Oddly enough, the fast food Greek place here (not a chain) gets the closest to what I had in England.

I have an electric bike for short trips but do enjoy driving my 6 speed car, and it’s 12 years old, paid off for 7 of those years. I cannot imagine it’s better to get another car and get rid of mine.

Can’t imagine I am unusual. It’s just a really big fleet and will take time to change.

And yeah this is probably my last but I will miss the vroom vroom and shifting the car myself.

Huh. I’m a straight lady but feel the opposite - as I get older I really wish I was bi, women around here hold up so much better than men.

Exactly, but the guy couldn’t even see him.

My brother had a funny story about this. His friend worked in IT and was doing one of those system things that take all day and take the system down. He wasn’t supposed to let anyone in the building during this. So an executive comes to the door, his key card doesn’t work, he buzzes the bell. The guy inside answers, and says he can’t let anyone in. Exec says “Do you know who I am?” and the employee responds with a tentative “well, do you know who I am?”

“No”

“Ok, I can’t let you in.”

Wow, New Orleans? I love that city.

Downtown Clearwater FL has been pretty much taken over by Scientologists and is quite creepy now.

We got a new kitten, so there have been some good days lately.

Work days, a good day is a leisurely morning (yes today) and getting out in time for yoga (not today) and having a nice light supper (yes today).

Days off, all sorts of ways to have a good day. Read a book, bake bread, draw, lots of sex, go to the beach, sit on the couch and listen to music, go see live music, see a movie, just sit in the outdoors and drink, so many different things can make a good day.

No offense all defense. In the subtropics so the sun is very direct. Mineral sunblock always. Hat or umbrella when walking. Light linen jacket to cover my arms. I don’t usually use sunglasses but my regular glasses have UV protection.

Yes, it’s Tik Tok. And it’s music older than I am sometimes. But mine listen to everything, like I do. I took the youngest to see Inhaler and also to see Young the Giant. Taking my husband to see Cannons, and also got him into country music, he used to hate it but if you turn off the commercial radio and just find the good stuff it is still being made.

The 2 bands both my older set of kids (millennials) and my younger set (GenZ) wanted to see when they were middle school age were Panic at the Disco and the My Chemical Romance, I always thought that was funny. Like it’s middle schooler music, I think I would have loved it too.

This Twonks two panel is probably the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. Anyone I show it to cracks up. He is a genius.

The fuck? Fontaines DC, Tyler Childers, Janelle Monae, Leon Bridges, I have never stopped finding new music I love. This graph makes no sense. Modern music is so good. Old music is so good. I do not have a preference for any particular time period when it comes to enjoying music.

You and me both. I think nostalgia is misplaced. People get stuck, and stay in the past. Like sure, old music is fantastic because only what is good gets remembered but there is so much good new music too.

I’d never want to go back.

I think I believe this too. I have birthed 4 kids. 2 tech wizards, one average, and one who the computer hates. They just don’t work for her like they do for me & the average kid. I think the difference between average and the tech girls is interest and effort, but the difference between average and the one who has bad luck with them does not seem to be explainable in the same way. And it’s not a creative/logical split either.

Mind and body are very tightly bound (that is how placebo works) I don’t think you are wrong to be wary of speaking disease into existence. The only sinus infection I have ever had, came after reading a particularly vivid and detailed article about how they start. Like my body was following along.

I do give my work computer enrichment activities to keep it happy. Listen to music so that it can have music, browse occasionally so it doesn’t have only work to work on. I get far fewer problems than my teammates do, so it seems to work even though it’s superstitious nonsense.

Why would Arabic be more difficult to learn than Hebrew or Russian or Polish? They mean reading and writing it, not speaking? Even so it doesn’t seem worse than Russian or Hebrew.

This happens sometimes. We have wildly successful parties sometimes, and other times it’s just a couple of people and way too much food.

I don’t complain because I also don’t often attend other people’s gatherings.

But yes we need to get back into the habit of visiting and entertaining, it’s good for people. And it’s good of you to offer hospitality even if nobody showed.

Yes. Cats here should be indoor cats. Even in the city there are raccoons, coyotes, alligators, dogs in people’s yards, and CARS. I let them out briefly and supervised, sometimes, to catch a lizard if they are watching them out the window. Or as others say, occasionally on a harness to wander the garden, and eat a little grass.

Obviously that’s not always possible, there are feral outdoor cats that sometimes show up, the city has a spay/neuter and release program for those.

I mean, that is gardening though. I can’t baby things (well, except the jaboticaba I’m trying to bonsai), I just plant things and figure out what works. Winners stay and eventually you get a garden.

Okra and watermelon love the heat here, and the trees do fine. Most food plants I grow in winter though. Well from October through April.

It’s hard to say without knowing the first name, go with what sounds good together. Or use your first name as your last name. Olivia Olivia or Esther Esther.

WHAT?

Just kidding.

There’s a range of actual volume, my boss I cannot hear half the time because he is quiet but a couple of coworkers have voices that really carry, it’s not exactly volume or not just volume, it’s throw.

Talkative we are, overall. Not everyone of course, but there is a lot of talking.

And pushy and curious we are, overall, too. I think that can read as loud too.