Open a book, go for a walk, start a conversation with a person face to face, write, draw, paint, run, swim!

I’m not American so I won’t claim to know what needs to happen. But from an outside observer, it seems that the majority are complacent and willing to sacrifice those “below” them to keep treading water.

Which isn’t uniquely American - complacency and a lack of compassion is an issue in a lot of places. But America is definitely showing us how dangerous it can be when enough people have the “ehh, I’m still surviving so yeah this isn’t great but oh well, go with the flow” kind of mindset/action.

Coles kitchen butter chicken has been on a “2 for $15” special for about 4 years now 😅 I specifically remember because I was in hospital a couple of times that year and had my folks bring it in to me because the hospital food was gross. It’s never been not on special 🤷‍♀️

Yeah I have no confidence that even the ones he has agreed to will come to fruition. But it’s so buried that nobody will realize 🤷‍♀️

😢 where I’m pretty much at at this stage too. It’s horribly lonely

Yes I tend to have a standard answer for set situations now too. Now it’s more so jarring when I’m unsure of the relationship “level” like I have made acquaintances and friends with coworkers. Some are “work friends” (only see them at work) and one or two are outside of work friends. I feel like I’m glitching when one of my work friends but also friends outside of work asks me how it’s going because my brain is like generic or real answer, glitch glitch.

And also how do you reach out for support or tell someone you’re struggling? I really haven’t figured that out yet.

I’m in Melbourne and this kind of shit is why I think I really can’t go to protests. I’m autistic and passionate about advocacy (I work in the industry). I can keep my cool pretty well in verbal exchanges but I would lose it, meltdown if I saw people being treated like this. And then I would probably be assaulted myself.

Disgusting treatment of disabled people. You should report that library security too. They are scaring disabled people into silence - especially in public protests.

Yeah this is what I’ve observed too. It’s very, very strange to see the messaging around these things change. For extra context I’m autistic and have mental health issues myself. People confuse me in general lol.

I feel like I’ve watched things go from “no, no, we don’t talk about those things, sweep it under the rug, everything is fine” to “reach out! Speak to someone! Believe victims! It’s ok not to be ok! #mentalhealth #noshame” and then in recent years we’ve developed the term “trauma dumping” which appears even to apply to friends.

It feels a little like we went “speak up, reach out…ah fuck, no no stop now”. I actually find it quite concerning.

And then people wonder why others are turning to AI companions. I don’t personally but it does make sense to me when the social game is as confusing as it is especially around mental health or even quite minor stuff things can get the “trauma dump” label. I even remember seeing a couple of people say you shouldn’t trauma dump on your THERAPIST 😅😅😅

How are you is the most confusing question a person can ask 🙃 like, really or generic answer? It can be a very lonely question, that one.

Yep. And even then, our desktop computer was upstairs - which was out of the way, nothing up there except my sister’s bedroom and a living room that wasn’t really used - so arguably that was too isolated lol. We weren’t allowed laptops until we finished high school! Even my friend who did have a laptop wasn’t allowed it in her bedroom.

The internet was also restricted to go off at 9pm because I was staying up on msn and Myspace all night otherwise 😅

Yeah I’m not sure exactly. I know in my country - Australia - we only started our compulsory retirement fund, superannuation, in 1992. Which is 12% of every paycheck goes into a retirement fund.

So the first generation who have had that their whole working lives hasn’t actually retired yet! That would be some gen x’s and all working millennials.

Theoretically, millennials + who have worked consistently should build up a decent super fund by the time they retire. But of course a lot happens in the world since the inception of super and it’s now a thing that people can access it early to buy a house - which was never the point of superannuation, it’s supposed to be locked away as a retirement fund.

So I really don’t know how it’s going to work long term. I know boomers who have retired with a great amount of super and yeah, the plan was that the upcoming generations should be even more better off because boomers would only have had super for like half their working life but y’know, economy changes.

A lot changes in 30 years. Hopefully for the better at some point!

I still hold my fingers in the L shape like I was taught as a kid to figure it out a lot of the time!

Haha as a lesbian, same. I prefer none or very little for both myself and in an attraction sense. But that’s just a preference and it’s no different than idk, preferring blondes over brunettes or something. And just like I wouldn’t point out someone blonde for being blonde instead of brunette, I wouldn’t with body hair 😅 there’s no shame in it just because some people have preferences!

The other thing is it just seems so ridiculous to me because of all the things, you really don’t see someones armpits very much 😂 like it’s really not a big deal either way but it’s not even something that is in your face. I can’t say I notice peoples armpits on a regular basis, y’know?

I don’t think it’s the removal of body hair that is seen as “new”. It’s the way it’s ridiculed like in this post when there’s a tiny bit of stubble lol and it’s worth mentioning.

Though I wouldn’t say that’s new either, it’s just more and more widespread the wider the communication methods have become. But this isn’t “new” even in the modern world for Hollywood, it’s online now with the wider reach but this stuff has existed for as long as we’ve been photographing celebrities lol.

The thing is body hair has a purpose but aesthetics has taken over that. I don’t think it’s weird either way to keep it or shave/wax it. Everyone has it because it’s the way the human body is designed and like everything else on our bodies, we get to choose what to do with it 🤷‍♀️

Ah okay yeah, I barely use steam these days. Can’t remember the last time I bought anything there, I just occasionally play very old games I already have on there haha.

Yeah i love a few Nintendo classic titles but $$$ 😭 kinda a good thing that I don’t like the direction they’re taking pokemon because it removes the temptation to upgrade to the switch 2. Not sure I’ll bother unless I somehow get free money to throw around haha.

Nice! Are you Irish yourself? Yeah I started with Duolingo which I still use - I’ve looked at Sionnach but I don’t love the interface though I like the concept. I used duocards for a while too. I think they both have different methods of learning than Duolingo but neither quite has the easy, smooth interface yet! Also did a local online class for a couple of months but the teacher wasn’t very engaging unfortunately so I didn’t carry on 😭 I want to get some 1:1 tutoring at some stage, I think that’s the best way but obviously $$$ 🙄

I have a coworker and friend who is Irish (but not fluent in Irish) and I love getting to practice it with her and leaving her notes in the office in Irish haha. I think getting to use it is the key which is why I’d like a tutor. I’m Australian so no “need” for it here, I just enjoy it and find Ireland fascinating.

Yup my kobo libra colour. It was pretty pricey but well worth it. Had a Kindle for about a decade or so before that so it was a big upgrade.

Love that it’s easy to borrow from the local library on it (couldn’t do that on Kindle where I’m from) or yeah, books from anywhere. I quite like the colour e-ink, I don’t read much in it but the occasional illustrations in books is cool to be able to see in colour.

I do annotate a fair bit so the different coloured highlighters help there too.

And I love having the notebooks. I’ve been writing creatively so much more now that I have it. I missed handwriting but I have so many physical notebooks I would buy and then not use or use once or twice lol. Having the kobo with me all the time is great because I have all my notebooks on it for different things. It’s helped my productivity a lot!

There’s only one thing that I came across recently that I wish I could do and haven’t found a way. I transferred some of my typed poetry to my kobo and I wish there was a way I could throw it in with my handwritten notebooks rather so I could keep editing there rather than having to switch to the pdf version in the other section. But that’s really only a pretty minor thing in terms of e-readers!

Yup. Autistic and noise cancelling headphones help me in all kinds of environments I wouldn’t be able to deal with otherwise. Including the airport!

I still need to find some good NC earbuds though. The Bose quiet comfort are fantastic but unfortunately known to stop working repeatedly (I’m about to get my 6th pair replaced through warranty over about 18 months!)

I’ve been learning Irish for a few months now - incredibly difficult language but fascinating.

Also getting back into poetry and learning different techniques around writing. Not sure I always like some of the very rigid “rules” but it’s interesting to learn. I’ve never been particularly technical with my writing but it has opened my mind to trying new styles.

Yeah indies usually have pretty decent demos! I actually haven’t even looked at the switch store lately but I don’t remember the bigger titles having demos?

And idk where everyone else is but the big games here (Australia) are still what I consider expensive (USD$45 minimum without a sale). Typical price is around USD$60. Even on sale they don’t get much below that for the big stuff - zelda, pokemon, Mario, animal crossing, etc. Curious how comparable that is to elsewhere.