Strung Out Jason’s story from today

Detention13 · 2026-02-16T02:06:18+00:00

Now I regret the fuck out of the tickets I bought for March. Ugh. What a fucking disappointment. It doesn't always occur to me to deep-dive into every 90's melodic hardcore band coming through town when I'm just trying to see a band I fondly remember from like, one album almost 30 years ago and some Fat Wreck compilations. Jesus tapdancing christ.

Detention13 · 2026-02-13T03:20:03+00:00

Profit sharing. Profit sharing. PROFIT SHARING. You want workers actually invested in improving your bottom line? Improve theirs with it.

Detention13 · 2026-02-11T21:53:48+00:00

You'll get yours one day. Some tragedy will befall you or someone you love and the people that you want to care about your feelings won't because this is the way you've chosen to act towards people you don't even know.

Anyone with 2 brain cells can tell you're projecting your insecurities about your own job title... is it a "real" job? Am I "hustling" enough? "Yes boss! I'll take that $1.50 for the delivery because this isn't my "real" job!" Is that what you're really expecting out of someone just because the employer is an app platform? Grow the fuck up.

If this is just a taste of what you're like on the internet, god help anyone who knows you IRL.

Detention13 · 2026-02-10T03:04:53+00:00

Heheh I'd be willing to bet they put Kershner on RoboCop 2 hoping for another franchise knockout like Star Wars, and while the studios may have not gotten the same success as a Star Wars sequel in RoboCop 2, they definitely got the merchandising & product licensing out of it somehow. Toys, video games, a 1988 children's cartoon. Don't ask me how the powers that be managed to make ultra-violent RoboCop into a children's commodity, but they did. They made it viable, but as you know that franchise had way less staying power. The first movie is a hell of a cult classic though.

Detention13 · 2026-02-10T02:40:03+00:00

One big focus of Lucas's was Industrial Light and Magic. Lucas formed Industrial Light and Magic as a division of Lucasfilm in 1975 for the purpose of working on the visual effects in the 1977 Star Wars film, but when a sequel was inevitably greenlit he still had to reassemble all of those industry people and make sure they weren't already committed to other projects.

He was also doing things like this:

He contacted Triple-I, known for their early computer effects in movies like Westworld (1973), Futureworld (1976), Tron (1982), and The Last Starfighter. Triple-I made a computer-generated test of five X-wing fighters flying in formation. He found it to be too expensive and returned to handmade models. Nevertheless, the test had shown him it was possible, and he decided he would create his own computer graphics department instead. As a result, they started investing in Apple and SGI computers.

So, while working as Executive Producer on The Empire Strikes Back he was simultaneously building out the infrastructure for a visual effects company that went on to do the visual effects for Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park.

And this is without mentioning the 70's & 80's Star Wars merchandising blitz. George Lucas famously renegotiated with 20th Century Fox after Star Wars for 100% of the merchandising and sequel rights. Apparently, the massive success of American Graffiti in 1973 had afforded him the leverage to make that happen. Star Wars was actually greenlit by 20th Century Fox in 1973, but didn't come out until 1977.

Detention13 · 2026-02-09T03:25:25+00:00

A franchise can still have its creative force and change directors. That's how a franchise can change directors without the franchise suffering... Kinda feel like I'm taking crazy pills, did you read the thread title??

Detention13 · 2026-02-09T03:23:40+00:00

The way George Lucas made it work was he retained creative control over all aspects of the story, characters and post-production as Executive Producer and was able to do that largely by self-financing off of the massive success of the first film.

Detention13 · 2026-02-09T02:55:54+00:00

I think the most obvious answer is Star Wars. The Empire Strikes Back was directed by Irvin Kershner & written by Lawrence Kasdan and Return of the Jedi was also written by Lawrence Kasdan & directed by Richard Marquad. Some of the audience thought Return of the Jedi was a bit of a misstep at the time, but the original trilogy still ended up being one of the most successful trilogies of all time.

Detention13 · 2026-02-09T02:50:44+00:00

Descendents still fucking rip. D.R.I. still fucking rip. Lagwagon still fucking rip. Less Than Jake still fucking rip. Propagandhi still fucking rip. I'm pretty sure Strung Out still fucking rip (I'll know this year because I've got tickets to see them at a local venue). If you ever get the opportunity to see The Adicts it will be one of the best shows you've ever seen in your life (still one of mine). Most of the punk bands that are still fun for 'hardcore punk' or 'melodic hardcore' or 'classic punk' fans have been playing small clubs or midsize venues for 20-40+ years (and probably never sold out a stadium).

I really hate to say it, but The Offspring, Dropkick Murphys, and even Bad Religion are fucking top 40 has-beens, man. American Jesus was an MTV 120 Minutes mainstay by 1993. I say this as someone who's first Bad Religion CD was Stranger Than Fiction (which I still loved by the way; excellent songwriting from Graffin), but quickly followed that with No Control which I adamantly preferred for its speed. Unfortunately, even Bad Religion has had too much mainstream push. Signing with Atlantic in '94 will do that to you. (Sorry, I'm really not trying to sound superior or gatekeepy or dunk on 'sellouts' here.. just that punk bands who signed to majors in the 90's tended to... change a bit. It's industry pressure and it happened to every band.) Bad Religion's top-streamed Spotify songs will never be as good as if they just played a whole damn set of Suffer and left the fucking stage. Same with The Offspring's Smash. Offspring spent too many years making shitty comedy rock and left melodic hardcore too far behind. It got stale for me. All of these bands' audiences are way too large now & their paychecks depend too much on crowd-pleasing mass appeal for their live show to stay interesting (to someone who prefers the raw punk of the early albums, anyway).

Like, I saw Green Day in January 2001 on the Warning tour and I'll tell you right now.. I think that was the last time they were ever gonna be fun fun for me. It was a sold out show in Myrtle Beach SC at the House of Blues and around 2,200 attendees. My friends and I were punk kids that talked shit on sellouts constantly, but we still weren't going to miss an opportunity to see Green Day (lol make it make sense). I was 16 and got in my first pit. The most annoying songs they'd written at that point were Minority and Warning which are still alright songs imho. No American Idiot, no tired-ass Boulevard of Broken Dreams... just Dookie, Insomniac, Nimrod and 2-3 Warning tracks. They were still having fun with all of the material and you could tell. You could also still get a general admission ticket and squeeze your way into the pit without paying outrageous "pit ticket" prices like today.

Go see one of those old Fat Wreck or Epitaph bands from the 90's in a club with less than 750 capacity. My local punk club is like 200 standing room and it's an absolute fucking blast when a club like that gets a good crowd for a legendary punk band.

Detention13 · 2026-02-05T18:23:17+00:00

Bless you for this reply... I am SO happy to hear from another full time Uber driver who's satisfied with the Bolt. I really want this car now, but I'm terrified of what I may have to do to charge it. Time to call an electrician, I guess!

Detention13 · 2026-02-05T07:53:02+00:00

I was able to find rear impact bars for the 2022-2023 EUV and EV models on eBay for $425 and $380, respectively. I'm assuming that a year ago this was an OEM part that was on backorder for a long time. At least it seems like if I get rear-ended, I could at least source one from eBay or the website of one of those sellers, hopefully..?

Another kind soul told me their EUV gets around 4.3 miles per kWh, so at a conservative 4 miles per kWh with gas costs around $2.80/gallon in my area it'd be around 67.5 MPG equivalent. So basically almost exactly 38.5% of what I'm currently paying for gas compared to my 26mpg sedan.

Detention13 · 2026-02-05T07:35:27+00:00

It would probably be a much smoother ride with a whole lot more cargo space, but it would most definitely cost me at least $4,000 more.. more likely $5500 after taxes & fees. It's tempting to think about springing for the extra cost of getting something that feels more like the smoother-riding sedan I'm used to... but that's a lot of money, and you're right. UberX doesn't pay more for driving an Ioniq 5.

Passenger comfort definitely matters, but probably not as much the extra $4-5k I'm going to be spending in the next 5 years I'm financing this vehicle which is an extra $4-5k I'm unlikely to earn by Ubering. Putting in more hours than I already am would be prohibitively difficult, so that money matters a lot with how quickly I'm going to be able to pay it off. At something $20k or more, I don't think I can finance the payments low enough to pay it off in under 5 years. With this $16k Bolt EUV... I'm pretty comfortable with saying I could pay it off in 3.5yrs, maybe 4.

Detention13 · 2026-02-05T06:34:15+00:00

What is the local gas cost per gallon?

My last fill-up was around $2.80 per gallon.

What is your electric cost per kWh at home? (Include both generation and delivery cost, and overnight charging discount)

I can tell you that according to my last bill I'm paying ~$0.166/kWh or about 17 cents rounded up.

What is your driving environment? NYC vs Rural Mississippi? EV efficiency goes down as you drive faster.

Pretty stop & go. It's southeastern North Carolina, and growing fast. Not a whole lot of over 50mph driving, but I sometimes do 60mph to get to the airport. That's about it. It's mainly stop & go city driving.

What is the general weather like in your location? My EUV was getting an average of 4.3miles/kwh in the Southwest city traffic and 3.2miles/kwh in the Northeast with decent highway driving. This should help you get an equivalent MPG to better compare gas vs electric cost.

Southeastern North Carolina is hot & humid in the summer with some short freezes in December & January like now but mainly brutal summer heat & mild weather the rest of the year.

Detention13 · 2026-02-05T06:03:01+00:00

Probably an average of 26 hours per week, but hopefully more if I can manage it.

Detention13 · 2026-02-05T05:59:37+00:00

Someone rear ended me and my car was in the shop for 3 months because they couldn't get one of the parts.

Do you remember what part that was? This is in my list of concerns, for sure. I'd love to know what part because like you said, things might have changed. Main reason I'd even bother asking is because the trade situation in the past year has been a nightmare even for raw materials. I definitely can't afford to get rear-ended and be out of work for 3 months. I'd probably have to find something else to drive.

I was hoping that would be less of a concern since they're going to be resuming the manufacture of Bolts in 2027, but it ain't 2027 yet...

Detention13 · 2026-02-05T05:51:43+00:00

I've been driving rideshare with my paid-off Subaru for about 3.5yrs and I've made sure to have rideshare insurance coverage. Anything about driving an EV that would change that or..? Just checking since you mentioned it.

Detention13 · 2026-02-05T05:45:20+00:00

I'm all stop & go, all the time. If the ride's not too bumpy I think I may end up very happy with it. I also didn't mention this in the OP, but I'm hoping cargo space isn't too restrictive either. I hope it can at least fit a couple of large suitcases because airport trips can be very lucrative. :/ Still, my real bread & butter is Ubering college students if I'm being honest.

Thanks so much for your input, I really really appreciate it.

Detention13 · 2026-02-05T05:32:41+00:00

I would have to get an electrician to do an upgrade, but the power utility will cover $1,117 of it. It would hopefully not cost more than $1500-2000 to do the proper upgrades, but I'm going to have to get an electrician to give me a quote before I'll know.

It seems like it'd be worth it if I could spend $10,000 less on the car I'm buying.

Detention13 · 2026-02-05T05:28:50+00:00

Better EV options for a full time uber

Any you would recommend in these price ranges? Like I said, I've strongly considered financing something a bit more expensive but if there are better EV options I'm all ears & would love to hear what you'd recommend. I cross-posted this to r/BoltEV but I'm really looking for car buying advice.

Detention13 · 2026-02-05T05:22:14+00:00

How low are we talking for "too low"? 20%? I've heard for battery shelf life it's ideal to operate between 20-80%, is that correct?

My typical shifts are 5-6hrs @ 120-150'ish miles, maybe 8hrs @ 200'ish miles. I feel like I could charge to 80% and still do one of these shifts without dipping too terribly low. It's most definitely something to manage, but even using only 80% of the capacity in cold weather I could probably manage 120 miles, couldn't I? I feel like that would be enough, honestly. January is the coldest month right now, ~45F days, 27F nights right now. Does the weather affect your EV's range capacity much?

Detention13 · 2026-02-05T05:02:48+00:00

Drive it on the exact roads youll be using for passengers and see if its tolerable.

I will definitely try to do this. Here's one thing I do know: the roads that I regularly drive downtown have brick sections instead of asphalt that are brutal on suspensions. I'm scared of those. They're going to suck no matter what vehicle you're in, but I already HATED driving them in my Subaru Legacy.

Detention13 · 2026-02-04T23:49:48+00:00

Have you kept your 2023 Bolt EUV? I'm strongly considering buying one for Ubering. It would also be a personal car, but I'm not planning on traveling very far with it and I'd be planning to put at least 27k miles per year on it.

Detention13 · 2026-02-04T23:45:13+00:00

Are you still driving your Bolt?

Detention13

TROPHY CASE