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The Ideal Life

Caveman Catfan

All-American
Sep 1, 2002
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51,170
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Who do you know or see is living the ideal life? And, why do you so conclude?

Is it a historic person or a contemporary? What makes their life ideal and have you consciously made an attempt to replicate it?

Would you recommend someone to friends as a life worth emulating?
 
An ideal life is good works for others and the love of family. That’s just my opinion.

Rich. Poor. Whatever color you are. Don’t care what you are or what party you belong to. It doesn’t mean your life is perfect or you don’t have problems.

Putting some good out in the world and the happiness of your family. I think everything else is just trappings that come and go.
 
Michael Bublé
-sings for his job
-makes millions
-travels the world
-insanely hot Argentine wife
-is a genuinely nice guy
-cute kids that he loves

Dude is killing it at life.
 
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Previously I would have said Anthony Bourdain. Eat, drink, travel and talk about it for a living. Then he killed himself. I used to work with a guy who was married with two kids, had a small farm in Virginia, and no financial worries. He was a good athlete in high school and kept himself in tip top shape and had no medical issues. Then one day while his wife and kids went shopping, he went off into the woods on his property, sat down on a stump and put his shotgun under his chin. No matter how good you think somebody has it, you never know what's really going on with them.

For me, there's no better feeling than being able to help someone who needs it. We're fortunate. We are still healthy for our age, our kids are grown and productive citizens, and we have 4 grandkids, one of who is a freshman at UT-Chatt-nooga. We live 2 1/2 miles off the ocean and weather permitting, spend a lot of time there doing nothing more than reading, napping, fishing, walking, or absolutely nothing at all except watching the waves roll in.. That's a pretty decent life right there.
 
Yes, I have a dream… I want to own a decommissioned lighthouse. And I want to live at the top. And nobody knows I live there. And there’s a button I can press and launch that lighthouse into space.
I'd like to live at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas National Park, about 70 miles due west of Key West. Have a garden, some chikins, and a few goats to help with the mowing. Fishing, snorkeling, do some crabbing during the day and stargazing at night. Oh, and maybe a 50' cigar boat when I need to run to THE Walmart in Key West....
 
Previously I would have said Anthony Bourdain. Eat, drink, travel and talk about it for a living. Then he killed himself. I used to work with a guy who was married with two kids, had a small farm in Virginia, and no financial worries. He was a good athlete in high school and kept himself in tip top shape and had no medical issues. Then one day while his wife and kids went shopping, he went off into the woods on his property, sat down on a stump and put his shotgun under his chin. No matter how good you think somebody has it, you never know what's really going on with them.

For me, there's no better feeling than being able to help someone who needs it. We're fortunate. We are still healthy for our age, our kids are grown and productive citizens, and we have 4 grandkids, one of who is a freshman at UT-Chatt-nooga. We live 2 1/2 miles off the ocean and weather permitting, spend a lot of time there doing nothing more than reading, napping, fishing, walking, or absolutely nothing at all except watching the waves roll in.. That's a pretty decent life right there.

Hot take incoming: I think Anthony Bourdain is (was) one of the most pretentious douche's in media. Every single one of his quotes I see people share on facebook reeks of "that guy" who always has to tell you how you're eating wrong or one-up your choices. Like, shut up and let me eat it. Go bother those people with your weird scarfs and little anecdotal quips.
 
Hot take incoming: I think Anthony Bourdain is (was) one of the most pretentious douche's in media. Every single one of his quotes I see people share on facebook reeks of "that guy" who always has to tell you how you're eating wrong or one-up your choices. Like, shut up and let me eat it. Go bother those people with your weird scarfs and little anecdotal quips.
He was pretentious, but that's a hell of a life. Traveling, eating, drinking, and getting paid big bucks to do it.
 
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Hot take incoming: I think Anthony Bourdain is (was) one of the most pretentious douche's in media. Every single one of his quotes I see people share on facebook reeks of "that guy" who always has to tell you how you're eating wrong or one-up your choices. Like, shut up and let me eat it. Go bother those people with your weird scarfs and little anecdotal quips.

I loved him and his shows. But I’ve noticed the people that are constantly quoting him never actually do any of the things he talks about
 
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Something, however, was very wrong.
Yeah, just like the guy I used to work with, who on the surface was very happy. There was a guy who worked with my wife, and she had gone to high school with both him and his wife. He was a year away from retirement and in reasonably good health. He loved to hunt and fish, and his boss said on the last shift he worked on a Thursday night, he was showing him a new rod/reel combo he had ordered from Bass Pro. On Sunday, they got up and went to church. He taught a Sunday school class, and they stayed for church. Like every Sunday after church, they went out to eat and went to the grocery store. They came home and his son had come over to watch the Sunday NBA double header with him like he did on most Sundays. He helped his wife put the groceries away. He then told her he was going out to the garage. She said "it's awful cold out there". He told her there was something he needed to do. It turned out the thing he needed to do was get the shotgun he had hidden in the garage, walk around behind the garage, put the shotgun under his chin and pull the trigger. No suicide note or anything. You really never know the state of someone's mind.
 
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Bourdain is an example of why celebrity may not present the model of a life best lived. Kind of like social media does not tell the whole story, but only gives certain insights into people’s lives.
 
I went to St. James Art Fair in Louisville last weekend. The weather was perfect with a nice cool breeze around 11 AM. I strolled casually down one street, perusing and pontificating on art I cannot afford, when I stumbled on a human being that was in the exact right place, at the exact right time, doing exactly what she should be doing.

She was an artist, and her booth consisted of what can only be explained as fake taxidermy squirrels and birds. There were birds' nests with fake birds all throughout the booth. In one corner of the booth, a fake squirrel, that looked like the animatronic fuel of nightmares, stared through my soul. Sticks and twigs were everywhere on the walls. One squirrel had glasses and was wearing a hat.

And then I saw the artist. She was sitting in the corner of the booth wearing a black dress, glasses, wild grey hair that has never been brushed, and there was a fake squirrel in her arms that she was cradling like a pet. I turned to my wife and said, "that lady is doing exactly what she should be doing in life." My wife agreed.

So, here's a shoutout to Squirrel Lady.
 
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I went to St. James Art Fair in Louisville last weekend. The weather was perfect with a nice cool breeze around 11 AM. I strolled casually down one street, perusing and pontificating on art I cannot afford, when I stumbled on a human being that was in the exact right place, at the exact right time, doing exactly what she should be doing.

She was an artist, and her booth consisted of what can only be explained as fake taxidermy squirrels and birds. There were birds' nests with fake birds all throughout the booth. In one corner of the booth, a fake squirrel, that looked like the animatronic fuel of nightmares, stared through my soul. Sticks and twigs were everywhere on the walls. One squirrel had glasses and was wearing a hat.

And then I saw the artist. She was sitting in the corner of the booth wearing a black dress, glasses, wild grey hair that has never been brushed, and there was a fake squirrel in her arms that she was cradling like a pet. I turned to my wife and said, "that lady is doing exactly what she should be doing in life." My wife agreed.

So, here's a shoutout to Squirrel Lady.

I missed her or was not paying close attention. A snapshot of a life in a booth. I wonder if she would say her life is ideal for her. :)
 
I missed her or was not paying close attention. A snapshot of a life in a booth. I wonder if she would say her life is ideal for her. :)

Pretty it was on the third street section off the sidewalk. And, yes, Squirrel Lady loves her life.
 
Yes, I have a dream… I want to own a decommissioned lighthouse. And I want to live at the top. And nobody knows I live there. And there’s a button I can press and launch that lighthouse into space.
I've seen too many horror movies of strange things that happen to people in those isolated lighthouses to ever want to live in one.
 
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