Article updated on 1/19/2025 to include additional footage from the RDU Observatory Park.
With some free time at the airport while awaiting a relatives arrival, I took some photos of planes and the sculpture, and easter eggs in the airport entrance and waiting areas.
I had a bad experience with the parking area and got lost, then got charged extra. I was there for about an hour and a half, but I was charged for 3 hours.
RDU Observatory Park
On my return to the airport to drop off my relative, I got to take some much clearer shots of the planes at Terminal 2.
What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?
Given my relative health and current medical conditions, I think 70 is a conservative estimate. My father is in his 80s and my mother is mid 60s, both have lived varied lives with very different upbringing.
I think older generations have been able to achieve longer lives due to diet and exercise in their formative years.
Science has revealed that many of the modern wonders I grew up with have not been particularly healthy choices. So, living to 70 is probably the best I can mange.
This isn’t a happy conclusion, as it reminds me that I am running late on normal life experiences like marriage and procreation.
My life up until this point has been a struggle to escape poverty. Realistically, that won’t happen in the time I have left in this world.
Once my family has departed this realm, I will be alone and without my safety net. There is still so much knowledge about living that I do not possess.
Knowledge is generally what gives the edge to people when circumstanes and situations come up unbidden. Those with some ken of how things work are far better equipped to handle the unexpected.
They come out on top when challenges occur. I’ve managed to scrape by; but it is a losing game, and I am running out time.
But that’s a difficult ask this far into my life. I’m pretty set in my ways at this point.
Barring a second life altering occurrence, any significant changes are unlikely. I had such an event back in 2020, and it did lead to significant changes in my life.
Life altering events are rarely a good time. Hopefully, the next one that comes around won’t hurt too much.
If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?
My billboard would be a post advertising this website and the gaming guides and available on it. I bet I would get a lot of traffic with kind of visibility a billboard could provide.
I’ve had some success with YouTube ads for my referral links with MyPoints, Swagbucks, and FreeCash.
My site review for Inbox Dollars was also very effective and my net earnings from referrals for that platform are currently $766.33. With each platform, I earn 10% for the lifetime of the referred account.
This means the people who signed up with my link earned $7,663.30 using the platform. That’s just from Inbox Dollars alone. It’s closer to $10k if you include the other sites.
Do you spend more time thinking about the future or the past? Why?
I’m often caught up in thoughts of the past. Past decisions I regret and those path not taken. I had opportunities for spectacular success and great wealth, had I made a different choice.
In particular, I was an early adopter of Bitcoin (BTC) and mined it with my computers GPU and later using an ASIC device.
Many around me in those early days advised to simply buy and hold BTC, but instead I used my BTC to purchase more mining equipment and pay for services. In the end, as BTC rose in value, I had less and less in hand.
Looking at my wallet logs, I had transacted hundreds of bitcoin and thousands of Litecoin over the years, since 2013.
If I had listened to those folks who advised me to HODL, I would have become a millionaire once BTC hit $10k, and much more these days.
In the past I always thought that I would be married and have kids by know. But last year as I turned 40, it really hit me that those expectations were out of sight.
I have been blessed with parents that haven’t burdened me with the pressures of continuing on the family legacy. But I do feel personally responsible for doing just that.
I am the last male heir on both sides of the family. I have cousins in England, but they are without issue and are both quite older than myself. Of my American cousins, I have been advised not to have any contact with them, under any circumstances.
It truly is left to me to see this through. Unfortunately, I have not managed to escape the poverty I was raised in. I am still quite dependent upon all of the government handouts and family assistance, as I was as a child.
In the span of time when I was working productively, I mostly squandered my money on entertainments and, at times, I fell for financial scams. Sobriety and right thinking came late in life.
Throughout, I have barely socialized with others. I lack experience with the fairer sex beyond common encounters within workplace settings.
Of friends, I have only memories from school days passed. My best friend bid this world adieu nearly 13 years ago. He at least had started a family, while I have only myself to speak of.
I suppose I need to get the ball rolling at this point. So, if anyone out there is in the market for a husband, I am available and willing.
A little about me:
40 year old black male (heterosexual),
able of body, college graduate (AAS),
drive a Nissan LEAF (owned),
have some small retirement savings,
operate an eBay store ($4-5k annually),
live with parents, currently reside in North Carolina,
originally from Washington state, and open to relocation.
Note: a prior criminal conviction limits ability to acquire regular employment.
I first attended Clatsop Community College in Astoria, OR., in the Summer of 2006. This was after finishing my Facility Maintenance certification at the Job Corps Center.
I studied for a liberal arts degree but left after my 4th semester for a trip to Europe.
I enjoyed Economics, Local Government Operations, and three semesters of World Religions.
In 2021, after many years working in a retail pharmacy, I decided to go back to school and earn my degree.
I enrolled at Vance-Granville Community College and completed the Business Administration program, graduating in December of 2024.
My coursework included HR, Accounting, Logistics, and Federal Taxes, among other subjects.
I have been able to apply much of what I learned in school to my entrepreneurly aspirations, including my eBay stores and digital products through Payhip and Amazon.
Fat Wallet Refugee 