This was my first thought. Terrifying! Claustrophobia has entered the chat.

Watched from my kitchen window as my dad and my dog were chased by a skunk. It was exactly like a comedy sketch. First it was dog barking at skunk with dad yelling from the side door. Then it was skunk chasing dog, dog chasing skunk with dad chasing dog. Then the tables were turned, and my dad was being chased by the skunk.

It was glorious. I remember it taking ages before they could get safely inside. My dad was pissed at the time. They both were partially sprayed, but I don’t remember it being that bad of an aftermath. We laugh about it now.

I like your taste in youtubers!

Contact lenses. I know I could use my glasses, but I put them down and can’t find them half the time. I am blind enough to be absolutely useless in most situations without corrective lenses.

Hot water on demand. Coming in from the cold and getting a hot shower. That is so wonderful.

Wait, this is a possibility? That’s awesome

Excersice. I know, it sounds trite. But working out has helped me sleep more soundly despite getting less sleep. I have a few weights in my basement and when my kid is sleeping, I go downstairs and lift heavily. Especially leg workouts, your legs are a huge portion of your body and getting those muscles working is great. It usually takes me ~20 minutes to workup a sweat. Before I had a child I used to try cardio for longer periods of time. But I am more satisfied with short, difficult strength workouts.

I suggest donating your time or skills to helping others in some way. It doesn’t have to be a great endeavor, especially because I am sure nursing and taking care of people is emotionally draining.

I started assistant coaching a local kids’ sports team that had very little funding. Turns out that it was incredibly rewarding to work with kids and watch them grow. I also found friends in other coaches who had similar interests to me. We could always commiserate over complaining about waking up early for practice or certain kids that were difficult, and friendships grew from there.

Maybe kids aren’t your cup of tea. But I have always gotten a seratonin boost from helping other people. That might be an easy place start. Aside from that, maybe a hobby that requires you to interact with others. The first thing that pops into my head is glass blowing, because there is a shop in my town. You can take a class with other people, if you hate it then it wasn’t too expensive of a trial because they have all the equipment. If you like it then you can participate more with the shop. Something along those lines?

I’ve been considering this as my New Years Resolution. I’m ashamed that I might be too weak to go through with it. The convenience is just so…manipulative and infantilizing. I am perfectly capable of buying anything I need from a physical store front.

I coach kids, and false reporting has become an issue recently. We take every report seriously and have to investigate/escalate each case individually. I have seen two different teenagers admit to maliciously reporting another kid when their stories were questioned or enough time had passed that they no longer felt vengeful toward the other person. The systems for reporting bullying/abuse/crimes are a huge step in the right direction from the past strategy of ignorance. I don’t know how to impart to kids that false claims damage the entire social system we have in place for keeping them safe.

Access to infinite knowledge from the internet, sitting right in everyones pocket. Sometimes, I will find myself talking to someone a few generations older than me. And they will say something along the lines of “I wonder how many…” and then just let the idea rest. Because they still act like they would have to go to a library to look up the fact. It amazes me! We don’t have to wonder. I can look it up right now! It’ll take me a few seconds.

Alternatively, I cannot stand when I am talking to someone and make a statement to which they respond: “I don’t know…” or “I’m not sure if that’s true”. This is often a tactic I see older men use (often talking politics) to cast doubt on a younger or female person. And unfortunately, back in the day that was good enough to derail a conversation. Nowadays though… Don’t believe me? Let’s look it up. We don’t have to take your word for it. People forget they can be fact checked in real time.

In my opinion, the bullying is still as alive as it ever was. Kids are just better at masking it. There is definitely more acceptance for LGBT, neurodivergent, and kids that would be considered outside the “norm” nowadays. But, teenagers have a strange capacity for cruelty to one another, it is just a different type of cruelty than past generations.

A friend of 8 years stole a few dresses from me while we were out on a trip. They weren’t necessarily expensive, just cute sundresses that I had bought after saving up some money with my first big job. After returning home, I texted her to get one back because it was the dress I wore on my first date with my (now) husband and was sentimental. I was willing to part with the other ones. Her response was “Since I already have it with me, it would be easier if I just keep it and not have to find a way to get it to you.”

We lived ~20 minutes apart. After that, I was ghosted. She continued to wear the dress and post photos online, blocking me so that I couldn’t see, but other friends saw and reported back to me. Safe to say she was not invited to the wedding.

I think people forget these talk radio shows are still a thing. A lot of us, especially Millenials and younger, are streaming our own music/audiobooks/podcasts in the car. But there are a lot of people who listen to talk radio.

My great grandmother recently passed at the age of 100. Summers in her garden were something truly special. They had a small backyard, but the victory garden covered most of it. If I ever reach grandma status, I hope I will have an impeccable garden and carry on the tradition. Thanks for the story, it brought back so many memories. I would kill for a fresh tomato sandwich now.

I completely forgot about this game, god it was fun.

I am joining the dark side on this one. It’s justified when they are slowing down everyones commute.

People on their phones while driving. Aside from the danger it poses, I have been stuck at a light behind someone who is obviously scrolling on their phone and then doesn’t realize the light has turned green. Sometime this lasts for 10-20 seconds, which is a lifetime when trying to efficiently move through a series of stop lights. I’m not an aggressive horn honker, and I feel like an asshole if I have to use it. But if you are fucking with the flow of traffic you deserve it.

Autocorrect has gotten significantly worse for me recently. I used to be pretty well adjusted to my phone and know which words I did not need to capitalize/spell correctly because autocorrect would do it for me. Now, it feels like it is all over the place. It also does not seem to acknowledge commonly used proper nouns anymore. I type my brother’s name all the time, yet it will autocorrect to the same name witn different spelling.

The lighting is so fascinating. It is so stark on the ship and then just vast dark nothingness behind it. I guess it is obvious that space photography wouldn’t have the shadows we have on the ground, but seeing photos like this always reminds me how small we all are.