Posts by Carl Rivera43

Aaron Garcia5 said:Honestly, I would have shown up too. 🕺

Well, we're happy for Cuti! You definitely made the right call coming along.👍

hiddenwalker30 said:I might show up, but that’s a big if 👍

And honestly? Maybe that's actually a good sign.👍

William Richardson12 said:Pretty pricey, unless you know a spot where a coffee costs less than a $3.25(with milk/cream) 🍿

Well, I guess someone out there knows?

Let's aim for Saturday at 5:00 PM, and we'll try to find a better location as we go.

Jeremy Scott said:Downtown.

It's central to everything.

Smart move.

So, let's meet by the benches next to the florist.

Jeremy Scott said:Sure, let's go with five.

Someone should probably give the mods a heads-up on the timing so they can update the thread title. We don't want any potential new members missing out because they didn't see it.

Oh, and we still need to nail down a location.

Yeah, 5:00 PM works perfectly for me. That’s a pretty solid time. We can always touch base and figure out a meeting spot if anyone ends up running a little late.

Honestly, spending all this time posting on forums has been the perfect training ground for better real-life conversations.

Just a year ago, I was pretty much a hermit. I had this bad habit of constantly trying to read people's minds or guess what they were thinking. I've cut back on that a lot, though I haven't totally kicked the habit yet. You know how it is? Those old traces of shyness and being an introvert don't just vanish overnight, even if I am working on them.

Some of my long-time friends might say they haven't noticed much of a change in me, but hey, that’s not the point. What matters is that I can feel the progress myself.

I'm definitely feeling happier now that I've started actually valuing who I am. Plus, I've finally started finding real support and making connections with people who truly care.

Chris Robinson25 said:Works for me. 🙂 If we could aim for about 3 or 4, that’d be just perfect for me.

Anyway, fingers crossed! Getting together is always a blast.

So, Friday the 28th is more of a casual afternoon coffee vibe, but then we've got the official stuff happening on Saturday the 29th. That's the plan!

Larry Lewis said:It might actually be better if we aim for around 5:00 or 5:30 PM—since there are so many of us and those last buses run pretty early—that way we can keep the conversation going longer. That’s just my suggestion, anyway... and honestly, I don't plan on being sober by then.🙂

That suggestion will most likely be a hit.👍

Richard Wells said:Honestly, we’re probably our own biggest liars. Most of the time, we just lie to ourselves because being real is terrifying, and honestly? It’s way easier to just stay stuck in a comfortable, predictable routine. Being honest with yourself is a massive flex because it takes actual guts to embrace change.

That feeling of uncertainty or being totally lost? That's what holds us back. It's like a barrier blocking the path ahead.

So much of life just ends up spinning in circles, a repetitive loop that's happened way too many times before...

Ha, we'll just have to wait and see how things play out for most people!

As far as I'm concerned, the evening news works just fine for me.

Alright, mark your calendars for Saturday the 29th!

If we’re being honest, people's motives can be a total mystery sometimes. It’s like they’re just searching for some kind of emotional armor to hide behind.

You see these patterns popping up in everyday life, right? Sometimes it all feels a little bit trivial, almost like a joke.

Is being {in sync with the world} really just about making things easier for everyone else?

Do we always take the path of least resistance? Is that even worth doing?

And how on earth do you {find} that spark in yourself that everyone else seems to have already figured out?

Who are we actually striving to please? Are we just handing over our decision-making power to someone else?
How much does family influence that? And who actually gets the right to be unfair?

How do you even begin to {write off} an injustice?

Where do those hidden parts of our souls live? Who do you even trust with your secrets when you aren't feeling steady?

Yeah, so, it’s actually happened a few times where we ended up hanging out on the exact same day we planned it. One of those September Sunday mornings, we all just decided to make it happen, and by that evening, the five of us were already together.

But hey, it is what it is. Like I said, I'm just waiting until noon tomorrow to see how things shake out.

Alright, let's see how this plays out. If we can't lock in at least three for sure, I'd honestly rather just push it to sometime next week. We should have a final call on this by noon tomorrow.

Tomorrow at 6 PM, let's meet up at Times Square by the clock, and then we can head over to Cleveland

Being totally upfront has been a huge help lately, especially over these last few months.

As for the people who don't really value my honesty? Well, I’m still giving them a little more grace for now. It’s funny, though—some folks who didn't appreciate my transparency before have actually changed their tune about me recently. Honestly, seeing that shift gave me such a boost to keep working on myself.

Life is just too short to spend it in situations where you can't just be your authentic self, right?

Turmoil and injustice? It’ll pass. Eventually, things will settle down and we'll find a better rhythm, even if just for a little while.

I try my best to show up. I really do. I make an effort to sit down with people and have those deep, honest conversations that actually matter. Am I naive sometimes? Sure. That's just part of the risk you take, right? You can't find everything in a textbook. The most important stuff lives in people's hearts—that genuine warmth, an open door, and that feeling that you actually belong somewhere.

The splits are just terrible. It feels like everyone is retreating into their own little bunkers, isn't it? Honestly, it looks more like running away from the confrontation altogether. And you know how it goes—after some time passes, you look back and realize just how unnecessary and confusing the whole thing actually was.

Later on, people will start making excuses, saying things like, "Oh, I didn't mean to," or "I should have stayed where things were better." Then, that sense of loneliness starts creeping in, and man, it really hurts. When beautiful stories unfold right in front of you, they leave a mark. In that solitude, nostalgia just hits harder, fueling this deep ache to go back to the good old days.