Ask Grrouch Anything 1 (part 2)
Welcome back to the second part of the first ever Ask Grrouch Anything where I bit off more than I could chew and had a whole lot more to write about than I could fit in one post before passing out.
So, with that in mind, if you haven't read the first post yet then please go here and do some catching up before jumping into the second part.
This is one of those questions that I read and my mind went one direction but then when I had time to think about it I settled on what the true and proper answer should be.
I mean, I could tell myself things like "You're never going to play those games, no use spending the money" and "Sell the Mass Effect Collectors Edition when it hits $500 on the market because it is going to crash if you hold on to it too long" but none of these really change anything. All of my initial thoughts were superficial and had no lasting long term effect on me or my family.
But then it hit me.
I've had a conversation with multiple people, on multiple occasions, in the past couple of years that would have literally changed my life and, more importantly, the lives of my children and potentially grandchildren. Something that I really didn't know growing up and have learned the hard way and am still struggling with because of poor choices.
Live Debt Free
Start Saving NOW
Those two thoughts go hand in hand and would have made more of a difference in my current life and future life. From the time I got into college I applied for credit cards just to get a T-shirt. Those credit cards turned into debt which turned into struggle which turned into misery at times. If I could have just learned to put off any and all impulse buying and learned the mantra "if you don't have the cash it can wait." But instead of I spent pretty much all of my adult life in debit in one form or another and struggling to get out of it with interest rates and not being prepared for anything else that might pop up.
These are the lessons I am trying to instill into my children now and hope that they heed my tales of woe and have a much better life than I have had. If I would have invested even a 10th of all the money I have put on credit I would be a multi millionaire at this point with enough money in the bank to retire (or retire soon) and not have to worry about life. My houses could be paid off, I'd have a better car, my kids college funds would already be full and vacations with my wife would be more often and more fruitful.
In my mind living debt free is the most important lesson you can teach your children. It will change their future and the future of their family tree.
If I were to magically stumble upon such a deal I instinctively want to keep it and show it off to the world. I've got a collectors mentality and, honestly, the price that even a complete in box version of it would fetch is not life changing money. At the point I am at in my life I look at things on a scale of extremes. For this type of thing I ask myself "Can it pay off my house?" If the answer is no then I don't see a reason to part with it.
Bowser: continued
Grrouch's mind raced. He knew that word from somewhere but it was like a distant memory. A flavor that is on the tip of your tongue but as soon as you try to get more of it, poof, it vanishes. Nothing was making sense. The strange way the bathroom break ended, stepping on something and falling to the ground. The faint aroma of Power UP. OH snap (do the kids say that out loud or is that just something passed around in text message form?).
The old NES. The Super NES. Saturday Morning Cartoons. It was all flooding back to him. Koopalings was the term used to describe the children of the mighty King Koopa from the old Mario Bros games and cartoons (you remember, he was voiced by Donnie Reece in the glory days).
"Am I on drugs?" Grrouch asked not really expecting an answer.
A booming voice responded, "I may have slipped you a mushroom into your 4th beer." The voice distortion was gone and now sounded like a regular person. Well, a regular person if that person was approximately 7 feet tall and 350 pounds. An Andre the Giant type of voice but without the thick accent.
"Where am I? Why did you bring me here?"
"If you must know" the faceless voice continued, "I brought you here because I need to set history right. You see, I have been portrayed wrong for the past 30 years or so and I need the lies to stop. I have never kidnapped a princess. I have never waged war against a kingdom of mushrooms and my children do not stalk a short plumber with bad luck. This is NOT..." His voice rose a high pitched BOOM on the word not.
"This is not my legacy, my story."
Grrouch thought a minute. "Ok then. What is your story and how do I get out of this mess."
"Stupid kids don't remember crap. Grrouch, I AM YOUR FATHER."
His voice rose to a scream and the light shining in Grrouch's face spun away. When his vision cleared up he was looking at a bearded, balding man in his probably late 60's.
"You with your lack of long term memory. You with your ability to forget everything. I have been trying to marry you off for decades and get you out of my hair. Mooching off of the family fortune. Torturing your brothers and sisters. Jumping on their heads, kicking their pet turtles. Putting on Halloween costumes and hiding in strange spots only to jump out and attack them again. Your mind never aged past 5 and the cartoons you watched ruined your mind. Do you even remember the last time you dressed up like a turtle and hit one of your siblings in the head with a hammer? No. I bet you don't."
The words came fast and furious (but not in capital letters because this has nothing to do with a movie franchise). They echoed around the room and little visions entered Grrouch's head as the bald man was speaking. Halloween outfits. Dressed like a turtle and a squirrel and a cat. Hundreds of scenes involving turtles. None of it made sense but all of it seemed to trigger a memory of some sort.
"I've had enough of all of this. I cannot take it any more. Life could be perfect if it were not for you causing chaos and getting our story played out poorly in the press. I'm drugging you so that you sleep for a week and dropping you off at a fire station. No one will adopt you but maybe you'll find peace in a mental hospital somewhere while your siblings and I move to Canada where everyone is friendly."
Um,
I have no clue how that fell off the rails like it did but I didn't want to leave the first part dangling out there with no conclusion. I love to write but I'm not particularly good at telling a story!
Anyway. This is the end of Part two of our Ask Grrouch Anything and there is one part still to come because I know of at least one other question that was asked and not touched upon in the first two parts. I'm 73% certain I will work on part 3 tomorrow and if no one else hits me up with anything then that will be the final installment of this first AGA.
So, that means you all have less than 24 hours in to add any random questions you might have to this AGA. It will continue until I run out of questions and then pick up again in another month or two when I open up AGA #2.
Thanks for humoring me!
So, with that in mind, if you haven't read the first post yet then please go here and do some catching up before jumping into the second part.
Based on all of your life experience thus far, what one piece of advice would you want to go back and tell your younger self?— Jason "fluxay" Lacy 🍻 (@jwlacy) January 25, 2020
This is one of those questions that I read and my mind went one direction but then when I had time to think about it I settled on what the true and proper answer should be.
I mean, I could tell myself things like "You're never going to play those games, no use spending the money" and "Sell the Mass Effect Collectors Edition when it hits $500 on the market because it is going to crash if you hold on to it too long" but none of these really change anything. All of my initial thoughts were superficial and had no lasting long term effect on me or my family.
But then it hit me.
I've had a conversation with multiple people, on multiple occasions, in the past couple of years that would have literally changed my life and, more importantly, the lives of my children and potentially grandchildren. Something that I really didn't know growing up and have learned the hard way and am still struggling with because of poor choices.
Live Debt Free
Start Saving NOW
Those two thoughts go hand in hand and would have made more of a difference in my current life and future life. From the time I got into college I applied for credit cards just to get a T-shirt. Those credit cards turned into debt which turned into struggle which turned into misery at times. If I could have just learned to put off any and all impulse buying and learned the mantra "if you don't have the cash it can wait." But instead of I spent pretty much all of my adult life in debit in one form or another and struggling to get out of it with interest rates and not being prepared for anything else that might pop up.
These are the lessons I am trying to instill into my children now and hope that they heed my tales of woe and have a much better life than I have had. If I would have invested even a 10th of all the money I have put on credit I would be a multi millionaire at this point with enough money in the bank to retire (or retire soon) and not have to worry about life. My houses could be paid off, I'd have a better car, my kids college funds would already be full and vacations with my wife would be more often and more fruitful.
In my mind living debt free is the most important lesson you can teach your children. It will change their future and the future of their family tree.
If you happened upon a copy of Little Samson at a flea market for $5 do you buy it and horde it in your collection or do you sell it and make mega bucks to buy other games? 💸🤑— 🌈💖OctoTako🦄✨ (@OctoTako1) January 25, 2020
If I were to magically stumble upon such a deal I instinctively want to keep it and show it off to the world. I've got a collectors mentality and, honestly, the price that even a complete in box version of it would fetch is not life changing money. At the point I am at in my life I look at things on a scale of extremes. For this type of thing I ask myself "Can it pay off my house?" If the answer is no then I don't see a reason to part with it.
Bowser: continued
Grrouch's mind raced. He knew that word from somewhere but it was like a distant memory. A flavor that is on the tip of your tongue but as soon as you try to get more of it, poof, it vanishes. Nothing was making sense. The strange way the bathroom break ended, stepping on something and falling to the ground. The faint aroma of Power UP. OH snap (do the kids say that out loud or is that just something passed around in text message form?).
The old NES. The Super NES. Saturday Morning Cartoons. It was all flooding back to him. Koopalings was the term used to describe the children of the mighty King Koopa from the old Mario Bros games and cartoons (you remember, he was voiced by Donnie Reece in the glory days).
"Am I on drugs?" Grrouch asked not really expecting an answer.
A booming voice responded, "I may have slipped you a mushroom into your 4th beer." The voice distortion was gone and now sounded like a regular person. Well, a regular person if that person was approximately 7 feet tall and 350 pounds. An Andre the Giant type of voice but without the thick accent.
"Where am I? Why did you bring me here?"
"If you must know" the faceless voice continued, "I brought you here because I need to set history right. You see, I have been portrayed wrong for the past 30 years or so and I need the lies to stop. I have never kidnapped a princess. I have never waged war against a kingdom of mushrooms and my children do not stalk a short plumber with bad luck. This is NOT..." His voice rose a high pitched BOOM on the word not.
"This is not my legacy, my story."
Grrouch thought a minute. "Ok then. What is your story and how do I get out of this mess."
"Stupid kids don't remember crap. Grrouch, I AM YOUR FATHER."
His voice rose to a scream and the light shining in Grrouch's face spun away. When his vision cleared up he was looking at a bearded, balding man in his probably late 60's.
"You with your lack of long term memory. You with your ability to forget everything. I have been trying to marry you off for decades and get you out of my hair. Mooching off of the family fortune. Torturing your brothers and sisters. Jumping on their heads, kicking their pet turtles. Putting on Halloween costumes and hiding in strange spots only to jump out and attack them again. Your mind never aged past 5 and the cartoons you watched ruined your mind. Do you even remember the last time you dressed up like a turtle and hit one of your siblings in the head with a hammer? No. I bet you don't."
The words came fast and furious (but not in capital letters because this has nothing to do with a movie franchise). They echoed around the room and little visions entered Grrouch's head as the bald man was speaking. Halloween outfits. Dressed like a turtle and a squirrel and a cat. Hundreds of scenes involving turtles. None of it made sense but all of it seemed to trigger a memory of some sort.
"I've had enough of all of this. I cannot take it any more. Life could be perfect if it were not for you causing chaos and getting our story played out poorly in the press. I'm drugging you so that you sleep for a week and dropping you off at a fire station. No one will adopt you but maybe you'll find peace in a mental hospital somewhere while your siblings and I move to Canada where everyone is friendly."
Um,
I have no clue how that fell off the rails like it did but I didn't want to leave the first part dangling out there with no conclusion. I love to write but I'm not particularly good at telling a story!
Anyway. This is the end of Part two of our Ask Grrouch Anything and there is one part still to come because I know of at least one other question that was asked and not touched upon in the first two parts. I'm 73% certain I will work on part 3 tomorrow and if no one else hits me up with anything then that will be the final installment of this first AGA.
So, that means you all have less than 24 hours in to add any random questions you might have to this AGA. It will continue until I run out of questions and then pick up again in another month or two when I open up AGA #2.
Thanks for humoring me!
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