@MentORPHEUS

Dude, that sucks about your dad. I just had to arrange full time care for mine a couple of months ago. My parents did the financial planning thing, but my dad has massively outlived the life expectancy he was planning on. If the actuarial tables had been correct, he would have been gone a few years ago and left a modest amount for my brother and me. Mom went “on schedule,” but dad is still around. I guess there are worse things than NOT DYING, but it plays havoc with your estate planning.

The state is insisting on getting their pound of flesh, though, because now that all his assets are gone, he has to rely on Medicaid. (I could make his situation marginally better for a few months if I completely drained my retirement savings, but nobody wants that.) So my brother and I (by that I mean me doing 95%), are dealing with the US version of socialized medicine that sweeps up everyone over 65.

We have to prove that he has no personal assets left to spend on himself, and we even have to ensure that his life insurance policy goes to the state, minus whatever they approve for his eventual funeral costs. Mind you, my dad is a 30% disabled veteran who paid taxes for seven decades, and they’re giving us a financial rectal exam with no lube.

I think I’m okay: I get a fat military pension, I plan to max out my Social Security before I start collecting, and everything I own is paid off. I even generate my own electricity. Most people are not situated like I am, though.

If I predecease my wife, she might have to rely a bit on her family, but 1) that’s not likely, 2) it probably wouldn’t take much, and 3) they would do it without hesitation.

My brother, though… he might be screwed, but that’s largely because he made a financial decision a few years ago that was, in my opinion, catastrophically stupid.

@lurkerhasarisen (Continued) This has been an ongoing conversation with my 80yo widowed Boomer Mom, who will be able to live out her days financially secure in a comfortable retirement village. I, will not be able to live the same fate, and neither will my Brothers kids, neither of whom has opted to have kids of their own well into their 30s.

In my case, Covid lock downs bankrupted my business and stripped away 40+ years of the fruits of hard work. My Brother lost his retirement nest egg when his wife ran off with some dude and got rewarded with half the marital assets automatically.

America is way over the cliff edge already. Not a matter of if, but when, the system crashes epically hard. A small Oligarch class already has their golden parachutes strapped on and ready to deploy. For the rest of us, the prospects look grim indeed, literally no matter what we do.

@lurkerhasarisen Heh, it came up under the masthead California Post when I clicked on the link from a CA IP address. And, the second I read Obama in the title, I correctly guessed exactly what sort of article I was about to read, and precisely what it would include and omit to sheepdog readers toward establishment safe conclusions.

What this conspicuously left OUT, is how what gets called Capitalism and Democracy in America, has gotten completely captured and configured to min/max every aspect of economic and political activity, into a powerful engine to funnel wealth and power away from the bulk of the population, and into the hands and wallets of the 0.0.01 % class.

Dropping out of such a blatantly corrupt system, IS the rational response to the reality of what trying to engage and live within such a system offers average Americans. It's actually but a palatable intermediate plateau, a holding pattern far short of the only thing that offers escape from this cynical and brutal holding pattern: violent French level Revolution!

@Kloi

Thanks. My flexibility is off the charts, so I’m good there. That’s partly due to good genetics and partly due to a coach I had during high school who was an absolute fanatic about stretching. Regarding shoulder mobility; my typical pre-workout routine includes 25 back bridge pushups.

youtu.be/zdC674S3u80

(Not bad for a guy born during the Kennedy administration). It’s weird that I can do those at all, given the angle, but for some reason they rarely give me trouble, and when they do I just reposition my hands a little.

Anyway, I don’t have any chronic pain to work through… it’s only when I apply too much pressure to the GHJs at the wrong angle that things go sideways.

In other fitness news: I set a new DL PR at 360 a couple of weeks ago (I weighed in at 148 that day, I think), and I held a 13:30 plank last Friday. I have to give some of the credit to Danny Elfman for dragging me across the finish line … it’s all about the playlist when you’re holding a plank.

Alas, it was not Just Another Day.

youtu.be/nQusU0g9H-E

I have finally decided to methodically address the congenital shoulder deformity that caps my bench at around 90 pounds and my overhead press at around 60. (My “pull” lifts are fine… it’s only when I push that I risk dislocation.)

I’ve had to work around it my entire life. I’ve been fairly successful as far as functionality: I can lift what I need to lift in my day-to-day activities, but I’m not as strong as I’d like to be, and I have to consciously think about how to lift things that the rest of you would pick up without hesitation… maybe even with one hand.

My upper body lifting routine for the last few years has been pretty comprehensive: I worked strength, power, endurance, and flexibility within the constraints of my genetics, but I’ve gotten to the point where any significant further progress is unlikely. I always choose to stop before I get hurt.

So I made an appointment with one of the PTs at my gym who’s had Physical Therapy training. We’ve known each other for years and she understands my situation. She set me up with a new routine to strengthen the stabilizing muscles of my shoulder girdle, and I ran through the entire workout yesterday. It took me nearly two hours and I’m not sure we can be friends anymore. (Just kidding… she’s a total sweetheart.). I expect it to be a slow process, so I don’t anticipate noticeable improvements for weeks, nor major improvements for months, but I’m nothing if not persistent.

My goal is 135 on the bench, which is probably the most I’ll ever lift without surgery (which I have no intention to get).

Wish me luck.