In the military there are two separate classes, officers and enlisted. Officers had at least a bachelor’s degree and the military is a much different experience for them. They come in day as leaders, are paid significantly more, and have more opportunities to make lifelong connections with powerful people.

Enlisted are treated like blue collar workers, the grunts. Just in their day to day jobs enlisted people are going to have more wear and tear on their bodies. Take battle experience out of it, just as is, officers have a much better path forward.

Fraternization is illegal between officers and enlisted which basically makes it two segregated classes.

Enlisted folks also tend to come from lower income families, so while they are giving more opportunities than staying in their home town it can still be difficult for them to advance much higher.

In short, you have a large mixture of people from different ways of life with different education levels. Some take advantage of stuff like the GI Bill or other opportunities,. others don’t. Also some give their bodies to the extent that they can’t really function at the same levels on the outside.

I got invited to a new years party thrown by a coworker. My gf had to work that evening, so she dropped me off on her way to work and was going to pick me up after her shift. This way I could drink and not have to worry about driving.

When I get there hang out and have a beer. Then my my coworker pulled the, “hey your good with computers right.” After spending an hour or two fixing his computer, I went to join the party. I didn’t know anyone there and no one would really even talk to me. Except this one huge guy who just kept wanting to fight me.

I spent most of the night sitting outside drinking by myself just waiting for my gf to get off work and pick me up. While waiting for her I drank more than I should have and as soon as we got home I spent the rest of the night puking.

It depends, if I’m feeling cathartic then I’ll listen to something like Gary Clark Jr. - When My Train Pulls In

If I want to feel better then Electric Callboy - We Got the Moves

If I want to get angry then Off With Their Heads - Clear The Air

This pretty much mirrors my experience. The only thing different I saw was the assigned potential jurors group numbers. Each group was assigned to a particular courtroom/judge. If all the cases accepted plea deals they’d let that entire group leave. Most people were out of there by 10am.

Of course, I was assigned to the one case that did go to trial. The jury selection took the rest of the day. I was number 26, but enough people before me got eliminated, so I ended up on the jury. A couple of people after me did too.

The trial, for the most part, was insanely boring. It was for a DUI and vehicular assault, and the only reason it went to trial was because it was his 3rd strike. The first day we had to watch the entire recording from the police body camera from them arriving at the accident, to arresting the guy, driving to the hospital to get his blood drawn, and all the way to dropping him off at the jail. The only entertaining part was when the defense attorney put the drivers girlfriend on the stand. She started saying some bat crazy shit, and the defense attorney trying to cover for himself asked her if she had any mental health problems. This caused her to lose it and she started yelling and screaming at him.

In the end it was a great learning experience and gave me a closer look into the criminal justice system.

The Panoz Roadster in Midtown Madness 2.

“Destroy him, my robots” from Impossible Mission on the C64.

It was the first videogame I ever heard talk. And full disclosure, 5 year old me, thought it said, “destroy him my-rin bolts”. It wasn’t until years later, my dad actually corrected me.

I was in the military and was friends with a guy I worked with. When I got promoted I changed positions, so I didn’t see him much at work, but we still hung out outside of work often.

One day he did something that could have gotten him in a lot of trouble. I was the only NCO (Sargent) around when it happened. My supervisor offered to take care of the punishment himself because he knew we were friends. I said no, he’s my friend, I witnessed it, so I’ll take care of it. Plus I was able to convince them to just give him some paperwork, instead of more severe punishment he could have had.

I took him into a private area, explained what he did wrong and that he was only getting paperwork. He didn’t say a word, just signed it and walked out. I tried to go talk to him after work and his roommate came out calling me all sorts of names, asking how I could do that to him, and how I was a power tripping asshole, on and on. I asked if I could talk to my friend and explain and he told me my friend requested I never come back over.

I was at that base another year and he never talked to me again.

I’m pretty sure if my foot ever stops shaking I’ll explode. Church was the worst for me as a kid. My dad would hold my knee down the entire time.

Same. I had the Hercules Gamesurround Muse sound card to go with it too.

The 90s. Cross your legs, gay! Wear a shirt with a loop on the back, gay! Express any emotions, gay!

Then as an adult I realized “Oh, poor kid was dealing with a lot of unaddressed trauma.”

I hadn’t thought of that angel before. That’s actually a really good way to look it.

Well 15 year old you had much better taste than 15 year old me

I’m curious at what age you read it. Because I first read it at 15 and thought it was the best book ever. I would even recommend it to people for years.

Then I read it again in my late 20s and had the same reaction you did. I thought he just came off as a whiny little shit. I still feel embarrassed that I recommended that book to people for over 10 years.

I remember telling my wife this after I reread it (she was someone I recommended it to) and she was like, “yeah, I didn’t want to say anything at the time, but I hated it.”

When I really need to concentrate I put on music in a foreign language. Mainly German because I’ve found a lot of German bands I like. Some of my favorites that sing mainly in German:

• Wizo
• Die Ärzte
• Die Toten Hosen
• We Butter Out Bread With Butter

There are dozens of us.

Also, I’ll add:

• Get-Help
• Get-Command
• Get-Member

Our neighborhood had large community mailboxes and my dad would always make me walk down the street to get the mail. One day there were some older kids outside and they started squirting me with water-guns. I got home and told my dad and he asked me to show him where the kids were. When I did he yelled at them saying, “don’t squirt my mail!”

The sad thing is I though he was talking about me, as in male. It wasn’t until years later I realized he didn’t give a crap about me, he was mad his mail got wet.

It’s by far not be the most narcissistic thing my dad did, (that would be beating the shit out of me for not wanting to go to church because it made him look bad). But I think about it often because I want my kids to know they are the most important thing to me, and I never want to say something that would make them think otherwise.

There is a road about 10 miles from my house that is just rural and empty, has a huge shoulder to ride on, and no major elevation changes. My perfect Saturday morning was riding 20-30 miles on that road.

…And then the county went and put chipseal down. It created so much resistance on my tires that it felt like pedaling in mud. And it only got worse overtime because all the loose chipseal the cars kick up piles up on the shoulder. It just breaks my heart.

Here you go https://a.co/d/51vzubP

It’s really just a small pinch of salt that comes out

I have a BUG-A-SALT that attached a laser sight on. It can take out a fly from a few feet away. And it makes it fun.