In the olden days it was easier to look anyone up, the phone company would deliver a new phone book to everyone’s front door twice a year, how could we not all be at least a little fascinated to explore through all those pages and look up people we know from school etc? 😋
nowadays people have to go out of their way with an intention in their mind to go to a website and look people up on whitepages.com or peoplefinder.com etc and last time I noticed years ago, a fee is required to use those kind of sites.
I remember back in grade school (early 80’s) we had lessons about how to use a phone book. Now I’m surprised if I ever see a new one dropped off at the front door.
I too was mad that there was no snow on the ground for Christmas this year. Then I got a blizzard warning on my phone so it might still work out ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I'm swimming in it! We always have a white Christmas, but this year it's spectacular. You could already ski (cross country) on the 23rd, since then there's 20 more centimetres of crispy new snow on top. It's amazing!
Obviously doesn't compensate for the heat elsewhere, but it won't stop me from appreciating what we've got!
When I first moved to L.A. from Indiana and was opening a bank account, I was chatting with the banker and it turned out she had never seen snow up close! That baffled me, especially when you can see it in the mountains all winter if you just look up.
Priority boarding is useless. You wait in line and have to jockey for space. I am usually one of the last people to board, I walk in, go straight to my seat and don’t have to worry about maneuvering past everyone, since they are already seated.
Noise canceling headphones. Pick your flavor it doesn’t really matter but having a nice audio playlist or some podcasts downloaded while not being able to hear everyone else will make the flight so much easier.
You can look up the flight before you book to figure out legroom, as a result I fly jetblue when I can and southwest when I can’t because they average about 2” and 1” more legroom respectively over everyone else.
The smaller and the easier your carry-on is to set down, the better. The goal is for it to be able to fit under the seat and not in the overhead compartment. Overheads fill up quickly, every seat has its own storage. I personally use a small briefcase that I found at a thrift store.
Toiletries, you don’t need as much as you think you need, and they don’t need to be in the carry-on. The only thing I would say needs to be in the carry-on is your toothbrush with some toothpaste already applied just in case. Hotels will typically have something resembling shampoo and body soap. Between those two things it will buy you enough time to get to a store if luggage gets lost.
Luggage is best in wheels and hard cases. I went so far that I use a pelican case as my luggage case. You probably don’t need to go that hard, but if the luggage can be bent with your hand, imagine what would happen if your luggage ended up at the bottom of the pile. Nothing fragile will survive, unless it’s in a hard case. Also if you aren’t confident that your luggage can survive a trip down the stairs, you need to pack it better, luggage handlers are not known to be gentle.
Patience. There’s a lot of hurry up and wait when traveling. Personally I bring a charger in my carry-on so I can use my laptop and phone still. You’re not going to make the plane do its plane things any faster, so just chill out, relax, you’ll get there when you get there. If you do a lot of traveling this is where the lounges come in play, but for one offs not worth it.
Funny you say this then talk about the overhead filling up in #4. That is the advantage of priority boarding, getting a spot in the overhead. I can’t fit more than a day or two worth of clothes in something that fits under a seat (and besides, I want the space fit my legs and feet). And not having to check a bag is huge. And it’s nice to go down the aisle without feeling like I’m constantly sticking my ass or crotch in people’s faces.
Man, I fit an entire week’s worth of clothes in the backpack I put under the seat. Granted, I bring jeans so they can be worn more than once. But I also brought my switch, DS Lite, over ear headphones, snow gloves, 2 hoodies, trimmer set, and toiletries.
What 'ruined' Christmas this year was having to go home and spend it with my parents, one of whom is bedridden and non responsive from Alzheimers. It's more akin to a wake where everyone is focused on someone who is dead and there's little joy to be had. I've been doing it now for 5 years and there's no sign that it will end soon.
It is incredibly stressful and morose. Christmas isn't really joyful anymore because Mom could die at any time. The worst part of it is that all of us recognize that she's suffering and so are we, but the government won't allow any other outcome.
Still, the family shows up and puts in the work for caring for her for many reasons, the least of which is that she raised us for almost 20 years. She was a wonderful person and she's owed that, bottom line. It is uplifting in a way because we come together and work together for a purpose and while it's hard and sad, we've bonded over it nonetheless.
But.. what kind of Christmas will we have once she's gone?
Christmas isn’t really joyful anymore because Mom could die at any time. The worst part of it is that all of us recognize that she’s suffering and so are we, but the government won’t allow any other outcome.
I feel “lucky” because it only took my dad two years to die from serious symptoms starting to the end, but that’s two years too long. He was a university professor and he ended up doing 50-piece jigsaw puzzles. We should allow people to end their life with dignity.
For my age (late twenties) I wouldn’t say they are great achievements, but as a person which struggles a little bit in social settings I still feel proud.
I went to therapy for the first time to learn more about my social anxiety.
Actually told my feelings to a close friend, which again was a first, I got rejected, but at least I did it.
Started going to the gym, progress is slow, but I feel motivated.
Travelled with a couple of friends outside my country.
When things are in motion it gets easier, other than that for me it is constantly trying to get out of my comfort zone.
“Actually told my feelings to a close friend, which again was a first, I got rejected, but at least I did it.”
I gotta tell you: nothing more liberating than this. I’ve discovered I feel regret when not doing this kind of things. If I don’t make my move, then they get a partner, I’m haunted by the question “could that guy have been me?” But if I say something, get rejected, then they get a partner, I actually feel happy for her, for she got someone she likes, just like I want someone I like.
The important thing is to let things go after getting a no. It is your duty to do the best you can for the friendship to continue as usual. Got rejected? No big deal. Let’s move on. Cookout my place, everyone invited. Passive aggressive comments, making guilt-tripping faces or gestures, texting looong messages, or asking “why, why, think about it, give me a chance, what do they have that I don’t” etc, no. Don’t do that!! Plenty of fish out there.
Having come out of a relationship in my late 20s, I am sorely missing this. It’s been ages since I had a crush. Everyone I know is in relationships already, I can’t even find someone to reject me…
whenever someone’s putting pressure on you to make a difficult important life altering decision, with the stipulation that the decision must be made immediately, RUN AWAY.
“Your spouse is horribly losing blood and we need your consent to remove her hemorrhaging kidney. What do you say? Ok! It’s been two minutes thinking about it, man… IT IS NOW OR NEVER!”
I’d met a guy in a hostel in America. I was about to finish second year of uni and we heard about this work abroad program, so we did it for the summer and I met him when I checked into a dorm room at the end of the trip. We had a little fun, and then I flew home.
Six months later and we had the odd conversation on Skype, it seemed like there was still some chemistry there. During half term break, we talked again and he suggested meeting up again to figure out if this was more than a fling. So we looked at dates and I realized my final year’s exhibitions and exams blocked pretty much everything for the foreseeable future. We hung up the call and I carried on browsing flights and then I saw it. $250 for a return flight to California, leaving in 48 hours.
He’d already gone to bed, so I couldn’t call him back to discuss plans. So fuck it, I put in my card details and my finger hovered over the buy button. It’s now or never, so I clicked the button. BOOKED. I sent him a message and started packing for my trip. Yikes.
I’d got a message back that he’d pick me up from the airport, and as the plane touched down in San Diego I was freaking out that the spark might not be there or he might decide he doesn’t like me anymore, it’s been six months and our initial fling was a drunken party at a hostel.
But he was there waiting at the bottom of the elevator, and my heart absolutely flipped its shit when I saw him. We spent the next seven days inseparable, it was one long date, and it was incredible.
Fast forward six years and we’re saying our vows in the park where we took our first romantic walk. We posed for wedding photos in the hostel room where we met. Fast forward another seven years and I’m laying in bed typing this, while he does a conference call in the office next door. Our spark is still there, and I love him so much.
I’m an American and I throw cunt out often enough. I’m from Jersey though and we curse a bunch, and I also was in the Marines, where we cursed a lot. It’s where I picked up the phrase cunt hair, as in the unit of measurement.
Is karva related to the Polish kurwa? I’m American and you guys are close to each other in my uneducated estimation, and so I feel like there’s gotta be something there right? And oldest profession is an old word.
I doubt. Karva is just any hair, except hair on head (facial hair is still karva though it has also specific words too).
Animal hair can also be karva, but only when it’s “fallen off” such as dog or cat hair sticking your clothes
there’s a subset of women here that go absolutely berserk if you call them a cunt in certain contexts. besides them though, its just another curse word here. use it as you please. pretty fun to say sometimes. and if you say it with an aussie accent, you have a free pass to say it whenever you want
American here. I try to remember that other folks outside the US don’t have the same negative association we do with that word. It certainly helps ease the stigma I have for it when it’s said in good fun in a conversation. I still can’t bring myself to say it or write it often though.
I don’t think that I ever did feel like a kid when I went back to my parents for Christmas. Instead, it felt cloying, cluttered and claustrophobic - and as far as I can tell, it is entirely coincidental that all three of those start with ‘cl’. I felt out of place and constrained and it seemed irrelevant to anything else in my world. Mum and my siblings were all doing their usual things, but I felt in the same stiff, un-natural position that ‘posh’ visitors were always put in back when I was living there as a child. There was a sense that it was all a performance for my benefit - but one that never really convinced.
This fundamentally and thoroughly explains what this Christmas has been like for me. Trying to move from one room to another has been a constant battle of stepping over things and pushing past clutter.
Sleeping on the couch of dog fur hasn’t been pleasant.
And the cherry on top has been my girlfriend having to go home because of her dog allergies. Hopefully next year will be better.
Can’t recommend a hotel Christmas enough. It gives you and your significant other room to breathe and debrief away from the noise. You get a space that is “yours”. Plus, it’s nice to poop in peace.
asklemmy
Active
This magazine is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.