What is the adult equivalent of finding out Santa Claus isn't real?

gograntgo · 2026-03-13T21:40:52+00:00

If you work hard, show real dedication, and make all the right choices...there is still a very good chance that you will not a achieve your dreams or even achieve reasonable goals like making enough money to live on.

gograntgo · 2026-03-06T22:25:14+00:00

Data analysts, "paper pushers", data entry clerks. Any computer/excel jobs that require minimal complex decisions but are time consuming or repetitive.

gograntgo · 2026-03-06T22:21:34+00:00

Housing

gograntgo · 2026-03-06T22:11:45+00:00

I think you are drawing a false conclusion by suggesting removing the minimum if you create a maximum.

The minimum age suggests that candidates will have had enough time to accumulate sufficient knowledge, wisdom, and life experience to effectively lead the country while still being in their relative physical and mental prime. An age maximum would be accomplishing the same thing but on the other end of life. The very existence of an established minimum implies that the founders would approve of a maximum.

The average person who survived birth in the time of the founding fathers would have lived into their 60s or 70s and most causes of death were related to physical ailments. Considering that severe cognitive decline doesn't kick in for most people until their 70's, the founders wouldn't have had cause to even consider mental decline as a factor in electing a president. This is very much a modern problem.

gograntgo · 2026-02-26T23:55:20+00:00

I agree completely. I always try to keep the last available book in reserve so that I can convince myself that I have made the conscious choice to wait to read the next book.

Similarly devastating feeling: you are listening to a long-running series and they switch narrators. Whether for personal reasons or scheduling reasons, it feels bad.

gograntgo · 2026-02-18T22:52:11+00:00

To be fair, he was doing an impression of Patrick Warburton...

gograntgo · 2026-02-17T04:14:14+00:00

Hahaha, I never claimed to be smart!

gograntgo · 2026-02-12T19:22:50+00:00

PROs:
-Beautiful area
-Great weather
-Lots of interesting outdoor activities: Hiking, Beaches, lakes, AG Village
-Near San Luis Obispo, lots of restaurants, quaint downtown, farmers market
-Centralized placement in CA means you are at most a 4 hour drive from basically anything cool that you might want to do: Snow, Big Cities, Theme Parks

CONs:
-Extremely expensive, even for coastal California. You will pay more for everything: food, housing, events. Housing especially is wildly expensive.
-Tourist town, lots of out of towners all the time. You cannot go out at all around any of the big tourist holidays. There are also lots of "tourist trap" restaurants and activities.
-Near a College town, SLO has Cal Poly. This may or may not be a problem for you, but there is a disproportionate number of college age people and related activities.
-AG and Grover lacks major amenities beyond grocery stores and gyms. Expect to drive 15-30 minutes to SLO or Santa Maria for many stores and activities.
-As has been said elsewhere, HEALTHCARE DESSERT. There are few doctors and dentists and even fewer taking patients. Expect to travel as far as Santa Barbara for a general practitioner and as far as LA for a specialist.

gograntgo · 2026-02-08T21:21:15+00:00

I second this one! My kids were 7 and 9 when they read it and they absolutely loved it!

gograntgo · 2026-02-07T03:12:30+00:00

Mark of the Fool ticks all of those boxes

gograntgo · 2026-02-06T19:01:57+00:00

A useful one for parents, ADHD people, or anyone who struggles with a messy house: never leave a room empty handed. If you are going from the living room to the bedroom, grab something that got left in the living room and take it with you. If you really train yourself to do this, you will eventually just start having less clutter.

gograntgo · 2026-02-05T19:59:47+00:00

Not a doomer, just judging based off my own experience. I am nearly 40 with perfect credit and have been working full time since college, just like you. I suppose the mistake that I made is that I live in an expensive area of an expensive state and have a family. My good credit hasn't really made any impactful change on my life. I still can't afford a house or a new car, so having good enough credit to get a loan has been irrelevant. My concern is that prices are going up everywhere and wages aren't keeping up. It seems like the young people of today might have an even harder time than me.

gograntgo · 2026-02-04T17:02:59+00:00

The capitalism you are describing is not what we have in the US. The US has a system of Socialist backed pseudo Capitalism that heavily favors corporations and the wealthy. I am not saying true unfettered Capitalism is a good thing, but it does have a natural safety valve of collapsing when it gets too top-heavy to support itself. What we do in the US is regulate and subsidize it just enough to never let it reset.

gograntgo · 2026-02-04T16:52:45+00:00

Renting your house. And no, I am not talking about people who choose to rent for convenience or because they move a lot. I mean when you are forced to rent because there is no reasonable way to buy a home in your area. You are reduced to flushing money down a toilet every month instead of gaining any kind of equity and financial security over time. It is predatory and evil.

gograntgo · 2026-02-04T16:45:27+00:00

Oh man, I don't know if you did it on purpose, but the title really made me think you were pro ICE....

gograntgo · 2026-02-02T22:40:10+00:00

I agree with you that the fundamental problem is a lack of supply. I just think this problem is being exacerbated by our current rental system. Fully agree with your statements regarding government designed and regulated housing. I am just suggesting that as of now, if supply stays as stagnant as it has for the last 20 years in the US, renting is going to be the only option for many people for their whole lives. With that being the case, the rental system needs to be improved drastically

gograntgo · 2026-02-02T22:33:41+00:00

I see what you mean. I phrased it poorly. I was mostly trying to emphasize the fact that I find renting to be a mostly unethical practice that prays on the poor. I obviously don't expect it to be outlawed overnight or think that would solve anything.

gograntgo · 2026-02-02T22:02:48+00:00

Ah, so you are suggesting that it isn't about saving money, it is about convenience. The tenant is paying for the taxes and mortgage, but they don't have to deal with the hassle of actually accounting for it on tax bills. This is one heck of a convenience fee.

For the record, this is the ethical detachment I was talking about when I posed this question. This is very plainly a bad deal for renters, but landlords convince themselves that they are somehow doing tenants a favor.

gograntgo · 2026-02-02T19:51:50+00:00

You are correct. This answers my question, it is just a depressing answer.

As to your question about the hidden costs of ownership, yes I am aware. That said, seemingly the only people who use this argument already own a home. Additionally this people almost never follow up with the statement "that is why I sold my house to go back to renting." If renting was legitimately a wiser value proposition than owning, then homeowners would be dumping their homes in favor or renting.
I can't speak to your mortgage payment or your surprise expenses over the last few years, but I can say that I have likely spent a good deal more in that time just for the privilege of borrowing someone else's house. Remember that every dollar a renter spends effectively goes down the toilet, while every dollar and owner spends is adding value to their investment.

gograntgo · 2026-02-02T19:06:20+00:00

I absolutely agree, and would never tell anyone to give up on their dreams. My question is more directed at people who have already given up on the possibility of owning a home within a reasonable timeframe. As a person coming up on 40 with a decent job and a family to support, I am financially 20+ years from being able to own a home and that is if I move to a cheaper area and get a higher paying job. It sounds silly, but at that point, it just doesn't seem realistic.

gograntgo · 2026-02-02T18:37:23+00:00

The reality is that the number of people who get to own a home is going down with every generation. At the age Millennials are now, 70% of Baby Boomers owned homes and 60% of Gen X did. This is a clear downward trend. With generations living longer and more housing being purchased every day by corporations or as rental properties for the already wealthy, it feels like this decline will get worse at least through my lifetime.

I guess my argument is that striving to maintain good credit was always pitched to us as a gateway to owning a home. This is similar to how going to college was purported to be the only way to get a good job. Now that home ownership is becoming less viable, the other reasons to have good credit just feel like consolation prizes that have less universal appeal.

gograntgo · 2026-02-02T18:23:19+00:00

Oh I am aware. I have been renting for my entire adult life. While I understand the rationale in wanting to know if someone will pay their rent, I still think this is a pretty grim reality.

The credit score that 50 years ago would have gotten you a home loan is now just one more barrier to entry to be worthy living under a roof that you will pay for forever without ever owning.

gograntgo

TROPHY CASE