Got a similar thing with a guy in a parking lot who showed me how to tie a trucker's hitch on a ratchet strap. Been using that knot for years now and it never slips.

We glued everything back in the day too... until I watched a guy glue his hand to the subfloor.

And isn't it always the way, the thing that's supposed to make life easier ends up being the biggest headache. It's like how my "smart" thermostat keeps fighting with the old boiler in my place, you'd think they'd all speak the same language by now.

Funny how things work out. Its like that whole idea that sometimes the thing you push back on hardest ends up being exactly what you needed. Reminds me of how people react to those automatic doors at the grocery store. You see someone walk up expecting to push and they just stand there for a second looking confused. Then they walk through and its fine. Same with those paper faced beads. We get set in our ways and think sharp corners are the only right way because thats what we learned. But old houses are crooked and life is crooked. The sooner you give in and work with the crooked the easier it gets.

Wait, he actually went out there? That's the part that gets me. Like he didn't just find the journal and call the cops, he drove out to some random coordinates in the woods? Did he at least bring a buddy or a gun? People vanish for real doing stuff like that. Hope he didn't end up being another missing person case himself.