Posts by Jeffrey Fisher5

Does anyone know where—or perhaps with whom—I might go to get some professional appraisals for a few 1970s vinyl records? I stumbled upon them quite by accident in a corner of my home storage area—a veritable junk drawer of sorts—and they've been sitting there, forgotten, for decades.
For instance:

A rock opera, Kraftwerk, The Rolling Stones, and a few others.

I would be most grateful for any guidance you could offer!

Casey Allen said:I’ve been feeling pretty much the same way for about twenty years now. It’s not that I’m suicidal, per se, but there’s this recurring wish when I lay down at night that I just wouldn't wake up. Honestly, I just don't see the point in putting in any effort when you're surrounded by such a selfish environment that refuses to give you any credit, especially since time eventually wipes everything away anyway. Whatever you manage to achieve today, you’re right back at square one tomorrow—just maintaining these superficial work connections, shallow family ties, and hollow romantic relationships. We live in a society that is so comfortable, so self-absorbed, and so incredibly satiated that human connection has dwindled down to nothing more than a tool for feeding one's own ego. A lot of people don't even need other humans anymore; they just go out and get some primitive four-legged "friends" instead. It feels like living in this twisted, narcissistic, sociopathic culture where everyone is just looking out for their own skin, treating everyone else as mere instruments for their own advancement or survival. I was raised to be helpful, to be a team player, and I’ve always strived to be that person, but over time it’s become painfully clear to me that "teamwork" is an abstract concept to the vast majority of people. I struggle to find purpose in working hard when that effort yields absolutely nothing unless I am directly stroking someone's ego. I can't bring myself to live just for myself, yet I can't live for others either because people are, frankly, repulsive and can't see past the tip of their own noses. I wish I could just be apathetic toward everything, but I wasn't wired to ignore all the bullshit happening around me; I was wired to act so there would be less of it... even though, as time goes on, there seems to be more and more. It’s as if my entire reality is upside down. I can't control the world, and I certainly can't rewire the synapses in my long-adult, plastic brain. Even though on paper I have everything—family, a social circle, education, a career, money, looks, intelligence—I feel like I have nothing at all. I just feel completely empty and useless.

Casey Allen, allow me to offer a perspective gleaned from my own many years on this earth: no one is truly useless—not even a common earthworm—and we are often the ones who pack our own bags with emptiness and apathy.
That sense of things being "wrong" or inverted—it visits every human soul, particularly in an era defined by such dizzying shifts in people, the world, and our surroundings.

Become an observer!
Observe, and learn.

No single individual—not even those who fancy themselves capable of altering the life paths of others, or even the masses—can do so without incurring a cost to themselves.
Just look at those who believe they are equals to the great forces above us (whatever names we give them); they are rarely happy, let alone satisfied. There is always a deficit, a constant craving for more material wealth or a greater sense of power.
Or perhaps, they simply crave being the center of it all—ideally, under the global spotlight.

Adam Doyle63 said:Well, I can give you a little firsthand perspective on that misery, since my wife and I have been hunkered down since yesterday. We had contact with my brother—who's showing symptoms and just waiting on his test results—so we're playing it safe and staying locked in until Tuesday, once he clears both his first and second tests.

If that comes back positive, we’re looking at an automatic fourteen-day stretch, where some health official issues a formal order so our doctor can sign off on medical leave. Even though we’ll technically be "free" on Tuesday if everything stays negative, we already have to act like we're serving a full two-week sentence.

It was just me who had the exposure, but per the rules, my wife is automatically quarantined along with me, regardless of the fact that she didn't get home from work until later. Even the cats are part of this bubble. Since we live in a multi-generational house, we've basically barricaded ourselves on our own floor to stay physically separated from my parents and grandmother. My parents or a buddy who lives nearby will probably drop off supplies, but since we usually do a massive Costco run around payday, we've got enough food and essentials to last us the month.

If they end up extending our isolation, I'll probably just ask someone to drop off some fresh produce or maybe some tobacco if we run low. They asked if I had anyone to help with deliveries, and since I said yes, I didn't bother asking if there were any exceptions for specific items. Honestly, I won't be leaving anyway, so it doesn't really matter. If someone shows up at the door, I just spray the entrance and the door itself with disinfectant fifteen minutes beforehand and again after I grab whatever they brought.

We don't deal with doctors coming over, nor do we go to them. If the person testing turns out to be positive and we start feeling sick, we just call the public health line, emergency services, or our family doctor—she was kind enough to give me her private cell number. As for work, we've already agreed that we're definitely staying home Monday until that second test is in, and if the isolation gets extended, we'll see if long-term remote work is an option.

So, yeah, that's the situation. 😁

That’s quite a lot to take in, but this part caught my eye:

And the cats too.

It seems rather odd that amidst all the various advice and guidelines, there was such a strange emphasis on avoiding contact with pets and wildlife.

I mean, only a complete fool would go out of their way to touch wild animals, but still... 🤔

Animals don't catch USA.

Which implies your cats are either stuck in quarantine with you or simply being deprived of your attention.

It seems that nowadays, people tend to look right through one another—not out of malice, mind you, but rather a total lack of conscious awareness. They simply don't register your presence on any meaningful level. So, if you find yourself feeling—as Jason Richardson68 might occasionally feel—that everyone is staring at you when there is absolutely no logical reason for them to be, then I suspect the issue might actually lie within yourself. It’s a bit of an uncomfortable thought, I know, but worth considering.
I find myself in agreement with the assessment made by Donna White50—you tend to place far too much importance on your own standing, largely because there seems to be a subconscious desire to stand out from the crowd.

Lawrence Bailey77 said:Why on earth do people assume their personal feelings are some sort of vital factor for the rest of society to consider?

If they actually were... I mean, how could anyone possibly be expected to recognize the shifting moods of every single person they cross paths with during a day? 😵

Where did this whole "trend" even come from—this idea that "I feel this way, therefore it matters"—it really grates on me... it's just 😵

Were you all somehow conditioned to fear growing up? Have you ever even heard of terms like maturity, emotional intelligence, or simple respect?

No one is telling you that you aren't allowed to have feelings, but at the end of the day, a drama queen remains a drama queen, regardless of how much you try to rebrand it. 😉

It isn’t merely a matter of fashion—though people love to obsess over trends—it is more of an inescapable reality that everything for any given human being begins and ends with themselves... 😉
Some people catch on early—it’s almost impressive, really—while others take their sweet time, and then there are those who simply... never quite arrive at the realization. It's a spectrum, I suppose.

velvetcobra65 said:I guess you’d hear the exact same thing a hundred years ago, or a thousand, or two. People don't actually change as fast as we think they do. In my opinion, humans have always been the same; it’s just the way we show it that shifts. You’re always going to have empathetic people, narcissists, people who would give you the shirt off their back, and then those who whine about having nothing just to suck the attention out of a room. I think it’s wrong to assume that people who stay positive had easy lives or are just being superficial...
From where I'm sitting, the bigger issue is that people tend to take cheerful folks for granted. They write them off as shallow just because they don't bash their heads against a wall every time life gets heavy...
My mom passed away three weeks ago... and man, it’s incredibly hard. We were close, and even though I moved out on my own early, she was always my home—that place you go to hide away until the storm passes. I cry, but I cry alone. Do people really think it isn't hard for me to not have anyone to just hold me and say, "it'll be okay, you won't feel this broken forever"? Just because I don't walk around looking like a dark cloud when I'm out in public? Just because I don't fall apart in front of everyone? When people actually ask how I am, I tell them the truth... but at the end of the day, I still have to deal with it all by myself. No one can carry my grief for me. I can talk about other things (and I have to), I can support others, I can encourage them...
I am my parents' daughter. They went through so much nonsense with a smile, working their tails off without ever complaining. They genuinely cared about how people were doing, without feeling the need to brag about how they grew up with nothing or how hard they had to work jobs that had zero to do with their degrees... At my mom's funeral, there were over two hundred people there... and about a hundred of them weren't even family, just friends. Everyone saw her more like a sister because she stayed in touch with everyone, even when life was absolutely tearing her apart. Mostly because that's just who she was.
Smile, no matter how rough life gets. Life is as beautiful as it is difficult. With a smile, you might at least brighten someone else's day as you pass by. Even if it's just to make them laugh at the idea that you're not "normal," because honestly, who actually laughs when everything around us feels so gray and miserable...

Please do not mistake my post for a lack of empathy or any disrespect toward your mother or your loss; I have endured my fair share of such departures. Both of my parents, gone in an instant during my childhood; a sister, a grandmother who was a mother to me, friends who left too young and too suddenly, relatives, and a vast number of people whose passing I have witnessed firsthand.
I have come to realize that when a person passes, an entire world vanishes with them—a world that even those closest to them never fully understood.
And I have learned that for those who have departed, it isn't about the recognition, nor the headcount of those attending the service, nor some public acknowledgment of their true value compared to others.
That spectacle serves the ones left behind... it creates an image that allows us to grapple with our own mortality, leaving us with a comforting portrait of those who are gone.
Smiling is incredibly difficult when you are weeping inside.
And one shouldn't always have to smile, nor perform happiness, because often a forced cheerfulness is nothing more than a mask used to shroud one's own fears or despair.
One ought to draw lessons from personal loss: the need to understand others, to respect them even when—by our own judgment or the judgment of others—they seem undeserving of it, because human perfection simply does not exist.
I was present at the funeral of a woman where three of her descendants were in attendance (all of them bitterly feuding with one another due to the deceased) along with six of us, whom the woman had caused the most grief to during her lifetime.
I found myself wondering why the six of us had ended up there in the first place—and then it hit me—we weren't there to judge her. We were actually there to offer some semblance of forgiveness. Despite all her shortcomings, we chose to see the human being underneath... someone who, I’m certain, was suffering quite deeply in their own way.

Andrew Doyle said:But how else are you supposed to raise them?

I ask because I find myself facing similar parenting dilemmas right now, and frankly, I’m struggling with how to handle them.
How am I supposed to raise a child? Should I teach them to be a hypocrite? To cheat and steal whenever the opportunity arises? To believe that school is irrelevant and that their only real goal should be curating a social circle just to manipulate their way toward success?

Because if I actually raised them that way, what kind of person would I be? I'd be someone who couldn't even look at themselves in the mirror without feeling pure shame.

Sure, my parents grew up in a completely different system—one where there was actual hope for tomorrow, where things felt more stable. Today, that feels like a total utopia, especially after all the massive societal shifts we've seen here in the States over the last few decades.

But can I really raise someone who steps on others or acts purely out of selfishness just because "that's what the world demands"?
Absolutely not.
And I won't. Not because I'm naive, but because I believe that my child and I both contribute our tiny fraction to the state of this world. I refuse to be part of the problem. That is why I will continue to instill moral values in them; I will keep hammering home that education matters and that real results come from hard work and perseverance.

Doing anything else would go against everything I stand for. It wouldn't be me, and it certainly isn't the vision I have for my child's future.

My kid will eventually learn just how cruel this world can be and what kind of cutthroat rules people play by—they're already learning it. But that does not give them a free pass to be a moral wreck just because "society requires it," and I will never, ever condone behavior like that, even if they choose to follow those examples.

👍
Honestly, this topic deserves its own separate thread.
It seems the original poster was clearly thinking about relationships between fully formed adults.
Your dilemma and your perspective—well, credit to you—but you're definitely in the minority here...😉

velvetstag5 said:It’s not just about how other people act, either. I’ll try to explain my way of looking at it. Sometimes, I’ll see someone do something and feel like it’s absolutely unacceptable, but then a little while later, I’ll see that exact same thing and just laugh it off, thinking, "Wow, look at that..."

Honestly, it all comes down to those chemicals in your brain.

Of course, our reaction to what people do depends entirely on whether we're having a good day or a bad one. But whether we choose to respond with an eye for an eye—that tit-for-tat mentality—doesn't actually depend on the provocateurs themselves, but rather on us.
It’s a matter of awareness and self-control—what some might call a conscience. First and foremost, one must learn—
learn about people and the nature of modern relationships as they truly exist today. Once you recognize those who operate without a moral compass, you'll find yourself avoiding any connection with them altogether; and if avoidance isn't an option, you'll at least be careful not to walk straight into their traps.
And, as you've already observed, you should never envy their so-called "success,"
not even when those unscrupulous types seem to have everything you currently lack.
To approve of them, to admire them, or to wish you were more like them... well, that's just a different, perhaps less successful, way of lowering yourself to their level. 😉
The idea that the behavior of such unprincipled individuals is "unacceptable" is something that can only be corrected by society as a whole.
And on that front, humanity has largely failed the test.

wearyowl29 said:But wouldn't you get bored eventually?

Well, please—go ahead and find me anyone who would actually prefer someone unattractive, aged, and destitute...☕

@Maria Robinson2:
One hundred is far too low—we should be talking about at least five hundred, provided we're dealing with a healthy twenty-year-old.

I certainly wouldn't object to the physique of a healthy twenty-year-old, though I would have some serious reservations regarding the consciousness—and the complete cessation of its further development.

steelgardener22 said:Maria Robinson2, you sound like a Jehovah's Witness. Your whole idea about future peace on Earth relies on some divine intervention and the glorious return of Christ... which is exactly what the Bible says, and it's something the Witnesses love to spin into these elaborate, vivid little fantasies in all sorts of ways...

Honestly, it doesn't really matter which religious label someone wears.
What matters is that each individual finds—or perhaps works to cultivate—inner peace and then radiates that outward.
It starts small, just with those closest to you, and then gradually expands.
If we can manage to do that ourselves, I truly believe God will support us in it.

Even when things get incredibly chaotic, every individual has a responsibility to cultivate—or at least protect—a sense of inner peace, provided they don't let those incapable of finding it themselves drag them down into the turbulence.

Ultimately, the duty of fostering peace... lies with us, among one another.

Jacob Martin2 said:Yes, thank you, I will certainly look over all of that.
What strikes me as odd, though—assuming this obligation dates back to 2012—is why everyone is being summoned all at once in 2016... They’ve managed to trigger this massive wave of hysteria, leaving people genuinely spooked and creating these endless lines everywhere...

And perhaps I'm looking at this through a layman's lens, but are these individuals even considered tax liabilities? I mean, if the US doesn't even have the jurisdiction to tax those specific pensions in the first place?😁

Everyone was just waiting for the EU integration to kick in—specifically, the right to request and exchange information between EU member states.
That finally happened in 2014, after Germany thoroughly combed through every retiree receiving a pension from them. They started demanding retroactive reports on all income earned in America—covering a three-year span starting from when Germany passed their law regarding pension taxation, which I believe was around 2008–2010.
Some people had to pay back money—essentially the tax owed—while others were cleared with a 0% rate, exempt from any repayment, because it turned out their total income, both in America and Germany, fell well below the non-taxable threshold.
Given that the treaty between America and Germany is still in effect—under which Germany maintains the right to tax all pensions originating from their social benefits—and as far as I am aware, that bilateral agreement hasn't been repealed or replaced by a different arrangement, America has no right to tax German pensions. However, it seems to me that America won't be paying much attention to that distinction.
Very soon, both American and German retirees are going to be in for quite a surprise...

Start right here and just keep scrolling through to that next related article...
And in the end, there isn't any clear answer—at least not yet—but don't worry, I'm sure the IRS
will find some way to make it work.
After all, nobody truly escapes death or the taxman... unless you count those few "honorable" exceptions, of course.😉

It seems as though evil holds the reins of this world—not by accident, but by design—utilizing its most effective instruments: people.
Yet, even in such times, darkness doesn't claim every soul; there are plenty of individuals who push back, refusing to simply opt into being wicked.
The sycophants serving those darker powers? Well, they’re usually quite eager to get their hands dirty.
I can't say I'm surprised by them, per se, but it always leaves me feeling rather heavy-hearted when I see how many people have lost the ability to distinguish right from wrong. Their moral compasses have become so blurred—intentionally obscured, I suspect—that they truly believe they are doing good, when in reality, they are inflicting harm on themselves and everyone else.
It’s that old cliché, isn't it: the road to hell is paved with good intentions...
At any given moment, an individual has the capacity to trade away everything they hold dear in exchange for malice.
One cannot be forced to be purely evil unless they have already made that choice for themselves. When someone appears to be acting under duress, it really just means they haven't found the strength to resist—regardless of how steep the cost of that resistance might be.

🙂

Thread Starter
It appears to me—and I say this with the utmost sincerity—that you are having an exceptionally, quite profoundly good time...
at the expense of those who actually took you seriously...😉

neonbear57 said:Does anyone have recommendations for private clinics in Washington, D.C.? What’s actually available out there—I mean, what provides a decent balance of cost versus quality? I'm looking for somewhere where the staff doesn't treat you like absolute garbage... you know, the whole nine yards!😛

To be fair, in almost any private clinic, they aren't going to treat you like trash—that's sort of the point of paying more, isn't it?
The choice really just comes down to how deep your pockets are at the moment.
Personally, I’ve had pretty positive experiences with two:
Saint Catherine and Mercy Hospital.

Jerry Phillips19 said:It is quite unfortunate that even if you don't count a single Isilovac among the several thousand who arrived this year, there is still more than enough material there for recruitment efforts. ☕

I suspect they will always find Allah to be more appealing, regardless of the faction, than Isusek.

😁
Well, since German business leaders seem to be wandering through these camps—effectively headhunting specific skill sets and educational backgrounds before asylum claims are even officially approved—one has to wonder: why wouldn't they go ahead and recruit ISIS-supporters too? It’s a curious logic, really.🙄

Daniel Johnson3 said:How do you even end up with ISIS members hiding among the refugees they’re supposedly fleeing from? Honestly, the crowd should just take matters into their own hands—I doubt they showed up armed.

It seems they’ve brought a healthy dose of fear along with them...😉
to them, any nation in the West where Islam isn't the dominant force is essentially just one big monolith.

granitemarlin77 said:It's easy—they just shave the beards. They aren't even wearing masks; they show up clean-shaven, hair looking sharp, snapping selfies on the latest iPhones while carrying some random kid they claim is their cousin's.
What a load of crap.☕

👍
Back in May, Spain was already sounding the alarm, warning that their estimates put at least 800 militants among the refugees—but of course, those warnings were flatly denied.
And look at the situation now—we're hearing numbers jumping to 10,000 or 11,000, when the grim reality is likely going to involve tens of thousands.

Mark Harris66 said:Helen cost Troy a fortune—just like how Angela is costing the European Union everything. People will probably write some myth about Angela later on...🤣
It’s actually pretty ironic how you can take that old Greek myth and map it perfectly onto what’s happening today:

EUROPE:
The Phoenician princess. Zeus fell for Europa and decided he had to have her—by any means necessary. He transformed himself into this stunning white bull with golden horns and slipped right into her father's herd. Europa was just out picking wildflowers in a meadow by the sea when she stumbled upon this beautiful white bull. The bull seemed unusually tame—not scary at all. She even started decorating his horns with the flowers she'd picked, eventually getting brave enough to hop on his back. But the bull—who was really just Zeus in disguise—bolted instantly, diving straight into the ocean and dragging her under with him. Europa ended up being swept away all the way to Crete...

See, Helen was considered the most beautiful woman in the ancient world...😉
but just who does Angela find appealing, and which god has fallen under her spell...😁