Hello, I am new, but only a little naive

[david born 1950]

My name is David, I am 73, and look forward to someone piquing my interest about life. I have already presented a dilemma on the forums and hope that I receive a bit of mental solace. For the record, I am homosexual, never married, never owned a car, never owned a home. My interests involve classical music, film cameras and darkroom processing (even though I live in a 12 x 12 (foot) efficiency in Philadelphia!!!), and also non-fiction.

Some might be a bit intrigued, some outright bored, some equivocal about my rather non-pedestrian format. But I joined because I am stumped about much in life. I want to engage you and, I do warn with an imperative, I just might be controversial (moderators, beware). My opinions do not fall into the 'woke', politically correct category, but I do listen to all and refuse to condemn people no matter how much their ideology annoys me. I look at life in this way: each of us makes a contribution, no matter how trivial, or disconnected his/her train of thought. I might despise what you say, I will treat you with grace (while assassinating your thoughts). Thank you. - David born 1950.

 

[pacergal]

Welcome to the forum.
Kindness and politeness is the norm here, and we have wonderful moderators who keep us civil if things go south, or bring up porky.

 

[david born 1950]

I am a bit stumped: What is 'bring up porky'?

And, moderators: What is under my user name
"Confused about dryer sheets"

 

[karen1972]

Welcome to the forum, one of the nice this about this forum is that it tends to be void of politics or ideologies and sticks to just basic questions and answers on finances.

 

[david born 1950]

That restriction is both good and bad. I will have to get used to that.

Why, under my user name, is "confused about dryer sheets". What does that mean?

 

[david born 1950]

confused about dryer sheets

"confused about dryer sheets"

This mantra appears under my user name and causes me to wonder what indication is meant. I did not write this.

 

[frayne]

It is part of the secret sauce of this wonderful place and only the Grand Pooh Bahs know about recycling dryer sheets. You didn't hear that from me.

 

[braumeister]

Instead of jumping right in at the deep end of the pool, it's usually best to do some reading here. Start with the first two subforums (Admin and FAQ), then spend a bit of time getting a feel for it.

 

[REWahoo]

I do warn with an imperative, I just might be controversial (moderators, beware). My opinions do not fall into the 'woke', politically correct category...

David,

The fact you spent a significant portion of your introductory post alerting the moderators and others of your controversial but respectful nature, I feel it is only fair to point out E-R.org isn't a place to post/discuss/debate/espouse your political philosophy or fight skirmishes in the culture wars. If that's what you are looking for here you have come to the wrong place.

That said, welcome! I look forward to hearing about living in a 144 sf efficiency. I suppose one real advantage is how easy that would make "death cleaning"

 

[braumeister]

Two threads merged.

 

[2017ish]

...
Why, under my user name, is "confused about dryer sheets". What does that mean?

The FAQ covers this, but basically the text under names just correlates with the number of posts. You are still relatively new, to which the dryer sheet confusion is an indicator. (There was/is a backstory, but we all had it at one point!)

 

[skyking1]

Welcome aboard.

 

[target2019]

Soft Pretzels, Liberty Bell, Meet me at the Eagle, Iggles, and so on.

My father taught me film processing and printing in a bathroom that was probably 5 x 6.

 

[Exchme]

I am a bit stumped: What is 'bring up porky'?

And, moderators: What is under my user name
"Confused about dryer sheets"

Welcome to the forum.

When the moderators lock a thread, they put up a graphic of Porky Pig saying "That's all Folks!". As a result, when discussions start trailing off into that territory, you will get various pig and bacon jokes from folks.

This forum is a nice mix of people sharing activities, travel, health tips and of course financial stuff. Like anywhere in life, you will run into people that think like you and others you don't care for, but I think the moderators do a nice job of letting discussions meander as long as folks stay polite and don't get into territory that excludes and divides like politics and religion and stay away from crypto discussions (which was being pumped relentlessly before the moderators said "No more"). The admin sub-forum has the rules, but general good manners is all you really need.

 

[pb4uski]

I am a bit stumped: What is 'bring up porky'?

And, moderators: What is under my user name
"Confused about dryer sheets"

Porky is Porky Pig... if a thread goes too far off the rails the mods will terminate it with a "That's All Folks!" post with a link to a Porky Pig video.

 

[Major Tom]

For those who saw pb4uski's posting of the Porky Pig video and thought the thread was closed, I am posting this as an indicator that it is still very much open!

Welcome to the forum David, and I do agree that it would be a good idea to spend some time reading the mail here to get a feel for the place, and our curious ways.

 

[iloveyoga]

David, welcome to the forum.

 

[pb4uski]

For those who saw pb4uski's posting of the Porky Pig video and thought the thread was closed, I am posting this as an indicator that it is still very much open!

Welcome to the forum David, and I do agree that it would be a good idea to spend some time reading the mail here to get a feel for the place, and our curious ways.

Thanks Major Tom... I hadn't thought that totally through I guess.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Welcome to the forum from a native Philadelphian.

 

[donheff]

Welcome David. I didn't realize that your earlier death post was your intro. Your contrarian (if that is what it is) nature will be welcome here. Just reserve it to the topics in the various forms. The "other" topic is quite broad if you want to roam a bit, just stay away from partisan politics, culture war opinion pieces, and other topics that will provoke fights. The participants here, with a mighty assist from the moderators, have kept this an engaging and informative forum for going on twenty years.

Enjoy.

 

[athena53]

Welcome from me, too! I joined when I retired 9 years ago at age 61, so not that early compared to many here. I really appreciate the atmosphere in this forum because we respect differences and express contrary opinions with tact, and any exceptions get shut down by Porky. We've also got pretty similar opinions on finances and taking personal responsibility for our financial well-being although there's a wide variety of spending patterns, from the frugal to the BTD (Blow that Dough) types.

I really appreciate the work the moderators do. I've seen ugly threads on other boards where someone who tactfully expresses an opinion gets flamed, others pile on, everything they say to try and explain themselves gets twisted and the only way out is to leave the battlefield. It never gets to that point here.

 

[Car-Guy]

OP has gone traveling.

 

[obsessed]

Looks like the OP has gone traveling.

 

[Bigdawg]

David,

Welcome. This place is awesome. Curious question from me. This is an early retirement forum. That being said, all are welcome. We have plenty of folks (Sous) and others who didn't necessarily retire early. BTW there is no strict definition of early retirement. Why join an early retirement forum at age 70 plus? Enjoy your time on here. Lots of weird stuff discussed here. So many knowledgeable folks. I learn something new weekly it seems. And I love the no politics.

 

[aja8888]

David,

Welcome. This place is awesome. Curious question from me. This is an early retirement forum. That being said, all are welcome. We have plenty of folks (Sous) and others who didn't necessarily retire early. BTW there is no strict definition of early retirement. Why join an early retirement forum at age 70 plus? Enjoy your time on here. Lots of weird stuff discussed here. So many knowledgeable folks. I learn something new weekly it seems. And I love the no politics.

David "hit the road" and said he won't be back!