to an AR and to my 19 y/o self it was just a gun with that weird smell the shells make after shooting and SPROOOIING), still got to do a few FTXs, and learned how to shine the hell out of a black canvas jungle boot for what time I was able to do it.
I thought LE was the next best thing. NOPE. Fck fck games. Nobody giving a shit about rookies. Real fights. Real bullets. Real people with real problems. First homicide scene was like surreal. It's not TV. It's not Academy role play. It's a real 22 y/o (no younger than me) laying down dead with his eyes half open and shot up with a .380.
Then once Detectives show up and he's carted off, it's "get 10-8, dumbass".
So .....FIDO.
And as for being 'just a store clerk'. I don't know you beyond your posts but I AM PROUD OF YOU. You give people pleasant customer service, make their lives a little happier, and do an honest job.
I know a LOT of Golden Boy black kids who were going to be NBA stars who ended up in jail or dead (because they got to skate by while doing wrong). A lot of big name uppity ass prep white boys who got a VP job out of college who got crossways FCKED in '08. One even shot himself. A lot got divorced. Hope and change we can believe in.
I had an interesting career. Made money working over or extra. Forewent family life (my biggest regret I reckon) to live it up. Now looking for something else to do. Not worth it.
Well it IS worth it but I can't give myself away anymore with the political climate. I've fcking heave wept over the bodies of black children. Single digit children. Spent more time in neighborhoods with no white faces for miles but all police are racist. Got hurt and got many dings for others but I'm just a Mark Fuhrman Megaton Bomb of babykilling waiting to go off according to Don Downlow Lemon. Second guessing everything. Everything going to shit. It feels, and forgive me 'Nam vets (youbare my heroes after all), like how guys at airports felt like. It's nothing new, but really ramped it up to where it's like "they don't care, why should I?"
Lots of other stuff to do. Always jobs out there be it shoveling shit or dancing in an Elf Hat for quarters at a street corner .
Work is work. Money is money.
Wealth is having love and wisdom.
Not education. Not intelligence. Not Erudition. Not knowledge
Wisdom.
Grown ass men jumping out of windows with a big tittied blonde at home, BMW in the drive, and 200K in the bank.
And to me.....hell....A rucksack, a flop hat, comfy boots, a Winchester 70, an earthy chick with a good personality, and dry place to sleep, and a warm place to shit is living like a god.
Kind of rambly. but just my take.
No matter who I miss, or whatever mistakes I made, or opportunities I may have pissed away. It made me a character, made me me. And while I'm not rich, I'm alive and doing fine.
So here's to you BoringGuy45, I'm glad your life led you to where you could have typed that post that I read because man, I felt it.
going shooting with my dad.
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
I've read this thread several times over the last few days and tried to formulate my thoughts into something coherent to type out. Nothing really struck me, until just now.
What do I miss about my childhood? Nothing. Nothing at all. My childhood sucked and sucked big time. Grew up in the hood. I was either dodging gang bangers or the police depending on the day. Single mom who was not good at raising a lone son, even though her intentions were good. I had my ass beat because of the color of my skin, I had my bikes and toys stolen on a regular basis, and I escaped near death encounters many times. My childhood was filled with all sorts of abuse, fear, pain, anger, dis-trust, loneliness, anxiety, hopelessness and general misery. I was glad when I realized it was finally over.
Not looking for pity or sympathy. I was a victim of circumstance when I was a boy, but as soon as I reached adulthood, I took over the reigns, put the past behind me, and I've been having a GREAT time ever since. Got out of the hood, pursued many hobbies, made new friends, started an amazing career that has paid me very well to travel the world and have a lot fun doing it. Married a hot chick who is still totally hot, and also a great wife in addition to being hot, and we have a fantastic life. For all the hardships I endured in my youth, my adult life is a dream come true for just about anyone. I firmly believe in the concept that the things that happen to you when you are a child are not your fault. Children are victims of their environments and the people around them, BUT… once you are an adult, everything is up to you. No more helpless victim crap. What happens to you as a child is not your fault. What happens to you as an adult is.
I could make a long list of things I don't miss about childhood, but the list of things I do miss is pretty short.
"Youth is the Art of Survival without weapons" --- Gustav Hasford
"Youth is the Art of Survival without weapons" --- Gustav Hasford
Well I survived. Just barely sometimes… but I made it.
Don Robison
08-13-16, 22:56
Riding my bike to the lake. Riding my bike to the Tasty Freeze in the next town over. Riding my bike everyplace; it was my freedom.
What I miss about my childhood is the freedom that my parents gave me and, looking back, the slack they cut me. And I miss my dad, he died when I was 17, and although we had an okay relationship, there was room for growth and some unfinished business.
What I miss about my childhood is the freedom that my parents gave me and, looking back, the slack they cut me. And I miss my dad, he died when I was 17, and although we had an okay relationship, there was room for growth and some unfinished business.
My father passed when I was 17 as well. That is something I don't think I'll ever truly overcome.
I miss the many friends that I had growing up in a small town. I miss the very large family: parents, grandparents, sibling, and very large number of uncles, aunts, and cousins. I was fortunate indeed. Today I work with juvenile offenders and have the goal of helping them attain a sense of hope and purpose. It ain't easy, but I desire to give something back to a society that helped me enormously.
What I miss about my childhood is the freedom that my parents gave me and, looking back, the slack they cut me. And I miss my dad, he died when I was 17, and although we had an okay relationship, there was room for growth and some unfinished business.
Can't even imagine.
BuzzinSATX
08-14-16, 08:03
I've read this thread several times over the last few days and tried to formulate my thoughts into something coherent to type out. Nothing really struck me, until just now.
What do I miss about my childhood? Nothing. Nothing at all. My childhood sucked and sucked big time. Grew up in the hood. I was either dodging gang bangers or the police depending on the day. Single mom who was not good at raising a lone son, even though her intentions were good. I had my ass beat because of the color of my skin, I had my bikes and toys stolen on a regular basis, and I escaped near death encounters many times. My childhood was filled with all sorts of abuse, fear, pain, anger, dis-trust, loneliness, anxiety, hopelessness and general misery. I was glad when I realized it was finally over.
Not looking for pity or sympathy. I was a victim of circumstance when I was a boy, but as soon as I reached adulthood, I took over the reigns, put the past behind me, and I've been having a GREAT time ever since. Got out of the hood, pursued many hobbies, made new friends, started an amazing career that has paid me very well to travel the world and have a lot fun doing it. Married a hot chick who is still totally hot, and also a great wife in addition to being hot, and we have a fantastic life. For all the hardships I endured in my youth, my adult life is a dream come true for just about anyone. I firmly believe in the concept that the things that happen to you when you are a child are not your fault. Children are victims of their environments and the people around them, BUT… once you are an adult, everything is up to you. No more helpless victim crap. What happens to you as a child is not your fault. What happens to you as an adult is.
I could make a long list of things I don't miss about childhood, but the list of things I do miss is pretty short.
I don't know you, but I am grateful you share your story and very happy your life is going so well.
I hope your story inspires others....
God Bless you,
Take Care,
Buzz
I don't know you, but I am grateful you share your story and very happy your life is going so well.
I hope your story inspires others....
God Bless you,
Take Care,
Buzz
Agreed. We hear so many stories of failure, its nice to hear a happy outcome.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.