navybsn

@Dead1, I grew up much like your wife, with fuckall. As an adult, I did very much the same. Buy all the things I never had. I still fight the urge at times, but I'm much better than I used to be at living within my means. Could be age realizing material things just don't really provide the rewards you imagine they will. Helps that most stuff these days is either wildly overpriced or junk quality (or both). I spent quite a bit on the kid when she was small to ensure she didn't feel like I did way back. She never really appreciated it and I'm not sure she could have, but it made me feel better. I finally quit when I realized that it's only satisfying when the person receiving the gift appreciates it as much as the person gifting enjoys the giving.
We've been conditioned to believe giving equals love and the more giving equals more love. It's corporations warping our brains. Decades of it and doomed to only get worse.

@Dead1, I grew up much like your wife, with fuckall. As an adult, I did very much the same. Buy all the things I never had. I still fight the urge at times, but I'm much better than I used to be at living within my means. Could be age realizing material things just don't really provide the rewards you imagine they will. Helps that most stuff these days is either wildly overpriced or junk quality (or both). I spent quite a bit on the kid when she was small to ensure she didn't feel like I did way back. She never really appreciated it and I'm not sure she could have, but it made me feel better. I finally quit when I realized that it's only satisfying when the person receiving the gift appreciates it as much as the person gifting enjoys the giving.
We've been conditioned to believe giving equals love and the more giving equals more love. It's corporations warping our brains. Decades of it and doomed to only get worse.

I have a small family-wife, 23 year old only child, Mom, brother sister and two aunts. It's not like in the old days, where people would save all year and finally treat themselves to a big gift around the holidays. Now if you want something, you click and it's delivered to your house. None of us really need anything and if we do it's a hobby interest that none of us are going to subsidize.
Last few years, we all agreed to donate to charities that we each pick and get together for a nice meal. I might buy a book or CD  for family members. My brother, Mom and wife and I still give gifts to our daughter as she's the only "kid" in the family but it's in reason. We got her through school. She's holding down her first nursing job at Hopkins in Baltimore, making enough coin to live with her girlfriends and pay her bills.  Were not dropping any big bucks. 

Daeva/Through sheer will and black magic-Was it Navy who first alerted me to this album? I'm not sure, but it's definitely one of the tops of my 2022 extremity listening.
Ken Mode/Null
Voivod/Synchro Anarchy
An Abstract Illusion-Woe-Sheol speaks and I listen, recalling bands like The Faceless. 
The Smile/A Light for Attracting Attention
Born/Birth
 

Deine Lakaien - Dark Star

REO SPEEDWAGON - Ridin' The Storm Out
 
 
........me and WhiteNoise at Maryland Death Fest......
 

Benediction - Scriptures

Shit my friends and family must think I don't care about them. We spend a little bit on the girls, but my brother's family haven't gotten anything from us for more than a decade, much to my sister in laws disgust. My parents get little more than token presents because they don't want anything at their age and on my wife's side there is a few nieces and nephews that get $20 spent on them. I spent nearly $300 on booze yesterday (for my wife and I) and it's probably the biggest expense we've had this year.
 

Not to mention the increased risk of food borne infection, physical transmission via touching surfaces every nasty fucker has dragged their dick handlers over, and the sheer volume of people you are packed in with. Absolute breeding ground for norovirus.

Helloween - Keeper I

That Rauta channel is great. Lots of cool interviews on there. For some Finnish white trash hilarity, check out the Barathrum and Azazel interviews.

Mork - The new dawn of Norwegian black metal? [Rauta interview] I know there aren't that many hardcore black metal freaks like me here, but I enjoy Mork and I found this interesting. 
 
Mork - Live Streaming Black Mass (06/03/2021)
 

What to listen to after a modern day indie folk blues rocker? 
 
UK-SUBS - Riot 1997
 
Sick of It All - Built to Last, 1997
 

Asphyx - The Rack
Bolt Thrower - Warmaster
Clutch - Book of Bad Decisions
Edge of Sanity - The Spectral Sorrows
Morbid Angel - Altars of Madness

It's even supposed to be in the teens in my neck of the woods with wind-chill approaching 0. We're not prepared for that kinda cold here. Gonna be fun. I'm not worried, but can't help but think of the poor, elderly, and otherwise disadvantaged that populate most of the south. Many won't survive, several more will see their homes lost to fire in an attempt to get warm. Happens every year in the richest fucking country the world has ever seen. Merry fucking Christmas indeed.

Fingers crossed for you guys in the north east and mid west. 

Tomorrow is the official first day of winter here in the states, although we've been experiencing cold weather for a few weeks now in the northeast where I am. They're telling us there will be a massive blizzard coming down from Zack's way, which will blanket the entire middle of the country in a foot of snow by Thursday, with drifts up to 6 feet. It will then pick up steam and head eastward Friday morning towards me and FA ultimately affecting over 100 million people. Life threatening cold with wind chills below 0°F as far south as Texas and Alabama, with high winds 50 - 60 mph. Power lines will be down across many states, highways and airports will be closed, people will be stranded and sleeping in the airports for the holidays. Merry Fucking Christmas motherfuckers.
 
Extreme weather threatens holiday travel, ABC news (our ABC)
 

Gotta agree with that!
I still watch the news some nights but I have learnt to not react. I still yell at the TV sometimes because it's fun, but I can yell at any program not just news programs. Six months after getting out of the trucking industry my doctor told me my blood pressure had gone back down to something reasonable for my age. 10 years of farm work and watching the news kidding myself that keeping up with what went on in the world allowed me to better run my business and the same doctor was telling me to get back in the truck because my blood pressure was better battling traffic and carting 52 tonnes across the country! I heeded his warning but instead of getting back in the truck I stopped watching the news, took life less serious, calmed the fuck down and changed my outlook to the sunny fucking disposition you see today
 

It's been this way for centuries, capitalism just put a boot on the accelerator. There is no possible governing system that humans won't corrupt. It's human nature. Even at the smallest group, nepotism and favoritism manifests. For all of the ideals of progressives or utopiaists, it's just not in the cards for us. We've a better chance of Metallica putting out another classic thrash album than doing half of what would make the world an actual better place.
Best thing I ever did was unplug the news permanently. I may watch the local for the weather forecast on occasion, but nothing more. My peace of mind is so much better off.

The Sisters of Mercy – Vision Thing 1990, I think this is the overlooked TSoM album. But just as good as the other two imo.
 
Sarke - Gastwerso, 2019
 

Killing Joke - MMXII, 2012
 

Nah, that's just me.
 
And the rest of what you wrote. Also breeding ground for every transmissible disease. Never cruised. Never will.

I agree, there is just no way to escape the fact that they are bleeding your bank account dry. They make it so easy to spend money because there is virtually no cash on board, (at least the ones I've been on). I was wary of what we were spending on our cruises, we went on with a set amount for 'free' money organised by the travel agent, which of course isn't free it comes out of the overpriced ticket, and then watching how much was added to it. Sure it's a lazy lifestyle in that you can do sweet fuck all for the entire cruise and still be fed, watered, and content, but that's still not a great sell point for me.
I remember pricing MegaCruise when it happened and the prices for the cruise were reasonable considering the entertainment, but by the time we added air fares etc from here in Oz it became a really expensive holiday. But my big problem was that I still couldn't get past the memories of our first cruise where we had one of the smaller rooms, the kind where the bed is the sofa and if one person moves the other can't see the TV. Then if they move too far the one on the sofa has to lift their feet up so they can pass. Our second cruise was in one of the rooms with the outside balconies, it was essentially two rooms so one could watch the TV while the other lay on the bed, but it was nearly double the cost of the first one.

I did 70K a few years ago. It was a blast. The fest/cruise itself is fantastic. The planning/announcements/booking/everything leading up to the fest is an absolute shitshow. We ran into storms on the way back (wind/rain/20ft seas). That was fun... 

I would do 70K again if my gang was going. I would not go solo. It's expensive. Logistics are challenging, but no more so than any standard fest I attend. Most of the bands are of no interest to me. The lineup the year I went was excellent, but the whole thing has become such a joke.
As for straight cruises, I've done one. And I hated it. My wife loves them and has done several with her mom. I think they're a waste of money. Floating time-share designed to bilk you out of as much money as possible while getting you to schedule your next cruise. Everyone shitfaced by breakfast. Overpriced add-ons that suck. Mediocre food and nothing to do while underway. Fuck that. Give me a week of solitude camping in the mountains with no people around.