See, the thing is, we don’t know where to look anymore, to find what the hell is going on. We can look at:
Bank account balance
Cost of goods
Proliferation of Covid in spite of a ‘vaccine’
People who were fired for not taking the ‘vaccine’ now seeing that the ‘vaccine’ was actually killing people.
Ukraine, where American money and assets are being shipped by a value of many millions
Drones, or whatever they are, which are massive enough to carry a bomb or missile, and can hover
Proliferation of unqualified people in positions of power who are destroying our country
Massive, destructive wildfire in California, for which there are insufficient water reserves and not enough firefighters due to budget cuts (reference number 6) to fight the walls of fire.
Censorship running rampant in spite of our Constitutional right to free speech.
Destruction in Western North Carolina needing FEMA assistance but that money is now in Ukraine.
Mass inflation
Schools turned into indoctrination centers at the expense of education, supported by the current administration.
Judicial branch of government being used against ‘we the people’, something the founding fathers warned about and therefore built in checks and balances
Massive corruption in government
Politicians enriching themselves just as though they were robbing the bank accounts of Americans (see number 1)
Assassination attempt on a presidential candidate, apparently implicating the FEDERAL bureau of investigation
A complete loss of trust in the government
A complete loss of confidence of mainstream media
This list is not complete
There are good things, of course. We have independent media to rely upon until the corrupt government finds a way to take that out. And we’ve had so much destruction that people are waking up to how much manipulation we have endured. Finally. But it took near complete destruction to wake people up.
Even with independent media, I see so much anger and hate around the world. Why? Why is hate a primary emotion these days? Well, I have some ideas. They’re probably wrong. Who knows?
I know real estate though. I’ve been at it a very long time. My favorite way to feel is kind. If you like that attitude and need a very good agent, that’s me. I’m Brenda, with Premier Advantage Realty. 919-210-6113.
If you haven’t heard of the narrowboat community in the UK, you’re missing something wonderful to know about. There’s a system of canals throughout the UK, and around 9000 ‘live-aboards’, many retirees, many YouTubers, own narrowboats and travel these canals. Many more are not living aboard, but have or rent narrowboats for holidays or seasons. This lifestyle has become a way for people to live less expensively, and sustainably as well. Most have solar panels and some are going all electric now. Most use diesel power, traveling about 2 miles per hour if I get that right. And there are a very few steam operated ones. It’s a slow, calm pace, allowing for peaceful viewing of nature. Mostly, all you hear is the sound of the small diesel put put putting.
It’s not for everyone. You have to love the slower pace. And most areas where you can moor up for the night, won’t let you stay more than a few days. If you want stay for a longer time, you have to find a marina and rent a slip. I think they do it this way to allow room for everyone to have a mooring as they pass through. You see some fiberglass ‘cruisers’ along the way, but the canals only allow for a narrow beam, so most cruisers would are small. You won’t see a 60 foot fiberglass (what we call a yacht) cruiser. Lately, I believe I am seeing ‘wide narrow boats’ here and there, but they would be restricted from some areas based on size. Remember you’re passing oncoming narrowboats as well, in these narrow straits. Some of the boats are small and maybe not in the best of shape; others are gleaming specimens of the good life, the way it is everywhere. Narrowboats are steered from the rear, right out in the open, although some are putting up canvas covers. But you look ALLLL the way forward as you steer, kind of like a sailboat. Imagine being 60 feet from the bow, steering. And some of the bridges are just wide enough for the boat and a few inches per side. Amazing. Many couples own narrowboats, but there are single women as well, and single men. Lots of pets, both dogs and cats. There’s a toe path along these canals where people can moor alongside and go for a walk or into town. There are sanitation stops for getting water on board and for taking care of all of the waste. Not my favorite viewing part, but part of the experience, nonetheless.
The canals are operated using locks and even a canal aqueduct, the only one of its kind. People who travel on narrowboats have to leave their boat, walk up the path and operate the lock to enter it, and then again to exit. Like the Panama canal on a tiny scale, comparatively. It’s the only way to manage the dramatic landscape there. By the way, these canals are often higher up than the surrounding land, built on berms or structures high above the land.
What makes this canal system unique in my opinion, is the amazing feat of engineering from the Victorian era, to build and sustain this lifeline, pre-railroads. Some lock ‘systems’ consist of multiple locks, back to back, when the elevation change is dramatic. Interestingly, there is a camaraderie among these boaters, similar…no exactly like…what you see in the US among live-aboards here, and they work together at the locks to help one another out when the timing allows it.
Narrowboats are usually under 60 feet long, because there are tight turns along the way, and often boaters have to find a ‘winding hole’ which is a wide area allowing these long boats to swing around and reverse course. Along the Bridgewater canal is an aqueduct, Barton Swing Aqueduct, which takes these narrowboats OVER the River Irwell. This Barton Swing Aquaduct looks like a steel swing bridge, but it is a part of the Bridgewater canal and therefore, has water in it. When a ship approaches along the River Irwell, a shipping lane, these superstructures require that the aqueduct swing out of the way. So at that time, water in the aqueduct (all 80,000 gallons) is held in by walls dropped into place on each end, and then the structure, including water, swings out of the way. By the way, this aqueduct was built in 1761. And, in case you’re wondering. There are also blocking walls that drop on either end of the canal itself, to hold water in while the Aqueduct swings around. Amazing.
I believe Queen Victoria’s seal is on that structure. These canals criss-cross the entirety of the country and are used all day, every day, by boaters whose lifestyle revolves around those waterways. As the boaters cruise along slowly, they pass wildlife, domesticated animals, people’s homes, small towns, huge towns, and one another. It’s a very tight knit community, even with as many boats as there are. I’ve watched these folks on YouTube for years now, so much so that I can be watching one channel and see a couple from another one whose boat I recognize. It’s not like being there, but it’s the next best thing.
A few days ago, the Bridgewater canal was breached due to a massive amount of rainfall, one month’s worth in two days. This part of the canal is higher than surrounding land, atop a large berm like structure, so when it breached, it drained water out. One YouTuber threw his drone up and got footage. I watched his channel when the water was down only a few inches. Now there’s a few inches of water REMAINING in that part of the canal. This person’s images are mostly what is shown on the news. His channel is Taylors Aboard a Narrowboat. But there are many, many channels. By the way, along the canal there are structures in place to hold water in, in the event of a breach. So I expect to hear more about the overall condition of that canal as days pass.
It is heartbreaking to see the devastation, and those affected boats will surely be grounded for months and months. It will take a massive amount of manpower and money to repair the damage to the canal, but I know they will start as soon as the land dries out. They will have to repair the canal structure completely in that area, before they can even let water flow and get marine equipment in there. It will be another huge engineering feat to watch.
Area around Manchester is flooded such that cars are floating, barely visible, and homes have been inundated and evacuated. Many people are displaced or stranded right now. And there is a freeze warning in the entire UK now. I hope the stranded boaters can manage.
So, check out narrowboats in the UK. It will be worth your time to see that lifestyle; I recommend YouTube. Just search narrowboat and you’ll be hooked. It is an amazing culture, an amazing feat of engineering, and a bunch of lovely folks living out there on their narrowboats. As I said, I’ve never been there, but still, I love getting to know these folks through YouTube, and I can even recognize some parts of the canals now. Check it out.
Yes. Here’s an image of a young male to represent an intelligent US politician. That’s Ai folks. Ai chose that. So if you want to get upset, figure that one out. And forgive me for using intelligent and politician in the same sentence. OH OKAY, that’s low hanging fruit. I couldn’t help myself. But think about where we are and the current administration, for context. If you have operating gray matter, you may get a better understanding of our world. And you may understand that it doesn’t REALLY matter who the leader is given the challenges, along with the likelihood of a qualified leader; however, if the leader has intelligence, our chances of survival in the short term are better.
As an aside, let me just say that the less intelligent now have a lot of access to nukes, so there’s that.
For personal input, my government leaders can wear plush, lime green dinosaur costumes to work, as long as they are highly intelligent, able to apply that intelligence successfully for the good of the country, and as long as they don’t kill me and my fellow Americans. And I’d prefer that this person in the dinosaur suit keep in MIND that other government leaders will think they are an IDIOT when they see that behavior, which will RUIN our position of power in negotiating. So leave the freaking dinosaur suit at home while in meetings or while on camera. How you FEEL about YOURSELF does not matter. How others view you is CRITICAL on the world stage. Don’t get me started on the White House as a nursing home. And by the way, how others view you is critical in all of life. So GROW UP, get out of egocentricity and recognize that you are one of 8 BILLION people on earth. It’s not all about you.
And then there’s the statistic that says politics attracts psychopaths. Hahaha. I like to keep you on your toes. I swear I’m laughing out loud right now. We’re so screwed.
But about psychopaths…keeping a dying person alive and teaching him how to walk on his toes so he won’t topple over is just wrong. Remember cameras? Remember how other world leaders view us as it relates to our position of power? Yeah. Psychopaths couldn’t care less. Their focus is and always will be inward. Where does that leave the populous? Well, poorer than the politician, for sure.
I always have YouTube on in the morning while I have coffee, and always choose non-fiction to watch…if there is such a thing anymore. THIS morning, I selected a documentary about Chinese youth. I’m a fan. But, what an eye-opening documentary this one was. And as always, it got me thinking. Come with me on these many rabbit trails, will you?
I got a glimpse of what it is like for Chinese youth today, working hard to be smart, to get that degree, and to rush out into the work force, where the likelihood of finding a job after all of that work, is heartbreakingly low, statistically insignificant (if you don’t know that term, look it up). Hence the reason many of them have decided to ‘lay down’ or ‘let it rot’. So sad, and understandable. I also learned that their leader blocking their access to actual employment numbers, isn’t helping. That’s censorship and it’s coming home to roost over there too. Why? Because the young people are actually being shut out of the work force! They already know! News flash: experience trumps propaganda. I can now better understand why I see so many Chinese people here, working. Having jobs. I get it. America, the land of opportunity. But how long can that last?
I went for the numbers, went for math, which cannot lie. And okay, I looked at America, because, uh, this is where I live. For fact checkers and for giving credit where credit is due, I Googled EVERYTHING. Why? Because it’s at my fingertips and I don’t own a library of Congress, and this is a blog post, not an application for a Nobel Peace Prize. But you can also Google. Or ride your bicycle to the library. Or walk, walking is good too. And, do I have to say this? Numbers change. Babies are born, people die, you get the idea.
In the US, we have about 341,814,420. Of that number there are about 9,570,080 are looking for jobs. That’s all working age from 15-65. PRIME working age is supposedly 25-54. That’s a joke. I started working in the single digits of age and am STILL working. That 54 number needs to be higher. Not sure about the 25 now.
According to newly released Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics data, about 20% of Americans over age 65 — a total of 10.6 million people (10,600,000) — are either working or looking for work. See what I mean?
How many of us Americans are looking for a job and can’t find one? That’s 7,100,000.
How many actual jobs are out there? Well that’s 7,700,000. That means jobs not filled. This is why it takes so long to even FIND a job, if you’re looking.
And how many Americans are not in a job and not LOOKING for a job? That’s 64,944,739. Go into the reasons people are not looking? Women, you won’t like THAT statistic. You occupy the largest percentage of that group. Some of the stated reasons are good ones, like military, school or caregiving, but let’s face it: “I’m a lazy parasite” was not one of the choices on the form. COME ON, you know they’re out there.
So. It makes a difference if you see the actual numbers as opposed to a percentage, which always looks small. And given these numbers you can see how the recent migration numbers will ultimately effect us.
Now, let’s look at how we can fix this crap. Take a deep breath. I’m laughing again. I can see a LITTLE bit of what the government keeps doing to us. It’s like being on that amusement park ship ride, the one that is just a giant swing. It goes WAY up on one side, the drops down to the bottom before going WAY up on the other side. Whoooooaaaaa. And sometimes you get puked on by the ones who are above you on that part of the ride. Hahaha. Sorry, that’s our government, trying to work with these big numbers.
You can create jobs by lowering interest rates OR expanding money supply. If you want to make your lobbyists happy, you create money (we’ve seen that, right?) They call it a ‘stimulus’. Holy cow. If you focus on the PEOPLE, you lower rates. If you do either of those things, you create a surge in demand for goods and services. More jobs, right? But wait, there’s MORE.
If you DO either of those things, you hurt the actual value of money (also known as inflation). Purchasing power decreases! Oops. And prices rise. Well there go those jobs you just created, but man does that number look good in MSM (main stream media) for that 15 minutes. Are you getting a glimpse of how we’re on that ship ride after all? Hahaha. We’re so screwed.
If you look at changing the population demographic, well there’s another quagmire. What if you make the over 65 group sit down and get out of the workforce? Well, some would say that the older ones fill the jobs the “lazy parasites” won’t do. OR, retirees cannot afford to stay home, because…inflation, interest rates, print money…you see? AND according to stats, older folks are still fit and able to work.
What if we stop reproducing ourselves? I’m a fan of that. But…that’s what China did and then there were not enough working people to pay into the government programs. Hmmm. There were a lot of old folks in China who were on our equivalent of Social Security. That was a disaster, which caused the reversal of the ‘one child only’ law over there. You have to have youth in jobs to support things like welfare, medicare, etc. Yeah, even in the US. But you can see why Social Security is targeted every single election, right? And yet we bring in tens of millions of welfare recipients into the US. Does that make any sense to you? Because I’m trying to figure out just how STUPID politicians are. I keep digging and digging and can’t get to the bottom. The answer is, “Nope, there’s more stupidity to come. Keep digging!”
Good grief, do you see how convoluted this crap gets? Makes me wonder about that flu that took out so many old folks. Definitely not laughing.
So. Statistics. Well, you say, all the jobs have gone to China! Think about it. The percentages remain pretty ‘static’ for a long time. So if you send more jobs but people keep reproducing themselves, NOTHING CHANGES. Ugh.
What if more people have college degrees then? Let’s make them an entitlement. Everybody gets one, like a ‘participation trophy’. That way, there’s no chance for discrimination. Well, you have just killed the value of a diploma. Like inflation. See how it all ties together? So now we have MILLIONS of people waving around their diploma who can’t SPELL, don’t know the plural form of words, you know, the ones I yell at on my TV!
Beware, these will be your government leaders soon. Crap. OUR government leaders.
Let me make you laugh again. This is a quote: It’s impossible to definitively say how many people with blue hair are currently looking for a job because there’s no reliable data tracking hair color alongside job search status, but the number is likely very small relative to the overall job seeker population as blue hair is considered a non-standard appearance that might be discouraged in certain workplaces.
That’s your Ai again, folks.
This goes back to the stats on recent college grads who are getting fired after less than 6 months in a job. It ties in together. How others view us matters more than many would like to acknowledge.
Again with the appearance thing. And can I just say? I like the pale pinks and pale lavender hues and even thought about doing a small version of it once. And the burgundy tones in black hair are lovely. But if you go blue or green? You narrow your choices unless you are brilliant. (see paragraph 3)
Tatoos? Well statistics say that they are more accepted in the workplace and don’t overly inhibit your chances to be hired. There are your choices folks. LOL.
See, all of this started with a documentary. The mind of the left brain dominant.
Have a wonderful 2025! Hope springs eternal. Hahaha.
Starting out with a sigh, again. Y’all, listen please. When you see a person on TV or YouTube advertising discount broker fees, you’re watching a discount broker. Point 1: You get what you pay for. There is far more to buying and selling a home than filling out a form and checking boxes. FAR more. If you’ve got someone who is willing to work for dime store wages, they intend to give you dime store service and probably that level of expertise, EVEN if they say they are SO busy and SO smart. There is a lot at stake in your huge monetary transaction.
Point 2: COMMISSIONS ARE NEGOTIABLE!!! You do not have to sacrifice experience and expertise! Just NEGOTIATE. My head is exploding. In NC, our forms have ALWAYS had a blank where the commission amount goes. Nobody is FORCED to pay anything. If you think you were, or if someone is implying that you’re being ‘charged high realtor fees’, that person doesn’t understand how it works or they’re trying to fool you! Big, red flag. You DEFINITELY need to call me.
Point 3: Talking with a real estate agent is free. FREE FREE FREE. Call me and let me explain how this whole thing works so you can’t be fooled. I like to help my clients, and even folks who just want to chat, understand the process so they can feel less stress! Stress reduction is my goal, but it also just makes sense that you know what you’re going through BEFORE you get there.
So, please, don’t go discount. Get expertise and just negotiate the fee! Call me at 919-210-6113. I’m Brenda with Premier Advantage Realty and I’d love to help you.
I watched a YouTube video by Robby Starbucks. I’m a little late on this, but it matters and you might want to track him down and watch him work. He is impressive.
The world is trying to right itself from its upside-down aspect. I am hopeful that this will work. I’m sick to death of the insanity and I have said one hundred times, “I’m going to jail.” I am a rule follower, a stickler, a thinker whose most often used word is “why?”. I’m fed up with feeling fed up. And I cannot believe I was steeling myself for incarceration. But I was. At the very least I expected to be hit in the face with produce in the grocery store for not using the right PRONOUN. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. I’ve been called a grammar snob. IMAGINE me using ‘their’ for a single, solitary person. AIN’T HAPPENING.
Robby Starbucks is my hero of the month. I have a lot of heroes. He’s near the top. Robby stood in the breach and actually opened his mouth and shouted! He did something. He’s not from the “I’m Okay; Your’re Okay” generation, thank goodness. Many of us in the ‘silent majority’ are not cowards; we were just taught that people can be whom they are. And that’s OKAY! I really believe that. Who am I to judge? I don’t. Unless you start stomping on my toes. And listen, it probably it is okay to be whomever you want to be, unless you are a knife wielding murderer, or, as it turns out, unless you try to force your ideology down my throat. That’s NOT okay. And even if I didn’t realize it (I did), it didn’t feel good going down. And besides, I have my OWN ideology. My ideology happens to align with the majority…the normal group.
So Robby points out, and I can’t believe he needed to, that the way the inmates were taking over the asylum was by indoctrination in school, further brainwashing in college, and insertion into positions of authority in corporations and government. Yeah, I’ve been saying that for a long time. But I knew there was nothing I could do. I have become voiceless and valueless. But Robby is young, strong, smart, and brave, unafraid to shout. Thank God. And listen, normal people are not cowards; we, individually, just have no venue by which to push back.
And if the word ‘normal’ pisses you off, you never took statistics. GOOGLE IT.
So now Robby is systematically going after corporations to alert them that they are about to be GONE from the landscape. Gone because they threw mud, or another brown substance, at the ones keeping their businesses going, the customers. How did we keep the businesses going? By spending the money we made by working. That’s a lost idea: work. But my hero Robby reminded them about Bud Light and how FAST their stock tanked and of the power of a customer base, pissed off. Tractor Supply skidded to a stop so fast before reversing their DEI initiative that I can still smell burning rubber. John Deere? They have SO many more issues than DEI that I can’t even talk about them. And Harley DAVIDSON??? Ohhhhhh my God. That one deserves a WTF?
See, the thing is, the executives of these corporations had to be TOLD what was happening, and that’s what I want to talk about. THINK about this now: Top level executives just ROLLED onto the woke wagon without a second thought. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Let’s discriminate against all white people, all regular working people, Christians, especially white MEN. Let’s bring in the most anti-social, the most anti-authority, the most offensive groups of people to interface with the public, the ones who pay the wokies. Do you see anything wrong with that? Well if you’re reading this you do.
What’s wrong is the the executives are out of touch, perched in their private silo, stupid. I know. That sounds harsh. Don’t care. It’s true. The executives are social-blind. They’re rich, but they’re out of touch. That’s redundant, of course. The executives are all too wiling to give over their companies to activists. When have activists ever been in the majority? Well…now. WE are the activists now, by speaking with our feet and our wallets. We will not spend money with companies who adopt racism as their way of doing things. Yes, racism. Don’t believe me?
Where are the white men in commercials? Where are the white men in TV shows? Where are the white men in ads about family and marriage. ALL white women are married to only black men now. That’s okay, if it’s true, but it’s not true. It’s the woke idiots trying to erase white men. I LIKE white men. I want them back.
There has been a movement to turn men into sissies. And it has worked to a great extent, but let’s ask the people of Western North Carolina how many of the limp sissie boys grabbed a chain saw or fired up an earth mover to clear out post-hurricane debris. Yeah, it was the ‘toxic white males’ who dug out the dead bodies, rescued victims from water, mud, trees, who pulled vehicles out of the raging water, rebuilt roads and towns. Yeah, toxic white men did that. And the estrogen boys? Well you can find them. Listen to them saying “like” every third word. There they are.
I rest my case.
But again, I digress. My point is that the generation who got a trophy for showing up, or worse, a DIPLOMA for showing up, is now in charge (for a few more weeks). Well done, parents. Well done. A college degree is now not even worth the paper it is printed on. college degrees have been cheapened, rendered lies. AND, these uneducated people are trying to take down America. Why? Because it’s all about feelings. As in: Walmart just wanted to “foster a sense of Belonging” (their policy). Two things. Belonging is capitalized by Walmart, not me. Emphasis on the idea of ‘belonging’ is about FEELINGS. No thought at all about their customer base nor what going woke might do to their bottom line. Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid. Either Walmart execs are dumb as hell, or they HIRED someone dumb as hell to write that memo. And second…where did the Walmart execs go to college? That’s where they were no doubt indoctrinated. Indoctrination is not education, in case these knuckleheads don’t realize that. And, people are just plain fed up.
Leading to another rabbit hole. If you want to get to the bottom of current society’s poison, you have to dig to the bottom. That would be schools. Once, schools were a place to learn, and to learn to THINK. I’ve been saying for a long time that critical thinking skills are a thing of the past. And there’s a reason or that. Students are fed ideology. They are bullied into the line the teacher, the professor, the president of the college wants you to toe. Don’t worry about learning engineering skills or math or science. You’ll get your diploma anyway; you showed up! If you’ve ever seen baby birds in a nest about to be fed by mama bird, how they open their beaks wide, wide wide, you can envision today’s students. Same exact thing. No thinking, no discussion, for God’s sake no debate or questioning authority. Just open your mouth and swallow the poison that’s being force fed.
So yeah, Robby, go after the ‘education’ institutions when you finish with corporations.
Everyone should have the opportunity to be made to feel so small as to be hard to see. Everyone should have the opportunity to be reminded how inconsequential we humans are. I have had that feeling twice in life: Once at the Grand Canyon and once in France, standing before Notre Dame Cathedral before it burned.
We see pictures and videos all the time about such historic landmarks, but standing right there, well, it is life changing. I’ll tell you why. First, you get to know how very small you are standing before such grandeur; and you realize that compared to the skill it took to create such a grand example of architecture, you are insignificant. How small we are is especially apparent when we see the Grand Canyon up close. I thought, “I’m really just a very, very tiny biological entity, not so special after all, here and gone so quickly in the grand scheme that I don’t matter at all.” Hmmm.
In our society, and maybe even in all of them, we seem to have the feeling that we are more important than we are. We’re really not the center of the universe and we’re not that special. If you doubt it, do visit Notre Dame Cathedral. Think about the incredible talent and skill of the craftsmen who built Notre Dame Cathedral! That magnificent building, that majestic architectural phenomenon was built in 1163, taking over a century to build. And it stood strong and glorious until it burned in 2019. I cried that day. Still, I get choked up thinking about it. I feared it would be the end of the magic. They rebuilt it, by the way, with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of skilled craftspeople using historic methodology to the extent possible. It was an effort that had to happen. I could not have gone undone.
At the Grand Canyon, not only did I feel invisible compared to the magnificence of the canyon, but I was reminded…in full color…of history. The canyon wasn’t built by craftsmen with genius in muscles and fingertips, but by nature, over immense stretches of time. And there I was, barely a blink in that time continuum. It put things in perspective in a colossal way. In other words, it put me in my place.
If you visit the canyon you will learn that the ocean once covered that space. I don’t remember how many years ago it was, but there were the sea creatures, right there, forever pressed into their historic layer, undeniably revealing the presence of the ocean once upon a time. I was amazed. We hear stories about these things, but we never really, really hear them.
Seeing these two massive and glorious paragons threw me into a state of contemplation I wish I had experienced sooner in my life. I felt incredibly blessed to have seen such grand sites, and was quiet, for a long while, thinking. In the Cathedral, I know others felt that same feeling. In that grand hall, surrounded by a thousand people, there was not a sound, other than soft footfalls. The grandeur commanded respect, and it was freely given.
I realize that my own insignificant body is also a miracle of creation, with billions of cells working together in systems that have to work perfectly in order for me to live. So I do matter and in that way, I am also grand and I am important. But it is about perspective. I am a speck, dust ultimately, and I will pass through life so fast I won’t register on any detector. Nobody will stand near me and marvel in a thousand years. In a couple of generations nobody will remember me at all. Centuries after I am reduced to dust, these two grand sites I speak of will still exist, each a reminder of deep history, each no doubt putting others in mind of perspective.
Welcome back, Notre Dame Cathedral. I have missed you these five years.
It’s everywhere; we cannot avoid it. The news is Jaguar. Jaguar is finished, Jaguar has gone woke, heading to a stock price of a buck. The CEO’s going to be axed. Agreed. But why? That word, why, will no doubt be on my tombstone. I always want to drill down to the reason. I think it’s about creativity. Creativity is dying.
Think about how many re-releases, how many remakes, how many copies we see. Good grief, why remake Snow White? How many Star Wars are there? The VW bus is back, but it’s a Buzz now. OMG. Make something new, for God’s sake. I’ve noticed that, aside from Elon, creativity, new ideas, great leaps forward for society, have disappeared over the horizon. Only Elon is standing in the breach. Why is nobody trying to copy him? Because, no talent and no drive. Too much work to copy Elon and work, well that’s not gonna happen. Too many video games and too many men wanting to be their version of women. That’s insulting, by the way. It’s cultural appropriation. Dark red lipstick, a midriff tank and a falsetto voice make a costume, men. A costume.
What happened to men who couldn’t wait to get a car they could ‘work on’? Where are the greasy hands picking up tools out of the toolbox? Where are the guys building computers…or anything…in the garage? Where are the ideas like having all music in one little rectangular box? What’s the next fiber optic idea? Data at the speed of light stuff? Nobody?
It used to be the case that ideas overflowed from colleges and universities. Art, technology, ideas that pulled society forward at breakneck speeds leapt from campuses, flowed like rivers. But not now. It’s SO bad now that the new Jag ad, for example, actually says, “Copy nothing”. Well I think that’s a subliminal admission that copying is the only way anybody these days can graduate. So Jag jumped onboard the woke train, when it had already left the station. No wonder the knees are scratched and bruised. People who should never be in charge are pushed to that position because of woke-ness, not because of training or education. For those of us who lived in the age of a huge technological leap, it’s depressing and we’re trying not to read the writing on the wall. But we have functioning brains.
Another thing. There is an absolute aversion to paying attention. To looking around. To reading the room. People are so desperate to be unique that they copy EVERYTHING. It’s all they can do because the think tanks are indoctrination incubators now. There’s no: How can we leap forward as a society? How can I make things incredible? No, now it is: How can we destroy society, tear it down, be anti everything? Destruction doesn’t work. Problem is, if we don’t read that room, we’ll miss the big train. Does anyone else see the irony of desperation for uniqueness causing a limp, deflating picture of deadly imitation?
Yeah, I think Jaguar is devoid of creative people, ones who like wrenches and power tools. I think Jaguar is so desperate they want to be Target. I mourn.
Once in another lifetime, I owned a red Jaguar with light tan leather interior. It was one of my favorite cars ever. Beautiful, solid, tight, fast. Car. Car car car. I loved that car, and I had to have a good job, paying good money in order to afford it! I am talking about the Jaguar CAR.
I hope you have seen the new Jaguar ads, which have nothing to do with cars. Any cars. What they are, is a collection of woke…people…who knows what kind…trying to be unique and there are no CARS in sight or sound. But, they’re copying every other woke collection of people trying to be unique. This crap is getting old. Young people are STILL trying to be unique by copying everyone else! Maybe they don’t know what unique means. In any case, they copy their older brothers and sisters by trying to be unique. hahaha. You can’t make this stuff up. They are probably all middle children. Once AGAIN we see a collection of…people…trying to be as counterculture as they can manage…and it is SO BORING, so already done.
But I digress. Jaguar is…uh, WAS… one of the MOST sought-after cars with the iconic hood ornament that NOBODY could afford unless you were buying an old, used one. Like I did. Ah, but not now. heh heh heh. Watch what happens to this brand. Ever hear of Bud Light? Ever hear of ‘Go woke; go broke’? The new ads actually advertise counterculture wokism, not cars, which as we all know is the giant kiss of death.
I saw their new ‘ad’ and my exact response was, “Ah CRAP there goes Jaguar”. I’m not wrong. I haven’t BEEN wrong with my predictions. This means I’m mainstream, I guess. But I WILL mourn the murder of Jaguar. Bud Light, I didn’t care, except that I didn’t have to watch that guy in a woman costume anymore. I didn’t drink Bud anything. Tractor Supply had a close brush, and I will never shop at Target again. No biggie. But for the murder of Jaguar, I weep.
Wait, is it murder? Or is it suicide? I think it’s suicide. If it is suicide, then they get exactly EXACTLY what they deserve. Goodbye Jaguar. I will miss you.
And all of the Jag owners, probably out to eat in an expensive restaurant, wearing expensive clothes, looking well manicured and young…You are the end of the age of coolness.
This is the time out generation. This is the generation where there were no consequences for bad behavior. This is the generation of entitlement lifestyle, or placated entitlement, to teach children that everything is a bed of roses. NO COPING SKILLS and no need to teach anger management, poor, poor parenting, when it is the parents’ job to teach children how to make it in life, EVEN when things don’t go his/her way. Maybe teaching how to lose gracefully is MORE important. Because you’re gonna lose sometimes. You are going. to. lose. But, parents, because you have not taught your children the truth, you get this. Listen little crybabies, your parents know life is hard because they worked to pay YOUR way. And yet you are ungrateful cretins.
You know sports, right? You know one team wins. ONE TEAM. You don’t see the losing team killing the winners! Can you even grasp that? Are you that stupid??
Listen up, brats. Here’s a news flash for you. Life is hard. Life is full of disappointments. Yes, it is full of celebrations, joy, winning, happiness. But there are also disappointments, hardships, terrible tragedies, accidents that cause irreparable damage. You’re the smartest people on the planet, or so you believe (you are SO wrong); figure this out! Learn to control your emotions, for God’s sake. No level of education, nor professional paychecks nor little lifestyle choices mean shit if you have to kill someone because your candidate lost. And guess what, little terrorist. They don’t mean shit in prison either, as you will discover. By the way, MOST politicians lose. Did you even KNOW that?? This is the freaking dumbing down of my country.
Have you even HEARD about hurricanes or tsunamis, earthquakes, erupting volcanoes? People DIE in these tragedies. Life is hard, life is tough. You have zero value if you cannot grasp that simple concept. Zero.
I cannot WAIT to see you claim mental illness. Oh I know it’s coming. It MUST be someone else’s fault because you are perfect, right. You? The one who can’t handle a little bit of disappointment. By the way, ‘snapping’ is not mental illness, criminal. No freaking way. “Snapping” is “no coping skills”.
Any person who bludgeons her father to DEATH because her political candidate lost, because it ‘pushed her over the edge’, has NO place in society. This is a terrorist ticking time bomb. I hope the death penalty applies and if not, I guess we pay for your miserable failed life in prison. Good riddance. I’m done with this insanity.
The years 2023 and 2024 were challenging years for existing home sellers. That’s in general; there were some warmer markets. But overall builders captured the market with huge and I mean HUGE incentive dollars for buyers. The problem existing home SELLERS have is that their homes are not new, and they should not be priced alongside new or newer homes. And yet some are.
The problem I see is that often, sellers spend tens of thousands of dollars on their homes getting them ready to sell, and promptly add that dollar amount to their dream price. That NEVER works, folks. What sellers spend is actually required to bring their home back to life to be worthy of the market; it’s not icing. They replace worn out flooring, leaky roof, repair wet crawl space, put in a new water heater, update appliances…all of the things buyers EXPECT to see when they are shopping homes on the market. Today’s buyers do not want to do DIY. They want older but they want it to BE new. See the conundrum?
There’s that dirty word no seller ever hears: Market. The internet makes my job much harder in a way, because it fools people into checking the square footage box, the acreage box, the age box and POOF! There’s your home value. Not. Not not not! Please hear me when I say this: There are a thousand other things to consider when deriving a price for your home and NONE of the online home sites consider any of them. So they tell you a dream price and you buy it, hook, line and sinker.
Remember the ‘nose blind’ commercials? It’s real. But there’s ’emotion blind’ too. Buyers don’t care that your parents built this home; they don’t care that this used to be your room as a child! They have never seen this house, and they don’t see it through your emotion lenses. The automated valuation models don’t know that your back yard view is of a propane dealer or that you have termites eating your floor joists. The AVMs don’t know that there is a plan to put an interstate alongside your property line! AVMs don’t know that your kitchen appliances are forty years old, or that the bathrooms are that age too. They look at age, square footage, zip code and then they grab others with those criteria and give you an average. Most of the time, they are wrong. Read that last sentence again, please.
I’m going to say this and hope you will listen. Real estate agents see thousands of homes each year. We see the best of the best and the worst of the worst. We know how to value your home. By the way, your market is not the same as the one 20 miles away from you. Real estate is LOCAL. Know that when we come to meet you and your home, our goal is to find out your STRATEGY for selling your home. In other words, how motivated are you and why. That’s critical. And then we talk to you about the repairs you’ve had to do, the ones you plan to do, the age of the systems, what you love and what you hate about the home. Then we investigate the building materials (like Masonite or polybutylene) and whether or not you are in a flood plane. We check for easements and private streets and road maintenance agreements. And we check the HOA and covenants. ALL OF THAT makes a difference folks. All of it. AVMs do not consider them, by the way.
But the bottom line is that unless you have made your old house new in all of the ways, you cannot price it alongside new construction. Even if, may I say, the quality of construction may be better. So please, consult a real estate agent (me) and let’s just talk about it. Oh, and then please listen. I will tell you the truth. And then I will help you actually sell your home.
I’m Brenda, a real estate broker with Premier Advantage Realty. Call me.
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