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 "

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.

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.

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.

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!

I am in sports now, we are international but employ consultants for international tax stuff. It’s way too complicated. Our internal tax department does do some of the financial planning, yes, tax minimizing schemes as you say, working with the legal department. They also do some general reconciling of the tax liability accounts, sales tax and VAT on merch, that part is accounting but the planning stuff is more like legal work than finance.

I don’t think it needs one, and no idea if you mean existence of everything, or a single human life. But for my single human life my goal is to enjoy being physically embodied while I am, experience things using this body and its built-in equipment. All the things that will be impossible to do once dead, all the stuff you couldn’t do before you were born. See things, move, dance, read, fuck, eat, hurt, feel everything. Think about things. Now while I am alive in a body that can do all that stuff.

I am an accountant and cannot even begin to count the number of people who asked me to do their taxes. I do not do tax accounting, never have, it’s a whole separate department where I work, and at every job I’ve worked. I’m not sure the tax people even think of themselves as accountants.

I think probably yes; there are lovely housewares and glassware being made now, bottles for wines and liquors are not standard and some are really pretty, also a lot of the kitchen appliances currently have pretty nice design.

Wouldn’t you know that, then?

https://medicine.tufts.edu/news-events/news/how-does-acetaminophen-work

Has there been progress since 2022 on figuring out its pain killing mechanism? If it just didn’t work for headaches I would understand, mine are migraine and no painkillers work for those, but it has not worked on anything I tried it for, I gave up years ago. It’s not even that safe, I don’t understand why it’s still around.

I called my standing desk a dancing desk. Didn’t just stand there. I don’t have one now we are back in the office though, some people do but they are all short - I’m taller and it seems too odd to be looking into everyone’s workspace.