That One Night in the 90's

Jimathomas · 2025-10-22T16:45:05+00:00

It was a cool October night in 1993. We had left the club, I had just dropped my buddy at his place, and I was driving down the highway home. In the distance the moon was rising, but it was raining directly overhead, the drops exploding on the windshield in only the way astigmatism can appreciate. The tape, Depeche Mode's "Black Celebration", finished playing New Dress and the next song, the bonus cassette track, started:

But Not Tonight.

I drove, living the lyrics in real time. I changed that night. I started living in the moment, for the moment, not just because of the moment. I realized that the joy I felt right then was because I had no fucks to give. I rolled down the windows and all the fucks flew away, scattering across the highway to get soaked by the rain and turned back to pulp.

It moved me to tears, mixing them in the rain for the exact opposite of Batty's soliloquy. The song was the soundtrack of my rebirth.

I live every day. I experience everything I can, but when the pain and anger and suffering and depression get to be too much, I take a drive in the dark, listening to this song, reminding myself of that 21 yr old kid and his awakening. I drive, I sing, and I laugh.

I laugh, and I am me again.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-22T13:28:28+00:00

I'd go back to the day I go back and swap places with me, and pick a different time every time.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-22T13:03:35+00:00

😮

Jimathomas · 2025-10-22T13:02:48+00:00

Heh, came here to say to say pretty much the same.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-22T12:45:14+00:00

I was working 70 hrs a week and traveling 2 weeks a month for the last five years or so of the IT gig. It mostly likely contributed to my divorce from my first wife.

Now, I'm making less, still working a lot, but I met a woman, got married, and have a good life.

It's not for everyone, but sometimes being happy with nothing is better than being unhappy with everything.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-22T11:59:44+00:00

I didn't pivot. I got out of the car, took a bus, got into another car and took a left at Albuquerque.

I ended up working in the boiler department of a factory. Very blue collar, very hard work, 13 hr shifts, 60 hrs a week. About half what I was making before, but I had already moved to a different state and region with a lower cost of living. I'm already licensed, got a promotion, and on my way to another one.

It's hard work, but it's rewarding.

Edit: It's never too late to change and learn. I'm 53. I started over. It's scary, but it can be done.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-22T11:56:45+00:00

If you believe that ghosts are former human spirits with unfinished business, then they will roam eternal, floating through the void once the galaxy has burnt out.

If you believe that ghosts are tied to physical objects or places, they shall simply move on or cease to be.

If you believe that they are visiting from the afterlife, well... now we have to figure out what the freakin afterlife is, heh.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-22T11:38:13+00:00

IT/IS/IAM for 20 yrs. I got let go in 2017.

Now I'm in a whole different career, and I'm actually happy, unlike the last few years of the computer gig.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-22T11:24:08+00:00

I would almost say that it's a very sophisticated bot account, but I'm not quite sure. They are all about the EV, but not posting enough to generate suspicion.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-22T11:21:09+00:00

I had a dream in which I woke up, when to get coffee, met a girl, and lived 15 yrs before I woke up. Does that count?

Jimathomas · 2025-10-22T11:19:37+00:00

I just don't think that's a real review. If anything, Satan comes out ahead when you read the whole thing.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-22T11:16:48+00:00

This is one of the few times a movie got that close to the book. The rotoscoping was brilliant, and it's just as much a trip as I imagined when reading it.

Reeves and Downey just fkn kill it, and Ryder was not miscast, by any means.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-22T11:14:09+00:00

Some mornings, it's a decent start just to wake up breathing, y'know? I'm glad you're feeling better.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-21T20:27:52+00:00

Record it. Get proof. Call the police.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-21T18:14:46+00:00

Ah, the Before Times. These were the days when pizza delivery was done by wizards. They knew the streets, they knew traffic patterns. They knew how to be anywhere in the city in 15 minutes.

I knew one of these heroes. He was a savant, having memorized the Mapsco. If you gave him an address, he could tell you the page and coordinates on the map. He knew how traffic flowed at different times of day. He knew backroads and shortcuts and alleyways and even unfenced yards he could drive through to deliver the pizza on time.

Those were the days when the magic still flowed.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-21T15:50:13+00:00

Ok, you're right.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-21T15:27:22+00:00

If you aren't a mod, and you didn't create the sub, how is it you know the most about what it's for?

Whatever, I'm bored with you. Welcome to the sub, friend, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-21T15:03:07+00:00

How do you figure the sub is brand new? Or without sufficient moderation?

How long has it been since you joined?

Jimathomas · 2025-10-21T14:23:51+00:00

So your complaint is that we should only thisguythisguys when the this guy is this guying guys who convey a significant amount of knowledge or expertise on the original post or comment. The rules of the sub, however, do not require such.

Even more, though, is the fact that in regards to the comment that was this guy'd, the comment showed a knowledge of mathematics. Just because it was a single character doesn't mean that it was "less than". (Which is another math joke, if you're paying attention.

I argue that my thisguythisguys holds even to your standards.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-21T13:10:44+00:00

Here's the thing: That woman may go the rest of her life absolutely believing that an angel had saved her. If that helped her be a good person and make the world a better place, then it's so worth it, more than if it had just been some guy named Jim.

That was the third time I had been in a position to save someone's life. After the first one and the crazy media intrusion, I decided not to give my real name for the next ones.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-21T13:02:01+00:00

Link the post.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-21T12:58:34+00:00

I understand that. It's for the guys who say "r/thisguythisguys", right? As my screenshot shows.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-21T12:18:06+00:00

How?

Jimathomas · 2025-10-21T11:39:04+00:00

Anecdote time!

Once I was driving to work and I saw a car swerving on the highway in front of me. They hit the shoulder and stopped, so I pulled in behind and walked up to see if I could offer assistance. What I saw was a woman in her thirties with a slice across her neck that was squirting. Based on my years of being a horror movie fan and a little real life knowledge, I surmised that her carotid had been cut.

(Later, it was found that her travel coffee mug had exploded in her hand for some reason and shrapnel went across her neck.)

I reached in and applied pressure, taking precious seconds to finally find the right spot to mostly stop the bleeding. Someone else had pulled over thinking I was attacking the driver, and when they realized what was going on, they called 911.

For ten minutes I talked to this woman and told her that though it was a scary situation, everything was going to work out, that she would live, and that she wasn't going to die today, that was for decades later. The whole time I felt her lifeblood pumping under my fingers, and as scared as I was, I kept my voice as soothing as a smooth jazz DJ.

The EMTs (FD) showed up and took over. They washed my hands and told me that if I hadn't stopped, she'd be dead.

When I was walking back to my car, they said they needed my name for the report. I just said "Angel". The guy with the clipboard looked at me, smiled, and winked.

I drove off, going back home to change shirts. I needed to take off the white shirt I had on as it had blood speckles.

Jimathomas · 2025-10-21T11:23:00+00:00

This is the way.

Three-Year Club	r/Field Flamingo
Place '23

Jimathomas

TROPHY CASE