Minutes ago, I was hoping to get laid by the new person I’m texting. However, it’s past 9pm on a Friday and they went to sleep. Totally understandable, I think.

Now, I’m laughing at an obscure history reference that I just learned through a community called “Really Shitty Copper,” and my nerd-brain is telling me, “This is better anyway.”

Meanwhile, some distant voice in the back of my head is yelling, “Dooooork!”

… Being in your 30s is fucking weird.

Goddamn, do I feel this. The urge for people-pleasing is real. Establishing boundaries that respect your limits is hard. I keep hearing the voice of ignorant neurotypicals throughout my life, echoing in my head, “You don’t need a break.” “You’re just lazy.” “Answer, answer now! You must speak!”

No! I can say no! I can say, “I need some time alone,” or, “I’ll get back to you tomorrow.” Acknowledging that I have limits IS OKAY. MOST PEOPLE WILL RESPECT THAT. Even if my own freaking parents can’t.

Instructions unclear. Now stuck on a cosmic journey.

Well, they did show up at her door and asked to help her “come to Jesus.”

“Hop in!”

Everyone else makes catsup.

You and me both. I have about two weeks left…

Lmao. I was too skeptical to accept this at first, so I double-checked both the math and the date.

Incredibly, everything checks out.

Hm, now I’m imagining OP’s parents having lived so long due to being the first vampires. They saw others drinking milk and thought, “Wait, so we’re all cool with draining and consuming fluids from others’ bodies?”

I wouldn’t date anyone who has an issue with women having a sexual history, so that’s an easy “no.”

Aw, actually I did have pet cockatiels as a teen. (Sadly, not for long - my parents didn’t know how dangerous Teflon was, and my babies paid the price.)

They didn’t care to be held like this, but boy did they love face scratchies.

Who knew that even birds could be fans of bondage

Funny, I expect all penguins to have that name.

Maybe it’s because it’s still night where I am, maybe it’s because I’m on the spectrum, but those blue lights feel like an assault on my senses. I had to scroll it off my screen to type this because it made my eyes hurt. I can’t imagine having to deal with that every time I have to pee in public.

I also can’t help but wonder where people go to do their makeup. I don’t use makeup, but I often see others using the mirrors to touch up this or that. I can’t imagine blue lights are helpful in that regard.

I work from home 10-20 hours a day.

That’s fair. Drinking at one’s workplace is usually frowned upon.

Interesting, I think of the lyrics as describing the way a baby or toddler feels when looking at the stars. They don’t know what those bright lights are yet, they just know they’re shiny and too high up to reach.

This is the way. To cycle through several times may take years, but over time all the bits of practice add up. Until one day, you look at what you’ve created, and realize that you’ve actually gotten quite skilled.

When I started using a camera as a teen, I didn’t let people call me a “photographer.” I was just “a person who likes taking pictures.” To me, being a “photographer” implied possessing skills and purpose beyond what I’d had.

A few years later, I came across some blog about various artistic principles, including ratios and framing. I went back through some of my favorite shots and was surprised to realize they already followed those rules. Apparently, over the years, I’d picked up a bunch of photography skills that people take classes to learn. It just took tons of practice and experimentation, which I returned to in cycles.

Haha, this is what I say, too! “My hobby is collecting new hobbies.” There are supplies for no fewer than five types of crafts on my living room table right now. (Also water bottles, several video game controllers, a solved Rubik’s cube, my medications, and some cannabis paraphernalia.)

If all the yeast in our bodies’ microbiomes could coordinate together to take us over, we’d be so screwed.

I’m in the same boat - my work uses chromebooks.

I got frustrated earlier this week, trying to remove AI suggestions from Google on my work account. It’s set up in such a way that I can’t opt out. Search for ways to remove AI from your results, and all the tutorials say to “Click the lab button” to disable AI.

I looked on my Google page - there is no “lab” button.

I looked up trouble-shooting for “no lab button,” and attempted to follow a direct link to the controls it’s supposed to provide.

Apparently, since my account is managed by a company, I don’t have access to permissions… including the permission to remove AI results. Fuck.

Long story short, although I really wanted to throw my work laptop into a fire, I instead decided to change my default search engine to DuckDuckGo.

I can’t escape the Google environment entirely, but at least I can still use a search engine that lets me opt out of automatically generating AI crap.

Wait, what? Where’d you hear that from? I’m on .world and my home internet is hard wired to a VPN. I’ve never had a problem.