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When a man turns 35 .............


 
I read some of that - pretty funny and spot on. My bbq interest started in my early 30's. I was pretty advanced in my WW2 interest.... believe it or not it started when I was in Jr High and I didn't really burn out on it until I was in my mid 40's. I probably know more about WW2 than a lot of high school history teachers. Side note - I think history is an important topic for public education. I was disappointed to learn that my son (who was/is a good student) didn't learn much about WW2 in high school. Personally, I think the last 500 years of world history (especially the last 300) are WAY more important for kids to learn about than prior periods. Oh sure, history before Christopher Columbus can be interesting, from an academic point of view, but really has no bearing on the state of the world, or current direction (in my opinion).

Of course, my perspective is totally an American one. It would be interesting to see if any of our members in Europe have a different opinion on relevance of history before the 1400 or 1500s outside of academia. Of course there were events preceding the year 1400 in Europe and Asia that explain events leading up to the development of countries in the western hemisphere, and possibly events before then, that may explain/impacted development of European and Asian countries before then. It's simply hard to imagine what lessons were learned in that time period, and accurately recorded to the point where a thoughtful person could apply the knowledge/develop values based on the learnings.
 
My experience with European kids is they know FAR more about history (they're own and ours) than American kids do. It is shameful how little our kids and grandkids are taught. They know nothing about US history. Try asking anyone younger than 45 about JFK assassination, (they don't even know who JFK was!) let alone his killing. Ask them about Vietnam, WW2, WW1, heck the civil war. All you will get is a blank stare. It's truly sad what is not being learned in schools these days
 
"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."

Big Brother

When I turned 35, my hobbies all revolved around putting food on the table for me, my pregnant stay at home wife and my two year old son.

Now that I am in my 60’s, I have more time for recreational activities.
 
When I turned 35 I’d only been married a couple of years, been grilling for twenty by then, played music for 20+, I’ve only really been “Seriously” smoking for maybe five since I got my WSM.
now that I’m in my sixties, I spend more time doing weird things around the house, cleaning the garage, reworking the kitchen again, researching fine cocktails, doing laundry, cooking and cleaning while my wife continues to work from home to pay for all these hobbies!
 
When I turned 35 I'd been struggling for a couple years trying to learn how to smoke meats on a Brinkman water smoker. I had no idea a WSM was available. Regrets.

The deep dive into WW II history came a lot of years later.

I blame both on not having the internet.
 
Everything requires time. I had no time to get into smoking meat till my kids basically got to college. They both play travel sports which kept us busy for many many years. Both played college sports as well. Which kept us busy then that was still a lot of fun.

I wish I had in my 30s because it's not that hard, and we would have eaten much better for many years.

Woodworking before my daughter was 2-3 yo. I made some of the furniture for her bedroom custom. Then had no time to pursue that anymore. At one time got home from work and just went in the garage and did that stuff till 9:00 at night. That pretty much ended with the second kid.

Now that I've got some time again I no longer have the interest in that. Been there done it figured out that it cost me three times as much to make something as I could have just bought it for.
 
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Everything requires time. I had no time to get into smoking meat till my kids basically got to college. They both play travel sports which kept us busy for many many years. Both played college sports as well. Which kept us busy then that was still a lot of fun.

I wish I had in my 30s because it's not that hard, and we would have eaten much better for many years.

Woodworking before my daughter was 2-3 yo. I made some of the furniture for her bedroom custom. Then had no time to pursue that anymore. At one time got home from work and just went in the garage and did that stuff till 9:00 at night. That pretty much ended with the second kid.

Now that I've got some time again I no longer have the interest in that. Been there done it figured out that it cost me three times as much to make something as I could have just bought it for.
Martin, I am SURE--------there are some very happy people that are cherishing every thing that you made. And what you made for them is PRICELESS!!!!!!!!
 
Martin, I am SURE--------there are some very happy people that are cherishing every thing that you made. And what you made for them is PRICELESS!!!!!!!!
You obviously don't know my daughter..... Things like that mean nothing to her. She doesn't have a sentimental bone in her body for anything. Nor does she have an appreciation for anything nice, or the effort somebody else puts in. If she doesn't have an immediate need for something she will simply throw it away. Wife and I both know nothing that's family heirloom type can be left to her cuz she will simply throw it out. Everything will go to my son who is the exact opposite, things have meaning to him. Brutally honest, but she's probably the most self-centered person I've ever met. And the funny thing is.... Other people are crazy about her..... My wife and I could never understand when she was little how she could have any friends.... But the other kids adored her like she was their queen.... While she stayed aloof and above them all, and was ultra selective about who she would be friends with.

As she got older her best quality was that she would never say anything bad about anybody because she knew that that kind of stuff gets back to them. She wouldn't say it even too us. she also stayed out of squabbles and cliques and arguments between different friends, players on teams and stuff. She was always her coach's favorite player because she just did the job asked without any drama, stayed above it all. Her college coach cried at her exit interview. She is just.....practical. not emotional at sll.
 
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Me on history:

If a certain area near where you live had been sewn with landmines in some past conflict, you would want to know where the mines were, what they looked like, and who might have tried to clean them up and how. You would study history.

Sometimes in life, your knowledge of history saves you from actual landmines. Most of the time, the minefield is a metaphor for something else.
 
When I was 35 my life was in turmoil. I was going through a nasty divorce with my wife and my two kids one 12 the other 9 and very upset they had to live with their mother.
Then Barb came into my life a totally different story but to make it short I knew Barb for about 10-12 years before we got together. I worked with her former husband and at the time we got together I was her ex's boss. Another story for another day. We eventually got married and shortly thereafter I got custody of the kids after my ex left them alone for three days. With Barb and her 5-year-old daughter Kim, we became a family again. Barb was and still is the best thing that ever happened to me. My two kids found out what a mom could be and both of them always address her as mom, and I'm proud to say Kim has always called me dad.
The last 40 years have been a gift and I'm so ever grateful for each and every day. We had a lot of fun with the kid's sports, camping, fishing, off roading and hanging out at the house and enjoying the pool. As far as grilling, really didn't get into that until we retired and moved here to Arizona
and I found this forum. Another wonderful thing.
 

 

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