The Swamp

goddammit, Johnnie. I'm so sorry.

Johnnie wrote: ↑Thu Dec 07, 2023 11:35 pm This is tough for me because whenever you move base to base or eventually retire from the military, they all kinda disappear.

And it sucks because a buddy of mine that I really, truly looked up to because he was just so damn cool killed himself recently and it absolutely blindsided me. We hadn't chatted in a while but I'd see his posts every so often on Instagram.

Air Force Master Sergeant. Good looking dude with an awesome wife (who's currently pregnant) and a kid. And he was in the SERE career field which is high speed and one of the 'real jobs' that you can make commercials out of.

I just don't get it. I feel guilty for not saying hi sooner, but I just didn't know. And I would've dropped everything if he needed something. It just sucks.

Sorry Johnnie

Sorry, Johnnie.

That is awful, Johnnie.

Johnnie, I'm so sorry to read that. That's just devastating.

I'm lucky that I'm friends with guys I've known pretty much my entire life. We have a group text going and I love that we check-in on each other like that all the time. A bunch of stupid memes, jokes, and sports facts with the occasional "i love you guys and you know you can talk to any one of us if you need it" sprinkled in.

This is reminding me I need to check back in with my high school text group. One of those dudes lost a son to suicide last year and my guy is struggling. We're gonna get together as a group this month, but I'm worried about him.

I want to add to take some time if they do call. A good friend called me and I was busy doing this or that so I paid half attention and then cut the call short and he died a week later (he had been a really heavy drinker and had liver and other problems.)

Sorry Johnnie. I made it over 40 years without losing a friend until last year, but it was a sudden heart attack so there wasn't all of the residual stuff. Hope you're doing ok.

Sorry Johnnie. That hurts.

Man, that's terrible, Johnnie.

I've never been good about keeping up with old friends. It's one of the things I love about the Swamp. I've only met like a couple of you, and only once then. But i consider you all my friends and it's great to have a group. I'm fortune to have never had any real depression, but I'm totally aware it can affect anyone. Hell, didn't we lose at least one Swamper to suicide? (or was it something else?)

Thanks, fellas. I'm doing ok. It's just the weirdness of it. I wasn't in constant contact with him ever since I had left Germany where we both were, but his skydiving videos on Instagram were so cool that I would chat with him every once in a while just to see how he's doing. He never, ever struck me as a dude in pain who wanted to end it all.

Though I would not be surprised if it could've been lasting effects from a friend of his that died during training a few years back. Brandon gave a comment for the article and spoke at the memorial service.

https://www.edwards.af.mil/News/Article ... f-its-own/

Damn.

That's awful Johnnie.

Johnnie wrote: ↑Thu Dec 07, 2023 11:35 pmThis is tough for me because whenever you … eventually retire from the military, they all kinda disappear..

Unfortunately, I’ve learned that it isn’t that much different in the business world. Since I’ve retired, I’ve found out that some folks I thought were friends were really just colleagues.

TIL that in 1971, TCU's head coach Jim Pittman collapsed right after their game with Baylor started and died. The players were told at halftime and they ended up winning the game. No way that game is even resumed these days, right?

Florida's game didn't stop when Keyontae Johnson collapsed a few years ago. I remember being pretty stunned the Hamlin game was actually postponed.

We are in Hawaii for a few days, for a wedding and to visit an old friend, and well, Hawaii.

Wedding was last night. It was… different. Nice folks and some lovely Hawaiian music. But… First time I’ve been to an evangelical, right wing wedding. First time I’ve heard the 2nd amendment referenced in a groom’s vows. The commentaries by the officiant about the woman’s role were pretty old-fashioned (my wife was rolling her eyes). And, I’ve been to many religious weddings but I’ve never heard God/Jesus referenced so, so many times in the various speeches we heard by attendants and family members.

At least there was beer, wine and dancing.

That last sentence is a surprise tbh.

He mentioned guns in the wedding vows?

That is beyond satire.

Having met your wife, I am amused... and unsurprised. What is your relationship to the newlyweds?

DSafetyGuy wrote: ↑Sat Dec 09, 2023 4:22 pm Having met your wife, I am amused... and unsurprised. What is your relationship to the newlyweds?

Sounds like maybe hostages?

So, the bride is the daughter of my wife’s first cousin. They grew up together. That family is so evangelical that all five of their kids graduated from Oral Roberts University. But, the bride is a sweet girl. Five years ago, we had never met her, but she was a traveling nurse who had taken a short-term gig at Stanford Hospital, and her mom asked my wife if we could put her up for a couple nights while she looked for a place to live in godless California. That couple nights turned into three weeks, and we got along great - we never discussed religion or politics. So we stayed in touch and she and her sisters visited again, later. That’s why we were at the wedding. She married a Hawaiian guy - hence the location. Nice guy. But, I was surprised (and not really paying attention) when I caught some reference to the second amendment, as he read the vows he had written himself.

That makes sense, based on what your wife said about her family on one of my trips out your way.

Hope you both have a great rest of your trip.

2nd amendment in your wedding vows. Yeah, no alarm bells going off there.

Commerical lady just dipped her strawberries in sour cream.

Never see Hummers anymore. Where did they all go?

MaxWebster wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 11:16 am a billion times yes. MTV played the fk out of that video - that's what bothered me/my little group so much as kids. "Nettles got me....bottom of the 9th" - like you're weighing in actual players and then you go out and embarrass yourself with speedball and looking like you're shotputting a baseball.

edit: i was way more judgy as a wee teen.

mister d wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 10:16 am

MaxWebster wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 8:29 am has bothered me since 1984

Ryan wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 5:52 am“Speedball”

Same but also ... have you ever seen the video? I saw it for the first time a few weeks ago and how the fuck did they let him throw? I know I've said this before, but a part of the reason Major League is because most of the actors were convincing enough. Charlie Sheen pitched like a normal dude who has thrown a baseball before in his life. Springsteen looks like me if I tried to throw a football lefthanded.

I missed several words in my original post, huh?

LOL
exquisite timing for that tweet - i have to watch that video again now

(actually now that I see it again that "delivery" is more akin to a knuckleball, but honestly they should have CGI'd someone else into that scene...)

A_B wrote: ↑Mon Dec 11, 2023 10:55 am

MaxWebster wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 11:16 am a billion times yes. MTV played the fk out of that video - that's what bothered me/my little group so much as kids. "Nettles got me....bottom of the 9th" - like you're weighing in actual players and then you go out and embarrass yourself with speedball and looking like you're shotputting a baseball.

edit: i was way more judgy as a wee teen.

mister d wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 10:16 am

MaxWebster wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 8:29 am has bothered me since 1984

Ryan wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 5:52 am“Speedball”

Same but also ... have you ever seen the video? I saw it for the first time a few weeks ago and how the fuck did they let him throw? I know I've said this before, but a part of the reason Major League is because most of the actors were convincing enough. Charlie Sheen pitched like a normal dude who has thrown a baseball before in his life. Springsteen looks like me if I tried to throw a football lefthanded.

At an auto body shop and the woman in front of me has used the word "retarded" at least twice. Jarring.

My mortgage recently got sold and the new company, in half a year, has already had a massive data breach and sends a "hey, why not refinance!" email every third day. My rate would go from 2.5% to like 7.5% and it infuriates me each time thinking this has to have worked atleast a few times for them to keep doing it.

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Mon Dec 11, 2023 12:40 pm At an auto body shop and the woman in front of me has used the word "retarded" at least twice. Jarring.

I was at bar watching a band w/ a lady friend the other night and this creepy drunk dude w/ a regional drawl that's easy to stereotype asked me if I had any cocaine since he was about to score with some chick and the finding of nose candy was his side quest to make that happen. I was like
"no man, have a good night" and put him on ignore when he proclaimed that he should probably just go ask that black guy over there since he would probably know where to get some. I just kept him on ignore since I had a pleasant buzz going but also realizing that I was in the passive state that allows comments like that to stated in the first place. So now I'm determined to have clap back comment in my pocket for all such situations so I neither have to think about it too hard in the moment or hate myself for not saying anything at all.

"Can you speak louder" over and over until they figure it out?

Or do the kind of laugh you'd think a guy like that would do and finish it with "that's really racist!" and turn away and be done?

I do like option A. Also the dude clearly doesn't know Boulder if he thinks it's the black ppl that are going to have the coke.

The Times has an article today about "hair-loss influencers"

Rog and Davo?

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Mon Dec 11, 2023 12:40 pm At an auto body shop and the woman in front of me has used the word "retarded" at least twice. Jarring.

Was she talking about the economy?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67706835

Mom's for LIberty piece of shit involved in sex scandal.