u/vicelordjohn

We've all been there. The first bourbon I bought was Blanton's for like $125 in a liquor store that "has everything" aka it's all marked up.

Some guy walked into TW while I was there this morning and said "do y'all have any Blanton's?" but when the answer was no he got irate and said it's the only bourbon he'll drink. Really, bro? None of these other hundreds of bottles are tolerable to your distinctive palate?

It's a perfectly fine, smooth drinking bourbon, but the culture around it has turned it into the Supreme t-shirt of the whiskey world. The official whiskey of guys who just watched John Wick and now they think they're high-society.

I've always loved that line of Agony of Victory and kind of hear it as words to live by. Any ideas about how to get this tattooed? Script? Part of a drawing?

Cheers.

Every time I bend or shift a certain way the damn thing will lock or unlock in my pocket. The button placement sure does look cool but it's so stupid.

Maybe there's a fix?

I've been eating that jerky since the late 80s and now all of a sudden I can't find it. Is it gone?

25 years ago I was attending a private, religious high school and hated it. I didn't grow up religious. I didn't want to go to chapel every morning and I didn't want to be in bible class. I wanted new ways to rebel and get the hell out of there and go to public school like a normal person.

There were only 110 students so there were no traditional busses. Instead, they had four or five contracted vans that would drop off at a different church and parents could pick their kids up from that church instead of driving all the way to school.

The bus passes were paper with ten punches for $20. When you get on the van the driver punches the ride and when you run out you go to the office and buy another $20 pass.

I found a print shop with the exact same paper just a couple blocks from where my van would drop off so before my mom came to the church to get me I walked over there and made $10 worth of copies, trimmed them up nicely and put them in my bag. The next day I sold them for $10 a pop. I sold several around the campus but I wasn't careful about who I offered them to, it was too much of a dopamine hit to get the sale and let's be honest for a high school sophomore to have a hundred bucks of walking around money was awesome.

Someone threw me under the bus (figuratively) and I got called into the Pastor's office. He said "did you make counterfeit bus passes, vicelordjohn?" and I said no. He let me go back to class. Later that day my conscience got the best of me so I went back to the office and confessed. To be clear: I didn't feel bad about the bus passes, I felt bad about lying.

They suspended me from school for a week. I was livid. I told the truth. I shouldn't have been punished after telling the truth.

So, some of my other non-religious friends and I went down there during the easter choir performance but we didn't attend. We were there for revenge. Plugged up all the sinks with paper towels, stuffed the toilets and urinals full of paper and flushed aggressively. Turned on all the sinks full blast and bailed.

The gym/cafeteria/rec building are flooded.

I did it. I flooded the jesus concert. I finished that semester and went to public school like a normal person.

I make approx $14k/no and have no debt. My bills are the month's credit card bill, insurance and cell phone. I don't have rent/mortgage or any car payments. 847 Experian.

Girlfriend wants to buy a new place and she makes about $12k/mo but has shit ass debt.

There have always been homeowners who have lived in their house and want to turn it into a rental. Perhaps they got married and are buying a new home together and she wants to keep her condo. Perhaps someone took a job in another city and wants to be able to move back in a few years. These are generally high maintenance owners; they don't want to fix the "minor" issues they were fine living with and can't understand why the tenant isn't okay with it. They might think that matte black paint in the bedroom is the coolest thing ever, refuse to pay to change it, then wonder why nobody wants to rent the house.

Whatever, those people are predictable and manageable despite being a little rough around the edges. They've always been part of the landscape.

Enter 2026:

The sales market isn't what it used to be. Around here someone who bought in 2021 is looking at a sales price 10% - 15% lower than they paid so they put their house on the market for what they owe or what they think it's worth, it sits for 6 months and the stark realization sinks in: nobody is going to pay 15% over market for their house. There are 100 houses like it and they're all priced lower.

We have noticed these people taking quite a position: "I'll just rent it for a couple of years until the market comes back".

1. They're banking on something happening that there really is no indication of happening. A 15% increase in a couple years? Okay.

2. They want rent that is reflective of 2021 rents. Well, those have fallen as well. They can't process the thought of having to chip in a couple hundred bucks every month in order to keep the asset and the tax shelter.

These people have proven to be *very* toxic business. Can't afford to sell, can't afford to rent. I get it, that's a really stressful situation you put yourself in. I am empathetic.

These people are unwilling to accept reality and will try to hold you responsible when you can't rent their house for 15% over market to someone who will rent it sign unseen because they're living in it and therefore aren't doing showings, and move in the day after they move out so they don't "lose" any rent.

Maybe all markets aren't seeing this but we are getting numerous calls a week from homeowners in that situation who have completely unrealistic expectations. We deny all of them. A couple years ago we did take similar clients and every time they have been terrible business. Guys who call bitching because you replaced a leaky faucet, a broken power outlet or some other $200 fix that had to be done.

It's crazy.