Posts by ruggedorca5

boldnomad45 said:Spot on.
But building quality relationships takes time.
Time we simply don't have.
I'm lonely too, constantly dissecting why. I've been this way since I was a kid.
I used to chase that feeling. In my younger years, I'd hang out with anyone who would have me, molding myself to fit everyone else just to have company. Naturally, that made things worse.
Then I tried looking for it in romantic partners.
That turned out to be the worst move. Too much pressure on the other person.
I'm in therapy now. I'm still lonely, but I'm starting to understand that quality connections are the only cure.
The problem is, I don't have the time or the money for that.
I work until 5 PM every single day at a job that drains me dry. By the time I'm done, I have nothing left to offer someone if we were to become actual friends.

There's no budget for weekend trips or anything like that.
What's left is grabbing a drink once or twice a month with the same group of lonely, exhausted, guarded, closed-off people just like me.
We have nothing to connect over. We lead similarly empty, draining lives, so we just talk about work, Netflix shows, or what we'd do if we won the Powerball.

I've been stuck in this loop for years, maybe even my whole life. I'm increasingly afraid I'll spend the rest of my life being lonely even when I'm surrounded by people.
If you met me, you wouldn't think that. I talk to people, I listen, and people enjoy inviting me out for coffee or a beer. But for them, it's just entertainment. For me, I'm just killing time, trying to socialize enough so I don't lose my mind.

Having kids would solve it. Then you're living for them.

swiftstag66 said:With Powerlock leaving and Bradley Sanders4 showing up, the whole vibe of this thread flipped 180 degrees in just a few days. Looking at some of the posts shared lately, it feels like people are just hunting for any tiny technicality to shut down certain users and kill their freedom to speak their minds.

In a world drowning in today's political correctness and censorship, reading this thread back when Powerlock was running things was a breath of fresh air. I honestly thought, "Damn, there are still pockets of the internet where free speech actually matters." Sadly, those days are over.

If you can't see that, no amount of evidence will change your mind—especially not links to deleted posts, which, frankly, I have no clue how a regular user is even supposed to track down.

It wasn't just him leaving, though; it was more like Powerlock was forcibly removed, unfortunately.

Between Bradley Sanders4 and lonebadger6, they’ve effectively suffocated any remaining freedom of speech here, haven't they?

Bradley White73 said:I have to say, I’m really feeling frustrated with how the Immigration thread is being moderated lately—it feels more like a slaughter than actual moderation. Posts are just vanishing into thin air, and there are entire pages where more than half the users are grayed out. Ever since Bradley Sanders4 took over, you can't even skim through a page anymore without the fear of needing to refresh, which honestly scares me half to death. If you actually want to read something, I guess you have to do it immediately before it disappears. I haven't been posting much on threads managed by Bradley Sanders4 or ones that aren't this "volatile," so maybe I didn't notice it sooner. But now, I just don't feel like writing anything at all; I'm constantly looking over my shoulder, watching for what Bradley Sanders4 might do next. I've actually gone ahead and deleted a few of my own posts already, because I know if I don't take them down myself, Bradley Sanders4 certainly will. 🙄 😵

I’m jumping on the bandwagon with this complaint, though if you ask me, the moderator lonebadger6 is far worse.
They’re suffocating free speech without any clear criteria at all.

Under the vague guise of "trolling," they’re deleting and banning incredibly valuable, informative posts,
and targeting users who don't even post very often.

lutnik said:Even if they’re being a bit much with all this forced idyll nonsense—and I do think they are—I’m starting to feel like this pair could actually fix quite a few headaches, both for Krasnoyarsk and Lazard Brothers.

http://i46.tinypic.com/2aagf4o.jpg

Our sense of optimism regarding improved relations has certainly grown, especially following Obama's election. 😉

freelancer said:I don't want to clutter up the board with trivialities, so:

Look—frankly—feel free to ban me if you find this inappropriate—but purely out of curiosity—strictly regarding the man/woman dynamic, without any intention of disparaging the two Presidents—are Bob and Jacqueline actually sleeping together?

🤷 ... but 🙂 give me the real answer! Thanks! 🙏
I suspect I'm not the only one sitting here waiting for an answer.

As for politics—well, if the answer to the above is yes—you couldn't ask for better cooperation between two friendly neighboring nations!!! 🙏

Regarding that border arbitration... he basically chased him right into the mud.

Maybe historians will eventually decipher whether America surrendered territory just to satisfy some Alpine playboy,
or if a few flattering remarks toward a fiery medieval woman were enough.

And then there was everything else America had to concede—from those Bank of America savings issues to the Non-Krasno matters, and so on and so forth...