Lisa needs braces.

Yikesaroni! Congrats on making it through.

I drive as little as I can these days, but I used to drive a lot in Chicago. Talk about aggression! It's like a game everyone is playing and you get points by being the biggest asshole who.

I live in Portland now and driving here for the first time was a real eye-opener. Still terrible in it's own ways! But at least the drivers seem to want to cooperate for safe trips all around, for the most part.

Fuck cars.

AROOOOOOO YOU KNOW ILL BE CRANKING HOGS AND THANKIN LOGS ALL WEEKEND LONG HELL YEAH TGIFF!

THE EXTRA F IS FOR FUCKING.

THANKS FOR YOUR TIME MFERS.

I’m with you as far as “humans deserve food that won’t make ‘em sick, regardless of circumstances” but expired food can often still be fine - you just are outside of the manufacturer’s guarantee that it should still be good.

When I gotta choose between “expired food” and “nothing”, I choose to give expired food the visual + sniff + small taste test before consuming.

Tinnitus sucks!

But for anyone new to it - something helpful for me is to know that tinnitus/the ringing itself can’t physically harm you or anyone you care about.

Sup, Ganesh! I’m HandOfDumb :) This is a neat question you’ve asked and I’m stoked to see more answers.

I was raised in Catholicism, though my family has, largely, stopped following that specific religion so closely (though many are still religious). I don’t follow any specific religion and am unsure what I consider myself - atheist fits well enough!

Somethings that stick for me are many of the kindnesses that live within bible stories. There’s a lot of good stuff in there, of course! And most of (what I consider to be) the good stuff is along the lines of being a good person. But some of it is kinda off-beat.

Like, there’s a bit in there about a proclamation that people should forgive debts after some seemingly arbitrary amount of time (seven years?) and that really jibed with me. Not the time part, but just forgiving pals/family you might have loaned money to. If I spot a friend $5 for something, I’m not going to hold it against them and ask them to repay. If they do repay? Great! But I will never expect it and I will not be offended if they do not.

Similarly with larger sums. If I’m okay to loan it to someone, I’m okay to lose it.

Anyhoo, I think it’s awesome that you like cows :) they remind me of big ol’ dogs and I like them very much. They can teach us more than they can fill our bellies, I think!

I’m a fan of this method, lol.

When I can muster it, I treat small talk like a game rather than something to try and get out of. I have to listen for any clues that tell me how I can take the conversation from the tutorial stage to the next level. Once I think I’ve got a clue to go off, I can ask another question about the topic to see if it gets the other person talking about something deeper.

But it’s a tough game to play!

I dunno my favorite, but my most used in daily conversation is…

“Careful, man - there’s a beverage here!”

There’s tons of good comments here. Mine will echo some! I just wanted to share my experience.

I have three hobbies that I’ve explored since moving to a new city in my 30s - axe throwing, pinball, and making music.

I found a local axe league and joined for a season. One season has become four :) The people I throw axes with are wonderful and varied. While we may not have crossed paths otherwise, they’re fine folks and I consider many my friends.

I went to a local pinball bar for a casual tournament and have been going every other week since. It a supportive community and I’ve had a great time learning about the games and learning about the folks on my various teams.

I answered a Craigslist ad for a band looking for another member. We’ve clicked quite well and have practices together, go out together, record together, and even play shows!

Exploring your own hobbies in some sort of structured way might be a good step in your own quest :) Good luck!

We've all been there.

My wife has a few things she tries - success varies from migraine to migraine....

• She has flexible ice pack hats she keeps in the freezer.
• She chugs water.
• She chugs caffeine.
• She smokes/eats weed.
• She takes a caffeine pill, l-theanine (for caffeine jitters), acetaminophen, and ibuprofen and tries to nap before they kick in.
• She does the usual dark room, no screens thing.

Good luck! I hope you find some relief soon :)

This might be rudimentary for some folks, but anyone like me: meet with counselors regularly to make sure you're on-track for graduation!

I was my own counselor. I used the course catalogs to determine what courses I needed to take to graduate. I thought I was doing well til I found (during what I assumed was my last semester) that I needed additional math credits and anothet credit in some other weird category to graduate. I took summer courses of Pre-Calc and Bowling to graduate a semester later than expected.