Sheldon wrote:

I'm sure plenty of yoose spend $200 on a seat at a ball game,
I never have... I think yoose are just as nutz paying to see grown
adult juvenile delinquents bat a ball around like so many retards as
you think I am playing Jolly Green Giant with my patch of dirt
--------------------


GM replies:

I'm always very amused by some of the people I know who sometimes chide
myself and others for spending so much "time" on the internet. These are
all big sports fans, some of them spend most all of their leisure time in a
stinky bar, their butts cemented to a bar stool, screaming at a screen,
spending all this money on booze and cigs and not inconsiderable amounts of
dough on betting pools, etc...

I gnerally loathe sports, don't see the point of *adults* sitting there
watching some moron chasing a ball around. But if that's yer bag, hey, it's
yer life and yer money, and DON'T be dissing other folks' interests. Yeah,
I like my internet stuff but I get it all for $7.95 per month. My
ancilliary expenses might include some cheep wodka as I'll have a toot or so
sometimes in the evening whilst posting, but I've got the wodka anyways,
it's no huge expense. Some of these sports fans I know have bet HUGE
amounts of money on games, they put their bar tabs and cigs on credit cards
and are so in hock at 21.95% interest for something that should be an
enjoyable "hobby". Additionally, some of them get so wound up in the Big
Game that when their teams lose they go into a funk and spend even more on
their addictions, e.g. drinking, smoking, gambling...some have anger
management problems as a result, they let some stupid game result literally
run - and ruin - their lives. One d00d I know ditched work on a Friday
afternoon *one* too many times to watch a Cubs game, he lost his job as a
result...nice going!

Some of these are the same nitwits who complain about never having money for
this or that. NATCHERLY they don't, they are wasting it all on their sports
jones...

You have gardening and pen collecting, others restore old cars or radios,
knit, do crosswords, can, bake, play the pianer, do genealogy, read
mysteries, engage in video gaming, or wierd sex, ride horses, body build,
build their own computers, etc. Interests and hobbies should be
*pleasures*, not burdens...

Food - wise I dabble a bit in baking, I know I'm not saving much time or
money - wise but it's pleasurable, most especially when I see the smiles on
the faces of the folks with which I've gifted my baked goods. I used to can
years ago, but after awhiles it got to be a chore (and an expense), so I
don't do that anymore...I can buy perfectly good canned tomatoes 'n stuff
that is much cheapier and tastier than I could probably ever hope to put up.

Off my soapbox, but my internet/Usenet "hobby" is much cheaper, much more
healthful, AND more entertaining, and anyways I've got characters like the
cyberpussie and PeterBreathLucas and some others to mock, so my laffs come
*very* cheap...

:-)


===>>> thinking of a wodka and a Diet Squirt...


--
Best
Greg