I knew I was getting old when my knees started popping loud and hurting. Also the first shart, and could no longer trust a fart. When I lost most of my hair. When the DMV asked if I wanted antique tags for vehicles I had for a long time.
I do still like rollercoasters, they hurt my head anymore, and if I am regular on any ride the teens working there always nickname me grandpa, and I do not have kids so I am in no way a grandpa...but it does not make me mad or sad or anything, I know they are having fun and they are very nice to me.

At the same time I have a lot of wisdom that I help kids with when I can. I call anyone younger than 35 a kid.

I see so many kids with their face buried in a smartphone that I swear I actually seen one walk into a stop sign. Kids are so smart with all that yet stupid enough to get injured. Kind of like the kids dying doing selfies with a phone on a stick and walking off a cliff or whatever the latest news story is.

and ears.

I only go to stores that have self checkout if I can not get the item I need anywhere else. And then I try to avoid the self checkout unless it is the only option at the time.

And you know you are getting old when you can remember when self checkout first started.

And you are old if you remember when a CEO of a company only made 50 times what the worker made.

Very sad that these days a lot of companies do not care much for their employees or customers, they only care about keeping investors happy.

I would do the same thing.

I have always had good balance also. Only time I ever sit to put on socks is when knee pain is unbearable.

You know you are old when?... Fart dust?

You know you are old when people your age are dying of natural causes.

Aluminum cans now. Years ago all beverage cans were steel or some alloy a magnet stuck to.

I am looking forward to shopping for knee braces this afternoon.

When having time to take a afternoon nap is exciting as amusement parks and arcades were when you were very young.

And still shopping for knee braces, the last I picked up thinks it is supposed to be a damn ankle brace and will not stay in place.

At least the braces do seem to help and my back is a lot better. Damn if your knee messes up a tad you WILL start to feel a whole lot of back pain also.

But hell, we are all getting older, but at least we have better toys now. I will take a pinball over a big wheel or little red wagon anytime.

And personally for me, if the shit ever hits the fan and I need to sell pins to stay alive... I do miss a few board games I played as a kid, and they don't cost much. But I hope any of that is way down the road, at least 20 more years.

And this is a damn fun and funny topic, but seriously, I hope all of us never have to deal with much pain and bullshit and we all can keep enjoying pins and life for a very long time to come.

You know you are old when your knees can no longer take climbing a ladder so you have to pay someone to do your gutters.

Dude will be here at 9 in the morning to clean the gutters.

Last year I could not walk for a day after that shit.

I can't walk for a day after setting a pinball machine up anymore either, but priorities are.

I know I am old, I can not even play pinball for long before I ache and pain and have to stop.

I have been getting those for years. My hair went gray in my late 20's.

Not sure if just getting older or a lot more involved, but...

When I was younger I dressed to impress and wore some nice gold rings and other nice stuff. I drove the nicest truck available at the time.

Now I try to dress like a beach bum, and try to look broke, because I am afraid anymore of some young gang member hitting me blindside and trying to rob me.

I drive old shit now, so no one wants to carjack me.

Yeah, has to be a somewhat getting old thing, because when I was younger I was ready for someone to try and take my gold ring or my truck, and now I just try to look like a beach bum and stay out of the spotlight.

And long ago the rings were sold and the money was used to buy a pinball machine. My thoughts were these gang members could easily knock me in the head and take a ring, but if they break in my home I doubt they have enough sense to break the machine down enough to get it out of the room I have it in. (low overhead clearance through that door).

Another good thing about my current lifestyle is no one ever asks to borrow money from me. And I always had a firm NO anyway, I am not a bank.

I have no clue if car jackings and other stuff was going on when I was younger, but the way things are now, reminds me of:

Young and dumb, and old and wise.

I feel good and lucky that I made it through the young and dumb stages, and now that I am in the older and wiser stages I am trying to not get too paranoid.

I am at a disadvantage, or maybe not with the paranoid stuff, because all my friends are older than me, so they could be aging me faster, or just making me wiser, who knows.

Through the years I tried to be friends with people my age or younger than me, it just never worked out. My best friends have always been about 10 years older than me.

I love my naps! I take them anytime I can, and actually have better dreams normally with naps.

Krystals were 25 cents for a long time.

When your doctor says yes that was loud, but I said I wanted to listen to your heart.

When I was young, the made up word "shart" was just funny. I could let one rip and friends would laugh and say that was a good one, and I would joke and say yeah, but I may have just sharted.

Now that I am older, a shart is no laughing matter, it is very serious.

30 years ago, friends 30 years older than me told me when you get older, there are some things in life you can not trust, and a fart is one of them.

Getting old for most = knee pains, hair leaving the top of our head and instead starting to grow weird places like ears, and sharts.

I have no regrets, the 80's were awesome! The 70's were great also, but damn I was right there the day MTV came on the air playing awesome music videos, and all the other cool stuff happening.

And later when MTV was no longer playing music videos and doing stupid shows instead, for a while there was VH1, and I loved their Behind The Music shows, until they all went rap and crap new bands I did not care for.

I am just so glad we have YouTube now, and funny how some song I liked in the 80's that I will click on has maybe 1200 likes. And some current song I kind of like has 45 million likes.

The 80's was the best decade ever!

When that truck you bought when you was a teen, that you have been using as a spare forever, gets comments at the gas station while you are filling it up like "wow, you don't see many of those anymore, I am surprised it still runs".

I know all about that. I have heard when you get older you can no longer trust a fart, and I agree 100%.

And a lot of times that sucks, you find a bathroom/restroom, thinking you are about to explode with shit, and no, it was just air, and could have been done a long time ago without all the suffering.

A lot of things about getting old sucks, and farts are a very major part of all that.

I put farts as #2, (no pun intended), behind what your teeth does, and the greedy dentists waiting for you to pay them a visit. (my teeth are fine at the moment, but I have seen what others have been through).

Atomic fire ball ended up costing me 10 grand a few years ago.

When everyone you meet calls your "sir".

I hate that crap. makes me feel old...…….and...….it has been going on for over 30 years because my damn hair went gray when I was still young.

For at least 30 years I have been telling people I am not a sir, just call me "hey man".

I can never remember names myself, and just call everyone "hey man".

The only time I ever use the word "sir", is when I meet the daddy of the lady I am dating, or I am pulled over and trying to be nice to get out of a speeding ticket.

I guess in the UK "sir" is a honor, but for me it just makes me feel old.

You Know You Are Old When...

Chest pains.

I am stating personal experiences with this.

About 20 years ago, my Mom (she is still alive and well) went to the ER for chest pains. After all that expensive stuff hospitals love to do it was determined she had pulled a muscle in her chest. (luckily she was still working and had great insurance).

Also about 20 years ago a good friend went to the ER with chest pains. After 80k out of his pocket it was determined that he had indigestion. (he did not have great insurance).

Me: sometimes I have chest pains, sometimes I feel like oh shit, I think I may be about to die.

BUT, so far, after knowing how my Mom, and my friend felt, I can kind of tell if I need some Tums, or to roll some "stop pain" on my chest.

So far this has worked awesome for me, and I have not been to the ER.

Tums nor a menthol or whatever muscle pain treatment will do a damn thing for a real heart attack. So I know so far I am fine, and have not been to the ER yet.

And sorry to rant, but I really hope this post will not only save someone a costly ER bill from something minor, but also help someone to realize that no way this is a pulled muscle or heartburn, and get to a ER ASAP!

We are all getting older.

When you do not feel good, stop what you are doing, relax, and decide what you really need at the moment to help you.

(earlier today I had a combo, pulled chest muscle and indigestion and I was close to ER, but as far as I know, Tums and Stop Pain does not cure chest pains, and that combo kept me out of the ER).

Luckily I do currently have decent insurance, and not afraid of the bills if I do have to go to the ER. But at the same time if a 2 dollar over the counter whatever takes my pain away, I am helping others keep their insurance costs lower also.

And I guess you know you are old when most people just type one sentence anymore, while you are compelled to go more into details and write a short story.

If you died and went to hell, how long would it take you to realize you were not still at work?

The whole getting old thing is really sucking now. I have had a lot of fun here trying to be entertaining, and I hope to be able to again soon.

My Mom is going downhill fast. 2 years ago she loved coming in here and playing pinball. 18 months ago the pins hurt her eyes and she never would play again.

Just maybe 8 weeks ago I got a ping pong table, Mom loved it, would wear your ass out, wanted to play more when my knees were saying hell no.

2 weeks ago, while my gf was out of town I thought Mom was going to be wearing me out with ping pong. Never happened, she has went downhill very fast.

I swear just looking at my Mom and the way she acts she has aged 10 years in about 6 months. At the same time I almost feel like I have aged 50 years in 6 months.

I really hope this is all just because she is sad a younger sister of hers just passed, and nothing really wrong with Mom.

Mom has always been awesome, anytime I said I was thinking about something she always said go for it. Any tiny favor I ever did for her she thanked me.

It just really sucks how I have been having more and more aches and pains, and then seeing how much Mom has gone downhill in a very short time.

This getting old stuff just sucks at the moment...sorry for the rant.

Yeah, but too high and you may break a hip.

When you have to use a knife to get the security wrapping off you vitamin bottle.

When... You forget to post here for 6 days.

After only 30 minutes on the multicade my elbow is killing me.

You know you are old when there is no way you will part with your cassette tapes from your younger years.

Not 100% sure that because I am old I am this way, but most of the time anymore I enjoy goofing off on here more than playing the games I have.

I still have some Star Wars glasses that I think came from McDonalds, but could have been Burger King.

All my friends have always been older than me.

I just never got along or seen eye to eye with anyone my age or younger.

Life grew me up fast and hard.

And I am old because I now get that old Hank Jr song: All my rowdy friends have settled down.

And just like all my older friends, between knee crap and whatever else, I am having to settle down also.

When you are about to go to the bitch tread and complain about property taxes just like you did a year ago.

When you fart dust.

Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy.

^^^ I never realized that I would like watching pole vaulting. ^^^

I went 100% charcoal when propane became so damn expensive.

And you know you are old when you complain about how much everything costs.

The funniest, and most true thing about getting old is the "you can no longer trust a fart" saying. (2 nights ago I confess).

The saddest things are your parents, relatives, etc., that are even older than you, and can no longer remember anything longer than 5 minutes.

BUT, they may can still remember something that happened 30 years ago like it was yesterday, but something current, they ask the same question 5 minutes later, because they forgot already what you told them 5 minutes ago.

Just live life to the fullest you can, and enjoy every minute of it you can, because life is short.

We all pretty much start our early years in diapers, and end up back in diapers in our older years. IF we are lucky enough to have lived that long.

The joint pains and root canals and so many things suck as we get older, but at least most everyone here has some awesome games to play.

I wish all of you the best always!

And I hope to never hear any more sad news here for many more years.

I miss Terry, (Who-Dey). rip friend.

At this point, with all of us getting older, I wish Robin would start a Pinside Memorial thread, or even a Hall Of Fame to honor members here as we pass.

Anyway, sorry, I hope to be back to just being funny again soon.

95% of the time that I am home is spent in my basement mancave/office.

Now that my knees are in such bad shape it is hard to do the steps, I just ordered a gas stove for the mancave, so that I will no longer have to go upstairs to cook.

I long ago had already made a bedroom down here, and a half bath, so yeah, as I get older I am listening to my knees.

Surgery? HELL NO!

Elevator? possibly, eventually.

Getting old sucks.

Now my best friend is in the hospital with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

2020 just keeps getting worse all the time.

Anyway, I hope all of you had a awesome Thanksgiving!

You know you are old when: the first time you hear someone say that getting old sucks, and you get it. (I have been old for many years now).

We can bitch about all the aches and pains and everything else that come with getting old, but you know what? If you grow old you are LUCKY!

I still use a flip phone and I do not store anything in it.

I remember most numbers that I need, and have all of them written down on paper.

I still have the landline number from when I was born.

So, my knees stay messed up and I want to stay in the man cave and not even mess with the stairs to go to the rest of the house..

I recently did a small kitchen in the man cave. Now no need to have to go to the main floor again.

The only problem was not enough light over the kitchen sink in the man cave.

Well... I went looking around in my storage building, and had everything I need without having to go out spending money.

(this may could go in the "may be a redneck" topic also), but basically I have a cool looking lamp that was not being used, I hung it upside down over the kitchen sink, and plugged it into another light socket.

I am pretty sure my girlfriend will laugh about it, and not bitch about it, luckily she is pretty down to earth like I am.

Hey, just priorities as I get older. Try to use what I have already laying around, and not be running to Lowes or Home Depot or anywhere.

And I truly feel sorry for restaurant owners, even fast food ones, but this virus stuff has woke me up so much with how cheap it is to actually prepare my own food, that HOLY SHIT!, I can just keep on cooking my own meals and just retire early if I want to.

I am self employed, semi-retired anyway, and very quick now to say no to any client that wants me to do any kind of work that I do not want to mess with.

I would rather just stay with work that does not bother my knees, than to mess with that crap and then have to spend a ton of money on surgery even with insurance.

Not even the money thing with my knees, HELL NO, I do not even want to have to mess with a surgery and all that.

And I never wanted any kids, and I never had any kids, BUT, there is this 18 year old brunette I would like to adopt now. BUT, I know that would not go over well at all with my girlfriend. (and that is a joke from some old movie, I think it was Tom Hanks that said something like that in one of his early movies).

I do not look forward to it at all, but someday I can see us here arguing about which walker is best, and which diaper is best, etc.

Stay safe my friends! Don't be clowning around too much and breaking a hip or anything.

Hell, I guess the next big thing will be some company that makes wheel chairs at the perfect height for us to play our pinball machines from.

And all of this is kind of funny, but sadly at the same time it is not.

I wish all of us the best!

2020 sucked, I lost a best friend, he was 58 (cancer), and we all lost Who-Dey, and damn I miss both of them.

I really hope 2021 turns out awesome and none of us has to lose any friends or loved ones for any reason.

And I know I am old. My knees remind me daily.

I never cared for tea. I quit drinking any soda around 1990. I used to drink the hell out of coffee, always made it myself, but quit it in 2000.

Just water and beer for me. And I drink whatever beer costs the least, and I drink tap water.

I would LOVE some advice about making my own beer for 20 cents a gallon!

I am glad you are here, you always seem nice and giving the best advice that you know!

Pretty much me now:

com_samsung_android_email_attachmentprovider_1_5624_RAW_1605533552832 (resized).jpeg

Unless you have the problems I have now. Vitamins now clog me, so gummies or hit vitamins with a hammer now to digest.

I miss the good old 5 second stuff.

Mom went through that a few years ago.

It did not last long.

Getting old SUCKS!

I wish you the best!

And Happy Birthday! (I know, a tad late).

I think just being named Johnny has aged me.

I think somewhere along the way I have stumbled onto some fountain of youth, and I am getting younger.

The reason I think this is because when I was young, I would hear people say look at that old man, I bet he is so old that he farts dust.

I wish I could fart dust.

I am more like a baby again with all that.

The way things are going and I am getting younger and younger, I would not be surprised if at some point I will end up in diapers again, just like I was when I was very young.

The area I grew up around now has signs that read "historic district".

I thought of this thread the moment I seen the sign for the first time.

On another note, there are 12-14 houses on my street, and every house has sold at least one time while I have been here, mostly from others passing from old age.

I am just mid 50's, but now I am the oldest homeowner on the street.

Hold on a second, HEY! GET OFF MY LAWN! (just kidding).

Now what was I saying? Who knows, I am getting old and forgetful.

Been in mine for 53 years.

This is where I grew up, and Dad went bankrupt and lost it, and I bought it from the bank in the early 90's.

Every house on this street has been sold at least once, and I guess this house has also, since I bought it from a bank.

I plan to never move, I love it here. I hope I can die here, and not in a hospital or anything like that.

I know someone that died on a vacation during a fishing trip of a sudden heart attack, that would be fine, as long as quick and not painful, and I think that was what happened with him, very quick, while he was having fun.

The best is if you can live to be around 100, and not have much pain or other problems, and just pass while you are sleeping one night.

Right now I still wonder if you die and go to hell, how long will it take you to realize that you are not still at work?

I also think you are pretty old when you remember the song that was titled that also. (I still like that old disco sounding song).

By far I am not the oldest here, but I bet I have as much joint pains and all that as much as most here.

And I for sure do not want to get into any competition to see who feels the worst. I know I would lose and I would be thrilled to lose.

Time is just flying by.

I did well in school, but I hated school, bored the crap out of me.

I would look at the clock, 10am, and felt like 1pm.

I would look at the clock again, 10:15am, and felt like 3pm.

The girls and all that was awesome! But school just bored the crap out of me.

Now that I am older, and enjoy what I am doing, I may look at the clock at 10am, and think about what I want for lunch.

Then when I look at the clock again, it may be 3pm, and I say whoa, where did the time go, it is 3pm and I have not even had lunch yet.

Even just going to the lake fishing, does not matter if catching any fish or not, time flies by and I always get back home a lot later than I had planned.

For me anyway, the first 21 years of my life seemed more like 200 years, and the over 30 years since then has felt more like 5 years.

It did not help that right before I was about to turn 18 and be able to legally have beer that the age was raised to 21.

When I was young everything always seemed like that.

No matter what I was looking forward to, a few more years always seemed to be added on before I could get there.

And weird but I have never really had any close friends that are my age or younger.

They always seemed to want to party more or whatever.

All my best friends have always been 8-15 years older than me.

And most of them would make fun of me for being younger, yet in worse shape with various getting older pains.

Stay frugal my friends!

I know I pinch pennies to be able to get the next game I want.

Which is a very good thing. These days games are holding their value really well. AND VERY FUN!

I hope all of you have a AWESOME weekend!

I worked everyday 7 days a week while I was in school, either for my Dad doing construction, or myself doing firewood, and selling Christmas trees when in season, and then other businesses.

I always loved working and making money.

Sitting in school never paid me a dime, and bored me to death.

I mean yeah, if you have a 9-5 job you hate, I can see where school was better, more fun.

I have never had a 9-5 job in my life.

I am not bragging. I am not wealthy. But I have been semi-retired for many years.

Like you said:

I hope all of you are having a AWESOME week!

Lately I am feeling very old.

I have a handful of grass cutting jobs, and used to I would do all of them in one day.

Now after doing 1 or 2 I am ready for a nap.

The heat and humidity just zaps me. I do my best to stay hydrated, but I still cramp up some.

In the meantime I am slowing down big time on the amount of work I do anyway, and trying to relax and enjoy life.

I do enjoy all the work I do, and I never plan to stop working, but just a little a day to stay fit and make a few bucks.

Sometimes I wish I had a 4th, or even a 5th rental house, but after being debt free for so long and the way I feel now I am just happy with what I have.

Some of my friends have already passed away, while some of my family are pretty old.

And partly because it takes my girlfriend forever to get ready, and always runs way late, the vacation I have planned to relax and fish, we are leaving a day earlier, so I can relax and not feel like I have to speed all I can getting there.

(but if everyone else is doing 20 over the speed limit, I will not hold them up, I will be right there with them).

I am slowing down working, and driving, but if the flow is going 90mph, I do feel good enough to be right in the middle of that.

In the meantime if my friend that I operate excavators for calls and asks me to help him do a job out in the country, I will still get up at 5am and do that a couple days a week.

But if he were to call again about working at a place like Lockheed, hell no.

I am done with hard hat bull crap. 99.9% of all of that is just for show, there is no danger of getting hit in the head, unless a airplane drops the poop out of the tank.

Anyway my friends that passed way to early were all still working all the time, hell no.

I do not need a bigger house, I do not need a new truck, I do not even need to go out to eat except for maybe a couple of times a year for a birthday.

And I used to think that I wanted to someday take a road trip to Key West, until I looked at motel prices there, hell no I am not spending 350.00 or more for a motel room on a trip.

Anyway it is awesome how well pinball machines hold their value, and all the awesome people on this site.

(and just looking at some of the motel costs these days, I really dread the day I ever have to go see a dentist again).

Anyway, I hope all of you have a AWESOME WEEK!

(sorry that I did not put everything in caps, but I think I did space pretty well, so all of you geezers like me can read it easier).

That and cigarette butts all over the floor at the grocery store.

(not the confessional), but I confess I could just drink all of Dads beer I wanted, but the good friends with older brothers came in handy when I wanted to try Crown Royal and Jack Daniels.

Jack about killed me when I was 15, almost finished a entire fifth that time.

And to this day I can not have any brown liquor, 2 shots and off to the restroom I go. (and not to just take a leak).

It may be true that liquor is quicker, but that stuff does not agree with me.

I started drinking beer at 5 or 6 years old, when Dad was having fish fries with a bunch of his buddies.

I never had too much of anything and got sick until that time I posted about when I was 15.

I have only had too much and had to hug a toilet 4-5 times in my life.

I hope all of you have a AWESOME WEEKEND!

You know you are old when you see a school bus, and you remember when you were young, and going to school, there was no school buses, they had not been invented yet.

And we had to walk to school, sometimes in 4 feet of snow, and it was a 5 mile walk, and it was uphill both ways.

No wonder kids are so smart today, and invent things like the eye phone, and flat screen TV's.

If my generation had of been able to ride a nice warm school bus when we were in school, we could have been able to get a lot more done also.

You know you are old if you can remember back when a hot dog was this cheap.

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(a friend sent this, I did not look anything up to see if accurate):

Feeling Old ?

Beatles split 52 yrs ago.
The TV show Laugh In premiered nearly 54 yrs ago.
The movie Wizard of Oz is 82 yrs old.
Elvis is dead 44 yrs. He’d be 86 today.
Michael Jackson’s Thriller video is 38 yrs old.
Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin dead 51 yrs.
John Lennon dead 41 yrs .
Mickey Mantle retired 53 yrs ago.
The movie Back To The Future is 37 yrs old.
The movie Saturday Night Fever is 44 yrs old.
The Ed Sullivan show ended 49 yrs ago.
The Brady Bunch TV show premiered 52 yrs ago.
The triplets on the TV show My Three Sons are now 52 yrs old.
Tabitha from the TV show Bewitched is 57 yrs old.
The Corvette turned 68 yrs old this year.
The Mustang is 57.

A long time ago a girlfriend asked for a certain brand of vacuum cleaner for Christmas.

When I seen the price I said Hell No!

I bought her a cheap one and told her the store was sold out of the one she wanted when I went.

That girl was fun for a while, but I was glad when I was finally able to get rid of her.

I have a awesome girlfriend now!

My girlfriend loves Frogger on the cocktail here. I prefer Juno First and New Rally X on it.

My cocktail is also 60-1, with no asteroids.

I have a 12k game standup, and I usually always play some asteroids on it, along with tempest and pole position 2, but my favorite is River Patrol.

If you have ever owned a boat, or even driven a boat, River Patrol feels pretty real.

Wisdom for the ages!

SOME THINGS TO PONDER AS WE AGE

The inventor of the treadmill died at the age of 54

The inventor of gymnastics died at the age of 57

The world bodybuilding champion died at the age of 41

The best soccer player in the world, Maradona, died at the age of 60

And then..

KFC inventor died at 94

The inventor of the Nutella brand died at the age of 88

Cigarette maker Winston died at the age of 102

The inventor of opium died at the age of 116 - in an earthquake

Hennessy cognac, Irish inventor, died at 98

How did doctors come to the conclusion that exercise prolongs life?

The rabbit is always jumping, but it lives for only 2 years. The turtle that doesn't exercise at all, lives 400 years.

So …Have a drink ...Take a nap ...

And when you wake up, have bacon and eggs! (or a Natty Light)

Both seasons for me, as long as I did not work up a sweat that day, and my girlfriend is not spending the night here.

I did. It was not a bad deal at all, even after the extremely high shipping costs.

I have 3 rental houses, and 2 are rented to retirees, and no way will I go up on their rent, even though property taxes are killing me and causing me to work more to pay it.

I am old enough to know that everything is costing my tenants more, and they have been great for many years, so I am trying to be great right back.

I just wish there was some easy way to fake the paperwork, so that the houses could get the cheaper over 65 rates on property taxes.

Luckily so far insurance costs have been steady, it is just the property taxes that are out of control.

In my area, it is not only wall street, but also Amazon, UPS, and Fed-ex have built new warehouses, not to mention a large Google complex that has been still expanding for a while.

I average 20 pieces of junk mail a week from "investors" wanting to buy my houses.

In the meantime new houses and townhouses are being built on every piece of vacant land.

Traffic used to be awesome here, now it sucks.

I still love this area though, I plan to live here for the rest of my life.

I have never been married or had kids, but 25 years ago I did a will, that would take care of my relatives.

If I outlive my relatives I plan to make a new will to give the rental houses to the tenants.

I may soon make a new will anyway, that my wishes are that at the least the tenants can buy the houses for a huge discount if I die or something.

I am lucky to have great tenants now, I had some very bad ones in the past. So bad at one time about 2009 I was almost ready to just let one house go back to the bank.

I am not rich, and I worked my ass off for everything I have.

I still work my ass off for 30-40 hours a week, and I feel semi-retired vs the 70-80 hours a week I worked for decades when I was younger.

Other "landlords", "investors", think I am stupid that I am still renting houses for 995 while they are at 1600 now.

If someone decides to move, yes the new price will be 1400 or 1500 to the next tenant in this market.

But whatever the price is, I will never go up on a tenant for as long as they want to stay.

I only have 3 rentals, my goal was to have 5, but that will never happen now, and fine with me.

I used to go out to eat a lot, and spend $100 a week on food, now I never go out to eat and spend less than $100 a month on food. Funny thing is I am just as happy, and just as full.

And just because I never married or had kids means nothing to me. When I was young I never dated, I was working 12 hours a day 7 days a week and I loved what I did. I had no time for a girlfriend, did not even think about it.

When I first slowed down a little then I started having a girlfriend.

Some snored too damn loud, some took drugs, and I did not like that, but my current girlfriend of the last 5 years is still awesome, and I think we will be able to grow old together.

Sorry for the long rant, but as far as my tenants, well they had already been with me for a few years before the virus stuff, and seen that I never went up on rent, and I have any problem fixed as soon as I can, but I was still a tad afraid with the virus stuff and a freeze on evictions that they may pull something.

None did. They paid on time. (Well, one did call me crying one time, they had never been late, but they had a problem and was going to be 5 days late, and they knew they would have to pay the late charge).

I said no, no late charge, you are fine, I hope everything works out for you.

The last 2 years have been priceless when I give them all a new lease to sign for another year, and they see the price is still 995. They actually tear up and say thank you.

Had any of them pulled any crap while the virus eviction stuff was in place I would have sold the house to an investor while they were still living in it.

Now all of my tenants stand to gain owning the house, if something happens to me.

And FUCK all these investors!

(Oh, these investors send me all these pretty little postcards with a picture of a family and a dog sitting around a Christmas tree, talking about we are trying to get into the rental market and we would love to buy your house at __________).

I am sure that is wall street bullshit, and these people have been hired to try to buy all the houses they can for those "investors".

Anyone that raises the rent on a tenant that was never late during the virus stuff has no soul.

If they did not have children, which are grown now, that would be a good idea.

Anyway I had a 3 hour nap today, the longest I have had in a long while.

I guess you are old when you look forward to a long afternoon nap.

Every Golden Coral that I have ate at in the last 10 years has automatically gave me that discount. (I am not quite 55 yet, so this has been going on since my mid 40's).

I went gray early.

My family greys in the late 20's. At least when I shave my head I still look a lot younger though.

2nd biggest rip-off in life with the first being what dentists charge for their work.

I still have some of those laying around. It has been a long time since I used one for anything.

My best friend died at 58. I am 54, so a tad young age wise.

I do hope to live a very long time to come, but I would prefer to just die peacefully in my sleep now, than to make it to 80 like my dad did, and suffer like he did for the last 20 years he was alive.

And after feeling great for a long time, for the last couple of months I have not felt great.

Unless I can pinpoint something I am not going to start going to doctors just to get the run around with all the different tests at all the different places.

I know that unless they can find a cure for death, I am going to die. I am just happy that I made it this far and had such a great time.