And Then the Fight Started . .

[hk blues]

6 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

And nothing more useless to a man than "bags and shoes and clothes."

Bags, I'll concede...

[Tommy T.]

42 minutes ago, hk blues said:

Bags, I'll concede...

But dozens of them? Hmmm

[hk blues]

7 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

But dozens of them? Hmmm

[Mike J]

15 hours ago, Lee said:

Shoes and clothes come and go-----books can provide a lifetime of enjoyment.

My life is much less complicated since the Kindle E-reader was introduced.  I bought one 2008, have purchased five more since, plus installed the reader on multiple gadgets.  In high school and college I would donate boxes of books to the school library.  After graduation I would donate boxes of books to the local prison.  Trips to the grocery store always included a stop at the paperback/magazine racks.   A stop at a book store, new or used, was nirvana.   After the kindle the only real books I bought were computer tech and programming language manuals.  I love to read and the last time I checked I was reading an average of 22 books per month on my Amazon Kindle plan.  The billing is automatic 10-12 dollars a month with millions of 'free to read & return' titles.   I still have the tech/programming books and need to find a place or someone who would take them.  Difficult because they are 12-15 years old which is about three 'life times' in terms of tech and programming languages.

When we hold youth seminars I tell them . . . .

"Learn to LOVE TO READ.  The world will open up to you when you READ and COMPREHEND what you read.  I am not talking about Facebook, or TikTok, or Twitter, but real books that instill actual knowledge.   When reading becomes enjoyable, instead of a chore, you are on the path to finding the college you want, the job you want, the future you want.  Learn to LOVE TO READ."

I have to admit it probably does not change their reading habits, but I will keep trying.

[GeoffH]

1 hour ago, Mike J said:

My life is much less complicated since the Kindle E-reader was introduced.  I bought one 2008, have purchased five more since, plus installed the reader on multiple gadgets. 

Pretty much the same here, I used to own a personal library of over 10000 books of which only a small percentage were reread.

If I wanted to read then I'd buy another book (either new or preferably second hand).

Whilst paper books have their own appeal not having to move soooo many boxes of books when I moved was liberating.

[scott h]

1 hour ago, Mike J said:

READ and COMPREHEND what you read.

I have always had lot of books around, still do, brought my whole collection with me. But like you folks now use kindle on my phone. Only buy books that are not available online.

But having lots of books around impresses the locals for some reason.

Years ago, my mother in Law was visiting us in the states (had lots of books then too) we were watching Jeopardy together and I was answering all the questions before the contestants. The MIL looked at her daughter and said "you married a smart man!)

Did not have the heart to tell her the show was a rerun 

[Youngster]

On 1/28/2026 at 9:32 AM, Freebie said:

I had a cute filipina with me last weekend.

When she saw my book cupboard she started smiling and asking if she could read some. I happily agreed. She left the next morning  with 4 books. Not he fierst time thats happened. I buy from thrift stores in UK where they are cheap as chips and often in perfect condition. .

 Maybe she was looking for a  way to come back and found it.👌

[Youngster]

On 1/28/2026 at 6:16 AM, Guy F. said:

When we were downsizing several tears ago my wife threw out a box of slides (photographic type) without consulting me, thus eliminating documentation of my life before we were married. I didn't realize that box was missing for some time. I realized it was gone forever years later. I think she did it because of suspicion that I had pictures of past girlfriends. 

We are still together but I will never forgive or forget. I am not Jesus and I don't have Alzheimers.

Edited to add: Thankful for this forum giving me an opportunity to vent a little

 

On 1/28/2026 at 6:51 AM, GeoffH said:

I feel your pain, whilst not an identical situation my ex wife threw out my photo albums and a box of photographs (photos of me, my parents, my siblings and older relatives that were in the house) after I moved out and sought divorce.  I managed to get copies of a few photos from my sister before she passed but the vast majority are gone for good.  The judge was completely uninterested when this was raised at the property settlement.

I actually felt the pain as I read your posts.  

Little over a year ago, I sent 2 balikbayan boxes full of what little I had left of my life in the US that included family photos and negatives going back almost 80 years along with photo and negative scanners. Took a few months to digitize just the negatives from my first marriage unfortunately due to having to do them behind my current wife’s back, but I’m glad I did because I wanted my adult children and their children to have those.  Thankfully, videos were digitized some time ago. Now in my spare time, I’m enjoying properly dating those and putting location data where possible. 

[Freebie]

In response to youngster some women are just nasty vicious vindictive and theres always an undercurrent of jealousy around that ocassionally surfaces.  When my ex wife and I were going through the final weeks of marriage she seemed to delight in going through a lot of photos from albums and happily tearing up the ones of us together. The fact that I didnt really mind just enraged her more. I knew where the negatives in case I ever wanted to recreate said photos.

Just recently found an excellent service in Manila where I had all the daughter  videos ( graduations, school plays , vacations et )  recorded on sony handycam ( I think thats what they were called ) converted onto hard drives. Will give them to my daughters when next I see them.

[Lee]

1 hour ago, Youngster said:

Took a few months to digitize just the negatives from my first marriage unfortunately due to having to do them behind my current wife’s back

Pretty sad that you had to sneak around to get this done.

What software did you use to digitize your pics?