Hi, jack. It's been a long ride, hasn't it? You were part of what we used to say was the best class of new members here at meso. 2014 was full of all kinds of personalities.
You mentioned brutus and cbs...its been a few months since I've spoken with either. I did some stuff with Johnny B about 2 months ago. He's had a rough ride but doing better. So many other guys I could list.
You and I have worked together now and again. I haven't spoken to you in awhile and hope all is well outside meso. You sound as if you're very busy...in a good way. I'm glad you find time to post because I like seeing the guys who have been around check in. You were part of making meso what it is regardless of where you stand in popularity with some of the more popular members.
You help balance things out. Some used to think I was anti source and that all I did was blow every source out of the water. Didn't matter if they were solid of not. They weren't going to get the chance to prove themselves because I was going to kill em off before they got the chance to prove anything.
Then it was I smash all sources..ESPECIALLY the good ones, because they were hurting my wallet. I consistently plotted to rid meso of good sources so that I could steer all the $$ going to them back around to myself.
I honestly don't know what established source in their right mind would come here and open shop? If they've already proven themselves they can only hurt themselves.
Remember Mike Strong. Loooong time source. Meso had gained some popularity and I guess Mike thought it would be easy pickins with all the new sources that nobody ever heard of. He must've figured we'd all be grateful to have such a well established source here. He thought we'd fall all over ourselves and he'd not have to face the tough questions.
I welcomed him knowing him from other boards over the years. He was all kinds of excited "God Blessing" everyone...calling everyone "Vip" biggerben and "Vip"jackmeoff...he had his own little forum and all the members there were called "Vip".
It was something to behold. Guys were all very polite...some knew of Mike....some took our word that he was a vet. Guys were polite but did their due diligence quietly.
I forget what happened, exactly, but it wasn't long before Mike was bleeding out before our eyes. There wasn't anything he or any one person could do to stop his ship from sinking.
And then it was over...and Mike was never heard from again....anywhere.
How about Astro? Some guys couldn't understand the hardon I had for that guy? Members felt he was trying hard...his gear seemed to be all good. TA was on time, etc.
It was never the gear with that guy...and in all honesty, for me, 9 times out of 10 when it came and comes to why I'm seemingly on the attack it has nothing to do with the product.
Astro was a Scirroxx remailer or one of Karl's men of the ground here in the USA. Scirroxx used to ship their finished product in large containers and guys like Astro would empty the contents of those large containers into 10ml vials.
Came to find out that Astro had been underfilling the vials by 1ml and keep the extra. It was hard for Karl to determine how widespread the underfilling thing went.
When the skimming wasn't enough for Astro he decided to simply not use the shit ton of Scirroxx labels he had been given to label all the 10ml vials he filled. He said that Karl was a cheapskate and that he was tired of doing all the work and being paid next to nothing while Karl sat back and collected the real money.
What Astro failed to tell us, and failed to realize himself, was that he agreed to whatever the amount was that Karl was paying him. He also wasn't being forced to be involved in anything he was doing?
Astro, and many meso members, didn't think that it was a big deal that Astro opened here at meso with gear he stole from Karl. His overhead consisted of the Astro labels he paid for to put on the vials.
To me, Astro was a piece of shit. I'm no fan of Karl's and the proof of that can be found in Scirrox threads here at meso and on other boards. Still, a scum bag petty thief believed he was entitled to some kind of special treatment. IMO he had no business here...and because of who he ripped off to open here, he wasn't going to be able to find a home at very many places. If D-RED's board, HU, had been open he could've opened there with all the other misfits.
I'm not as active as I once was, jack. I've popped in and out of this thread. I made some posts back near the start and then again a few days ago.
What this guy, and any other better than average brewer needs to do in order to increase their life expectancy is to come up with a plan. At the core of the plan, is to remove themselves from meso. We aren't a source board. We can argue about that until the end of time, jack. I don't dislike source boards.
Source boards get bashed because they protect the sources that pay to be there. That isn't going to ever change. They will always be there. Maybe a board will come along that is a blend of a source board and Meso. It will have the best of both boards. It will be difficult to do but with the right blend of members and staff who knows?
Now, the source boards we all love to hate....eroids, promuscle, OLM, etc...they protect and cover up issues that shitty sources have. However, there are also sources on those boards that don't need protecting. Sources like DYEL. ALP(karius) was a longtime source at OLM and he was/is one of the best ugl's ever.
There are others. They are established and have a following and do very well existing on those source boards.
Those great ugl's would be crazy to open up here and enjoy the no fees and the lack of competition. They would be opening themselves up to being poked and prodded. They would be bombarded with demands of pics of their labs and all of the things we demand of those here.
What we're doing here is training new sources. I mean, if a source did all the things we expect of them and did so consistently, they'd do well wherever it is they went. If they were able to do what they do when meso is watching they are pretty much going to be successful. They need to be true to themselves and do what made them successful here after they go out on their own.
Some may ask why they should leave if they've passed muster and are thriving? They could be meso's #1 source until they hang it up? Meso is great for training. Its great to see if a source has what it takes. It would look great on resume, wouldn't it?
"Sourced on Meso from _ _/_ _/20_ _ through _ _/_ _/20_ _ . Successfully vetted and enjoyed a following that most do not...etc etc."
Having to be on your toes 24-7 is tough. However, the real issue, the way I see it anyway, is being in the wide open in a land where selling Schedule 3 products has some that do so serving time in Federal Prison.
Being a source on meso for 6 months to a year will prepare any source for the absolute worst they may come across anywhere else. In fact, it may be downright overkill. However, if the source studies up on those success stories that came before them as well as the failures, they are going to be able to handle whatever comes down the pike. If they stay true and don't slack off how could they possibly fail?
I don't know if Sym(or any other decent ugl) should open up shop on a source board? I don't know if he should change the name of his ugl on the outside chance the feds have opened an investigation? Probably.
A good friend of mine owns and operates a very successful and profitable ugl as I type this. He consults with me often. Sometimes daily....some times once every couple of weeks. Depends on what's going on.
He's been at it for a long time...online in our Community its been 5 or 6 yrs. He's an NPC competitor who laid out a plan and has been able to stick to it. He was preparing for when he was done chasing his dream of capturing that, up until now, elusive Pro Card.
He is a realist for the most part. He understands that if it was going to happen, it should have happened already. Meaning that, in order for the rest of his goals are concerned, the Pro Card was going to have to happen within a certain time frame.
Bodybuilding is one of those sports that differs from the hand eye coordinated sports like baseball. Baseball favors the young. Same with football and basketball. There are exceptions and I'm not here to debate that.
In bodybuilding. Muscle maturity and the drugs has us reaching our peaks much later than the other sports. My shot at participating and being successful at a high level in football ended so long ago I won't bother to think about it. Bodybuilding is a different story, had I chosen to go down that road.
My friend is in his 30's and has hired one of the well known gurus we all read about to try and push through to success. I can tell...and its not a knock on him...but he's not as hungry as he once was. He wishes he was...but the rest of his life has changed. He has a child as of almost 2 yrs ago now. He's grown up some. Priorities have changed. That's life.
I'm thinking out loud, I believe, to sort out what I really think is going on. Greed and ego, left unchecked, can ruin a man. An old man I met in prison once told me that anytime I get excited and gung ho about something to slow down and check my motives and to do so honestly.
My friend, who I've come to care about over the last 5 yrs, isn't being honest with himself. I just realized that within the last 2 weeks and I identified it as the source of my short temper and overall shit mood just now.
It's not the way I do things but found myself talking a bit of shit on him to a mutual friend.
He's a "yes" man....self admitted...and has a bad habit of telling me what he thinks I want to hear instead of the truth. I have a lot of faults and have a lot to learn about life, but safety and security in the thing he does is something I know a lot about. I've known a lot of ugl owners. I've known a lot of sources. I've watched them succeed and fail. I've watched them be indicted and imprisoned. I've been there when they've released back into society. I've been down that road myself.
My friend agreed when he asked for my help a long time ago that if he agreed with me that he'd make the changes I felt he needed to make.
I laid out a game plan. I put the plan into action. I put my name on the line and got him a gig that would allow him to shutter his operation and start fresh and do so without having to struggle and "Get a real job" to make ends meet.
That's the thing the lifestyle of a successful source is difficult to give up.
The difficult thing...one of them...is if a source makes the move to fall back and off the radar, he may never know if he was ever in real danger. He may never know if he was under investigation. Especially these days. We're seeing investigations by the feds that are lasting 3 and 4 yrs and longer.
But a ugl that has been sourcing on open boards....and has its own website specifically to take orders, its my opinion that you've increased the chances of being under investigation by virtue of the website alone.
Couple that with the source advertising openly that it accepts PayPal and Venmo and accepted payment those ways from complete strangers for the 10 months I was studying abroad, then without question he needs to shut down and let the name of the UGL die with the website.
Its why he was following the plan. It was the only reason I came up with the plan and pushed to get him the opportunity to sell his product under a different name on a large int site and was set to open on a private board under a different name with a solid endorsement by the owner of the board that no other source has there. Its not bullshit either.
The owner of the board was a sponsored athlete who received free gear from my friend that was paid for by a third party. It was the absolute perfect thing. He may have lost a little business at first...but not much..with the potential for much more.
But it would also be a new beginning. Get his opsec straight. The risk is real by staying the course. He has his wife working with him. Everyone will go to prison. The new baby won't recognize them when they got out.
I went through all this months ago. He led me to believe he was prepping to close and make the changes. He fucked off the first opportunity filling orders for the int source. Doing so allowed him to scrap plans to take the website offline.
He'll eventually read this. I hope he does. I went over the scenario with prison and his kid. Stressed how the website and payment options increased the odds of him being under investigation exponentially. I wouldn't be willing to risk my wife and kid.
I've, unfortunately, had the "studying abroad" experience. A total of almost 7yrs abroad in a federal prison. It changes ones perspective. It took a lot out of me and altered the relationships with my 4 kids...and it wasn't for the better.
Didn't this source have a scare back when he first got here? Postal inspector showed up at a customers pad or something? The threat is real. These sources have to have an exit strategy. Out in the open like this is fucking crazy. Take breaks. Change names. Something. The more success one has the greater the chances are of having your head cut off. Its real life.
That's probably the best thing that will come out of that thread. He (Pristine) was an on again off again source with crumbling stoppers and over the top excuses as to why he kept pulling disappearing acts.
and by the time i returned everything had gone to hell and i only skimmed what i missed.
