The best time of your life other than ER

[retire@40]

Quote:

The best time of my life was *my childhood. *I had no worries and responsibilities. All I had to do was to study, to play, and to receive acceptable grades from school. After school, I spent most of my time playing with other children, doing homework and house work (i.e, washing dishes, cleaning up the kitchen, etc), flying kites, swimming, and fishing. We lived by the bay, *watching sun rises, sunsets, and stars at night.

Yup, most of us live an ER lifestyle before we enter the workforce.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

The best time of my life other than ER...

Probably the paid sabbatical my company gave me just before I decided to stop working. In fact, that was what threw the switch.

On the other hand, there was this gal named Patty....

Quote:

On the other hand, there was this gal named Patty....

Now, this is what I missed about TH!

[MJ]

Before I finally got a "real" professional job in my late twenties, I did a lot of traveling in various parts of the world.
Had me a lot of great adventures. Them were the days!

I plan to do a fair amount of travelling over the next 10 years. I know it won't be the same
but
I hope to enjoy it just as much.

MJ

[haha]

Quote:

In the summer of 2003, my engagement to a woman broke off quite near to our wedding (I needed her to meet with a psychologist to confirm my fears of whether certain behaviors I noticed in here were just stress from planning a wedding/honeymoon/new house together, or if she was truly as harsh/manipulative/cunning/deceitful as she suddenly was becoming...she refused, so things broke apart). She loved being the center of attention, so she went to the local media for a week-long publicity frenzy (eventually later appearing on Good Morning America, and even on Inside Edition: www.insideedition.com/bride.htm).

Wow. I've been coming to this board almost 2 years now, and this is the number one true story. Thank you Peter, and congratulations on escaping.

Quote:

- as her love affair with the media showed what she was truly like deep down inside.

Peter, she isn't even that great on the outside. Or maybe photos don't do her justice?

[Jarhead*]

Quote:

Wow. I've been coming to this board almost 2 years now, and this is the number one true story. Thank you Peter, and congratulations on escaping. Peter, she isn't even that great on the outside. Or maybe photos don't do her justice?

Mikey: You're brutal (And I agree with you).
I figured with all those demands for that poor guy, she had to be right off the pages of the annual "Sports Illustrated Swim Suit edition.
That story will probably cause a temp. freez-up among the young single guys on this board

[unclemick]

Hmmm - To loosely quote the SO - " I'm Catholic, Been married once, Irish, and I like Katharine Hepburn - besides if I married your sorry ass - you'd stop paying attention".

28 years and counting - a bit long for a one night stand.

Still single - no need to rush these things.

[KB]

I'm still waiting for the best time of my life, when I ER.

Peter, I think you were the lucky one cancelling your wedding. Get to know your next love for 2 years before marrying. Hopefully that will shake out any other mistakes, before you make it.

[retire@40]

Quote:

I'm still waiting for the best time of my life, when I ER.

In that case, don't wait too long. Some people wait too long and never enjoy the best time of their life.

I'm so afraid I may not make it, I decided to semi-retire so I can enjoy some of it now.

Hope you enjoy every moment when you do ER!

[unclemick]

Watched Charlie Rose last night on PBS. Reviewed Time mag's. examination of 'Happiness'. The econ panelist said something along the lines of: wealth doesn't seem to correlate BUT having control of how you spend your time does.

DUH - we could have told him that - now couldn't we!

Heh, heh, heh,heh.

Quote:

wealth doesn't seem to correlate BUT having control of how you spend your time does.

A think a famous scientist once proved that time = money

[MooreBonds]

Quote:

I figured with all those demands for that poor guy, she had to be right off the pages of the annual "Sports Illustrated Swim Suit edition. That story will probably cause a temp. freez-up among the young single guys on this board

LOL! All I can say ex-J and Mikey is that she sure put on the lbs after the breakup. (the Inside Edition interview was a full 3 months plus after the breakup). Also, I'll freely admit that I wasn't the most experienced in the dating game in reading other peoples' personalities/etc., and tended to be on the nieve side of things.

However, these days, I have the equivalent of a self-taught PhD in relationships, and I only continue in educating myself more and more as I screen out potential hopefuls, as I am also becoming far more extroverted and won't take unacceptable behavior or actions from anyone.

A pre-nup is a definite subject to broach early on to test the waters and their intent...unless they've squirreled away more than I have. That, and I certainly pay far more attention to personality types/tests when looking for potential matches (gotta love eHarmony.com ).

[haha]

Quote:

However, these days, I have the equivalent of a self-taught PhD in relationships, and I only continue in educating myself more and more as I screen out potential hopefuls, as I am also becoming far more extroverted and won't take unacceptable behavior or actions from anyone. A pre-nup is a definite subject to broach early on to test the waters and their intent...unless they've squirreled away more than I have. That, and I certainly pay far more attention to personality types/tests when looking for potential matches (gotta love eHarmony.com ).

Peter, congratulations to you. You seem to have learned a valuable lesson, and at moderate cost. "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me."

My sons courting behaviors on the other hand put me in mind of the following 19th century poem:

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!' he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd ?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

Exerpted from "Charge of the Light Brigade", *Alfred Lord Tennyson.

I think I better go get some Courvoisier
Mikey

Quote:

However, these days, I have the equivalent of a self-taught PhD in relationships, and I only continue in educating myself more and more as I screen out potential hopefuls, as I am also becoming far more extroverted and won't take unacceptable behavior or actions from anyone.

Now, Peter76, don't you think you're being a bit overconfident about your dating prowess? After all, having 3 girlfriends in your life (only one of which lasted longer than 3 months) doesn't exactly give you a self-taught PhD in relationships, perhaps a high school diploma?

[MooreBonds]

Quote:

Now, Peter76, don't you think you're being a bit overconfident about your dating prowess? After all, having 3 girlfriends in your life (only one of which lasted longer than 3 months) doesn't exactly give you a self-taught PhD in relationships, perhaps a high school diploma?

Yes, I could see the argument there, scrappiebull...however, I am an extremely fast learner. Also, I love to analyze things, and understand how/why people think and act the way they do. While many of my peers are merely living day-to-day and focusing on how they look, I use the 'standard' qualifiers (physical attraction, etc.) as an initial starting point and then delve quickly into the things that would impact long-term relationships. After my brief stints, I have learned an amazing amount, as well as finding out that my initial suspicions and analysis have later turned out to be dead-on, even though I was assured that it was not the case.

In some sense, I should thank my ex-fiance. If I had only endured an 'average' relationship, I would not have experienced so many negatives to look out for that I am now aware of. My internal CPU is constantly searching for things and crunching the data in various Monte Carlo simulations to see how she might act/be like in different sitautions.

I took one of those on-line personality tests, and I turned out to be an INTJ (Mastermind Rational http://keirsey.com/personality/ntij.html ). I suppose that would tend to explain the non-stop analysis, and why I feel that my 'limited' experience, although not all-encompassing in what different women might be like, was enough raw data to allow my mind to draw parallels, extend assumptions, and reach other conclusions without direct experience, while others may not necessarily reach the same conclusions without having had the direct experience.

[MooreBonds]

Quote:

After all, having 3 girlfriends in your life (only one of which lasted longer than 3 months) doesn't exactly give you a self-taught PhD in relationships, perhaps a high school diploma?

This sounds like someone who would claim to have alleged inside information...don't forget that two can play at this game.

As for the duration of some of my previous relationships - there were pretty damn good reasons why they didn't drag on for months and months and months. I don't believe in wasting either persons' time, money, and emotional involvement if one person knows that they can't see themselves with the other person in a long-term relationship.

Well, I have one (PHD in relationships). However, even at my advanced age I frequently have no idea what women want nor what they are thinking. This includes my spouse. It's a mystery
I never expect to solve.

JG

[sgeeeee]

Quote:

Well, I have one (PHD in relationships). *However, even at my advanced age I frequently have no idea what women want nor what they are thinking*. . .

John,

It's not just women. From your numerous posts about liberals and others, I can assure you that you have no idea what many people want nor what they are thinking.

But then, doesn't that apply to us all.