There are so many seniors in the market now, looking to downsize into a more manageable space. Maybe the need is to live on one level, or maybe it is just to have less real estate to manage. Any way you look at it, it is a specialized place to be in life, and it requires a special real estate agent to help you navigate it. Times have changed, laws have changed, real estate and even how to get through it, have changed. And I find that my clients appreciate that I listen to them, that I have empathy for their fears and the sadness they feel when they have to choose what to take with them and what to leave. And importantly, I find that my clients love that I do not rush them. These kinds of late-in-life decisions are weighty and they deserve thinking through.
One of my specialties is working with seniors. I am one. I know how it feels to enact dramatic changes later in life, and I’m really good at helping my seasoned clients navigate through. The most important thing for them is to focus on the excitement they will encounter in finding that new home, getting to incorporate some of the things maybe they didn’t have in their last, long term home. Eventually, all of my clients settle in, embrace and even love their new life. That’s what you want. And that’s what I want for you.
I work very hard and with love for my seniors on this journey. I hope you will call me so I can be of service. I am Brenda, with Premier Advantage Realty, at 919-210-6113.
You’ll notice in this image that there are no cords, no batteries. This is the instrument that requires some thought to be in place before keys are struck. It is a typewriter. Purely mechanical, purely reliant upon ideas to come from the mind of operator, or someone plagiarized, which has become all too frequent. Once upon a time…relax, it’s not Snow White…people used these to produce written text: Letters, memos, books, reports, even tests for school. Remember tests? You know, before merit was killed off and education became indoctrination, before actual education was eliminated. There was a brief moment when it was ‘dumbed down’; but then it was snuffed out. This is why people at Harvard can’t do math, that statement I’ve been making for a long time now.
Once upon a time, people had to rely upon “The Big Three” (ABC, NBC, CBS) for news. Anchors on these networks were greatly respected, even revered. Why? Well you could never tell what their own opinions were. Why did that matter? Because we didn’t tune in to hear an editorial rant; we tuned in to watch news, not their OPINION of the news, and we got the truth. How we processed that was up to us; we had to think about it.
These days, all we get from Main Stream Media is garbage attempts to disrupt and indoctrinate. Main Stream is a misnomer now anyway. Main Stream is actually YouTube now. Now, there are thousands and thousands of places to get info about any single news story. So for thinking people (aka people with the ability to think), this is paradise. For thinking people, we are in our element.
The world is full of scared, lazy, time-out everybody gets a trophy for showing up generations. How do you like it, lazy parents? It’s a mess! I’ll tell you, I’m so tired of people in media saying julery instead if jewelry, saying ‘real-i-tor’ instead of REALTOR, and they are in the anchor chair!! In my opinion, if you cannot pronounce the name of your career, you should be kicked out of it. In any case, you advertise your lack of education when you cannot pronounce everyday words. You want to say it that way? Okay, just stay off of my radio and TV. Bottom line is that we are seeing the ‘I showed up’ crowd now in charge. No WONDER we have global issues.
On top of rewarding ignorance, we have allowed rampant violent aggression to become the norm. Whatever emotion pops up first is okay to act out, and more and more often, it is hate and anger. What is the solution? Who can say. I do think it would be a good idea for schools to teach logic, beginning right from the start. Teach teamwork, right from the start, and punish hateful aggression. We have to cure the cancer that has infected our world.
Not everything is a crisis.
Speaking of crisis (you know I have to talk about real estate), sometimes people need a realtor BECAUSE of a crisis. Okay I’m talking about divorce. I’m shaking my head. Now, most marriages end that way. Sad. But know, if you are heading that way, there are RULES in real estate. Better get an experienced agent…and one who will understand what you are going through. That’s me.
I’m Brenda, with Premier Advantage Realty. Call me at 919-210-6113
I’ve had a very busy two weeks, so much so that at the end of the day, all I want to do is turn on YouTube and fall asleep on the couch. I usually fall asleep with my cats and YouTube, and I have so many subscriptions there’s no way to give attention to all of them, every day. So I leave the TV on all night so I get subliminal YouTube. OMG I wake up to some strange videos, let me tell you.
One of my favorite themes is decorating, although my favorite style of decorating is with power tools. That’s a story for another day. Still, I have three all time favorite designers, all focused on aesthetics, and they roll through my feed often. These guys (yep, guys) are my favorites, so I help them with their algorithm by watching and liking. Tonight, it was about what’s new in kitchen trends. Again. I was HORRIFIED to discover that walnut cabinets are BACK. Ugh. I like my white cabinets, and oh my god, my kitchen looks like a blizzard. White cabinets, white countertops, white backsplash. It’s my style, my favorite look, and frankly, I don’t care what anybody else says is ‘in’. And it got me to thinking…Uh oh.
You know, if you’ve read my blog entries, you’re aware that I feel a great deal of disappointment about the lack of creativity in the following generations. I was part of a generation that made a lot of discoveries, invented a lot of stuff, created great movies, wrote great books! Every day there was something new. Like optical fiber, the internet, iPhones, smart TVs, blow dryers, microwave ovens, new building materials, great new tools. SO exciting. What happened? Where did the creativity go?
We have so much exciting technology now and, is it me, or is that tech focused on reinventing the wheel? Stay with me for a second. I saw TWO coming soon movies, one Jurassic World and another the Smurfs. What in the actual hell?? Can I say, putting the word ‘actual’ in that sentence is one of MY favorite new things. Anyway…again with the remakes. REMAKES! You know that I have griped about this before.
I have been around a long time, and I live in a world where seniors are all stupid and irrelevant, have no value, get overlooked and definitely discriminated against…and yet the younger ones copy us. WE WIN, damnit. We win! You have all of the cool technology to use and you can’t dream up a new, exciting plot? Come on. Again with the Jurassic Park crap? And Smurfs? Kill me now. Slow down, put down the gaming console and controller and USE.YOUR. BRAIN. Stop copying!!
So here’s my brain going in two parallel streams again, one with nothing new under the sun, and the other, don’t tell me what to like. Which got me to thinking…hahaha. You know how this works.
I’m a real estate broker and I see a LOT of kitchens. I can tell you that the classic look never turns buyers away. But if you go with a trend, a trend…by definition will go out of style next year. Remember these decorators make their money by getting you to hand over yours, and if you are a follower, you’re gonna redecorate. You’re going to find this year’s hot color, this year’s hot countertop style, this year’s hot cabinet color and style and you’re either going to spend money to put other peoples’ ideas into your kitchen, or you’re going to wallow in the self pity of not being able to copy someone else.
See I’m not wired that way. I don’t LIKE to copy someone else, usually, except with cars. Cars cars cars. I wallow in the self pity of not being able to afford to copy someone else’s choice. I do! Every day. LOL.
So there are ‘types’ when it comes to ‘project management’. One type builds the car with NO plans, NO supplies, just runs to the store building a parts list on the way, runs back home and builds builds builds. The other extreme…me…stares at the venue, thinks, imagines, goes looking for the stuff to build it but doesn’t buy it yet, goes back home, stares some more, and then like magic, it all comes together and OFF I GO to buy the stuff, then back home to build. Both ways get you to the same end, but just two different approaches. Neither is better, by the way.
Point is, if you choose a style for your home, however you get that style into play, there has been effort put into that decor. So own it! Don’t spend your life running around chasing trends. Oh, I forgot to tell you, I’ve seen MY white kitchen style come and go MANY time though the decor world. It ALWAYS comes back. Always. I win again.
Now back to creativity. Please, I beg you, no more dinosaur movies of the Jurassic type. For God’s sake come up with something NEW. Oh god I cannot bear to say Smurf. What you are doing is copying the old folks you don’t respect, taking our ideas and changing costumes, changing race and gender of the characters or heroes. That’s pretty cheap and pathetic and you should be asking yourself what happened to creativity? I think the answer will disturb you.
And can I just say, if I’m held hostage, I don’t want a girl coming to rescue me. I want a big, tall, muscular man. That is also my style and I also like it.
So there you go.
We can talk about these ideas and more when you call me to talk about the new stuff in real estate. Yep. Changes every year. I’m Brenda, with Premier Advantage Realty, at 919-210-6113.
There are a lot of reasons to feel optimistic about the future, but if you are expecting 3% interest rates again, you’re gonna be disappointed. What we have now in upper 6’s lower 7’s is still incredible rates. Full disclosure, my rate is 3% and I’m not going to go UP to 7%. BUT, if you haven’t had a 3% or lower rate, well, this is reality now. BTW my first mortgage rate was over 14% with a perfect credit score. Shew. Glad those days are over. For most people, though, it’s not about the rate; it’s about the resulting payment amount and that is tied to price.
When you hear a market report, and I’ve said this before, remember that real estate is local. Local local local. Example, if you life in Raleigh NC, you will be the last market to fall and the first to rise. Why? We are a fire ant colony, so there’s a lot of demand and that’s the lowest, simplest reason. Lots of people needing housing. But we are also full of universities, colleges, teaching hospitals, regular hospitals and healthcare sites, manufacturing, service providers and dare I say it? Wealth (not me). So we bring in, last metric I heard, 70 people every day. That creates demand and that’s good for a market.
Our market crashed in 2008 for a few months before it started climbing out. I describe it as bumping along the bottom and then suddenly, an uptick. I bought my house during the early stages of the climb, by the way. Other nearby markets stayed down lower and longer, by the way, because in some cases there was no market for their homes. No demand.
Let’s talk home prices. In my area the MEDIAN price has gone up about 2% to the 400’s. And folks, please know there’s a difference between MEAN and MEDIAN. Mean is an average of all prices. Median is just the middle of the scale, period. An increase in median means the prices have gone up overall and more homes in the higher prices are selling more often. Higher priced homes selling more can mean (and does in my market) that there aren’t any lower priced homes fit for most lower end buyers. The whole market has risen, in terms of price. Now I don’t like that because many buyers have been pushed right out of the market, had their dream of home ownership stolen from them. And I’m talking about hard working educated people. Very frustrating for me, because I love my first time buyers.
First time buyers used to find a home under 200K. Now, first time buyers have a 4 in the first number, very often, and few can afford that. The lower priced homes are often old, suffering from delayed or non-existent maintenance, or are a flipped home with lipstick on a pig, to steal that overused description. Sometimes what is hidden is a huge repair bill sleeping. So…better have a smart real estate agent who knows what to look for. Like me. Because these first time buyers area not aware of the market, they want an acre, 2000 square feet, fenced back yard, pool, clubhouse, modern look…no. They’re looking at a 5 or 6 in the first number there.
The outlying areas are the only places left to find ‘a bargain’. And ‘bargain’ might end up being a monster waiting to strike your bank account.
So in my market, and I know my market, it’s tough. You have to be prepared for reality. Yes, have a good credit score, but also have some savings. Remember, even if you find a seller who will go under contract with a 100% financing buyer, you will still have inspections and attorney fees to pay and that is in the thousands.
I’ve said this 100 times. TALK TO A REAL ESTATE AGENT. It is free to talk and gather information. A good agent can prepare you and even give you some ideas of good lenders to TALK TO, so you have that data point as well.
Notice I said TALK. You are NOT going to text your way through a real estate transaction. And besides, studies are showing how spending your time with your head bent down to a phone or computer is keeping you from getting good jobs. Why? Because you have zero people skills. So communicate by talking. Learn those ropes. And if I can help you, I’d be honored. I’m Brenda at Premier Advantage Realty. Call and ask for ME. I do not charge any ‘consultation’ fees.
I was on the phone with a car insurance person the other day, and she said, “You have such a pleasant voice.” Isn’t it interesting?
Hey, have a wonderful day out there! Thanks for reading!
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.
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