I think seeing it live did make a difference. We didn’t know what was going to happen next. When we saw the second plane hit, at first we thought it was a recording of the first plane. It was traumatic.

I don’t know if you’d get the same reaction nowadays. Our media environment is much more fractured, I don’t know if you’d have the same experience. Even January 6th, it felt like I had a tad more control because I could choose where to get my information from, instead of having the one news channel.

I watched human beings jump out of skyscrapers live, my homeroom class. It had an impact.

And then everything went nuts, the Patriot act got passed, and the whole WMD bullshit, and my whole high school encircled the building and prayed. Nuts.

Curiousity: Could you please explain what was awful about the comment you responded to?

For context, I’m also autistic.

I’ve taught literal toddlers that my dog needs his alone time when he’s in his crate.

A 10 year old should be able to understand that sometimes people just don’t want to play/talk. Maybe wear headphones or some other very visible indicator that you’re not social right then?

I’m team pour-over coffee maker. It goes in the dishwasher every now and then. All parts are visible, so I know if it looks groddy.

True! Let’s encourage them to work towards goals that seem attainable and worthwhile.

Sometimes, just small changes can make a big difference to the individual. I used to take the elevator to my 5th-floor office. Now I take the stairs. The only conscious change to my routine was converting from carrying a bag/purse to carrying a backpack–I carry the same amount of stuff more comfortably, and so the stairs don’t seem daunting.

And “fit” doesn’t have to mean “able to run a marathon”. That might not be achievable for you. Even minor improvements can be big, though. For example, I have lower back pain. It sucks and I do not recommend it.

I’ve started physical therapy. It’s two 30-minute sessions a week, plus 10 minutes of homework stretches every day. My pain is much less than when I started.

I feel much more able to do things like long trips to the grocery store. Before, I’d sometimes have to beg off and lie down in the car and let my partner finish the trip.

Anyways, fitness. It’s good. YMMV, PT might not work for you, I am not a doctor.

Arkansas

Probably not (I don’t think she’s remarried yet), but maybe my aunt is. My aunt and my mom hate each other because they’re almost the same person.

Anyways, I’m sorry your stepmom sucks. I hope you’re able to get away from that unhealthy relationship.

TBH, sometimes they do just change the sign. You’ll have “all-gender (with urinals)” and “all-gender (no urinals)”. I saw that at an older theater in Western Massachusetts.

It probably has to do with budget and clientele. This theater’s audience skewed 20ish at the show I was at.

Yes, but it was a slog. My summary:

the weather was dreadful, some high muckety muck is back from Michaelmas break. The scene is in London. All the people and critters in the street are covered in mud. The ground is slippery with mud (and probably horse crap, but we’re too polite to mention it). OMG the weather sucks, very wet and dreary. Everyone’s in a bad mood. Did I mention it’s wet and icky and muddy and the weather is bad?

You’re not a felon until after you’re convicted. Until then you’re just a sparkling nogoodnik.

(Please pardon if the joke falls flat, I’m in a queer mood.)

I’d say it depends on how much the license costs vs how the service costs.

The analogy that comes to mind is old cemeteries (YMMV, this is from a New England perspective). People buy a grave and expect to occupy it forever. This is a problem for cemeteries because a cemetery will eventually run out of graves to sell. The sales of graves goes towards the upkeep of the cemetery. Once there’s no more space, there’s no more sales, and there’s no more income for upkeep.

Some cemeteries get around this by reusing graves. You rent a grave for, say, 20 years and after 20 years of occupancy your next of kin is asked if they’d like to renew your subscription.

Other places charge a much higher upfront fee and invest it, using the interest to pay for ongoing maintenance.

Other places just abandon the cemetery and let it grow over with weeds.

Thanks. The scars are still there, but things are getting better.

The best thing to come out of my dad’s death was me becoming closer to his sisters. They’re mostly lovely. Like, they have blind spots, but they’re minor and sometimes adorable. (Example: one of them kept talking about her daughter and her daughter’s roommate. After a couple months of this, I asked directly “are they dating?” Yes, yes they were. They’re now married. My aunt was just awkward about saying her daughter was dating a woman because she lived through times when that could have been a fight, and I think it was habit.)

I get those, too! I end up remembering I have a master’s degree. I tell high school to pound sand, then I go off flying or something fun.

My brother was adopted and my grandmother was similarly biased against him, asking my mom if we got any money from the state for taking care of him. Like, no, he’s her son! There wasn’t even the excuse of racism–my brother is blond-haired and blue-eyed. He just wasn’t her blood.

Eventually she started liking him as dementia kicked in and she forget his origin. Still messed him up.

I’m glad your nephew didn’t have to deal with her for all that long, though it sounds like it was already long enough.

Mom always thought she was a good person and not racist. The cracks started to show when she’d express options on Facebook, like that sure, black people go to jail for much longer that white people for the same crimes, but it’s their fault for being criminals.

Lots of little things like that. I started therapy in my late 20s for anger management. A couple months in, my parents and brother came from out of state to visit. It was a Bad Time. My mom and brother kept needling me constantly. They mocked my opinions. They told me I was wrong about local facts. They asked a local for directions then mocked him for having a Boston accent. In Boston.

The several-day visit ended with me driving them back to their hotel room and my mom telling me the whole trip had been a waste, we were probably the sort of family that should only see each other at funerals, preferably hers.

Poor dad was hard of hearing, so missed a lot of what was said. He apologized for any part he played in it.

A few years later in December 2020, my mom brought COVID home from what she described as a mandatory work Christmas breakfast potluck. My dad caught it from her and spent a month in hospital. I don’t know how mandatory that potluck could have been, tbh–she retired a few months later after my dad died. She was all shocked Pikachu that my dad, who was known to be immunocompromised, could die from COVID.

She also lamented to me, the week before he died, that dating as a widow sucks. Either you date too soon and everyone thinks it’s inappropriate OR you don’t and everyone thinks you’re sad. (Not saying she shouldn’t have thought ahead to her widowhood, but don’t say these things to your kid.)

Anyways, she sucks and is blocked on my phone. She could email if she cared. My dad was the Good Parent and he had his warts, but he at least tried to relate to me and explain things instead of just assuming I could read minds.

De minimus exemption is still dead, right?

They might get auto-renewed for another 4 weeks, unless someone’s requested the book (which usually disables auto-renewal).

Some of those titles may have been requested from other libraries in the same library system. My library limits me to, say, 20 books. But I can request another 20 from Second Library one town over, and another 15 from Third Library two towns over. The books all get sent to My Library and placed on the hold shelf for me, and checked out at My Library. Each library has their own lending policy.

Yeah, it’s messed up. Grumble grumble rude butthead that would check out 80+ DVDs at a time and yell at you if you didn’t check in his returns fast enough (so he could max out his checkouts again).