Family is who you choose to be family. Sometimes your blood family has a head start, but that is all.

I didn’t think you were comparing. Just having a conversation.

Oh, I know other people have it worse. He’s a shit person, but there are plenty of shit people to go around.

Well, I would have been not quite 14, so not beyond the realm of possibility. Was your Mom brunette?

Relevant boy story: A friend of mine from high school back in the day got in major trouble for building a bomb out of some black powder and some old aluminum wind chimes. The idiot touched the thing off (little more than a big firecracker) just as his mom got home from work early. KABOOM!

My Brother is a jackass, and has been for decades. Had 13 kids, then left his wife (who is also a piece of work) using the excuse “I just want to be happy. Don’t you think God wants me to be happy?” So stage set, right?

I had this problem here the other day. I called another poster a “kid” which caused him to become incensed. “I’m not a kid! I’m thirty!”

What this article fails to mention is there were plenty of aircraft capable of a nonstop trans-Atlantic flight in 1937. Amelia Earhart did it in 1932, and several other pilots had completed the flight about the same time.  Some from east-to-west, which was considered more difficult.

I’m not sure how that’s relevant. I wouldn’t eat at a Carl’s Jr. on a bet. Same level of quality as a Taco Bell or Subway. There’s plenty of considerably better fast food within walking distance of my house, although there’s a Carl’s Jr. about a half mile away. About a block from a Del Taco and a Popeye’s Chicken.

Ha! Should have been. He packed more life into fifty years than most people pack into a lifetime. Although there’s some argument about how old he was when he died (he was claiming 53, but was probably closer to 60, if all his stories were true.)

I once took a step too close to a nest of Bald-faced hornets (which are a species of communal wasps related to yellowjackets, not actual hornets) who are total and complete assholes. One of the little shits saw me from 10-15 feet away and came at me like a shot. Bastard stung me on the neck. I was maybe 100 yards from…

A friend of mine back in the 90's had a garage full of old English cars. He had an XKE, a Tiger, and a couple of Alpines. He couldn’t resist buying them if he found them cheap enough. None of them were driveable.

Nah, you missed the part where I said they’re going to invest in a newer flat screen smart TV. (May have already done so.) Then we can just load up some USB sticks with media we like.

Probably too much khat.

Are you kidding? I need that liver!

Repetition makes it easier.  Like I said, it was my fourth try when I made it.  However I wasn’t even 20 by that time.

We were thinking of limiting it to black and white movies only, to keep up with the vintage nature of the place. Casablanca, Key Largo, that sort of thing. And I’ve got the complete The Thin Man series, which is really fun.

Yeah, most cargo ships come up the river at 10 knots or so.

When I was a kid we used to go down there all the time for a day, or a weekend. Stay in a motel and watch the storms in the winter, or go dig razor clams. Today I have a friend with a 100 year old beach house, and occasionally I get invited for a weekend. I enjoy it. Get away from the internet and just relax and…

Three times!