Yesterday I met a soldier. Bouncy

[98ZJUSMC]

Quote from: Tess Anderson on Today at 03:23:46 PM
There's a lot more to you than that, but, just curious, what were you doing at the airport? You live just north of there, coming back from Wisconsin? You sound like you were traveling alone and I don't about you, but when I reach my final destination, I can't wait to get the hell out of the airport.

Anyways, welcome, or should I say, Hola.

At the risk of giving too much information I was heading home after visiting a loved one in Chicago. It was a stressful time, I had a long drive home ahead and I just wanted to enjoy a cigarette before the next leg of my journey. Why the third degree and how did you connect me to Wisconsin?

   You don't know who you're talking to.  But, ....?  Tess does.   

[jukin]

Hey, you guys can take the blondes and red-heads; they're a dime a dozen, very commonplace.

<<<will take a classy brunette any time.

Coach, Mrs. Jukin is a brunette and I am very happy.

[BamaMoose]

The flight time alone is about 15-20 hours from the Middle East to Norfolk on a commercial flight.  On a MAC it's much longer.  I've done both.  How would this individual ever get to actually see dear old dying Dad when you throw in the time to go through customs, TSA, check-in, etc. if he was on a 36-hour pass?  I smell BS.

[franksolich]

.....and how did you connect me to Wisconsin?

Because of the anti-social, seditious natures of most of the primitives on Skins's island, it's necessary for decent and civilized people to keep tabs on them.

Of course, it happens that not all primitives are that way, destructive elements in our society, and if they prove not to be, they're left alone.

The primitives, through their vigorous stalking, probably know more about franksolich than I do about any one of the primitives; some of them probably even know my shoe size, how much money I have in the bank, what languages I know, the cost of the last automobile which I purchased, that I tend to use Elizabethan curse-words in real life, how I sleep, what foods I like and dislike, my discreet preference for brunettes, &c., &c., &c.

The internet's no place for anyone who wishes to hide something about oneself.  I learned that with a vengeance.....from the primitives themselves.

[Chiquitita]

I know it's a thing here to insist that every DUer is lying their ass off all the time.  As far as the regulars go, there are some for which that's true.  Aside from them, and some GoFundMe leeches and attention whores, though, most of them are saying things as they understand them, based on the facts (Or, more often, fake facts and BS propaganda) as they picked them up.  I don't personally believe most of them are anywhere near as bad as their megaposters.

ETA - of course, at least 10% of the high posters are moles, and probably a quarter of the membership has been banned over time for either having a few too many lucid moments, stepping on boobytrap like pissing off the fembots and the gay mafia, or checking the wrong block in a poll.

Thanks for saying this. Since 2004 when I started reading it, I have seen a lot of interesting people on DU leave after a while. I would hazard a guess that people go on the site looking for conversation and see that it's not really for that (although there are some authentic and I think decent conversations that take place). That it's meant as a platform for certain ideas.

[Chiquitita]

Welcome Chiquitita. As DumbAss Tanker said, you won't get the banhammer for saying the wrong thing. I read posts over there, and there are some nasty, vile individuals over at DU. Some even went as far as wishing harm on the president and his family. I did not like Obama as president, but I NEVER wished him harm nor his family. Enjoy your stay here. 

Wishing someone harm is despicable, agreed. I really can't stand jokes about Trump's hands, hair, or other body issues either. That level political discussion is pointless and harmful. I think of the old folks when I was a kid growing up, and what they'd think of what we openly say now. They'd be disappointed. What you get banned for (or ignored) at DU is challenging set preconceptions. None of the big posters there liked my post. Mostly it was people in the military who replied.

[Chiquitita]

Well I have to say you are civil so I will be civil with you.

I was mowing lawns and pulling weeds at ten. I had a single mother so that money went to her and I to survive. This was the 70s so white people didn't get gubmint benees... not sure they do now. I don't resent my childhood because it made me who I am but it was hard being the one white kid and I was in a fight(s) almost everyday.

My gripe with the DUches is they don't try to get out of their situation. They blame others and want to steal from them. I went the other way of working hard, studying hard, and not just saying I'm smart but actually acting smart. I'm now in moonbat central and have friends/acquaintances that had great childhoods and lives because of their parents. I get they have guilt. I do NOT so I put up with zero shit with them. I've been told I'm fun (still get invited to parties) but we don't talk politics because I don't shut up and win the debate or shut it down when they walk away.

It's good of you to go those parties and debate, in my opinion, because the viewpoint of someone who grew up as the one white kid in the barrio working from the age of 10 is something most people really do not take into account, and should hear.

From what I have experienced in life, people who have had it really hard have to do things way out of their comfort zone and really push themselves to get somewhere better. Children born into relatively well off families don't have much of a problem moving in the world and getting themselves into better situations (that's the world I live in). If they already come from a childhood with parents in a decent situation, they do have to work to stay where they are or move up, but the hurdles aren't super hard because they (me) have a lot of people to give them advice and help along the way.

I don't really know any of the people at DU in real life, so I don't know what their work life is like. I do know a few people in the housing projects we have in my town, kids mostly, and their lives are pretty damn hard. If they don't have a healthy parent, it's an uphill battle for them just to not be angry all the time.

[Chiquitita]

You will find that the folks here are pretty tolerant. Just so you know we have had some denizens of the dump come over here from time to time to educate us illiterate, knuckle dragging, racist neanderthals. And most scurry back to the dump when they find they they are the ones that need an education. It typically goes like this:

1. Dummie comes over and is fairly nice at the start. Hospitality is given by us
2. Dummie then tries to insinuate that they are superior, lords it over us that we are intolerant, etc
3. Dummie gets ass handed to him/her/it
4. Dummie runs away.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying you are one of those types. Just saying that history shows that most dummies are the intolerant, egotistical, selfish jerks and the ones that come over here soon find out that we will challenge them with facts.

You seem to be fairly rational and I think you would make a fine addition to our little corner of the internet. I just wanted you to be aware that you will be challenged on any preconceived notions you may have of us and you will be challenged hard.  This is not an echo chamber.   

So far what I have learned here is: this is a good bunch of people willing to engage with a stranger from the other side. You are hospitable and funny. I probably won't show up much after this thread though because I'm supposed to be working on a project and not hanging out on the internet. One thing I'll also say, everyone who has written to me here after I introduced myself, with the exception of a couple of minor teasers, has been smart and kind.

[Chiquitita]

Because of the anti-social, seditious natures of most of the primitives on Skins's island, it's necessary for decent and civilized people to keep tabs on them.

Of course, it happens that not all primitives are that way, destructive elements in our society, and if they prove not to be, they're left alone.

The primitives, through their vigorous stalking, probably know more about franksolich than I do about any one of the primitives; some of them probably even know my shoe size, how much money I have in the bank, what languages I know, the cost of the last automobile which I purchased, that I tend to use Elizabethan curse-words in real life, how I sleep, what foods I like and dislike, my discreet preference for brunettes, &c., &c., &c.

The internet's no place for anyone who wishes to hide something about oneself.  I learned that with a vengeance.....from the primitives themselves.

Appeals to my brunette vanity aside, you seem to have a naturally flirtatious nature, which must make you great fun to be around. I'd tell everyone all about myself to save them the research, but it's pretty boring stuff unfortunately. No great acts of valor on my record, unlike that soldier, who, I still maintain, was telling me the truth. Funny that his conversation with me, brought me into conversation with CC. I guess I owe him one.

[SVPete]

A belated welcome from me as well. I probably would have posted this yesterday AM, but I was volunteering at a marathon. Don't worry about having a "boring" life. I had a now-late uncle by marriage who had an "exciting" life: he survived the Bataan Death March and POW camp in the Philippines, was transported to China, and survived in the custody of Unit 731 at Mukden.

Don't be scarce. Not all discussions here are political or about DU-folk. ETA: BTW, if the guy you talked to was not all he said he was, that does not make you a "dupe". Your knowledge and experience, like everyone's, is finite.

[Maverick1987]

Welcome!   

Chiquitita, you and I know
How the heartaches come and they go and the scars they're leaving
You'll be dancing once again and the pain will end
You will have no time for grieving
Chiquitita, you and I cry
But the sun is still in the sky and shining above you
Let me hear you sing once more like you did before
Sing a new song, Chiquitita

Your first ^5 is from me

[BlueStateSaint]

Welcome!   

Chiquitita, you and I know
How the heartaches come and they go and the scars they're leaving
You'll be dancing once again and the pain will end
You will have no time for grieving
Chiquitita, you and I cry
But the sun is still in the sky and shining above you
Let me hear you sing once more like you did before
Sing a new song, Chiquitita

Your first ^5 is from me

And you get one from me for using an obscure ABBA song.

[Bad Dog]

Somebody better get the hose and spray frank down before he catches on fire over here 

Looks like Frank's valve job is working just fine.

[franksolich]

Looks like Frank's valve job* is working just fine.

But seriously, any sane person, unless blind, must agree she's gently aesthetic.

*reference to replacement of a cardiac valve, which was a stellar success, much to the joy of the primitives; franksolich still lives.

[Tess Anderson]

Hmmm, she must not like to smoke in her car. Thirty-six hours to go all those thousands of miles seems unreasonable and AA telling the guy it's his own fault he missed the connection? Did he fall asleep during the layover?

But this blonde does think that brunette is very attractive, and she looks young enough to be WilliamRiversPitt's daughter, even though he is almost a decade younger than her.

[SVPete]

With no reference at all to Chiqui, if I shaved my (white) beard I'd look 5 or 10 years younger than WRP.

[AprilRazz]

He told me the tattoo on his forearm was in Sanskrit. There's no lie there. I'll admit that when he told me about the mine (I'm a woman with no experience in the military), what he actually said to me was that he had told his friend, who was having problems with his wife, that he was going out into a dangerous situation and his head wasn't in the right place. He felt something bad was going to happen to him. Then he said he was near his friend and went around the corner because he just couldn't face seeing him get blown up. He felt bad about it. He did something in a split second and he felt sh***y about it. Anyway, all of this was in the context of us talking about male/female relationships and how hard it is for people on the battlefield when they are having marriage problems.

My husband was deployed in 2013 and was pretty stressed wondering if he was going to get paid due to the shut down. Marital problems happen to a few but when you are in a war zone and wondering how you are going to keep a roof over your dependent's heads can get you killed just as fast. Thankfully during my deployments (got out in 2009) that didn't happen.