Caught up with an old buddy today, it was fun but also depressing

[LinvilleGorge]

An old HS buddy of mine started a barbershop in town awhile back. Popped in this morning to get a trim. Hadn't seen the dude in literally 20+ years. Anyway, it's early in the morning and I'm the only one in the shop so we're cuttin' up like old times.

I've been gone from my hometown for the better part of the past 20+ years. College in VA. Bounced around to MD, Huntersville, and Charleston for a few years. Moved to Colorado for 14 years. Moved back to my hometown roughly a year and a half ago but COVID and having a wife and kids have kinda put a damper on catching up with a lot of folks. I've hung out with a couple of my tight buddies that I've stayed in touch with over the years but that's literally two people and it's tough coordinating with them because we all have wives who don't know each other and kids of pretty wildly varying ages. We basically just grab the occasional beer. The rest have moved away or just MIA.

Well, this was my first chance to catch up with a good buddy who has stayed in town and stayed social not having a wife and kids. We start talking about various people from back in the day and there was a lot of "Yeah, they're married with kids and pretty much just homebodies these day" or "I think they moved away and I haven't heard from them". Normal stuff. But holy poo there was a lot of "Overdose, dead" and "junkie" and "crackhead" and "basically a zombie, brain is fried" and "prison" responses when going down the list of folks I'd wondered what had become of them. It was good catching up with an old buddy but a bit depressing to find out the downfall of a lot of folks from back in the day.

And yeah, I used to be wild as hell back in the day. 

[stirs]

Burke, Caldwell counties leading employers have the word "substance" in the description

[thefuzz]

I come from a small NC town, less than 4,000 I'm pretty sure.

Left when I was 17, only went back for a very short time...the folks that stayed...some are in good shape...most are not.

There are days when I miss small town life, but there simply isn't enough to do to keep kids (boys) from getting into trouble.

[LinvilleGorge]

43 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

I come from a small NC town, less than 4,000 I'm pretty sure.

Left when I was 17, only went back for a very short time...the folks that stayed...some are in good shape...most are not.

There are days when I miss small town life, but there simply isn't enough to do to keep kids (boys) from getting into trouble.

I can't believe how far my small town has come. It went from a total afterthought to one of the hottest spots in WNC outside of Asheville. Furniture and textiles heading to China knocked it down hard for about a quarter century. That and a long-time mayor with zero interest in modernization or taking advantage of the proximity to lots of outdoor attractions. It always should've been a tourism destination but has just started turning into one in the past decade and the local breweries have been a big factor.

[thefuzz]

2 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

I can't believe how far my small town has come. It went from a total afterthought to one of the hottest spots in WNC outside of Asheville.

My town hasn't changed much...day in and day out it's very similar to when I lived there growing up...drugs have gotten worse, but that seems everywhere.

It's about to boom in the next 20 years just due to Wilmington's growth.  I see some potential there over the next 5 years for some development in housing...I may be getting my nose in there on that.

[LinvilleGorge]

1 minute ago, thefuzz said:

My town hasn't changed much...day in and day out it's very similar to when I lived there growing up...drugs have gotten worse, but that seems everywhere.

It's about to boom in the next 20 years just due to Wilmington's growth.  I see some potential there over the next 5 years for some development in housing...I may be getting my nose in there on that.

Long-term I hope Morganton can do for Marion and Lenoir what Asheville did for Morganton. As Asheville got too expensive folks started looking elsewhere in WNC. Morganton was in the right spot at the right time having just started shifting their focus to marketing their location and breweries and downtown revival driven by the breweries. Marion and Lenoir are still absolute poo holes but they have all the same geographical plusses. They just need to get their head out of their ass. 30 years ago, it looked like Lenoir was on track to be what Morganton became but instead they're the shittiest of the trio. Hickory might just be a lost cause. I think it only persists to anchor the big box stores for the surrounding communities.

[thefuzz]

28 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Long-term I hope Morganton can do for Marion and Lenoir what Asheville did for Morganton. As Asheville got too expensive folks started looking elsewhere in WNC. Morganton was in the right spot at the right time having just started shifting their focus to marketing their location and breweries and downtown revival driven by the breweries. Marion and Lenoir are still absolute poo holes but they have all the same geographical plusses. They just need to get their head out of their ass. 30 years ago, it looked like Lenoir was on track to be what Morganton became but instead they're the shittiest of the trio. Hickory might just be a lost cause. I think it only persists to anchor the big box stores for the surrounding communities.

Need some strong local politicians.  We tend to elect the same people over and over to those positions.

I think we will see a steady creep up I-40 toward Raleigh over the next 20 years...Wilmington has become VERY expensive to live in...and you can't really expand normally like most towns in NC...you are forced to go in only 2.5 directions.

[Anybodyhome]

I'm headed west in May to the San Diego area for the first time in about 20 years. I left at the end of 1992 because I saw the writing on the wall where the only thing keeping LA and SD from becoming one is Camp Pendleton. Traffic sucked, real estate thru the roof, and way too many people. 

My 50th HS reunion is in 2 years- I thought about that, but I kept up with none of them after I graduated.

[LinvilleGorge]

My 20th was a couple of years ago. I didn't go.

[onmyown]

Not sure if time makes a difference. Instead of hearing about old friends when I was older I went through all that my whole life, now around age 40. Friends overdosing, ex girlfriends and friends committing suicide, others dying in war, death or disability from early age cancer or illness, death from drunk driving, overdoses. Some in prison, some that should be in prison lol. Some of this poo deserved, some of it just happening on its own will. No patterns or reasoning to a lot of it.

The older I get the more I realize ‘luck’ or what you will call it actually has a poo ton to do with how you’re life will go, I’ve always been an intrinsically motivated ‘manifest destination’ fellow but I would be ignorant to say some truly get a bad hand and at the same time, some truly get a lucky hand. I don’t take credit as much as I used to for a decent shot at life. I’d say easily over 75% of the people I knew aren’t doing so hot.

Such is life, take advantage and be thankful for everything you got and don’t sweat the small stuff.

Edited March 18, 2022 by onmyown

[TheRumGone]

10 hours ago, onmyown said:

Not sure if time makes a difference. Instead of hearing about old friends when I was older I went through all that my whole life, now around age 40. Friends overdosing, ex girlfriends and friends committing suicide, others dying in war, death or disability from early age cancer or illness, death from drunk driving, overdoses. Some in prison, some that should be in prison lol. Some of this poo deserved, some of it just happening on its own will. No patterns or reasoning to a lot of it.

The older I get the more I realize ‘luck’ or what you will call it actually has a poo ton to do with how you’re life will go, I’ve always been an intrinsically motivated ‘manifest destination’ fellow but I would be ignorant to say some truly get a bad hand and at the same time, some truly get a lucky hand. I don’t take credit as much as I used to for a decent shot at life. I’d say easily over 75% of the people I knew aren’t doing so hot.

Such is life, take advantage and be thankful for everything you got and don’t sweat the small stuff.

Deaths of despair. America has been rotted out. Jobs shipped out. No hope.

the town linville lives in im very familiar with. Morganton doesn’t have a lot to offer besides a brewery and a tiny record shop I used to frequent besides  the one 15 min down i40 in another poo town. But I haven’t been there in 4 years. The downtown was decent from my memory.
 

One of my best friends lived there in Morganton. He’s dead.  No drugs. Didn’t smoke or drink. He worked factory jobs like me. They got shipped out. Lost his health insurance. Poverty stricken. Dead. I begged him to move to Asheville before I left and try to start a job there. Told him he could live with me for free. Wouldn’t do it. Asheville is too expensive.

Luck plays a gigantic role in this. Some people turn to drugs or alcohol. So many of my HS friends are dead because these fuging politicians have shipped out jobs and the towns are literally eating themselves.

[LinvilleGorge]

2 hours ago, TheRumGone said:

Deaths of despair. America has been rotted out. Jobs shipped out. No hope.

the town linville lives in im very familiar with. Morganton doesn’t have a lot to offer besides a brewery and a tiny record shop I used to frequent besides  the one 15 min down i40 in another poo town. But I haven’t been there in 4 years. The downtown was decent from my memory.
 

One of my best friends lived there in Morganton. He’s dead.  No drugs. Didn’t smoke or drink. He worked factory jobs like me. They got shipped out. Lost his health insurance. Poverty stricken. Dead. I begged him to move to Asheville before I left and try to start a job there. Told him he could live with me for free. Wouldn’t do it. Asheville is too expensive.

Luck plays a gigantic role in this. Some people turn to drugs or alcohol. So many of my HS friends are dead because these fuging politicians have shipped out jobs and the towns are literally eating themselves.

Yep. The furniture and textiles industries leaving left this area gutted of good blue collar jobs. The same story is prevalent all across America. The area is making a big comeback focusing more on tourism and attracting the folks looking at Asheville and balking at the prices. The problem is that tourism driven jobs don't pay. All the good middle class blue collar jobs have been replaced with $10-12 an hour type jobs. The old Henderson plant site is a prime example. That plant used to support a lot of good paying blue collar jobs that supported a lot of local families. It's been replaced by a shopping center. Wal-Mart, Dick's, PetSmart, TJ Maxx, etc. The managers of those stores make decent money but everyone else is making $10-12 an hour.

 

[TheRumGone]

4 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Yep. The furniture and textiles industries leaving left this area gutted of good blue collar jobs. The same story is prevalent all across America. The area is making a big comeback focusing more on tourism and attracting the folks looking at Asheville and balking at the prices. The problem is that tourism driven jobs don't pay. All the good middle class blue collar jobs have been replaced with $10-12 an hour type jobs. The old Henderson plant site is a prime example. That plant used to support a lot of good paying blue collar jobs that supported a lot of local families. It's been replaced by a shopping center. Wal-Mart, Dick's, PetSmart, TJ Maxx, etc. The managers of those stores make decent money but everyone else is making $10-12 an hour.

 

Yeah he worked at CAT until it was shutdown in 2016 or 2017 I can’t remember. Never recovered. 

[Paa Langfart]

I left my home state ( WV ) when I went in the Navy and never looked back.  I still ocassionally get a " letter" from the reunion commitee of my high school advertising their latest get together.  God knows how they found me and/or my address.  I sure as hell didn't give it to them.  Some sort of twisted F U from my ex maybe.