Canopyflyer

55m here.

I’m farsighted and started to need glasses for close up around the age of 36. Never really had to get use to them per se as I always had non-prescription sunglasses anyway.

I became a full time glasses wearer around the age of 40. At the age of 45 I became a progressive lens wearer and those took me about 2 full weeks to get use to. So it’s been about 10 years that I’ve worn progressives and my script has changed 4 times. It takes me a couple of days to get used to a new script.

I’m also legally blind in my right eye. It sees just well enough that it tracks with my left eye. One optometrist insisted on giving me 1/2 strength script for my right eye and I went along with it. It took me weeks to get used to it as I’m not used to having binocular vision of any kind, not to mention the near Coke bottle look to the lens. 3D movies are almost and absolute no go for me, because they make me ill. My current glasses have a script on the right lens, but it’s not nearly as strong.

“Never pass up the opportunity to keep your mouth shut.”

There is a lot of great advice in this thread.

Humble_boatsman (plywood panel) and EmpireofLove2 (screw bottle jack) in particular.

I would add two more things that I don’t see on here and that is a set of chocks and a piece of iron pipe.

The chocks are optional and can take up a lot of room in a small trunk, but they do add an additional level of safety.
The iron pipe, that can go over the handle of the tire iron, provides leverage to LOOSEN the lug nuts. Just don’t use it to tighten them as you could easily twist off the studs.

Granted you do not really need additional leverage to get lug nuts off, but I’ve had to change a tire with an injured arm and it made my life a lot easier.

“Nor Crystal Tears”: by Alan Dean Foster

One of the first novel length books I ever sat down to read when I was young.

The first series that I fell in love with was: “The Belgariad” by David Eddings

Say what you want about Eddings, the guy was not a nice guy, but “The Belgariad” was a great series and I leaped from it to LOTR.

Scorpius in Farscape.

He was introduced long after the main antagonist, Captain Bilar Crais, was firmly established. Suddenly the Captain was shoved aside for this new monstrous weirdo who’s motivation seems a bit contrived.

Scorpius is absolutely fantastic. Wayne Pygram absolutely knocked it out of the park and then some with portraying both Scorpius and Harvey throughout the rest of the series. Probably one of the best written and acted villains in television history.

Personally, I think Heinlein said it best: “Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”

Love is also a choice that you need to make every day.

Next week my wife and I will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary. I love her more now than I did back then.

1970 Chevrolet Impala: Liberty (I bought it from a guy in Liberty, KY).

1997 Nissan 200SX SE-R: Dot (It was Pacific Blue)

2003 Acura TL: Sally (Generic name for a generic car)

2014 Camry LE: Pearl (It was Cosmic Mica Gray which gave the car a pearlescent sheen).

I currently have a 2019 Camry Hybrid XLE, but have yet to name it. I’m leaning toward “Betty”, because the car has so many warnings, alarms, and notifications that I feel like I’m being bitched at when I drive it.

I have owned several cars over the years that I never named. My absolute favorite car I’ve ever owned was a 1985 Corolla GT-S that I raced in Pro Solo for a few years and it never received a name. The next car I owned was a 1992 Sentra SE-R and it never got a name either. Also had a 1969 Chevelle that I drag raced in my teen years, but no name there.

House on the Rock

When I moved to Wisconsin back in 2006, House on the Rock was one of the first things I heard about from my neighbors to go see. My wife and I looked at the website and said “we’ll go see it someday.” Well, that day was about a month ago as back then we started having kids and getting used to living in a new place. However, over the past 19 years I’ve had people tell me that “you’ve got to go see it.”

Now… I understand.

Is that place a monument to a man’s ascent to brilliance?

Or his decent into madness.

There was stuff in that museum that I took DAYS to process and I still really am unable to understand what it was I was looking at. It took my family and I FOUR hours to walk through it. It could have been a LOT longer if we actually stopped to study more than what we did.

I’m 55 years old and I’ve seen and done a lot things in my life… None of it prepared me for the sheer onslaught that is House on the Rock. Walking out of it I told my wife that I rather chaffed at the entrance fee when I paid it… Now, I’m not sure if they charged enough.

If you’re ever anywhere close to South Central Wisconsin… Take a day and go see it.

It doesn’t just live up to the hype… It so far exceeds it that trying to explain the place will never do it justice.

Manfred Mann’s cover of Blinded by the Light has entered the chat. Probably the most misheard lyrics in the entire history of modern music.

It’s “Revved up like a deuce.”

Wait… Manfred Mann’s version is a cover? Yep, Blinded by the Light was originally performed Bruce Springsteen.

Yes and I will stand by that statement.

Yes, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz are also brilliant movies. Both movies are also in Frost and Pegg’s exact wheelhouse, Britain.

Paul is another step above, because they so perfectly encapsulated the stupidity of a completely different country and culture. That’s why I like it a bit better. Name US writers/ actors that could do the same thing for Britain? I certainly cannot.

Paul (2011) IMHO Frost and Pegg’s best movie. Not sure why it’s not rated higher, it is simply brilliant.

The Last Starfighter (1984) Epic sci fi flick that was the first to use 3D rendered computer animation. The effects do NOT hold up, but the story sure does.

Chronicles of Riddick (2004) Sequel to Pitch Black and I personally like it much better. Admittedly, that’s due to I like that Riddick aims more to sci fi and Pitch Black toward horror. If you like horror more, then you’d probably like Pitch Black better.

Skydiving

Skydivers are not adrenaline (epinephrine) junkies. Adrenaline actually makes you feel terrible. You know that rush and shakes you get when you get hungry? Yeah, THAT’S an adrenaline rush.

No, we go for the same thing runners do. Endorphins. Nature’s own anti-depressant.

Donate money to your local food banks, homeless shelters, or any other non-profit that has a good reputation for assisting those in need.

If someone approaches you asking for money, absolutely under no circumstances should you give it to them. Be sure to say that you do not carry cash to give them. Then if you are feeling that you need to give to them, then offer a meal or buy groceries using a credit card. You’ll find that most of them will decline.

They are using YOUR GUILT to get their next drug fix most of the time. That guilt is artificial and the result of manipulation techniques they are employing against you. It is rather contemptible to be perfectly frank.

I wanted to be a pilot.

By age 16 I had several hours towards my private license.

My junior year in High School I started looking universities with aviation degrees, or engineering. I had settled on Rose Hulman and one other (been 40 years so don’t remember the place, but it was one of the top aviation colleges in the US at the time.) I actually was accepted at “the other place”.

It all came crashing down in the last conversation I had with my enrollment counselor and he asked a question that hadn’t been asked of me in the prior many conversations I had with him.

“How is your eyesight?”

You see, I’m legally blind in my right eye and in the US, pilots are required to have 20/20 corrected eyesight. In order for my right eye to be 20/20 I would basically have to have a telescope hanging off my face.

I never did get my private pilots license, which I can get even with my eyesight, but I would never pass medical for a commercial ticket.

Yes, I did look at training in other countries and yes there are a few that only require perfect color vision, which I do have. The problem was my parents absolutely forbade me to travel to another country.

So that was that.

Greetings programs!

I prefer to think of them fighting evil in another dimension.

This means something.

Your ass looks like 150 pounds of chewed bubble gum!

There’s no fighting in the war room!

Sire! The Great Leslie escaped with a friar!.. He escaped with a chicken!!!

Of course I denied installing CCTV in the nursery! What the hell would they watch?!!!

I think what we have here… Is a failure to communicate!

“Not my circus, not my monkeys.”

My life became infinitely better once I understood that saying.

My favorite band that I’ve actually seen live:

Duran Duran. Was a closet fan of theirs back in the late 80’s and got to see them when my girlfriend at the time got tickets.

Actual favorite band and unfortunately have never seen live:

RUSH

And it’s not because I think that Neil Peart is the greatest drummer of all time (that would be Buddy Rich). It’s because their music actually talks to my neurodivergent brain. It is also due to that the 3 of them were a confluence of exceptional talent that just happened to come together to make something special.

It’s “Revved up like a deuce.”

Not “Wrapped like a dou…” well you know.

First heard that song in 1981… Learned the correct lyrics in 2020. 39 years of being wrong, but I think I’m in good company.

Also learned that the version that most people know is actually a cover done by Manfred Mann in 1976. The original artist is Bruce Springsteen and he recorded it in 1973.

Onions

Raw: arrgg can’t stand them. Maybe if it is a sweet onion and very thinly sliced, but otherwise keep it away from me.

Sauteed: Mmmmm… spread them over EVERYTHING!!!

Caramelized: Extremely inappropriate moaning noises…

Hobby: Skydiving

1. Free fall is at most 65 seconds on a normal jump. My personal record is jumping from 28,000 feet and I was in free fall for around 85 seconds. That’s it, there is no such thing as a 5 minute free fall, unless you are looking to break an altitude record.

2. If you run up to a skydiver and pull their Pilot Chute (PC) out and throw it into the wind, nothing will happen. The gear is designed to work at free fall speeds. A 10mph wind will not pull the main out. If you pull on the PC bridle hard enough to actually pull the main out of its compartment… You will just have a main parachute in its deployment bag closed by rubber bands, or other method and it will just be laying on the ground. You will also get a well deserved punch in the mouth by more than one jumper. If you pull the reserve handle you will probably get murdered and there will be no witnesses, especially if the hanger was full of jumpers. They will just hide your body and you will have deserved your fate.

3. BASE jumping and Skydiving are as related as Hockey and Figure Skating. Sure there is some overlap, but one cannot do the other without training. Also BASE is an acronym. Building, Antenna, Span, Earth. Bridges fall under Span BTW. No, I am not a BASE jumper, although I have jumped the Bridge in WV. So yeah, I guess I have my S.

4. Yes, wing suites are cool. Wish I had more jumps on them.

5. You cannot talk in free fall. The old movie trope of talking back and forth is simply not possible. How difficult is it to talk in a car with the windows open going down the road at 70mph? Now, remove the windshield and drive the car 120mph…

6. The “parachute not opening” is not even in the top 10 concerns when jumping. The gear works and we jump with two chutes. There is a whole lot of bullshit that can happen before we get to deployment altitude. Not the least of which is just getting to the DZ in the morning. I always considered my drive to the DZ my most dangerous part of the day. Second most dangerous is being in the airplane. I’m actually relieved to exit the aircraft as at that point I have a better chance of making it to the ground safely than the pilot.