Re: SHRYKE'S THREAD - Check for the latest developments

undeadmonkey · by undeadmonkey on Wed Jul 08, 2009 12:16 pm

great! Im excited. Ive been enjoying the site. Its pretty easy to change picks, and we just see the results.

leestu · by leestu on Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:28 pm

I agree. I am changing my picks a lot more due to the easiness of it (how I used to play). I like the total different pricing schemes. It's like a 3rd format. Are leagues only once every 3 months?

**Shrykespeare** · by **Shrykespeare** on Wed Jul 08, 2009 6:13 pm

So far, yes.

Donte77 · by Donte77 on Thu Jul 09, 2009 6:24 am

I keep forgetting about it.

**geezer9687** · by **geezer9687** on Thu Jul 09, 2009 9:17 am

Me too

**Buscemi** · by **Buscemi** on Mon Jul 13, 2009 2:05 pm

The latest on Surfer and Arrow:

Surfer hasn't updated his Facebook account since June 8th but Arrow has used hers in the past week and a half (July 3rd was the last update). So apparently they are alright. They probably just haven't had Internet access in that time or one probably forgot their passwords.

**Shrykespeare** · by **Shrykespeare** on Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:32 pm

A new development - nothing that affects the Fantaverse, but one that affects me personally.

My refinance came through. After eight long, tortuous, arduous months, I am finally free of the anvil (my old mortgage) that has been hanging over my head.

Just to understand the scope of just how unlikely this was, let me give you some raw numbers... I owed my previous mortgager over $180K, a little more than my home was worth about three years ago. Obviously, the housing market has since imploded, and the ARM I agreed to (while obviously brain-dead) was about to increase my monthly payment from $1600/mo to $2200/mo.

I had my house appraised last December, and was dismayed to discover that my home was now worth $110K. But my mortgage banker, a terrific man, forged forward, and we were about 98% complete when, at the end of February, Pres. Obama made a speech about the housing industry and how refinancing would change from that moment forward, and the entire deal collapsed. I contemplated suicide. (Well, not REALLY, but I contemplated contemplating it...)

But my agent pressed on. With my father's help, we settled all my outstanding medical bills and credit card debts, and last month, we had my house re-apprasied. It was only $55,000, half of what it was only six months before. We thought, "there is no WAY they are going to accept this when I owe them $180K", but we ran it by them...

...and they accepted. ACCEPTED!!!

I signed the new mortgage on Friday. I am free. My wife and I are free. We just sloughed off 70% of our total outstanding debt and got away clean. My agent says it's the biggest percentage he's ever seen accepted, and I regard it as nothing less than a miracle. I owe this man, and his co-workers, a tremendous debt of gratitude. It's like a decade of one mistake after another has been wiped clean. That doesn't happen every day, folks.

And one other development: I QUIT my weekend job delivering pizza for Dominos. With my 40th birthday looming one month down the line, and given that I have had one delivery job of another for 13 of the past 20 years, I have grown more than tired of it. I'm not a kid anymore, and I don't need to be wasting my weekends delivering overpriced food to ungrateful assholes in 115 degree heat, driving my car into the ground and risking skin cancer in the blazing Arizona sun. Today (Sunday, July 12th) was my final day.

That these two monumental events occurred on the same weekend is no coincidence, I think. The rest of my life begins tomorrow. I still have my FT office job, but the possibilities are endless from here. A new car, a new house, travel, kids, who knows. I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders.

Not for the first time, I want to thank each and every member of the Fantaverse who has ever shown me support, courtesy and friendship in the last three years. I honestly don't know what I would have done without this place, and without you guys. I have friends and family in the "real world", of course, but if I didn't have The Fantaverse as a distraction/hobby/obsession to take my attention away from my problems, I think I would have gone stark raving mad. You guys helped keep me grounded during what was without a doubt the most troubling two years of my life. I thank you for that.

So what does the future lie? Well, like you guys, I can only guess. But I'm hoping that the worst of it is behind me.

Peace.

delfinasu · by delfinasu on Tue Jul 14, 2009 4:14 am

Wow! Shryke, I'm very happy for you! And I'm convinced that you'll have a future better than you imagine... Tomorrow is another day Wink

Just live every day like it would be the last day of your life.
Waitin' already with impatience for other great news from you...

BanksIsDaFuture · by BanksIsDaFuture on Tue Jul 14, 2009 4:14 am

Good stuff, Shryke. Remind me to call you when I buy a house, you seem to know what you're doing.

And I guess that means no more free pizza for you. That's something I would not be able to walk away from, but I'm sure after 13 years, you hate the stuff.

by W on Tue Jul 14, 2009 5:09 am

Good for you! But you have it wrong... Without you, we'd have collapsed a long time ago. I hope you know that.

I went through a similar "rest of my life" couple of moments about a month ago and am feeling better than ever. I'd bet any amount of money that you will too.

Here's to new beginnings!

**Buscemi** · by **Buscemi** on Tue Jul 14, 2009 5:40 am

And some of this,

Keyser Soze · by Keyser Soze on Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:45 am

Congrats Shryke. I completely understand what you've just gone through with the house. My wife and I signed a 7 year ARM back in 2004 (So we still have a little over 2 years to go. Sure seemed like a good idea at the time as I was sure interest rates would have to come down in the next 7 years. Well, they sure have, but we didn't really anticipate the value of the house falling as well. Ours may actually work out for us as rates are now lower than they were when we signed the ARM so our payment may actually come down when the term expires. Can't say that I haven't had many sleepless nights over the last few years wishing that I had just signed for the fixed rate and been done with it. When we do finally get around to getting those working time machines, future me will most definitely going back and kicking past me in the ass for that decision as well as quite a few others.

Congrats again, and glad to hear that it really can work out

BanksIsDaFuture · by BanksIsDaFuture on Tue Jul 14, 2009 7:50 am

This also makes a party complete:

**Shrykespeare** · by **Shrykespeare** on Tue Jul 14, 2009 12:44 pm

Thanks, everyone. I mean that.

transformers2 · by transformers2 on Fri Jul 17, 2009 12:53 am

Congrats Shryke. Glad to hear that worked out for you dude. My mom is having similar problem with that right now because my dad is an asshole and doesnt pay my mom.

....In other new i am going to bang out a review for Bruno in the next day or so.