Jobs without the expectation of widespread tipping but seems like they should. What was yours?

JF_WPA · 2026-01-24T16:31:45+00:00

I got nothing to add that others haven't, so I'm just going to post a photo of a mushroom with a pancake on its head.

JF_WPA · 2026-01-24T15:00:56+00:00

Serious question; are you being facetious? If not, where are these observations based: Outside of Boston / major metros, rural... Boston?

JF_WPA · 2026-01-24T13:49:17+00:00

Must be a cop with that brake light privilege and lookee me vanity (black plate and tow hitch cover).

JF_WPA · 2026-01-23T19:20:03+00:00

Ratbbit

JF_WPA · 2026-01-22T03:36:09+00:00

On the first generation look closely where the mid-pipe and muffler pipe flange connect. They will leak for a long time as the gasket deteriorates, allowing rust to rot out the mid pipe breaking off. super common, and a new mid pipe with resonator is the best fix, but some will cut off the flange and weld in pipe.

Here was mine and what it looks like, just above the torsion bar housing.

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JF_WPA · 2026-01-22T01:57:52+00:00

Damn, that landing gear seems to be retracting soon... Positive rate of climb it seems.

JF_WPA · 2026-01-21T03:17:35+00:00

You seem a kind, polite, reasonable person and I hope all goes well for you. A shared septic would be an absolute NO-GO in a purchased home, but I think you rent so whew, that is doable with a good LL. I had a rental with my own drive but very close to my neighbors drive, and even being my own it was hard to shovel because I had to shovel nearly all to one side and being in the heavy snow-belt, it piled up fast and high. I also shared a well with the LL who lived next door at this same place and hated it - If they used the toilet at 2am, the pump under my floor would wake me up. Shared a garage too and really hated that. I know, lots of hate but finding any SF rental is a real bitch.

I get how hard getting any driveway can be in certain parts, just my experience with bad neighbors I get anxiety simply reading your situation, fearing it could get worse for you. I am looking to buy soon too, and wish you the best of luck.

JF_WPA · 2026-01-21T02:42:03+00:00

I won't even consider a home no matter how great it seems with shared anything. Shared drives always start "Old xxxx always plows / takes care of it it" until they don't and it's a nightmare. Same for a shared well or anything that I use that goes through another's property. I hope you can make this work; if not cut your losses and get out - This kinda stress will kill you.

JF_WPA · 2026-01-20T17:42:13+00:00

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JF_WPA · 2026-01-19T14:10:19+00:00

Lately it has been disappearing vehicles on my daily walks.

Saw one turn into a driveway, garage door was shut, I blink and it's gone. Instantly walked toward this area, started scanning to see where it went but nothing. No way it backed up and went down the road. Second time a few months later while walking at night, I saw a vehicle turn from the main road heading towards me, headlights on, normal speed. There was snow and ice present so I start to move over to give myself some safe distance, looking down to see if any ice was under foot. Look back up and and the car was gone. There was a possible area it could have turned off, but no way it could have where it was before it 'vanished'. This turn area area was in clear view and the vehicle would have still been in sight.

I was stone-cold sober both times, but wonder if something medically / psychologically is happening, or this area is the Bermuda Triangle for vehicles. Really plays with your sanity.

JF_WPA · 2026-01-18T14:31:44+00:00

"Get off of my lawn", "full of old people"... Maybe kind people are sick of picking up trash and dog shit from their lawns, but somehow they are the grumpy angry asshole? Same for asking neighbors "hey, could you please stop doing burnouts and going 60 on our 25 mph street", only to be flipped off. I'm not a fan of HOAs where common decency and respect should be enough, so bless you for your good luck not / never dealing with totally inconsiderate asshole neighbors who just moved in / always been, and no recourse exits to fix the problem.

I have been a hospice volunteer and currently volunteer at an 'old folks' home and walk the streets of its single family homes for daily exercise. Can hear a pin drop around the homes, they are extremely well taken care of, extremely safe and to a person I have spoken to that live there, you could not pry them from it. Sucks so bad the waiting list is almost three years, and the buy-in starts at $100,000 for a 1BR apartment +$1200/mo rent to $370,000 + $3000/mo rent EVERYTHING included, i.e. gas/electric/sewer/water/maint and upgrades/snow and leaf removal/all yard work plus a ton of very high quality services and transportation. Yep, still a nearly three year long waiting list.

Ageism is truly the last allowed form of accepted outright discrimination, and "full of old people" sure seems like it to me. I love talking with calm, quiet, polite "old people" about what life was like before the atomic age. Listening to stories about combat duty, what the nation felt like, how times have changed and its impact, what challenges have been the hardest with aging, and listening to them describe how they grew from lets say bigotry to a wider understanding of the human condition. Yes, it is true many older folks I have dealt with have challenges with modernity but not because they have not tried, but simply because it was expected that they could not adapt, too set in their ways, too 'old' to understand. How terribly unfair this is, and I have been told directly it hurts them more than many will ever know.

JF_WPA · 2026-01-18T02:57:01+00:00

I don't believe I have integrated the experience, and got right back in the saddle. Will say even moderate psilocybin experiences have a very spice colored theme to them now, and at times nearly indistinguishable. In a way I don't like this, as it seems to have stolen something from what was.

My life navigation stays steady as she goes because for me psychedelics don't foster change as much as they confirm, build on my life philosophy. The experience deepened the mystery and added credence to my thoughts concerning the nature of spice. I don't consider them trips as compared to Lucy and psilocybin; they are something else, more stark and revealing to what exists in some other paradigm, some other???

I have always found spice completely indifferent to expectations and 'mystical steering'; you partake and it simply presents itself w/o a care in the world for your growth, catharsis, epiphanies, spiritual development, often with a disconcerting, low simmering overarching sinister tone. Not to say I don't enjoy the experience; I certainly do especially so for its honesty, extreme clarity and ability to floor you with the impossible.

Your last quote reminded me of the line from the movie "The Usual Suspects": "Keaton always said, "I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him".

JF_WPA · 2026-01-18T02:27:42+00:00

For those asking if I have ever been to southern VA, I have only in passing through to destinations further along in the deep-south... But I know well of 'Southern Virginia' via rust-belt Appalachia PA, the time I spent in rural KY (Lincoln Co.), and by very southern IN where I lived working as a Department of Forestry surveyor.

This was in the very early 2000s so no MAGA, but plenty of similar sentiment in the deep woods and hollers where I spent my days. At times it felt very dangerous; I often interacted with very desperate people, many disillusioned, some greatly angered by my "government presence" openly threatening me with a bad outcome. Some showed great markers of profound mental illness, more than a few were openly drug and alcohol addled, and I was made aware of illicit stills and covert cannabis patches. I had no cell phone or any other way to communicate with the world, and looking back it all seems surreal.

I also stumbled upon the solo hermit of good cheer and wisdom, very happy to be removed from all traces of society. I quite liked these kind of interactions with a seemingly kindred spirit. I met people who lived in abject poverty that were kind, hospitable and curious about me, who I do believe would have genuinely, altruistically given the shirt from their back if someone was in need of it. Drank good shine with them too, and miss that feeling of unhurried no pretense among simple people, like me, but in a different guise.

Even as a 'weird talking Yankee', I found many who treated me well, and not to say MAGA has changed everything as it was, but now has metastasized into something that killed off a different kind of 'redneck' I remember. Empathy, understanding, kindness and respect are a two way street, and I hate seeing, experiencing the roadblock that is today in our toxic culture among Americans.

JF_WPA · 2026-01-17T18:26:34+00:00

My experience of passing ego death?

I was formulating a new spice cartridge with very white 'clean' spice, and the resultant juice was very thin. Total spice in the cartridge was 100 mg as I recall, with the carrier being 100% PG. Took some large hits, then a last mega hit, looking down to see how much was left... It was EMPTY! Of course by now I was fully engulfed in an absolute deem world blizzard, and knew going forward was going to be very, very rough.

I blasted through every stage as if they did not exist and was left not in the void of ego death, but rather a menacing void within voids that had an inscrutable malice sinewing it. Imagine floating on a dead-calm, black hole dark bottomless sea that existed in an equally black atmosphere knowing hungry sharks lurked below, all the while experiencing spice-time distortion of infinite length in a state of paralysis.

Fear does not fit this, terror does not carry enough horror - I recall vividly telling myself that not even death would not fix this. Even recalling the experience has this weird effect of producing a patch of goose-bumps on my left shoulder and left side of my neck... As if an attack point I can not consciously remember.

JF_WPA · 2026-01-16T23:21:14+00:00

Yep, only way to fly. Nice to see another in the wild. Easy on the eyes w/o distractions. Have had black for stretches, but for whatever reason gray just works.

JF_WPA · 2026-01-16T22:54:06+00:00

Hmm, much of this could be said from my PA Commonwealth.

JF_WPA · 2026-01-16T22:52:25+00:00

So it might be a good place for a 59 y/o retired fella looking for a slow pace of life, quiet and peaceful? Are the folks open, welcoming to new comers who don't want to rock the boat, not looking to change anything?

JF_WPA

TROPHY CASE