My buddy Dustin came home from the Army yesterday. He's done with basic and is on leave before being stationed. It's a short leave and I'm not normally close with him so we had a lot of catching up to do in a short time. Topics really ranged around a lot.
At one point we started talking about kids. He's engaged and wants kids in 3 years or so and his friend sitting next to me (whose name I didn't learn the whole night) counseled him, 'Make sure you do everything you want to do, because once you have kids your time of being able to have rich experiences is totally gone.' Then he looked at me and he was like, "Right?" and I said, "Actually no, not right at all. But maybe for some people. Well do you have kids?" He didn't.
Your life changes for sure... your rich experiences have to be scheduled in more complex ways. You have to find babysitters for things you can't take your kids to (generally grandparents), or you have to accommodate your kids' desires at the same time as your own if you are taking them, so it's harder to have the same rich experiences you'd normally want to have alone (climbing a mountain, skydiving, touring with a band, stuff like that). But kids are a rich experience in and of themselves. The richest.
Do you guys think more like me or more like Dustin's friend?
I'd certainly find raising children more fulfilling than skydiving or other such nonsense. Childrearing has a definite end product—a person—and is more likely to lead to self-improvement. The catch, of course, is that raising children is a project of a good decade or three, whereas you can skydive in an afternoon, so given that I'm mortal, I suppose I'm slightly more likely to skydive than adopt.
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Jordan, quoting Genesis 2:18: "It is not good for man to be alone."
Fred: "in genesis noah also put two of every animal on a boat when he was 600."
Something wrong with this man Kodi.
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"...you should try reading my posts being getting all emo." --FoxMetal
It's hard to interpret that sentence without assurance that you didn't mean to put a comma after "man".
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Jordan, quoting Genesis 2:18: "It is not good for man to be alone."
Fred: "in genesis noah also put two of every animal on a boat when he was 600."
I take issue with your assumption that your go-to babysitter will usually be grandparents.
... Other than that I have not much experience in this subject and therefore little opinion.
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Was it a car or a cat I saw?
I don't know why that's an issue. Grandparents usually dote on their grandchildren and would jump at any opportunity to watch them for an afternoon Maybe not all, but from my experience, a lot do.
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"I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific."
Somthing wrong with Kodi, that man of men that mans the men in menacing men...something
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"...you should try reading my posts being getting all emo." --FoxMetal
I mean, that's if you actually live near the grandparents. I don't know, maybe that is usual. To me it isn't really.
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Was it a car or a cat I saw?
Me? What's wrong with me? Aside from my conceit, arrogance, doubt, distractibility, singlemindedness, hypersensitivity, aloofness, and albinism, I mean.
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Jordan, quoting Genesis 2:18: "It is not good for man to be alone."
Fred: "in genesis noah also put two of every animal on a boat when he was 600."
Add to the list that I've never seen you in a badass suit.
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"...you should try reading my posts being getting all emo." --FoxMetal
I'm honestly p worried about kids ruining any kind of autonomy I now enjoy. I dunno I feel like that's a thing.
That said I also have a distinct memory of talking to James the summer before he started college saying "welp, nice knowing you, enjoy your new life full of things more interesting than the internet," not yet knowing. So maybe it's more about the fear of acquiring a new skill and lifestyle that are completely foreign.
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Willis, it seems like every other time you post, I need to look up a word that's in the OED or Urban Dictionary but not both.
-Mimir
Nah, it boils down to how much sleep you need. I still post actively mainly because D has a bedtime and I only sleep around 4 hours a night.
And honestly, you haven't really had fun till you host a birthday party with 18 or so 8-10 year olds at your house and entertain them for 2 hours like i did today. T-shirt decorating (always start with some kind of craft for the first 20 so the kids with less responsible parents that arrive late don't miss anything), tug of war, a quick game of soccer, time on the swingset so you have a chance to set up pizza and cake, pinata that worked out perfectly because the only 2 year old broke it so no one got pissed, swingset again, finished off by a water balloon fight that I got dragged into because D is a smart aleck (he gets it from his mother, obviously) organized a child army to attack me so I just grabbed the hose and soaked them all.
Some might not find that entertaining, but I had more fun than I've had in quite some time.
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http://lostfacts.net/
I've looked at the world for quite a few years now and I've found that if I don't laugh, I'll probably end up crying.
From: freepizza | Posted: 5/6/2012 9:40:10 PM | #010
a badass suit
Where can I get one of these? Do they include jetpacks?
From: willis5225 | Posted: 5/6/2012 10:12:08 PM | #011
I'm honestly p worried about kids ruining any kind of autonomy I now enjoy.
The use of NHST for everything is getting out of hand,
p < .02, one-tailed.
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Jordan, quoting Genesis 2:18: "It is not good for man to be alone."
Fred: "in genesis noah also put two of every animal on a boat when he was 600."
I agree they are, but it's not like life is only long enough for one or the other. Not just talking pre-kids and post-kids-moving-out, but the time you have between moments, too. And, I mean, doing something you enjoy even if it takes up all your time is worth it, which includes raising kids.
I do remember that convo with Will, and yeah, you find time for the things you really want to do.
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"You can't keep throwing people at your problems, dear." - Emma Frost to Colossus
~Jacehan~
i want kids some day. 2 or 3. but there are many things i'd like to do before i have them. i wouldnt say having kids ruins your life, but there is a severe degree of responsibility that many parents forgo. had a lady come into work; she hated her kids for no other reason than her own selfishness. they were well behaved and curious like normal children, but she kept screaming at them to 'quit pissin [her] off' because they were playing with the electric drum kit. IT DOESNT MAKE ANY ****ING NOISE
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"I'm tryna get Jon Miller laid right now" - JFFMFB
http://www.facebook.com/themelancholics
Yeah that's really sad :(
I try to just love 'em, I figure they'll turn out decent, almost no matter what I do. Might as well be really nice to them.