What are your lifetime regrets?

[JustRalph]

Originally Posted by Half Smoke

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playing guitar,


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This one reminded me of a regret.

25 yrs ago I was pretty good and could hang with some pretty good players and was learning fast. Life kind of got in the way. I always figured I’d have time to go back to it.

What I didn’t figure into the equation was arthritis and a general aging that would make it much harder. 3 yrs ago I broke my left shoulder (I’m right handed, so the chord side) and had to stop playing for about 15 months. I mean nothing at all. Keep in mind I have guitars all over the house. The pain was just too much.

I’ve been back to playing about a year n half now and am just starting to get a little better and maybe 50% of what I was 25 yrs ago. I’ll never be a decent lead guitarist again (I was ok 25 yrs ago) the fingers just don’t work like they did.

So I decided to just not take it so seriously and play what I enjoy and write a song every now and then when the mood is “ write”

It’s still very satisfying, but I missed the boat on this aspect of my life. It’s great therapy in the middle of a sleepless night etc. I even got around to filing copyright on a few songs but just For the heck of it. Those days are gone……

[Half Smoke]

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too late to edit

just to elaborate on my post about blackjack
the game has changed a great deal since the time when some of the great ones made huge scores

a great many casinos are now only offering a 6/5 payout when drawing blackjack instead of the traditional 3/2 payout

the 6/5 game is unbeatable

there are many fewer opportunities and I don't believe that there are ANY who are currently crushing the game as was done in the past

undoubtedly there are still some who make a living at it - but not a spectacular living

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[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by Half Smoke

re advantage play at blackjack

thousands on one hand is a little bit of a stretch
if their average bet size was $500 at 50 hands per hour that is $25K wagered
with a 1.5% edge that's about $375 per hour earned
if they can play for 10 hours in a day that's $3,750 in one day
not bad - not many could do that but some could

they have ways of getting away with it known as "cover"

they appear to the pit to be just another high rolling sucker

and of course they travel to limit their exposure in any one casino or area

and also alter their appearance

sooner or later many shops will get wise to them and they will have worn out their welcome

but by that time some of the great ones will have had quite a nice run

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I played 24 hours straight, even consuming alcohol. My EX-wife is my witness. That was on our wedding night, hard to believe that was constantly thrown in my face for 5 years. The couple grand I made, even giving her and the bridesmaid slot money all night meant nothing.

[Marshall Bennett]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

My best friend from HS, I had lost touch with for about 5 years between the ages of about 30-35. He was somewhat of a hen pecked type. He calls me from jail, I used a bail bondsman to bail him out. He is a no show in court, the bondsman company keeps harassing me trying to get me to cough up the full amount. When I told them I was going to report them and sue them for harassment they stopped. If the person skips the bond company is on the hook, that was you pay them 10% for. I gave my friend my CC to use to rent
a motel till he got his first paycheck, he was jailed for stalking his wife who got a restraining order against him.


Long story short he started using the card number to go on an internet spending spree, I only authorized it for rent, he got me for about $2k before I killed the card. He vanished until I found him on the child predator registry, he was listed as a vagrant caught with child porn. I saw the picture it was him.
It finally dawned on me he wasn't innocent as I first thought.

Ha ha...loaning friends money. I was generous, had an excellent job, saved money, and these freeloaders knew it. Generosity isn't ever the best policy when it comes to money. I don't know how much I "gave away", but I do know there was only one that attempted to repay me. He owed me $800 and I received about half. Then he had trouble with the law and spent time in prison. I lost touch, but that's okay. Reminding these virtual freeloaders of their debt is like throwing hot water at them. A few wouldn't ever speak to me again, but that also is okay, good riddance.
I've helped a few needy friends over the past several years since that period, but instead on loaning I simply gave it to them. Needless to say they're still my good friends, lol, but good people as well.

[mountainman]

i deeply regret the heartbreak I caused my mom as a troublesome (and troubled) adolescent. Although none of my stupid, selfish, and turbulent behavior really stuck with me or much compromised my self-chosen path in life, it wounded my mother acutely.

To a lesser extent, I occasionally think back and wish that physical attractiveness and sex appeal had not always been the deciding factor as to which gals to focus on. Shallowness? Thy name was Mark Patterson. At least in that regard.

Also, I wish I had tried to rehab a pitching hand injured in a freak accident. Big league scouts had taken interest after I whiffed 18 semi-pros in a seven inning game. The surgeon, however, made no mention of recovery, instead opining I would have to live with the almost complete loss of feeling caused by severed nerves. I should have squeezed a rubber ball 10, 000 x a day. That's clear to me after having seen the hand gradually improve on its own and most of the feeling return over the years.

[PhantomOnTour]

1) betting a lot of money on Oxbow in the Derby

2) betting nothing on Oxbow in the Preakness

[wisconsin]

Originally Posted by PhantomOnTour

1) betting a lot of money on Oxbow in the Derby

2) betting nothing on Oxbow in the Preakness

We have all passed on should be bet backs that won. Hansel falls into that category for me.

[Half Smoke]

Originally Posted by mountainman

Also, I wish I had tried to rehab a pitching hand injured in a freak accident. Big league scouts had taken interest after I whiffed 18 semi-pros in a seven inning game.

I feel your pain re sports

I played Division 1 college basketball (small college)
I was a star my freshman year and in h.s.
but there was no way I was going further
I'm only 5'9" - I couldn't dunk - but I could go about 6" over the rim - I just couldn't palm the ball

I was able to learn hoops by myself on the playgrounds

but I always felt, if I had coaching at baseball, where lack of height isn't such a disadvantage, that maybe I could have gone further

but baseball, you couldn't learn on the playgrounds like you can hoops

you always wonder; you always feel you were somehow shortchanged

buy prolly a great many feel that way about some aspect of their lives


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[thaskalos]

If I had known that I would be alive this long...I would have taken better care of my body when I was younger. But something kept telling me that "old age" wouldn't be in the cards for me.

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by PhantomOnTour

1) betting a lot of money on Oxbow in the Derby

2) betting nothing on Oxbow in the Preakness

I will put my abysmal record betting the Derby up against anyone's. Quite often my Derby pick would win the Preakness. I flat out stopped betting the Derby and just watched, finding the horse that got beat by a bad trip, and betting that horse in the Preakness. This year my pick was Two Phils, but he didn't run. I will have to go back and count my Derby winners, I was probably 4-30 and nothing with a price.

[TJDave]

One regret.

Not seeing my daughter grow up get married. Having grandbabies.

Other than that it’s been a pretty good life. Wouldn’t trade most of it for all the tea in China.

[Inner Dirt]

I am starting to regret adopting the cat who was so nasty he was by far the longest tenured at the shelter and put in solitary confinement while all the other cats were 4 to a room. I got him like 2 1/2 years ago. It took 6 months to pet him without getting clawed or hissed at. About a year ago he picked up the habit of swatting things off my desk if I turn my back on him, now he kept that bad habit and added another. He dumps my drinks, the morning coffee is safe since the mugs have a low center of gravity. The tumblers I drink ice tea or diet soda out of are not. I suppose I am lucky I only drink unsweetened beverages. It is often seems like he lays in wait, yesterday I was away from my desk two minutes and a 32 oz tumbler I just filled with green tea was all over my desk including the keyboard. Pinball is lucky I am an animal lover.

[TJDave]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

I am starting to regret adopting the cat who was so nasty he was by far the longest tenured at the shelter and put in solitary confinement while all the other cats were 4 to a room. I got him like 2 1/2 years ago. It took 6 months to pet him without getting clawed or hissed at. About a year ago he picked up the habit of swatting things off my desk if I turn my back on him, now he kept that bad habit and added another. He dumps my drinks, the morning coffee is safe since the mugs have a low center of gravity. The tumblers I drink ice tea or diet soda out of are not. I suppose I am lucky I only drink unsweetened beverages. It is often seems like he lays in wait, yesterday I was away from my desk two minutes and a 32 oz tumbler I just filled with green tea was all over my desk including the keyboard. Pinball is lucky I am an animal lover.

Love your cat.if I could get another pet it would be a cat the more cantankerous the better. But at this stage in my life any pet would outlive me so it would’ve be fair to the animal.

Enjoy this little guy while you can. Years from now you’ll have great memories.

[Inner Dirt]

Originally Posted by TJDave

Love your cat.if I could get another pet it would be a cat the more cantankerous the better. But at this stage in my life any pet would outlive me so it would’ve be fair to the animal.

Enjoy this little guy while you can. Years from now you’ll have great memories.

I think that will be a coin flip for me, they estimated he was 2 or so when I got him so he is 5, so up to 10 years left. I am 62, and got every health problem in the family tree except the ones specific to females. I am just looking to tie or break the family tree record of living to 72 for males. The female record is 99, and 90 even won't even get in the top 5. That is just from those born from 1870 on.

[xtb]

Originally Posted by Inner Dirt

I am starting to regret adopting the cat who was so nasty he was by far the longest tenured at the shelter and put in solitary confinement while all the other cats were 4 to a room. I got him like 2 1/2 years ago. It took 6 months to pet him without getting clawed or hissed at. About a year ago he picked up the habit of swatting things off my desk if I turn my back on him, now he kept that bad habit and added another. He dumps my drinks, the morning coffee is safe since the mugs have a low center of gravity. The tumblers I drink ice tea or diet soda out of are not. I suppose I am lucky I only drink unsweetened beverages. It is often seems like he lays in wait, yesterday I was away from my desk two minutes and a 32 oz tumbler I just filled with green tea was all over my desk including the keyboard. Pinball is lucky I am an animal lover.

Maybe your nephew died and came back as a cat.