Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hello Neko or should I say Big Momma. If you had short blonde hair and a black hair band and I think your name was Neko-Heatherm (as seen on the PGoD "Post your Pictureness..." thread), then YES, I do remember you (or at least your old username and about 62 other OG's like Transilent, Neztnerol, Alynne, etc). JimmyJosh has stopped by a few times over the years. I am probably best remembered as that guy who created the textual avatar pics. When the postings started to decline, I vowed to give the guild a weekly heart beat post in hopes that someday our collective camaraderie could be revisited .

Welcome back, unfortunately as you can see there isn't a lot going on here. I try to get on daily and post at least once weekly. I feel a little like the lone sentinel waiting at the gates for the return of all of the og's. I do hope the years have been kind. Based on your new name I will assume you have kids now. Assuming I am correct, are they as much into Gaia as you were or are they too young?. Sorry for the longish reply and possibly too personal of a question but as I said it is very lonely around here. Thanks for posting and leaving a greeting.

Wow, you have been busy. I re-edited my original reply so many times, (to not be so creepy) I think I may have answered a couple of your questions but life for me since the hay days of PGoD (when I was 42) have been ... retirement (at 55) from the community college, moving from most populous state to least populous state, finding my own health issues (PAD) which I have been trying to address and having some successes like quit smoking but failing miserably in other areas like not exercising or eating correctly (gained 30 lbs after I quit smoking) but I try to cut down and eat better foods (thus the fluctuating of weight between 160-190). French fries are good for people with artery diseases, right?. Just kidding, I know better and about a dozen other things that taste good - I am told to "spit it out". I guess my biggest problem is lack of interest in getting out of the chair, I sit in all day long, in front of this computer, playing minecraft and surfing youtube for anything entertaining. And with every new age related ailment (or lack of self care ailment) I find, I come to better understand our own mortality.

So to end this reply on a happier note - "damn the torpedoes full steam ahead" - take care of yourself and those you care for and in the end "it will be what it is" which is why there are a few quotes to emphasize this. "This too, shall pass" has gotten me through many bad moments in life but I try to "remember the little things" and move on. The wife wants us to travel more and eventually make it to Europe, specifically Italy (my grandfather was born in South America, while his parents were on vacation but he was raised about an hour from Florence) - I'll be happy if I can visit all 50 states (bucket list stuff) and yes, imho, just driving through them counts. We have done a lot (32) so far, mostly left to visit is east coast states and of course the non-contiguous Alaska & Hawaii.

Am I OK? I like to say (per Data) on the show Star Trek The Next Generation - "I am functioning within acceptable parameters." I don't fully understand why but that question always annoyed me - it might be because I feel insulted that someone sees me as feeble or I am too proud to admit I need help or just want the pride of having helped myself. Regardless, I went to the doctors because I was told I had to have a check up on the new medical plan that I was assigned by the affordable care act after my retirement made it clear that I could not afford the retirements medical plan. Anyways the doctor asked questions, I answered and complained about my degenerative arthritis (aka osteoarthritis) that was diagnosed about ten years earlier but I was told there is no cure just pain management. The doctor pretty much ignored that and jumped on to her own belief that I was suffering from restricted blood flow and then found a "bruit" which led to me have multiple other test over the next 6 months which confirmed I had "essentially complete occlusion of the left and right iliac arteries" (1cm & 2cm respectively) So, on November 13, 2019 I had a "kissing stint" put in and had to wait a month before any real exertion but when I did it was wonderful UNTIL my original arthritic pain basically said "oh no, you are not getting away from pain that easily". More recently I saw the doctor and told her that she ignored my complaints about arthritis and so she had me have more test to confirm what was already confirmed in Cali but then wanted me to see a therapist and they called and asked "I wanted" to schedule an appointment with them and I said "No!" And haven't done anything about it since then because I believe it is not treatable and just another money sink for the medical profession to keep charging me indefinitely. If I could just get the motivation to get moving on my own - I will be set with what I believe to be the best treatment for me. Unfortunately, I have a dislike of gyms, sports in general due to overly paid athletes, etc. but I am sure if I ignore my problem long enough, I will have the answer dropped in my lap or I will deteriorate to a point that I have no one to blame but myself. Argh, angry face - ohm, ohm, ohm - "This too, shall pass!"

Anyway I quit smoking using the patch with the 3 strengths of nicotine for stepping down over 3 periods of 2 weeks each. I wish I could say I don't still have the urge to light up but I do and I think that is because addiction never really lets go. I just keep telling myself that I cannot have just one and remember that it took me 3 months of actual effort to accomplish the reduction of nicotine to a level that I could decide on my own to truly not pick up another cigarette. I am grateful that I am able to have that decision and I do not want to be to become a slave to nicotine again so I just do not light up anymore. It is not a perfect solution but at least I can say I am a non smoker but most medical forms have that darn check box for "former smoker" which I realize that they will all say that my former smoking is what kills me which is why some people say for every cigarette we have it takes a certain amount of time off our lives.

Retirement, as anything in life, has its ups and downs. I was lucky enough to have a pension plan that guarantees a monthly pay amount until I die and then supposedly transfers to my wife until her death. Its not much but if carefully saved and used wisely can support us and even allow some travel. I do not have a least and most like state of travel because they all have pros and cons. Personally, I dislike the amount spent on gas, hotels, tolls, Plane tickets, wear and tear on any vehicle, the fear of breaking down, etc. but to be able to say "yeah, I visited this place or that place" does bring some joy. As for Italy - my wife is excited at the thought and is looking into possibly extending it to visit other nearby countries possibly even as far away as England. We did finally get our passports, so another checkbox ticked off. Just need to save up and plan an actual itinerary that is affordable.

Yes, I do have kids, 4 to be exact (2 girls & fraternal twin boys) and even though they are all adults, they all still live with us. They have no plans on becoming parents and do not even talk about dating. I think that has more to do with my wife not wanting them to separate from us. My youngest daughter about your age stayed in California after we left, until my wife finally talked her into moving out here. The nice thing about living here is affordability, We bought a 900 sq.ft. house in the bay area and 28 yrs later sold it for enough to pay it off and buy outright a 2500 sq.ft. house in Wyoming. I am not saying there were no rough times and I really did not know we would end up here but I can definitely say, along with the bad times, we had a few lucky breaks here and there. And even though I may have some health issues, I am content with where I am in life.

Minecraft is something I started playing in order to fill my time with something to do but I have become quite addicted to playing it and even though I have spent more than 16 hours a day sitting here, a lot of that time is spent "afk" while I watch some video on YouTube. I have joined 3 multiplayer worlds over the last 4 years but due to toxic behavior of some players I jump from one to another to try and stay ahead of the negativity. Or I do my daily check of Gaia for this account and my only other alt. I've considered creating more accounts so I would at least have one for each of the main cities when Gaia likes splitting us up into the factions of Barton vs Aekea vs Durem vs Isle De Gambino but 2 is enough for me. As for fellow PGoDders, Jimmy, Sepran Maelstrom and a couple others shared their facebook names and we communicated for a short while outside Gaia but irl events gradually took them away even there. Can't even guess what others are up to these days. My wife too has wondered about my obscene amount of time spent communicating with others on Gaia and other sites but I think she realizes that I am not ever going do something other than talk with others. It is my main source for socializing and a lot easier to just ignore if I do not like the direction of conversation. At least in comparison to irl friends that "know where you live".

No need to be sorry - you didn't make me feel badly, that is my issue not yours. I just have a few of pet peeves and that wellness question is one of them. I guess I must have miss-communicated on that and also where I live. I live in the suburbs of the capital city of Wyoming. Population of 60k+ is not quite the boonies but similar and even though it is more than the 27k+ of the California bay area city, I moved from, Wyomingites are pretty laid back compared to Californians. It is kinda funny but some traffic lights here change to flashing yellow and red between 11pm and 7am on weekends (just like Radiator Springs in the Movie "Cars"). In fact, a popular saying around here is that "a traffic jam is when more than 3 cars are lined up" at a traffic light. In truth, I have seen well over 20 cars line up waiting for the green light but I have noticed that even though we have twice the population, we have less than a quarter of the traffic.

My feelings about my adult children living with us is mixed. I am glad they are near us so we can all help each other and I have told them that they will always have a place with us (as long as they are willing to not disrespect us nor become a criminal or drug user) but at the same time I wonder if they are not experiencing life to its fullest by not "spreading their wings". As for tips, don't know what to tell you. I feel like I was always running after one of them and when they split in different directions, I usually went after the youngest first. I'm sure I made many mistakes but I always had their best interest in mind. I my wife says I was overprotective and didn't allow the girls the freedom to explore life and she didn't want me to do the same with the boys. I was lucky enough that that girls are ten & twelve years older than their brothers which was very helpful in keeping them safe. Yes, the boys were "pill babies", apparently birth control loses effectiveness as you age. I have been told that my kids were angels and they probably were around others but their behavior was not the same for mommy and daddy. I do not envy you the rebellious years still to come and I hope that you all make it through relatively unscathed with character building memories to think back upon and wonder how you survived.

I too am happy to have someone from the past to communicate with and thank you for revisiting PGoD. cool

I lived about 60 miles east of San Francisco in a little city called Oakley but I was born just west of there in Martinez. I have moved around from the age of 11 on first moved northward into Washington and Idaho and then spent a year in Texas and Oklahoma but came back to Cali and graduated from Antioch High School. I eventually married my best friends little sister that I had met when she was 11 and I was 15. A few of the boys were trying to throw her into a swimming pool. I tried to stop them but she doesn't remember that, only them trying to throw her in.

You may have lived within a 30 mile radius of your birth city in Minnesota (or "Tiny Soda" as Jewel from the Disney movie Rio called it) but have you traveled to any other locations like the "Great Lakes"? The wife and I did stop in Minneapolis on our easterly trip across the the northern states. If I remember correctly it was a run-down, dingy hotel and dark in the hall ways and only a year after the controversial killing of black citizen by police. They even had the memorial banners up in the beautiful park we stopped in for lunch. We did drive past Mall of America but neither of us like large cities and got out of there without stopping at the mall.

The boys were multiple surprises. First but not least of which was that she was pregnant while on the pill and they were born a week after our youngest daughters 10th birthday. The second surprise was twins! Followed by them being boys and lastly born on my recently passed grandfathers birthday. 'Twas an emotional time all around.

As for hating school, our youngest boy feels the same way. He just never could see the benefit of institutionalized learning. He wrote on the white board while in elementary school (1st or 2nd, I think) that he hates school and so did his parents. I had some explaining to do then and assuring the teacher that we did not hate school. And even though he eventually graduated here in Wyoming, he never got on good terms with "school" and apparently saw some violence incidents that happen including a suicide that I didn't even hear about until after he graduated. You are not wrong to worry about schooling with the seemingly increasing violence in them, lock downs, and shootings but even addressing the reasons for them happening will not totally do away with such things. Imho the only thing we can do is talk with our kids (and others) about what we can do to minimize the effect of them happening and what to do while it is happening. Even the slightest chance of it happening is not a joke and needs to be discussed - that is why a lot of schools have drills. When I was a kid, we had duck and cover drills in case of Nuclear Annihilation (like that would really help). Even though the reasons have changed and it may all seem like a joke, better prepared then standing around saying "I didn't think it would really happen". Preachy, I know but worth thinking about BUT NOT dwelling on and making all your life choices based on, like some doomsday preppers. Again, imho! ... and now to proofread for the last time before submitting only to see a mistake and start the endless editing process.... and still not catch all my typos, misspellings, etc.

50 people in your graduating class must have been a fairly short ceremony. I know that the 600 or so people I graduated with took a couple of hours to go through all the hooplah and handing off of each diploma to each student. We had about 2000 kids in our high school and I wouldn't have called it huge compared to some schools that have twice that number and have to adjust the yearly schedule so not all kids are there at the same time. They called it a modified traditional calendar and put kids into colored groupings ("tracks") that always had one track out of school so only about 4/5ths of the kids attended at the same time. If I remember correctly, our boys were in the green track one year and then the orange track during elementary school.

My favorite part of Wyoming is probably the lower population. I believe everything has a pro and con and having lived in California, most of my life, where there are so many people and all the conflicting ideas of those higher numbers seems a little overwhelming sometimes. I guess that is where the idea of a laid back lifestyle of smaller populated areas becomes more appealing. But of course the con is fewer entertaining things to do without traveling to other areas. It takes us about 8 hours northwest travel to get to Yellowstone or northeast to Mount Rushmore but only 4 hours north to Devils Tower (ever seen the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"?). But we live about 90 minutes away from Denver (to the south) so there is usually something there to do.

Welcome Back. Sorry, I do not recognize your username did you change it or am I just that forgetful?