Catching up

[Andybev01]

I appreciate being mentioned and that I'm missed.

I have many doctors and I try to spread out the appointments but once in a while, due to the scheduling parameters, some of them all pile up within the same week and I just have to deal with it.

Things are good in general, and I am looking forward to getting my cataract lenses replaced in about month.

As far as your voluminous posts go, I hang on every word.

The 2 of you have what I consider to be normal, Interesting lives, and since I have lived mine on the periphery, it's like being privy to information about some alternate dimensional civilization.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

Marvin! Uh, I mean Andy! Welcome back.

Wait, wait, wait, I know this is a little personal, but you mentioned it, did you say that you had cataracts? You're still young, how did you get them in the first place, and why would you need to replace the lenses? Aren't they supposed to last for as long as you live?

The 2 of you have what I consider to be normal, Interesting lives, and since I have lived mine on the periphery, it's like being privy to information about some alternate dimensional civilization.

Well, I already told you guys that I was imaginary, so I guess it's possible that imaginary friends could be from a alternate dimension.

I believe that all people possess more psychic powers than they use.

For years neuroscientists, as well as other fringe researchers, have agreed that humans have only tapped into 10% of what our minds and bodies are capable of. There are definitely people that are born with abilities that can't be explained by our current understanding and our limited science. In our modern society, the last 200 years specifically, there have been recorded cases of people that demonstrate uncanny attributes such as ESP and the ability of prophecy, as well as other unexplained phenomena.

If you look back even further through history, like the stories in the Bible and other religious texts, as well as Greek mythology, there are numerous stories of people with unbelievable abilities, most people today dismiss them as just stories, but there are people that believe that the characters and events in those stories are real, and as we learn more about our species and history, we are inching closer to proving not only that they actually happened, but that we can eventually tap into thoe abilities ourselves.

I've always been fascinated by the story of the Oracle at Delphi, it was actually a religious institution, but many people mistakenly think that the story was about a single individual woman that delivered prophecies from Apollo, but the Oracle was a succession of priestesses known as the Pythia. These women would enter a trance like state, believed to be induced by inhaling vapors from a fissure in the Earth. In this state they would deliver cryptic messages that were interpreted by male priests and conveyed to those seeking answers. The prophecies often played a vital role in shaping decisions related to warfare, colonization, and personal matters.

We know that people today can access certain unused areas of the mind by using certain chemicals and solutions derived from plants and other things found in nature. Some of these people claim to have entered a altered state of consciousness, or alternate realities, and some even say that they have experienced communication with other worldly beings, whether they are religious, interdimensional or extradimensional beings. We are a constantly evolving species, and when we finally tap into our full potential, the possibilities that awaits us are limitless.

I myself seemed to have heightened powers of ESP and vivid, possibly prophetic dreams, during my pregnancies.

It's been theorized that everything the mother experiences during pregnancy, the baby experiences as well. It also goes the other way, so you both, at least for the duration of the pregnancy, are essentially living with 2 distinct personalities coexisting as one individual being. As a result of this, the mother can have a heightened state of being, possibly even tapping into a divine realm of information that she wouldn't normally be able to access without being connected to another being. Some people think that the baby even experiences the mother's dreams, and the baby might have dreams as well which the mother might share with the baby, and that might explain any unusual dreams the mother has. Of course, that raises the question, can unborn babies even dream?

The unusual cravings that the mother has is believed to be because the baby wants something specific to eat, and because of this she also desires the same thing to eat. How does the baby even know what pickles are? Well, that question raises even more questions, like the possibility that each and every person ever born is born already knowing of the world around them, they just have to grow and develop to the point where they can understand the information they already have in them.

Here are some very simple examples that I've observed in my life, the words OUCH or OW... even as adults we do this, but I can't tell you how many times I've seen a small baby just learning to speak get a little bump and immediately yell out one of those 2 words, and here's the question, how can they possibly even know that word if nobody has ever said it in front of them? Sure, you can argue that it's a reactive word, and that is possible, but that baby had to be born with that word already programmed into them. Another example it the word YUCK, I've observed this with my kids as well, during potty training after they were done they turned around and looked and said YUCK. They both did this, how could they both possibly know that word when my wife and I haven't ever said it in front of them?

This is also prevalent in the animal kingdom, for some reason they know how to do things as soon as they are born, like horses can walk just minutes after being born. Animals also instinctually know how to hunt, build nests, and seek out a mate for procreation, but how do they know that? We are basically the same way, so that programming had to come from somewhere, I suppose that would be our creator.

When I mentioned about Caesarean babies having heightened instincts, it's because of the way that Phoebe has described her abilities at gymnastics and martial arts, so it reminded me of that. She told us that it's like time stands still for her and she can can watch things happening in slow motion, so she knows exactly what her opponent is going to do before they do it, with gymnastics she just knows where and when to make a move, like it has already happened and she just repeats what she already saw. Yeah, I'm not sure that I understand it either, but the way she explains it, and the fact that she can do those things so effortlessly is enough to convince me that she knows what she's doing.

[Murfreesboro]

It sounds to me like Phoebe has extraordinary kinesthetic intelligence ( not sure I spelled that right). There's a fascinating book by a guy named Gardiner called Frames of Mind. It kicked off the interest in multiple intelligence theory that has obsessed educators for the last thirty years or so, though I think it's been applied poorly in the public schools. But basically, he argues that every normal brain has several different types of intelligence, and they sort of shade into each other. Linguistic is the first, but it shades into musical because both are aural. Then music shades into mathematics because it's a mathematical system. Math, with its subset of geometry, shades into spatial intelligence, and spatial intelligence into kinesthetic intelligence that is so important t for athletes and actors (intelligence about the body and movement). Kinesthetic shades into interpersonal intelligence, because it helps us interpret what other people are thinking and feeling. Then intelligence about other people shades into intrapersonal intelligence, self-knowledge, but the only way anyone is aware of someone else's wisdom is through his language, his speech, so it comes full circle. He argues that all these types of intelligence are located I'm specific areas of the brain, but we can know this only through traumatic brain injuries, since it's unethical to experiment on a living brain. Consequently, lots of his theory is hypothetical. But it makes sense.

[Murfreesboro]

Andy, I had cataract surgery at 64. It's so quick it's unbelievable. My surgeon asked me to pick from a selection of songs he offered. I chose Great Balls of Fire. He completed the surgery before the song was over.

Then, about three years later, I had to have another surgery, also very quick. It starts with a "y," can't remember what it was called. But as I understand it, at the initial cataract surgery, they drop an artificial lens into a little sack or pouch that I guess is already there. Sometimes this little pouch can get cloudy, and the symptoms are very similar to cataracts, but the problem isn't cataracts. It's this cloudy liquid that fills the pouch. So they go in and basically put a tiny hole in the pouch with a laser to drain it. I think. Supposedly this has to be done only once, if at all. Not all cataract patients get it.

None of this is especially painful, and all of it happens so quickly you can't believe it. But of course all these procedures are fabulously expensive, so you need good insurance.

[Murfreesboro]

Oh, in my brief overview of multiple intelligence theory, I left out visual/spatial. I think that one hovers between mathematical and kinesthetic. Obviously, a lot of human effort over the centuries has gone into handicrafts and visual arts.

In the public schools they've tried to implement this theory by teaching subjects from unusual POVs. They might encourage kids to dance or move while they learn a poem. Or they might assign an art project for a psychology class. They might have the kids copy down a math problem or a spelling word with multicolored crayons. Their effort is to try to engage all the different types of learning and intelligence in every lesson. That idea could work for some, but when I read Gardiner's book, that's not what I thought he intended by it. I don't think he was saying that a visual learner would appreciate poetry, a verbal art, better by drawing a picture. He was saying, I think, that every normal brain has all these capacities, but individuals will demonstrate superior gifts in some over others. The goal of education should be to try to strengthen all these areas, while leaning into the ones where a child shows obvious talent.

He said he was moved to develop his theory by observing that the people who excel in school are not necessarily the ones who excel in life, and he asked himself, Why is that? He decided that academic environments reward primarily verbal and mathematical intelligence, but observed that many professions require more or different kinds of intelligence than those two areas.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

It sounds to me like Phoebe has extraordinary kinesthetic intelligence

I just looked up kinesthetics, and it does sound exactly like how she's described her experience to us. It's a interesting topic, I bookmarked the page and I'll go back to read it later.

He decided that academic environments reward primarily verbal and mathematical intelligence, but observed that many professions require more or different kinds of intelligence than those two areas.

Well, he's right about that. But I think that the public school education system in general has become a pathetic joke, and as somebody that hires current high school students and graduates, I can tell you that the schools haven't prepared their students for their foray into the real world.

Another thing that my wife and I really hate about the pathetic school system is how fast their unqualified, and unintelligent counselors are to diagnose any kid that exhibits any behavior remotely unique as somebody that has ADD, ADHD, or is affected by some other affliction, because they aren't the stereotypical complacent student.

Tonight after dinner I asked Phoebe to explain her perspective again, and she basically said the same thing... that time stands still for her while she watches things happen in slow motion. The way that she described it reminded me of a scene in one of the X-Men movies so I found a clip on youtube and showed it to her. After she watched it I asked her if that's what it was like for her, she said sort of, but for her it's like she sees her opponent throw the punch then the scene resets or rewinds to before the punch so she knows exactly how to maneuver around it because it's already happened. She said with gymnastics it's similar, because she sees the end result of her performance before she does it, so she does exactly what she saw in her head and she lands it every time.

As I mentioned, she's been training every night for the upcoming tournaments, and I've been helping with her moves, usually I just stand there while she throws a flurry of hits at me, but tonight I decided to try to test her abilities. She always wears headgear and gloves during training, and I wear a padded vest like a baseball umpire wears so that I can take her hits. As soon as she got on the mat her demeanor changed and she got serious, we did the 50/50 routine, that's 50 punches and 50 kicks. She started throwing hits at me and they were damn hard.

Then it was my turn to throw punches, I made sure to look straight at her face the whole time, watching for any changes, but she didn't change her expression once. She countered and dodged every single hit I threw at her, right before the last punch I paused for a moment and took a long breath, hoping that it would distract her, then I threw the last punch and I went straight at her face, stopping my fist right in front of her nose, and she didn't move out of the way, she didn't even flinch. Don't worry, I wasn't ever going to land the hit, I just wanted to know if she would try to move. When I asked her why she didn't move, she said that she knew that I wasn't going to hit her, and she smiled.

I gave her a hug and I told her that no matter what, that she shouldn't ever try to explain her abilities to anybody outside of her family, and that after a performance she should just smile, accept the praise, and say thank you. To my surprise she didn't try to argue about it, or question why, it's like she understood what I meant without me having to say it, but I will fully explain it to her when she is older. I know that if people found out about her ability they would try to exploit it. From everything she has told us about how she experiences these moments, and what we have seen her do, I've known for awhile that she can somehow sense these things, but after observing her closely tonight, I absolutely believe it.

As somebody that has a incredibly accurate memory, I didn't understand it when I was a little kid, but by the time I was in my teens I knew that I was different. Some of the teachers and the principal thought that I was a genius because I was showing up to school only one day a week and nailing every test they threw at me, but I learned very quickly to just hide my ability from people, and maintained my grades no higher than what was required to pass because I know that if they found out about it they would have probably put me on a talkshow like I saw with other kids with a good memory. Sure, that might have presented me with some opportunities that could have made my life very different, but I'm perfectly happy to stand in the shadows, unknown to the world, with everybody else's stories haunting me for the rest of my life.

When I was younger I didn't have anybody to watch out for me so I had to learn to do it myself, but Phoebe has her family there for her. Though, if anybody ever messed with her, I'm sure that she would just kick them in the d*ck.

By the way, you can watch the X-Men clip below. Hmmmmm, it's Sweet Dreams again ... it's somehow appropriate that song would be playing while we are having this discussion about exploiting people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnZqB5Z75zI

[Murfreesboro]

Aww, shoot, I can't get that clip to play. My phone needs updating, but it's out of memory. Sometimes I can get them to play, but it's random.

There is most certainly a crisis in public education, which is very concerning, because I think the public schools were top notch back when my mother graduated high school in 1932. Back then they could fail people who didn't perform. Mama told me that everybody at her high school (southeast Arkansas, not exactly the most forward-looking place at that time) took at least two years of Latin to graduate, so they graduated with excellent vocabularies and the ability to figure out the meanings of words they didn't use every day. And people were held to very high standards. One of her brothers, who was not academically inclined, actually got a certificate rather than a diploma just to show that he'd attended the full twelve years, but he didn't really graduate. Yet he wasn't the least bit stupid. He just wasn't bookish. I do think that high school diplomas back then signified a higher level of accomplishment than most Jr college degrees do now.

[Murfreesboro]

Returning to this topic of public education, I think the schools began to decline in the 60s and 70s, when I was still in them. The problem then was that TPTB turned their attention away from academic excellence and instead began to view the schools as instruments of social engineering. Perhaps, to some extent, the post-WW2 GI Bill also contributed. Before that war, very few people went to college or needed to. High school was greatly valued because for most folks, it was going to be the pinnacle of their formal education. After WW2, when virtually all able-bodied men had served, a huge number took advantage of the government funded college education, and once people have been to college themselves, they don't want their children to have less. College became a middle class expectation, and with so many more people attending, I think the standards started to slip there, too.

Another problem, I believe, is that the women's movement of my youth funneled a large number of bright young women into professions other than teaching. My SIL is a case in point. In high school she won the state math competition here in TN four years in a row. In previous times, she most likely would have become a high school math teacher. Instead, she spent her career at NASA, mostly planning experiments for astronauts to perform in the shuttle program. Great for her, but maybe less great for the students she never taught. There was a great brain drain in public education when women started aspiring en masse to careers formerly open mainly to men.

[Murfreesboro]

Well, I tried to post one more thing, but I lost it. It had to do with my husband's experience as a public school teacher.

Teaching was a second career choice for him because his health wasn't robust enough for him to stay in the Army, which was his first choice. He is a very bright guy and was quite idealistic in his youth. Early in his teaching career, one of his students asked him, "Mr K----, you're so smart. Why do you teach?" I've forgotten how he answered, but we both thought it was a telling question. Young people don't expect the best and the brightest to enter that profession.

He's been at it long enough now to have experienced various reforms that failed to deliver what they'd promised. No Child Left Behind was probably based on a program in Virginia called Success for All Students. On paper it sounded great, but in practice it meant that nobody could be failed. If a student failed, the teacher was blamed. And if lots of students failed, it was the school's fault. Of course, most kids are bright enough to figure out that if they put in minimum effort they'll still pass, so a great number just don't work much. Now there are some super students, like my older son and my daughter, who work their tails off out of pride, dedication, whatever. From what I've seen as a parent, those top tier kids have never worked harder. But it doesn't guarantee success because they come up against demographics. They may be the wrong gender or the wrong color, or they may just have the misfortune to have been born when a great many other people were. We've been hearing for years that the colleges expect to fall off a demographic cliff in fall '26 because the college age population is shrinking dramatically. Perhaps it will get a little easier. But for my first and third kids, who were academic water-walkers, it was brutal.

Another issue for the public schools is that children cannot be punished for a disability. That sounds fair, right? A no-brainer. But what if their disability is anger management? That happened in my older boy"s 6th grade class. A 12.yr old classmate, male, went berserk and started throwing desks around. No way could the petite female teacher control him. But this kid had an IEP that said his disability was anger management. If my kid had done what he did, he'd have been expelled. But this kid was out of class for a few days, then right back in. The teacher's husband tried to sue, but his lawyer told him there was no recourse. The husband said, " You mean, this boy has all the rights, and my wife has none?" And the lawyer said, " That's about the size of it." Whenever there's a school shooting, people always ask the question, Why didn't anyone see it coming? Believe me, the teachers ALWAYS see it coming. They abdolutely know which kids are likely to blow up. But legally they can'tt do a thing about it. I can't tell you how many times my husband has read or heard news reports about school violence and has recognized the name of a therapeutic drug the perpetrator was on. And he'll say, "You know what that means? Special ed." Special Ed is golden. They are untouchable because they have IEPs. And my husband knows all about that, because he's a special ed teacher, though he deals with the high end, the gifted. But he spends most of his life writing IEPs.

Don't get me started on the standardized testing. I'll be talking until midnight. But my husband says there is way too much of it, and that the tests themselves have been dumbed down from our day. The kids feel like lab rats, and it actually cuts into instructional time to a great degree.

I'll shut up now.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

Murf, please don't ever shut up, I enjoy your commentary too much.

Well, I tried to post one more thing, but I lost it.

I recently mentioned this in another thread, but you should always copy the full text of your posts before you click the button to make your post, so if something happens you won't have to type it again.

Also, I hope that you can eventually check out the clip I posted. It has some really awesome effects that look great.

It's been a long night, I was up doing some business paperwork so I'm just getting to this. I'll try to cover as much as I can, but if I can't then I'll come back to this tomorrow night.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled post ...

I agree with what you said in the last few posts.

About a year ago my wife and I were having a discussion with some other parents about the current state of the education system, and one of them said that the No Child Left Behind program was a crime against the youth of this country, we all agreed. If I remember correctly, the NCLB program was introduced in 01, and since then, the educational standards have been in a steady decline, and it's at a point now where people are so stupid that they don't even realize that they are stupid. I'm not saying that as a joke, or sarcastically, I'm absolutely serious. Of course, just look at the guy that introduced the NCLB program.

Of course, most kids are bright enough to figure out that if they put in minimum effort they'll still pass

Believe me, I have to put up with some of those minimum effort students on a daily basis. I'll elaborate more on this later.

More recently, my wife and I have been seriously discussing sending the girls to a
private school after this summer. In our area some public schools only go to grade 5, but some go to grade 6, while middle school/junior high, it goes by different names in different areas, is from grade 6-8, or just 7-8 depending on the school. Right now both kids are in the same school, but Sam will be in grade 7 soon, and the private school that we are looking at goes from elementary to the end of high school, so we want to send them there. Yeah, it's pricey, but we can afford it, and we are just sick of their current school. I suppose the hard part will be trying to convince them to want to change their school, I know they won't want to leave their friends, but most of them live close enough so it's not like they can't still be friends.

More to come.

[Murfreesboro]

Since you can afford it, I think putting them in a private school is a good idea. The one drawback is that sometimes the extracurriculars aren't as good--band programs might not be as well developed, eg. But generally I think the positives out weigh the negatives.

I was in public school through the 10th grade. Then federally mandated bussing exploded our lives in the middle of our school year. Both students and teachers got switched all around. Sometimes the teachers were being expected to teach classes they'd never taught before, all mid-year. Prior to that, Jackson's public schools had been ranked among the best in the nation. I lived on the same street for the first 20 years of my life, but in February of that year I got sent to a decrepit inner city school. I didn't know anybody there. I lasted one semester, and then the next fall my mother put me into a private school for 11th grade. It was a finamcial hardship for us, since she hadn't planned on paying for my high school. She had me graduate at the end of that year, and I started a local college the following fall, when I was 16.

That high school reunion i attended in March was of my 11tj grade advanced English class from that private school. It was hosted by our teacher, who was only 9 years older than we were. It's the only high school experience I even remember with any clarity.

[Andybev01]

I am the product of eleven years of parochial school, kindergarten through my sophomore year in high school, and although I have mixed feelings about religion in general , I do appreciate the education that I was privileged to have been given.

When I transferred to a public high school for the remaining 2 years I had accrued so many credits from private school that I was allowed half days and early release, and let me tell you being being a teenager with a car and a generous allowance that I squandered those 2 years on frivolous excess.

HH, anyone can have lens deterioration at any age.

They get cloudy, and a 15 minute procedure gives you new, clear lenses made from acrylic.

I'm scheduled for the first eye on June 1st then eye 2 a week later.

[Murfreesboro]

Good luck with your eye procedures, Andy!

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

I haven't been able to access the forums for a few days, I thought it was a issue with incoming traffic, but it might have been a issue with the browser that I was using. I finally tried 2 other browsers and they both let me access the forum again, so I should have tried them earlier.

This is another looooong post, but I promise that I'm going somewhere with it...

I know that I just turned 45 a few months ago, but lately I've been contemplating my mortality, specifically in regards to what my family would do if something was to happen to me sooner rather than later. I know that from a financial standpoint they would be fine, as the businesses and land that I own, along with other investments and what's in the bank will take care of them. However, one thing that I'm concerned about is my collection, as I know that there isn't anybody in my family that knows anything about collectibles, and I don't want my wife and kids to be scammed by somebody that's dishonest and will tell them it isn't worth anything and then give them a low offer for it, or for them to be burdened with the uphill battle of trying to identify every item so that they can sell it themselves.

The reason that I bring this up is because about a month ago I had a conversation with my close friend Don, he's a collector that I've known since I was in my teens. He's in his 60s now and while he's been married a few times he didn't have any kids, so he was telling me that he doesn't know what he's going to do with his collection when he dies. He is a business executive and he has a very impressive collection as well as a rather large bank account to spend on collectibles, and while he sounded sort of depressed when we talked, he assured me that he has no intention to stop collecting any time soon.

After the conversation I took a few days to think about what we had discussed, and I started to go through some of my collection. I've mentioned before that when I was a teenager and I started working, after I would help my mother with the rent and groceries I would put some of it in the bank and the rest I would invest in collectibles. However, unlike the other people my age that were sucked into the collecting vacuum of the 90s, I didn't bother with anything that was current or modern, instead I chose to invest into vintage collectibles from the 20s to the 70s. I went after comics and sports cards that at the time were still high priced, and I was paying between $50-$2000 for some of them, bear in mind that while I started buying the collectibles in my ealry teens I continued to collect until I was about 20 so I had more to spend as I worked more and got older, and when I turned 20 I started to invest in real estate.

Some of the things I collected sell today for unfathomable prices, even some of the cheaper things that I got for $10 are now valued at $700, and I don't think that anybody that was investing back then could have ever comprehended the prices that these collectibles would command in today's market. So after I thought about it for awhile, I decided to start selling some of my collection, the main reason is because I don't want my family to be burdened with this when I'm gone, and I know that the funds that I make from these sales now will be put aside for my family. I went to look on ebay to get a idea of what is popular right now, and I picked out 20 medium to high priced things from my collection, 10 comics and 10 cards, just to test the market.

I listed them on ebay and Facebook marketplace, if anything sells on ebay then I get hit with fees and taxed on the transaction as well, but if it sells on Facebook then I get the full funds. Well, full disclosure, last month I sold the 20 items for almost 90K, and that was after the fees, so I actually sold them for closer to 110K. I knew the market was hot right now, but I admit that even I didn't think that they would go for such high prices. I thought that maybe some of the buyers might have tried to cancel the transactions, or just not pay for their purchases because that happens frequently with high priced listings on ebay, but each of the buyers paid promptly and were a pleasure to deal with.

Of course, this is is just the tip of the iceberg, I have a very large collection, and I'm slowly going to start listing things, starting with some of the more expensive comics. I've also agreed to sell some cards to Don because he's been asking for them for years, I'm glad that I held out because they are worth far more now, though I'll still give him a good price because he's a friend. Obviously, there are certain things that I'm not going to sell yet, like my Halloween and horror collection, my movie memorabilia, and I'll hang on to some of the more historically important comics and cards because I know that they will continue to climb in value, and there's still the possibility that my kids might be interested in them one day.

As I've been going trough my collection, there's a certain song that's been constantly playing in my head. The reason for this is because back in 96 when this song came out, I was balancing high school and working at night and I would listen to this song every single day before I went to school in the morning, and at night before I went to work. I was always angry back then, and for some reason, it became a way to motivate me to get through the Hell I was living in at the time, it's also strongly connected to many of the collectibles that I got back then because I would bring them home and place them on the table, and sit there staring at them while I listened to that song, wondering if the price I just paid for them was worth it, not just how expensive it was, but also what I was putting my body through. Then I would go to work and start the cycle again.

Looking back on those days, and with that song still playing in my head, I'm going through a variety of emotions. It's hard to explain, but there's actually a part of me that misses those days, and another part that is glad they are in the past.
It also let me reflect on some of the investments that I made, a reminder to me of why I did it in the first place, and I think that I made some very smart choices back then that have now shown me that what I went through was necessary to get where I am today. I recently played the song for my kids, and while they like the way it sounds, they don't really understand the meaning, though I suppose that's a good thing. The song is If It Makes You Happy by Sheryl Crow, if you haven't ever heard it before, or you just want to hear it again, click the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHA_L63 ... rt_radio=1

As I said at the beginning of this post, I was going somewhere with this...

On Saturday we had Raoul's retirement party, it was a emotional event for most of us at the restaurant, my old boss was there for one of his dearest friends, and we also invited Marcelo to the party. If you will recall, Marcelo is the gentleman that I recently acquired the diner from. My old boss, Raoul, and Marcelo have known each other for decades, and it was great watching them reminisce about the good old days. Raoul was happy for the love he received from everybody, and he did act surprised when we gave him his vacation present. During the party Marcelo approached me and told me that he was ready to sell his gorgeous 57 Chevy, and he invited me to his house the following day to discuss it.

On Sunday my brother and I went to his house, I brought my brother because he's a car guy and I know that he would give me a honest evaluation of the condition the car is in. The car was sitting in the driveway, I didn't tell him what type of car it was before we got there, and when my brother saw it he had this hysterical look on his face, and he said ... that's the car? are you serious, do you know how much a car like that goes for??? I told him to maintain his composure, and that I would handle the negotiations. Marcelo saw us through the window and came out to greet us, I introduced my brother to him, and he invited us in.

He told me that he was very pleased with what I've done with the diner, and his niece, she's still the manager there, has had only good things to say about me since I took over, then he said that he knew that I was the right person, and he's happy that I got it. We sat there for awhile talking about different things and then we went back outside so that my brother could look over the car, after a few minutes he pulled me aside and said that it was in beautiful condition, and he estimates that the car is valued at about 80k, then he said that I should just walk away because that's too much right now. I looked right at him and gave him a sarcastic smile.

I asked Marcelo how much he wanted for the car, he paused for a moment, and then he said ... I like you, you're a good kid with a good head on your shoulders ... another long pause, and then ... well, the car is from 57 ... how about 57K for it? I was shocked, I was expecting him to say between 70-80k, and believe me, I was ready to pay that much for it. My brother looked like he sh*t his pants, he didn't say a word. I reached my hand out to Marcelo and said ... sold! Then we shook hands on it and I immediately sent him the payment. A few minutes later after the transaction went through, he placed the keys in my hand, gave me a hug, and told me to take good care of it, I promised him that I would. Believe me, I know that he could have sold the car to somebody else for a significantly higher price, so I'm thankful that he gave me a beautiful deal on it. I told my brother to drive my car home, and I got into the Chevy. I sat there for a moment just breathing it in, then I drove back here.

When we got back here my brother looked pissed, I thanked him for coming with me and he just said ... yeah. He didn't say anything else, he just got in his car and left. I guess he wasn't happy for me, oh well. I told my wife and kids to come outside so that I could show them something, the look on my wife's face was hilarious, she was just in shock, the kids were excited about it, and they wanted to go for a drive right away, I told them that we would in a minute. In particular, I could tell that Sam was enamored with it by the way she was looking at it, and gently gliding her hand across the surface of the car. I was waiting for my wife to say something. She pulled me aside and asked me if I was crazy? I told her that I would explain everything later, and then she said with a smile on her face ... so this is what a midlife crisis looks like, you aren't planning to leave me for a younger woman, are you? I replied ... are you joking? There isn't a woman on this planet that could ever compare to you. Then she kissed me and we got in the car.

While we were driving around, Sam said that she wants this car whe she starts to drive, I told her that I would think about it, and let her know once she gets her license. Hey, she's got great taste. Obviously, this is a showroom quality car that is in unbelievably beautiful condition for a car that's almost 70 years old. I won't be driving it often because around here we only have about 5 months of good weather, so it's a good thing that I have a large garage because I won't ever let any snow touch this car. I honestly can't wait to show it to my mother later this week, she grew up riding around in her father's old 55 Chevy, and she's always said that she wishes that she still had that car, so I know she's going to love it.

Now here's the kicker ... if you will recall earlier that I mentioned those collectibles that I recently sold, well, 4 of the comics sold for a combined total of almost 62k, so that already covers the full price that I paid for the car, and that's not even counting what the other collectibles sold for. But technically speaking, if you look at it from a certain point of view, waaaaay back when I bought those 4 comics, I only paid a total of $980 for them, so while I just paid 57k for a car that's worth around 80k, I technically paid under $1000 for it.

When I explained it to my wife she had a bewildered expression on her face, she asked me how do I know how much I paid for the 4 comics? I asked her if she was serious? First, I have always kept meticulous records of my collectibles, even from back then, and I mean, come on, I have a excellent memory, so of course I know how much I paid for them. She was silent for a moment, then she said ... when you used to tell me that junk in the basement was worth something, I thought you were full of sh*t, but I happily stand corrected. My wife was already aware that I had recently sold some of my collectibles, but I hadn't previously told her how much they sold for, so I thought now would be a good time to tell her, so I did. She had a wide-eyed expression, then said ... get the f*ck out of here, you aren't serious, right? I pulled out my phone and after about a minute of scrolling through the completed ebay listings, she looked up at me with a wide grin that reminded me of the Cheshire cat. Then she threw a pillow at me. I'll leave the rest of the evening to your imagination.

Obviously, I won't tell anybody else what I really paid for the car, I mean other than you guys, but I definitely won't tell my brother because he was already angry about it, and if he knew the real price, he would probably punch me. But hey, I've got a absolutely sweet 57 Chevy and I'm going to enjoy it. I guess it just goes to show you that making wise investments can be very rewarding.

What a weekend!

If it makes you happy ...

Man, I'm traveling at FTL right now.

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[Andybev01]

That was a delightful read.

Personally, I have never been very good at personal finance and knowing that, I knew that trying to have a family would have been a big mistake.

I realize that is a selfish outlook on life , but it's honest , and it also gave me the freedom to move about the job market as I saw fit.

That car is a beauty! Do I see a Hurst quick shift on the floor?

When my parents relocated from michigan to the west coast , they drove out in their "57 Bel Air Nomad wagon. I have only seen it in photos because it was long before I arrived on the scene.

The attached photo is not my parents car because I do not have photos of it, one of my siblings does , but it's basically the same configuration of light blue and white.