Dating is essentially butt-sniffing. The longer you do it, the more familiar it all is. And it is a commitment - for many they’re committing to focus their interest on one person for a bit to see if they want to make it a longer commitment.

That said, I got a great piece of advice after getting out of a long relationship. A friend told me romantic relationships only end in one of two ways: you break up or someone dies. You only have control over one of those scenarios, so how can it be a Bad Thing all the time?

Y’all, every relationship is different, sometimes wildly different. It’s true that every relationship takes some work. How much is dependent on the relationship itself.

Slowest pitch in history.

It’s not a bad problem to have, TBH. The thing that stood out to me is what you consider “not necessary.” Other than this, you seem to have figured out a sensible budget, and you’re prioritizing your future self. I have the same thoughts whenever I make a large purchase, and sometimes they win out. Sometimes they don’t. The thing is do you feel like your frugality is keeping you from something, or negatively impacting your life?

Same here. I don’t mind microblogging, but I find it hard to find good content to follow on Mastodon. Also not a fan of my feed being filled with replies. Not having the thread right there for context is distracting and annoying.

No idea what sharkey is. Don’t really care to find out.

Same as everyone else, I came over with the API refugees. I still lurk on Reddit using Brave (that and YT are the only things I use Brave for) because some communities there are still good fountains of information. I don’t post or vote on anything there, though.

Still have Apollo on my phone though.

Given the story about OP’s exam, I read the “F-“ & “B-“ as grades and thought:

• “F-“ as a verb. I like it.
• “B-“ as a noun? Given the “F-“, it fits.
• ”B-“ for OP’s ex is… generous.

Right, but what did you do?

NGL, it’s scary! I still haven’t put anything of consequence on the VPS. Right now, I have everything on 1 system going through swag. I’ve long been a proponent of not fixing what isn’t broken, so I might look for a way to scale my current setup to more than the one system.

I host a couple of small services for more than just me, but I have no plans to provide any cloud services to anyone else but my wife (if she wants).

Thanks for the story, though. Sorry you went through that. I’ve been lucky so far. I’m hoping things stay that way, but obviously trying to plan for when they don’t!

That N Korea story was wild!

Hadn’t heard of voidauth. Will check it out. Thanks!

Careful, I had a post like this locked almost a month ago.

FWIW, I went with purelymail, and it’s been pretty good. Basic, but solid.

Somebody really likes “Stranger Things!”

[x] I am a meat popsicle.

Removed by mod

I was thinking about this the other day. Awhile back I was talking to my mom about, I think his name is Haberman? There was an article about him awhile back that, among other things, took issue with him doing ads for athletic greens. She said she doesn’t hold that against podcasters since they have to pay the bills like anyone else. The article’s issue was that, given his background, he would know better that AG1 is basically placebo - that to get the advertised benefits, one would need to drink a prohibitive amount. While I hate ads, I also like not paying for some things. I don’t care that Robert Evans does Better Help ads. He’s not a psychologist or psychiatrist, so I know he’s just reading ad copy to “pay the bills.” I would have a larger problem if the hosts of Maintenance Phase did this. They’re also not professionals in those fields, but they have researched them pretty extensively; so I would expect them to know better.

You make it clear that you don’t like new things. You really need to recognize that this makes it difficult for your loved ones to buy you gifts. I’m old enough that I generally don’t want anything for Christmas or my birthday. I have enough stuff. What I want is time to spend with the people I love. That doesn’t mean I refuse gifts or complain about them, because a gift means that someone saw something that made them think of you; and they bought it for you to celebrate your relationship. So even if it’s a bad gift, it’s coming from a good place.

Shoulda posted in unpopularopinions. In this sub, it’s just stupid.

… playing chicken with the driver on the outside to make sure they’re either alongside or ahead at the apex.

Ahh, the Verstappen Maneuver!

I’ve really enjoyed 4K77.