I’m 45 and feeling like I’m aging because I’ve had some health issues that limit my activities. I’ve always hated being in photos and on camera - super introverted.

Recently met someone I was on zoom with no image with. She was a little inappropriate- but basically said, I’m surprised you’re so beautiful you could have turned the camera on.

Made me feel a lot better- and to be honest, I have great skin and my eyes are pretty cool I have sectoral heterochromia so they are two different colors.

I totally agree with you-. It’s one of the reasons why I quit - I just couldn’t make things safer or change the attitude of leadership.

I spent a ton of time trying to get the police to help protect my team. Or to get leadership to redirect the police. The police answer was, they didn’t want to enter the parks because it was too dangerous for police because there were plants and trees that made it harder to see danger. Yet They still expected the lowest paid workers to go there and work. I had a day when they basically ignored one of my employees who was getting racist threats as he was picking up trash and accused him of wasting police resources - this was the kindest hardest working 65 year old guy, who wouldn’t have called the police unless he was truly scared for his life.

I basically realized one of my team would have to be killed for anything to really change. Unfortunately it almost happened to another team that handled janitorial services- guy got stabbed. They did start a special team to deal with encampments after that, but there was still no changes in the issues at the parks.

It’s hard to stay empathetic about homeless when you deal with the worst of them on a daily basis. I worked in parks and my team was constantly getting attacked and cleaning up their urine and feces, blood and needles. There were people offering them access to services every week and the worst ones always refuse. Most people who work in parks are kind introverted people who love plants, and want people to enjoy green space . just seeing my team get punched in the face or their arm broken made it really hard to feel any empathy towards homeless. I really had to work at it.

I mean most people don’t have empathy for the opposite political party, imagine trying to empathize with someone who shits on your desk every day.

Some of them are obviously mentally ill, a few are just down on their luck, but also some of them are violent criminals who carry weapons. It was pretty typical to find some that had open warrants for arrest in other states.

I hear the accident was avoidable, if only the truck had been able to turn on a dime.

It’s also improving sales of used and handmade items from small businesses and craftspeople. My eBay sales are up 10% and I expect even more in the next few months.

Hopefully it will also alienate his big business cronies or accelerate the demise of their businesses I’m up for either.

Yep! I make mine with chocolate chips and pecans and add cinnamon nutmeg and cloves

I get like this when I’m avoiding dealing with a bigger issue. I get in a routine of distractions from dealing with something it’s kind of a bland purgatory.
Most of the time these days I face whatever it is and things get bettter. Occasionally it’s something I can’t tackle alone, right now I’m talking to a therapist.

As far as time speeding up, I have a recommendation. Do something out of your comfort zone at least once a month. If you aren’t doing new things time speeds up. Work is usually so monotonous it makes time speed by. I’ve been happily surprised at how much time seems to have slowed down since I quit my job and I get out and do new stuff more often.

It’s the infection from cat bites that will get you. You could lose a limb.

Look for bareroot trees if you want a better deal.

I’ve been preparing for some kind of problem with produce for a few years, I just had a gut feeling so I built a vegetable garden 3 years ago. Also have been planting fruit trees everywhere.

My advice is if you need something electronic or mechanical and it’s expensive buy it now. I just replaced my hvac last month because I know this summer will be a mess. Most air conditioners are made in Asia. You want an e-bike, buy it now.

The more parts something has the more likely it’s going to be affected by tariffs.

Start growing some food if you can it’s a great way to be more resilient. I’d recommend buying things like coffee and tea and chocolate that are not easily grown in the US. There’s actually a pretty bad chocolate shortage right now I believe.

Also for other stuff, buy used, in thrifts or on eBay. Not only are you recycling, most sellers are individuals rather than big corps. Also, if you have old stuff you are not using, it’s a great time to sell. My eBay sales are up 10% this year.

It’s worse with instagram. I debated switching to Pixelfed at first because no one I know is on it. But then I realized I barely see friends content on insta, so it’s not really different, at least on Pixelfed I don’t see adds and only see posts from people I follow.

Doesn’t make a difference in my comment.

You sound like you need to work on being a better friend. If it helps her deal and makes her happy why do you care? If she joined a new church or started running marathons would you be equally upset?

Personally I use tarot to figure out my feelings because I have trouble getting in touch with them. I’m a scientist I don’t believe they predict the future. But they still help me.

I was the first of my siblings to cut contact with my dad and stepmom. I had to really consider how I would feel when my dad died, if I cut contact, I didn’t want to regret it.
My stepmom was abusive and my dad always chose her over our safety.
Now all but one of my siblings have cut contact.
They tell people we ghosted them. They reach out regularly to try to contact us. I’ve realized it’s because they feel bad about themselves and it’s never about knowing us or caring about us. Half the messages they send us say stuff about how we are going to hell and we need to find Jesus.

The hardest part is explaining to people with normal families, they never understand that parents who can’t love you exist, and that a big happy reconciliation wouldn’t be a good thing.

Our library loans out state parks passes for a month so you can go to parks for free. It also loans out hiking gear, provides immigration resources, and oddly, a ukulele.

I retired early in September. I lost about 30k. I put this years Roth investment into a cd that doesn’t mature for 3 years because I knew what was coming.

It’s strange but now that I’m not working the loss bothers me less. I think I hated my job so much losing money made me feel like all that hard work and misery was futile.

Luckily, I don’t plan to live off my retirement investments for another 10 years. I reduced my cost of living by building a tiny house, and living super minimally. I live on what could qualify me for food stamps in my city. Instead I have a garden and I grow food.

I have a part time side business that pays most of my expenses and it tends to do better even with economic turmoil because it’s cheaper than buying imports. Sales are up 10% over the same time last year.

There’s only one good answer to this question period.

There’s a Scottish product that is similar that ships to the us. It’s called Loch. It doesn’t need proprietary washing soap. Also has a UV and produce cleaning function. I have one in my tiny house.

California is at the forefront of water conservation recycling in the US, and supports energy self sufficiency. The water issue is a problem, but not nearly as big as you might think. The state and water districts regularly fund new technologies and invest in storage. It would suck for a while, but in the long run, freedom from federal system might actually speed up changes that need to be made anyway.