Great tip! Thank you for sharing!

Interesting, what did you use them for?

I don’t want to set the world on fiiiire.

I had no idea he was paid by the word! It’s been making me feel better that I’m not the only one who struggled.

This book was such an interesting combination between a chore and a joy to read. I remember audibly gasping at some of the twists, but the antiquity of the language made it a slow go, at least for me.

Crazy to think it might be based on a true story.

Delicious sparks of human connection! Thank you for sharing.

I time block tasks into my calendar for this reason.

You never had a stranger hit you with something personal out of the blue? It happens to me routinely. Yesterday I learned that a cashier at the gas station is tired because she moved a few months back and hasn’t finished unpacking but was looking forward to the birthday party her husband was throwing her next week.

Last month I learned a lady had had to move far from her friends and family and hadn’t seen her granddaughter in years, but hadn’t told anyone because she doesn’t have any friends here.

I just ask questions out of genuine curiosity. Sometimes (probably most of the time, tbh) I get surface level answers, but sometimes people need to talk to someone and I’ve been told that I “have one of those faces” that makes it easy to open up. Just because you would feel you are over sharing, and maybe culturally where you are these interactions wouldn’t happen, doesn’t mean they don’t happen or that they can’t.

Most honorable? Just tell them you made a stupid mistake. You don’t need to share the details. Will they talk? Sure. But you don’t need to share if you don’t want to.

Least shameful? You were mistaken for someone else who made a stupid mistake and didn’t have your ID on you. They let you go when they realized you weren’t who they thought.

Fun fact, if you’re a visible minority people will ask you the same question in English speaking countries!

Reading is allowing someone’s thoughts directly into your brain. You’re letting me transmit my thoughts to you right now.

You’re not alone. I had a hard time taking my inhalers daily once my benefits started covering them, because they were so expensive I used to ration them for when I really “needed” it.

I’ve been dying to take a vacation for years, but we carry some debt on our line of credit from a renovation we did summer before last, and my husband is so anti-debt from how his parents struggled that we gotta get that to 0 before he’ll be comfortable spending on a vacation, even though realistically we are financially ok.

Crazy, I’ve only ever met one iron scrap sculptor and she’s a woman.

Bleak take. I thought it was about gratitude and reframing.

In Canada, a goalie’s hockey stick.

This is so interesting to me. I had a theory that a lot of the free birth movement stemmed from the financial barriers to medically supported birth in the US, and wanting to reclaim some kind of control. If it’s their choice to not seek medical care it’s empowering- if they can’t afford it, they are disenfranchised. In a nation of “temporarily embarrassed millionaires” nobody wants to admit they are too poor for healthcare. Being able to curate an image on social media of how this is the “better” option- even if they convince themselves to genuinely believe it!- let’s them keep self esteem.

Canada doesn’t have the same financial barriers but we are so steeped in American media that I’m not surprised it’s caught on here.

What I am surprised about is how are they making money??? What are you selling??

Sorry, it was a joke to show off a goofy-looking snake. I’m pretty sure their eyes are actually positioned like that because they are fossorial, I don’t think snakes rely on their eyesight much at all.

But the Arabian sand boa is well known to be the most predatory of snakes:

ETA: This is a joke. I don’t think there is a “most predatory snake” (though I guess you could argue that egg-eaters are least predatory?). I just like their goofy faces.

I fully understand the boundaries and limitations side. There are a lot of people who label themselves “not a cat person” or “not a pet person” and don’t interact with animals, based on this preconceived notion, and then are surprised when they enjoy it.

Not being able to take responsibility for another soul is reasonable.

Doesn’t sound like a good work environment anyway. That sucks, man.