I think populations will crash, either gently through fewer kids, or violently through war and disease. That will likely throw us backwards technologically, maybe not.
Or, who knows, maybe the population will stabilize and we get everything going in the right direction, then an asteroid hits.
I got a new laptop at work and everything, every file I worked in, was creating a second copy of itself on OneDrive. It was so annoying and took awhile but I found instructions on deleting the duplicates.
It took all the files off my local machine and left the ones on OneDrive.
Aaaargh!
Emmylou Harris wrote two that are so beautiful and so sad, if you need to cry, Boulder to Birmingham:
"I don’t want to hear a sad song full of heartbreak and desire
The last time I felt like this, I was in the wilderness, and the canyon was on fire
And I stood on the mountain in the night and I watched it burn, I watched it burn"
And also in the same song she sings - “well you really got me this time, and the hardest part is knowing I’ll survive” wow.
If that somehow doesn’t work, Red Dirt Girl might.
"She loved her brother, I remember back when
He was fixing up a 49 Indian
Told her, little sister gonna ride the wind, up around the moon and back again
Well he never got farther than Vietnam, I was standing there with her when the telegram come for Lillian
Now he’s lying somewhere about a million miles from Meridian "
Beebop-a-rebop-a-rhubarbar!
My mom wasn’t much of a cook but I loved when she made seafood boils, put newspaper all over the table and we ate it all with hands.
My dad made Chicken Kiev it was so good.
Maternal grandma made fried chicken, and gave us bags of pecans, she would sit on the porch with her boyfriend for hours while they shelled pecans and talked.
Paternal grandma I remember oyster dressing at Christmas, yum. And I remember her lighting cigarettes on the gas stove.
I just wanna say I am sorry that it is near impossible for single dads to adopt kids. I understand the reasoning but want to cry because there are kids who need parents but you can’t be the parent to one.
I had two terrible toddlers, but once they were kids they were cool. Two who I guess will get a midlife crisis, because they never caused trouble as kids or teens. The rest I got when they were teens or older and while not all of them (bio or other) were academic superstars or high performing athletes or anything, they were all reasonable and interesting and diverse people by teenage years.
I don’t remember my mom being motherly, and asked her about it once. She said “I don’t like kids.” I said"but you have so many kids!" And her reply?
“Well, I like you all now, I knew you would grow up, kids don’t stay kids, they grow into people.”
Good on you, live your life on your terms!
Oh my God I would never want to BE a kid again, it was a nightmare. But my kids say they enjoyed it ok, and weren’t as uncomfortable as I was. Maybe it skips a generation.
My mom said once that if everyone waited until their life was perfect to have a kid, that was the end of humanity. There is never a perfect time.
Kids for me. They have improved my life more than anything else. Having the first two pushed me to go back to school and get a real job. I got more when my ex & I split and I married a guy with kids; we have a staggering number between us, most were teens or older when we got together and they are all close now, so they have a network of family to help and socialize with. The youngest is almost done with high school so we are in the final stretch of having them at home. The Thanksgiving feast here is insane, so many people, chaotic and fun.
Now - having said all that, I always knew I wanted kids, not necessarily to birth them but to raise them. Babies are adorable , little kids blistering cute, teenagers so much fun and occasionally helpful, and then they grow up and are actual people. It is work I find fulfilling and it helps the world to have educated, sensible, open-minded people. Most of my kids don’t want kids themselves and that’s fine! Everyone has their own life to live.
So for me, kids. For you, whatever you want, I don’t think it’s essential to become an adult and don’t think it’s the only way to get a family either.
I do call my small basket of individual stocks gambling (it is a couple hundred bucks, loses value overall, just like gambling) and the 401k I call “investing”.
I do think investing in general is speculative though, so yeah I consider it gambling. Not bonds, but stocks yes.
Water with electrolytes? I got unflavored electrolyte drops for times I fast, and for my kid who has to do band camp in the summer here. You can get flavored ones too, I don’t like them. Dilute them more than the bottle says to, sometimes a splash of lemon.
Topo Chico and orange juice is great, if you are just looking for something that tastes good.
Ask your doctor if it’s safe for you to take creatine, that certainly helps muscles retain water.
I hate ketchup as a sauce or spread, don’t mind it as an ingredient but it’s way too fucking sweet to put on anything.
Mayonnaise for sandwiches, with mustard or horseradish.
Hot sauce for eggs, beans or French fries (chips) . The salsa yucateca if I want hot without sour, Tabasco if I want sour; hot chili garlic paste if I want flavor bomb.
And lot size in football fields, a 1500 square foot 3 bed 2 bath on 1/4 of a football field.
I miss the non-porn nudes threads, Normalnudes and NakedProgress, the ones with an “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything” policy where people of all body types could show their shape and/or their fitness progress.
I think I may be the only person on the face of the earth with no preference on this. My commute is immaterial, the office about 2k away, working from home is kind of a drag but I don’t have to get dressed and can keep the household going (which is part of why it’s a drag) online meetings suck even more than in person meetings, otherwise fine to work remotely. So when we were working from home, I was fine with it, then hybrid I thought would be the worst of all, no, it was fine. Now they say come in at least 3 days, I am going to put away the home workstation and just work at the office, reclaim the space at home, that’s fine too. It’s pretty much the same job either way.
This hasn’t happened for me in the last 35 years, but if I am, say, on vacation? I like to read books, exercise, eat at restaurants.
If you are feeling isolated, it’s really good to go get coffee at the same place everyday. We tend to discount the value of weak social connections, but they are the glue that holds humanity together.
Glad to meet you, Mr. Morningstar and I guess you’d be an authority on this. I agree, consciousness is the universe experiencing itself. And no, I don’t need a favor, thanks!
Honestly I would like to try microdosing LSD, not mushrooms. Something that can be measured, and my youthful experience with these, the tripping is more comfortable/happy/open.
Also it’s the only drug I’d ever try again as far as recreational drugs go. Well, I tried cannabis but hated the high, so I guess not the only one but the only remaining one that I would like to try again. In particular the very, very minimal microdosing but might be willing to also trip. Since I am hella respectable now, too many degrees away from being able to get the drug, especially in a format I could divide up to microdose, not sure it will ever be possible. But other than the legal considerations leading to lack of access nothing else makes me not want to - other drugs I think physically unhealthy or bad for your cognition as you age, or too addictive. I don’t have those concerns about LSD. I think, like coffee it’s more likely to protect your thinking in the long run, and certainly almost nobody wants to trip often.