Tampa International Airport

I give thanks every time we land at home. Our airport is really awesome. Good layout, beautiful, long security line usually but otherwise so good.

https://news.tampaairport.com/

I didn’t enjoy being a kid at all, but being an adult I do like, don’t mind working because they pay me.

“Everyone else got it” is a stretch.

It does sound like you are carrying a lot of trauma, I don’t want to minimize that, but if you are able bodied, can see and hear and move and think, you are ahead of a lot of people. If you live in a developed nation, you are ahead of a lot of people. I don’t think even a majority of kids get the idealized childhood you think they do.

If you have no kids or obligations - what I did was get a lot of roommates to get living cost low and yeah, did just work a minimal job and hang out for a few years before sort of getting more serious about work. Never did the career ladder thing but did get a good job and I can say with absolute honesty - it got better.

Well, my mind is in the gutter I guess. Yards, I like a balance. Wild in defined spaces; food garden without weeds; open yard is literally mowed weeds, not too short. Flower garden has some weeds. We get lots of bees and butterflies with this scheme.

(On the question I thought you were asking, slight preference for uncut)

I like cooking, and don’t use recipes. Drinks, too. I like creating foods and drinks that people love because it’s like a gift but they don’t have to keep it. I guess it’s a traditional art in a way but not always expressed artistically.

I can’t speak for all women, but looks for me are a yes/no binary, but a primary filter. So if a guy looks good enough, attractive to me, then I can be attracted to him if he’s attractive in other ways. But there’s no bonus for better than good enough, better looking doesn’t matter at all. It is quite important - nobody has ever moved out of the appearance “no” bucket into the “yes”. But there is no 1-10 scaling, no consideration beyond the yes/no, I’m never going to be more attracted to a man just because he’s gorgeous.

I am certainly not in your target demographic, and personally yeah it would be a turnoff but it would be really stupid for you to try to change and be unhappy - you don’t need everyone to appreciate you in a romantic way, you only need a few admirers, right?

Looking at the people my kids date (more likely your age) they don’t seem to have the preference for “manly men”, none of them. They like guys who are not afraid to be soft, not afraid to wear nail polish or look ‘girly’ or whatever, they seem to find guys who do the Masculine thing actively off-putting. So you are in a good cultural moment I’d say. I think you will do fine being yourself, also never think it’s a weakness to be gentle and caring. Most people want to be taken care of to some extent, just make sure this isn’t a one-way thing, you take care of them too.

I don’t mean letting them keep harming you - I mean when do you think it’s worth keeping the hate inside you, the unforgiveness. It doesn’t do anything to harm the offender, it’s only harmful to the victim.

So when is it worth holding on to that at your own expense? It’s a good question.

I guess we just disagree then. I literally don’t think it’s misbehaviour or anything to police like that. You want to put some sort of barrier up, but for what? So they will only do it at the girlfriend’s house? What does that accomplish? OP is not proposing to “provide turn down service, mints, and send them up to bed after dinner” just okaying a sleepover.

I do disagree because the drinking age where I am is 21, and drinking and driving is dangerous. So that would be asking if they can engage in illegal and potentially deadly activities. My kids will tell me if their friends drink at a party but they don’t, and they have all been comfortable with that too. But yes I like that they can tell me and ask for advice.

Sex, I very much prefer they have a safe space, I will leave and give them privacy, they are not doing anything wrong or illegal at all. I don’t actually think i’s a bad idea, it’s a natural part of a romantic relationship, and the kid is 17. And don’t understand your view that it’s safer for them to hide it from you? I hear the stories my kids tell about other kids and remember growing up in a household like that.

I’ve raised a lot of kids through teen years and YES absolutely. Him being able to casually tell you this is an affirmation of your success as a parent. He doesn’t feel like you are going to freak out. Talk with him about safe sex and enthusiastic consent, about how no birth control is 100% safe, make sure he’s not ignorant. Congratulations, parent, you have raised a reasonable person.

I’d invite her over often if it keeps his room clean!

I am not sure - this is a great question though - at what point do you let it keep harming you instead of letting it go? All the complicated social systems of revenge and avenging and reparation built around this.

You have to figure out a diet you can comfortably maintain forever, eat for your target weight. It’s no use just losing weight, you have to stay at a healthy weight.

So it’s going to be individual. For me, increased activity is the only factor, apparently I eat the same all the time. So walking everywhere or adding extra exercise works better.

I had a friend who lost weight by just reduced portions - she literally just took 1/3 less of everything. Like left more space on her plate. And another who ate popcorn for supper. Regular breakfast, regular lunch, then in the evening just popcorn. So again was eating 2/3 of what she had been. But then you have to keep it that way to maintain the weight.

Deviled eggs? Probably 4 (8 halves)if it was all I’m eating. They are just so delicious.

Straight hard boiled eggs? If I have more than 3 I’m making egg salad so I don’t know. But would consider 2 of them a main dish, plenty enough if I have a salad or something to go with them. And 2 is all I’d want at one time.

I am socially liberal and with my personal budget, fiscally conservative. Government money? Different priorities, plenty of stuff would be cheaper when we pool our money like that, so I’m not sure what fiscally conservative means. My gut reaction is that this person isn’t socially liberal because regressive government fiscal policies harm the population, you can’t really split it out like that. I guess it’s someone who doesn’t care who you marry or how you dress but also doesn’t care if the schools are any good or if there is any enforcement of the rights to do the socially liberal things.

I definitely don’t get in bed until I am sleepy because I don’t want to get in the habit of laying in bed trying to get sleepy. And yeah laying down so sleepy feels so good, so sleepy that I can try to sort of stay conscious while falling asleep, watch it happen.

I have an app on my phone called “leaf snap” because that happened to me. There was something that looked like a tomato seedling growing in my garden but I hadn’t planted tomatoes. Turned out yes it was a tomato. No idea where it came from.

The leaves do look cannabisish but that stick sure looks like bamboo.

I type with both hands usually so use both, but when doing the one hand thing it’s always the right shift key. That one is more worn on my keyboard.

Such an enormous country. Old people doing tai chi in a park. Little kids earning red stars at school. Government trying to control the population too tightly, yet somehow also lacking basic safety regulations. Good food.

!Yes, please!

I raised my kids to be independent and was not very controlling - they think I was pretty hands off because they don’t remember the earliest years - but I can’t imagine doing that without literally teaching them what was reasonable behavior for different spaces. We did restaurant training, sit in your chair, use the utensils, don’t yell. (ETA I would do this at teatime when it was slow, and tip double since the bill did not reflect the mess or work at all) In stores, “put your hands behind” was the cue, not “don’t touch” because it’s easier to tell them to do something than to not do something.

At the park though? My only rule was don’t show off, don’t do anything to show off. If you want to climb the tree because you want to climb the tree, go for it but no “look at me I’m in the tree” because then you will probably go past what’s safe for you. When they fell down while running ask “you gonna be ok?” not “are you ok?”

Compared to their friends’ parents, the younger ones think I’m nearly neglectful but it’s more than my mom did, parenting right now while there are fewer kids around us so weird. So many parents are so controlling even of their high schoolers. You are trying to raise competent adults, they have to have the space to make decisions and mistakes to do that.