True with other things besides cars and motorcycles. I told my best friend, a mature woman, that I always learned names of women and girls before men and boys. She laughed and said she always learned the names of men and boys faster.
I remember the names of all the really pretty girls in my high school class. The fat and ugly ones, not so much.
1 Like
Thanks Chris. Itâs a daily driver with 241,000 miles, so it has a few scrapes, but I touch them up as they occur and theyâre only obvious close up.
+1
Many of you may recall the tale of an old acquaintance from my high school days, whom I still see every few years. His retirement income is slightly higher than mine, but because he has the âgambling habitâ on his back, he has almost nothing to show for all of his years of work, and hisâŠdecentâŠretirement income. I own my rural home on 2/3 of an acreâfree and clearâwhile he rents a tiny apartment in a dodgy urban neighborhood.
He essentially lives from pension check to pension check (and has some very anxious moments toward the end of each month), but he has an innate need to drive late-model Cadillacsâwhich he leases every 3 years. When I asked him why he puts himself in such a financial hole with that expensive lease, his answer wasâŠThe doorman at the hotel/casino is REALLY impressed when I drive up!
Go figureâŠ
1 Like
Remember when they named hurricanes with womenâs names only because womenâs names were easier to remember?
Had he spent the same money on tobacco, alcohol, opioids, or methamphetamines heâd be in a bigger hole.
Iâll be sure to pass that wisdom along to him, so that he can continue to rationalize his losing gambling habits and his leasing of that Cadillac.
I will say this . . .
some of those smoking hot girls in high school turned into fat and ugly slobs in their 30s and 40s. Oh yeah, they also had ugly personalities 
And some of those fat and ugly ones in high school hit the gym, lost weight, got a good education, and were very attractive, successful and happy later on
Not everything stays the same 
Itâs not a good idea to assume that somebody you thought was unattractive, unsuccessful, or whatever, stayed that way after you stopped hearing about them. You might be eating crow some day 
1 Like
I graduated from high school in 1960. Our school had a lot of bullying, and thus I hated the HS and the whole town, and avoided going back if not necessary.
When the 50th came up, 2010, they were unable to find at least 15 or 20 of around 90 students. I sat here in my mountain village and found everyone but I think two. And got a lot of mails when I passed on their contact information.
Our super hot cheer leader in the 50âs was part of the 50th crew. She obviously didnât look at nearly 70 what she looked like at 18. My wife and I decided to stop in and see her on one of our 720 miles a day trips across the country. We were driving to Jupiter where my eldest son is a college prof and went by not far from her town. This was just one more trip, of many trips, on the way to put 220,000 miles on that excellent 2002 Sienna!
She had asked me what I could eat, she wanted to give us something to eat when we stopped, and I mentioned bacon. She cooked up a couple pounds of bacon! I never before in my life had all the bacon I could eat.
My wife and I both found her to be an extremely charming woman. Who notices such things about the hottest cheerleader in school? I realize this may be the exception but we were both enchanted with her.
Though it is true she was divorced more than once in those 50 years.
For the record, no, I did not go to the reunion. Some of the bullies are still alive and would be there.
Yeah, I tell all my nephews and nieces that they donât want to be one of those people who peaks in high school.
1 Like
Iâm a bit younger than you, but Iâve also not gone to any high school reunions
I believe my 25th was last year, but I didnât see any point in going
For reasons that are unimportant, literally all of us scattered in every direction after graduating. Iâm not too interested in catching up with them. High school was pretty average for me. I was bullied once, and made that guy regret it. In fact, I made him look bad in front of his girlfriend. After that, he left me alone and we never talked again. Mutual understanding, I suppose. I wasnât a geek, but I wasnât one of the cool kids or jocks, either. I played in the bands, played some sports, and managed to letter a few times. I actually had more problems after high school, but I got everything sorted out and all is now well.
Even though I didnât seek anybody out, a few people heard about me years later, and they were surprised in which direction my life had headed. It wasnât at all what they expected. But thatâs life.
I am probably somewhere in age between you and Irlandes, and I went to ONE high school reunion, which was the 20th anniversary of our graduation.
I went with a friend from HS, and we both hoped to encounter others with whom we had been friendly in HS, only to be very disappointed thatâmainlyâthe only ones to show up were folks whom we had known only by sight in HS, or had not known at all.
There were a few MDs in attendance with whom we had both been friendly in HS, but all of the MDs sat at two adjoining tables, and made it very clear that they had no interest in speaking with anyone other than their professional peers. So, my friend and I tried to socialize with people whom we barely knew, and neither of us really enjoyed ourselves.
My HS graduating class numbered over 700, and I donât think that there could have been more than 100 people at the reunion. Most likely many of the missing had moved to distant places and chose not to attend because of the distance. And, after that reunion, I was among the missing for the next reunions, even though I lived only about 1 hour away.
1 Like
At our 45th, our homecoming queen was a little overweight but by our 50th, she was trimmed down with a new hairdo. Some folks looked the same as 50 years ago and others were unrecognizable except for the name tags.
I will say on this subject that maybe we shouldnât be so judgmental to those who finance cars. After-all it has been around since Henry Ford and made it possible for people to get into transportation that they otherwise would not have. Like I have said before, sure folks shouldnât over extend themselves, but it is a simple business decision. Some folks prefer to only pay cash and thatâs fine. Others prefer to amortize the payout and that should be fine.
I can make a case that it is better to keep your cash invested and take advantage of low interest rates while they last. Its just math. Invest $40,000 with a potential 5-10% annual gain and pay out $10,000 of it a year at a 1-2% cost, versus giving up that potential investment gain. For some that is not an option-either finance or walk or take the bus if available.
Be honest though, the reason you save up and pay cash is because it makes you feel good, not necessarily for any legitimate business reason.
2 Likes
Yeah that was me. I still donât know what model the engine came out of. Dipstick and oil filler were on the wrong sides for my truck. I put my original computer back in which solved the pcm problems. One prior mechanic had tried swapping the computer with a used one but didnât bother reprogramming it.
1 Like
In case you missed my point, some people donât just lose their money, they take their bodies down with them.
The right way to look at is that theyâre buying what they want. I donât enjoy gambling or spending a lot of money on a car. I also donât skydive or scuba dive or yacht or climb mountains or wear designer clothes⊠Iâm different from those people, not better. Your gambler buddy likes to spend his money losing it gambling and showing up in a fancy car: itâs what he wants.
2 Likes
If you have been driving a car for 20 years you should not need a loan to buy the next one.
3 Likes
I was 30 years old before I ever signed papers to finance a car. Before that, everything was always cash on the barrel head.
Two years of payments and I was sick to death of them so the car went up for sale. Luckily it sold the next day for 2 grand more than the credit union payoff and I used the 2 grand to buy a Monte Carlo free and clear.
Owing anybody anything grates on me to no end.
1 Like
I agree, but many still borrow. I was describing a way to do it better than âborrow as much as you can for as long as you canâ method used by many people. Bigger down payment is better, and $0 loan is better.
Maybe, maybe not. I made a lot of money in industry, and when my company went under it all disappeared to lawyers, divorce, etc. etc. Thereâs no telling what twists and turns anotherâs life has taken. I went from having a maid and being ferried around in limos (on business only) to living in a low-rent apartment. I bounced back somewhat, but the ball didnât bounce to the heights it did when I was younger.
There are very few people I know whose lives went exactly to plan. A blanket statement such as that sounds good but should to be altered to recognize this.
1 Like
My last reunion, the 15th year, was hastily put together and wound up being at a sports bar at the same time the OSU-Michigan(a BIG college football rivalry game here in Ohio) game was playing. I think maybe 20 people showed up for that one. I wanted to go, but I knew the place would be crammed full of drunken idiots watching football and would detract from anything meaningful that might take place with our class reunion.
All throughout school kids are told they NEED to go to college if they want to have any ârealâ job. Often times they are told they can make upwards of a million dollars or more over their lifetime than someone without a college degree. What they donât tell them is that theyâll be spending all that money paying off their student loans.
Nor do they really tell how much their field of study is in demand in the real world. A liberal arts degree probably wonât get you anything more than a low wage job that goes nowhere your whole life.