NickTheBrick

People are having a field day with the “no anime” thing, but I do have to come down on the side of making an effort to ensure your kids aren’t weird. The state of things is dire. They’re wearing cat ears and tails to school. It’s not how it used to be.

One story that sums up growing up with exceptionally high IQ parents who had no money was the notebook in the car. Every time we drove, my mom wrote down gas prices at every station we passed and, at each fill-up, she logged the mileage. My dad went home and did the math. He figured out that one station’s cheaper gas wasn’t actually cheaper if you had to drive an extra mile uphill to reach it. It saved money in my mom’s lightweight VW Rabbit, but cost more in the family’s heavy station wagon. It became an issue at one point because mom would refuse to bring a jerry can to bring him back gas and got angry when he siphoned hers. For years we never had enough cash for a full fill up. If Mom would wanted to drive somewhere out of town, dad would pick up the calculator and tell her how far she could get on the $5 she had in her wallet. That’s what growing up poor with high-IQ parents with no money looked like: every penny of gas had to survive the spreadsheet. Later when they had a little more money mom got a diesel and they would switch cars based on the price arbitrage that week.

I grew up poor, raised by a man with an Ivy League degree. 3 luxuries matter: Home-cooked meals. A car that starts every time you turn the key. Two weeks of vacation each year. Everything else is BE. And yes, I said luxuries. We ate at one reasonably priced restaurant maybe six times a year. I didn’t even taste sushi until I was in college. Even those luxuries were limited. Every meal was made with store-brand groceries. The cars were reliable used cars. Ask AI for “the most reliable used car with the lowest resale value.” Vacations = free museums, state parks, beaches, battlefields, and camping. No Disney. Hershey or Six Flags maybe once a year. The essentials? Clothes: Salvation Army. Honestly, this one sucked, but today Walmart & Target make it easier. Fixer-upper: I’m talking serious problems. You need a solid foundation, walls & a roof. Everything else can be fixed with Harbor Freight tools, YouTube, and sweat equity. We literally bought an abandoned house in a good neighborhood. I live in rural Massachusetts. My neighborhood has $1 million homes. I bought an abandoned house and restored it, but just outside my neighborhood there are still homes for $300,000. Medical: Before settling down, one of you should get a government job with benefits or join the military before having kids. Time: This is the hardest part. My dad was a firefighter, so he’d work double shifts, then spend his days off repairing the house. Activities: Boy Scouts, Civil Air Patrol, church choir, church camp, etc. Sign your kids up for free or cheap activities. Education: Teach your kids everything you know. Read to them for an hour every night. DAD INTEL: This is the big one. Build a network. Know where to get discounted building materials, who has tools, who’ll loan you a trailer or skid steer. Firefighters, cops, National Guard members, tradesmen & church communities have always been great for this, but those networks are disappearing. Family: Live within three hours of relatives if you can. Someday you’ll need emergency babysitting or another guy to help lift something heavy. What to avoid like the plague: NO COSTCO: Unless you’re extremely disciplined, you’ll buy more than you need. NO HOME DEPOT: Lumber isn’t always the best value, tools are overpriced, and those marble countertops start looking “necessary.” Formica from a local building supply works just fine. NO FLIGHTS. We won a trip to London when I was five. It nearly bankrupted us. No flights anywhere. Fast food. This was my dad’s biggest weakness because it was cheap and easy. Again: NO RESTAURANTS. They add up fast, and you’re paying for convenience more than nutrition. No drinking or drugs. Bad decisions usually start with small compromises. No expensive hobbies. Your hobby is fixing the house, improving the yard, and coaching your kid’s Little League team. Fish from shore if you want a hobby. Dig for worms. You don’t need $15 lures. No subscriptions. You don’t need Netflix. I have plenty of money now and didn’t even own a TV until recently. You don’t need home security cameras if you own an inexpensive firearm. You don’t need Uber or constant Amazon deliveries. Now the big one: You’ll feel like shit. You’ll think you’ve failed as a dad. You’ll envy the families with nicer houses, newer cars, and bigger vacations. Don’t. This is not a competition. Your job is to be a great father, love your wife, raise capable kids, and become a productive member of society. The antidote is gratitude. Go to church. Every Sunday, thank God for what you have. Gratitude is critical. It also helps if your work serves the public: firefighter, police officer, teacher, construction worker, sanitation worker, military. Mental health problems? Start with the basics. Stay physically active, journal for 30 minutes a day & pray a full rosary. “But John, that’s extreme.” Maybe. But you’ll still be better off than 80% of Europoors.

Women hate attractive women.

On the bus in the most rural part of Lithuania - Rokiškis region. Smelly. Disgusting. My country is turning into a third-world dump.

Everyone talks about millennials being perpetual children in arrested development, but I genuinely think these young Zoomers are going to have even more egregious early 30s crises than the rest of us because their sense of time & aging are so wacky and detached from reality

Who could forget Trigglypuff (2016)?

The Falkland Islanders constitute an artificially imposed population. You can't place a cactus in the North Pole then make the argument that it belongs there. It doesn't make any sense.

Conservatives are constantly selling you that they are going to “outbreed” liberals but even the most conservative people I know have difficulty keeping their daughters conservative and more importantly making conservative choices Women dictate the culture, so what’s your plan when your daughter wants to be a baby mama?

HOLY CRAP Stephen Miller just revealed that estimates show about a third of the nation’s CDLs were issued to ILLEGAL ALIENS

2 gay sheep rescued from getting slaughtered after refusing to mate with females now live out their lives in peace with a german farmer who raise Gay Sheeps