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The Life Thread

Started by BojackHorsefella, May 14, 2018, 07:04:48 PM

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BojackHorsefella

Boston is cool, been once, need to go back. Fenway is a place of evil but it is spectacular.

I've been to DC multiple times, love DC. Chicago once, wasn't a fan (I got very confused by the roads. I do need to go back to go to a White Sox game though, knocked out Wrigley on the one trip) and Nashville I went to when the Jets played the Titans during Vince Young's first game. It was also really cool although I didn't get to see very much.

Crewe

Quote from: Bucfever on September 15, 2018, 11:46:06 AM
Boston is cool, been once, need to go back. Fenway is a place of evil but it is spectacular.

I've been to DC multiple times, love DC. Chicago once, wasn't a fan (I got very confused by the roads. I do need to go back to go to a White Sox game though, knocked out Wrigley on the one trip) and Nashville I went to when the Jets played the Titans during Vince Young's first game. It was also really cool although I didn't get to see very much.

I get mixed reviews on DC. Most say see the museums obviously but other than that, not much else. I sill want to go.
Chicago for me would be for Wrigley. Nashville is a cool little town Ive heard about from multiple folks.
Most of my vacations have been of the tropical variety out of country. I need to start focusing more on this country while Im still able.

BojackHorsefella

I'm the opposite. Been all up and down the east coast and some of middle America (NO, Chicago, Nashville), but I've only been out of the country twice (not including Canada) and one of those times it was in the Navy. I'd like to go to Cabo or Cozumel, Tokyo, New Zealand, Germany and Amstersam. Many many places. 

rollntider

I went to Baltimore a few years ago on business and sat in the MASN headquarters which is in the Orioles ball park. Got to tour the stadium from the inside and it was pretty damn cool. A sort of funny story, when we went, the sales rep I was with had a Bama national title pin from the 2009 season. One of the ladies asked how dare he bring in a phillies pin into the O's ball park. He pointed out it was for Bama and they got a laugh over it, Ozzie Newsome happened to be there about something and they took us to meet him. It was pretty cool.



Crewe

Quote from: Bucfever on September 16, 2018, 01:00:11 AM
I'm the opposite. Been all up and down the east coast and some of middle America (NO, Chicago, Nashville), but I've only been out of the country twice (not including Canada) and one of those times it was in the Navy. I'd like to go to Cabo or Cozumel, Tokyo, New Zealand, Germany and Amstersam. Many many places.

Man, Cabo was my spot for years and years and years. Every time, we went for Sammy Hagar's Birthday Bash out there, thats a great time to go. Last year was the last hurrah in Cabo though, time for something else. If you go, its so easy to just stay at the resort, but if you do, you are missing out on the town. We would stay right on the marina or there was a little hotel, kinda like an old Spanish Mission right across the street from Sammy's Cantina where all the fans would stay. $40-50 a night, no tv in the room but who cares, clean and we only slept there, plus its right in the middle of everything.

Crewe

Quote from: rollntider on September 16, 2018, 10:53:31 AM
I went to Baltimore a few years ago on business and sat in the MASN headquarters which is in the Orioles ball park. Got to tour the stadium from the inside and it was pretty damn cool. A sort of funny story, when we went, the sales rep I was with had a Bama national title pin from the 2009 season. One of the ladies asked how dare he bring in a phillies pin into the O's ball park. He pointed out it was for Bama and they got a laugh over it, Ozzie Newsome happened to be there about something and they took us to meet him. It was pretty cool.

if I could do an MLB park tour, Camden would be up there, but just not much else to do in B-more that I know of really.

BojackHorsefella

Quote from: Crewe on September 16, 2018, 12:06:08 PM
Quote from: Bucfever on September 16, 2018, 01:00:11 AM
I'm the opposite. Been all up and down the east coast and some of middle America (NO, Chicago, Nashville), but I've only been out of the country twice (not including Canada) and one of those times it was in the Navy. I'd like to go to Cabo or Cozumel, Tokyo, New Zealand, Germany and Amstersam. Many many places.

Man, Cabo was my spot for years and years and years. Every time, we went for Sammy Hagar's Birthday Bash out there, thats a great time to go. Last year was the last hurrah in Cabo though, time for something else. If you go, its so easy to just stay at the resort, but if you do, you are missing out on the town. We would stay right on the marina or there was a little hotel, kinda like an old Spanish Mission right across the street from Sammy's Cantina where all the fans would stay. $40-50 a night, no tv in the room but who cares, clean and we only slept there, plus its right in the middle of everything.

Yeah, it was you on here all these years that put Cabo in my head, haha.

BojackHorsefella

I may very possibly be speaking from ignorance here but, I wonder, in the past, pre-Internet days, if you had a group of friends you hung out with who were "bad news" or just had "bad ideas," there were plenty of ways to either remove yourself from them or even to be removed from them involuntarily. I don't mean anything excessive, it's just, if you lived in, say, South Carolina and you and your group of friends had a certain type of view, it was still more likely that you'd, say, move from either your town or your state to go to college, even if you went to college in your own town, any of those friends might leave for those same reasons, or, the simple fact is, eventually you age and transfer for a job or for a loved one. There's many things that could break you apart from those people, and put you in a place where, perhaps, you can rethink some of those ideals or beliefs, especially the toxic, hateful ones, and have a chance to mature and be wiser.

I wonder then if perhaps the internet is to blame for this sort of man-child behavior we see these days (haha, "if"). It'd be one thing if, pre-internet, I had a group of friends who thought like these Gamergaters, or the Last Jedi people who threaten and insult the people who worked on the movie (we're talking the extreme ones here). Again, we may grow apart, grow distant in time, it's possible to be removed from that toxic ideology and advance past it.

Now, whatever age you are when you get sucked in by that, you can stay a part of it forever. You can move around the country, go wherever you like, and if people in real life challenge those toxic thoughts or ideals, you can retreat to your "friends" on the internet who will lift you up for your toxic ideology. Now, I know, there's always been toxic, hateful people, that's why we have the KKK and other extremist groups in America even before the internet. This, though, what's been going on these days, doesn't really have a name. We call it "Gamergate" and "Comicsgate" and that kind of stuff, but it's just shitty, horrible people being shitty and horrible together and encouraging others to be shitty and horrible, at which point they will be praised. It seems like the internet would make it much harder for someone to WANT to break away from that, when they're getting that feeling of satisfaction and validation from these types of groups.

I don't know, maybe I'm just pissing in the wind again or maybe this is a real thing, but does that make sense to anyone else?

Crewe

I agree with you, sort of, I think.
Pre internet, you had to be prepared to be called out for your bullshit. And it wasn't as if people were walking around afraid to speak their mind, but society was aware there could be consequences if you go off the rails, because interaction was more localized and face to face.
The internet bred anonymity which allowed people to vent their deeper corrosive beliefs they would not necessarily air in public, or, i.e., pre internet.
Now this is more on an individual level, sans something like the KKK you referenced. However, the internet allowed folks to generate their own like minded societies, or forums, if you will. And to my way of thinking, that's an element contributing to the decay of society.
It's where hate groups, et al can have a voice and be counted where they may not have pre internet.

As for getting away from undesirables, I guess I don't understand, because now, or pre internet, you have the choice about who you choose to hang around with most times.

Did I come close to anything you were referencing? lol

BojackHorsefella

More the involuntary aspect of getting away from undesirables. Like, before, if I was a kid who hung around people like that, and then I went off to college or something in another city, state, whatever, I mean, maybe I'm writing letters or calling those guys back home, but most likely I'm losing touch with them or checking in like, once or twice a year maybe. And plus, while I'm away from them, I'm theoretically not around like-minded people or, at the very least, to your point, they're not voicing those opinions in public, so I either have to pretend to NOT be one of those types of people, or, now that I'm away from those people and they're validation/reinforcement, I'm more likely to distance myself from those beliefs as I leave that bubble and enter the "real world," if you will.

Versus now, you have 24/7 contact with those people. Instead of "I got challenged at school today and I need to consider things," you get to go to your Facebook page or forum or Twitter or whatever and say "These effing SJWs etc etc etc" and everyone there will be like "You're right, eff those SJWs" and it just continues the cycle of hate.

Crewe

So yea, I mean you can always find resources to feed your beliefs, albeit much easier nowadays via the net.
But if you are trying to escape those circles individually, its just as easy, in my mind, to do it today as it was then. For instance, we don't run in hate groups, but we are certainly exposed to them daily. So I can see, and do believe, the internet has lent itself to the hatred via the anonymity and ease of collaboration with like minded folks which can heavily influence youngsters or even uninspired or young adults "searching" for something.
And yea, agree its a never ending cycle of hate that's easily accessible and not readily disavowed.

TheNorm

I can't really say it much better than Crewe already covered it. While I do see your point that the internet in a lot of ways has made it easier for those that want to retreat to their glass bubble to do so...it's still just as easy to get away from them. It still starts with the individual, you know? If that person doesn't want to escape, they'll keep doing what they're doing. Whether they use the internet to reaffirm their hate speech or they used to go like the days past when they'd check the classifieds in the section past "Men Seeking Women Seeking Men/blah blah blah" they'll find the resources they want. The individual has to make that choice to stay or leave.
"But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity." - Martin Luther King, Jr

Crewe

Quote from: TheNorm on October 24, 2018, 11:17:22 PM
I can't really say it much better than Crewe already covered it. While I do see your point that the internet in a lot of ways has made it easier for those that want to retreat to their glass bubble to do so...it's still just as easy to get away from them. It still starts with the individual, you know? If that person doesn't want to escape, they'll keep doing what they're doing. Whether they use the internet to reaffirm their hate speech or they used to go like the days past when they'd check the classifieds in the section past "Men Seeking Women Seeking Men/blah blah blah" they'll find the resources they want. The individual has to make that choice to stay or leave.

Actually, I think you did lol  :D

BojackHorsefella

I wanted to finally make a non-depressing post, haha.

So, what's a memorable vacation/trip you've taken?

I've gotten to see many places, thanks in part to my family and also my brief sojourn to the Navy. Italy, Hong Kong, Manila, Hawaii. But one of my favorite trips was in 2014, to Disneyworld.

See, we used to go to Disney, Seaworld and Universal every 4 years (and, at one point, every other year) as kids. Then the trips stopped for a bit. I had my son, and we had a trip to Disney when he was a baby, but that was the last time I remember going (it was for ESPN the Weekend, was really fun). My brother and I were starting to get tired of Disney though, and were excited the next family trip would likely be to Universal by the time kiddo came of age. Then my brother went and had a kid, so we knew it would be Disney.

So, 2014 rolls around, kiddo is 9 years old, his cousin is 5 or 6, and his aunt is pregnant with another. Disney trip!

Like I said, my brother and I were getting tired of Disney, but it had been a few years and this trip was going to be relaxing. Parents got a rental (so many people in Florida rent their homes out during the season for people to stay at). Plenty of bedrooms for all of us, little game room set up in the garage (there was a pool table, air hockey, and an original Xbox with Halo and Tiger Woods 2003, which was apparently enough for us).

We stayed there a week and we had tickets for Disney ("park hopper passes") for 3 days. The other 4 were just up to us to do whatever. We went to the Florida mall in Orlando, my brother and sister in law had Chipotle for the first time, and there was this awesome sushi place in the food court called "Wasabi" (there's apparently only 3 of them, and I somehow miraculously have been to two. Quick aside, literally 2 years to the day from this day, I was visiting friends in Tysons Corner, Virginia and there it was, another Wasabi in that mall. I know it was 2 years to the day because of the Facebook Memories feature).

But, the big part was Disney. So, the first day of the trip, me, SIL, brother, kiddo and my niece all go to Animal Kingdom. The last time we'd been there was when it first opened up, so my brother and I weren't expecting much. We ended up spending the entire day there. We ate at an awesome little restaurant there called "The Yak and Yeti." My brother and kiddo did the Everest ride (I don't do rollercoasters except for, like, just Space Mountain). There's a "show" inside the big Tree of Life, I remembered it as a kid, it's one of those 4-D theater type of things. I remember absolutely hating it as a kid. You get wet, there's a "stinkbug" (it's based on A Bug's Life) so at one point there's a horrible smell, the seats are designed so that when the bees show up there's a stinger that stings you in the back, and something in the seat that makes it feel like a bug is crawling under your butt at one point.

I remember all of this because, again, I hated it as a child.

So I didn't go in. SIL and brother went in with the kids, and when they came out my brother said "that was a huge mistake." Both kids had the same reaction I did, apparently, haha.

Day two spent in the park was pretty fun. We went to Epcot for a bit, my brother took kiddo on Mission Space (a ride I almost threw up on once when I was younger). We didn't get to do some of the other stuff we wanted to as we headed into Magic Kingdom, although, admittedly, I don't remember much of what we did there that day either. I do remember that night though, as we went back to Epcot, and ate at the German buffet there in Germany. The beer was incredible, the food was amazing and it was a really fun night.

Day three was easily the best day, though. My parents, now coming to the park with us, decided they were going to stay with my brother's family as they trawled Magic Kingdom for autographs from princesses (continuing one activity from the prior day). Kiddo and I naturally had no interest in this, and suddenly I found myself alone, with my son, in Disney. It was amazing.

We started off at MGM, grabbing a Fast Pass ticket for a new Toy Story Ride ("Toy Story Mania") which would get us in all the way at 9 PM already (it was like, 8 or 9 AM when we got them). We rode Star Tours at least 3 different times (they changed the experience, there's all new planets and stuff now). I know there's a few other things we did there, but then it was time to hop over to Magic Kingdom to get some stuff we missed.

So we go to Magic Kingdom so we can hit up the Haunted Mansion and some other things. While there, my parents give us Fast Passes for the Buzz Lightyear ride. So we use those, while also doing some of the other stuff in Tomorrowland.

Then it was off to Epcot. We stood in line for Test Track and right before it was time for us to go on, they closed down the ride due to rain. It was getting late and getting closer to our Toy Story Mania ride, so we headed on over to "Soaring," which is like Star Tours but larger. There's a bigger than IMAX screen, and you're essentially on a long hanging bench which simulates hang gliding through the skies. It was actually pretty freaking cool.

Then, lastly, it was back to MGM. We had some time so got in another Star Tours run, then hit up Toy Story Mania, which was absolutely beyond worth the wait. It was just hysterical. At this point, my phone was nearly dead, the rest of my family had left the park. I remember, I had like 5% battery on the phone. So I had to call them and very quickly execute a pickup plan, haha. We ended up taking the monorail to the Polynesian Resort and meeting them there.

It was awesome. That last day was frantic and really should've been stressful as all hell as we tried to do as much as we possibly could around all 3 parks, but it was just such a fun time. Kiddo is the best amusement park buddy since....well, since my older brother, and having that experience with him as a kid like I used to have as a kid is something I'd never pass up (which, I know like, duh, but still).

There was also a point we were waiting for a shuttle and a bee landed on kiddo and I immediately abandoned him to his fate. Luckily the bee flew away.

TheNorm

Dude, that's pretty damn cool. I like how the perspective shifts as we get older, and how trips might look through younger eyes. Sounds like both you and your child had an awesome experience. :)
"But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity." - Martin Luther King, Jr