I had beef last weekend in the form of my partner’s leftover canned Italian wedding soup. I think the prior time was a few months earlier when a takeout order was screwed up and my fish sandwich turned into a cheeseburger.

I try and avoid beef because of the environment and because of cute cow videos. But, if it would go to waste otherwise, I’ll go ahead and eat it.

Ten years ago I got caught by surprise bacon in frigging Pennsylvania. I’d done the “make a vegetarian meal out of sides” thing while visiting my parents.

The restaurant named all the cheeses in 5-cheese macaroni and cheese but didn’t mention that bacon was also mixed in. My mom parent-pressured me to not send it back and I ate it, suffering the gastrointestinal consequences later.

I do like my older Amazon Paperwhite, but I’m bookmarking this thread for when/if it no longer functions.

I’ve got it in airplane mode and don’t intend to reintroduce it to the Internet. I can load books from USB just fine and have no need for the Amazon ebook ecosystem.

Sometimes discoloration of water is just it being full of air. My HOA’s backup water well is like that. It’s been tested and is fine to drink, but it’s incredibly cloudy until it’s sat for a few minutes.

Also, if you’re on well water get it tested. Even if it was fine when you moved in, things change. Maybe the new farm down the road’s fertilizer is leaking in to the ground water. You won’t know unless someone tests.

The water at my office smells like chlorine. It’s dreadful. I wouldn’t even use it to make coffee, I fill up a nalgene at home and bring that in. My home water is well water and tastes a tad high iron, just the way I like it. (HOA regularly tests the water and it’s always within legal limits, yay.)

Sometimes social connections are hard to figure out, especially if you don’t have experience making connections or positive examples to follow.

I suggested visiting the local library and seeing if there’s any meetups. Do you have other suggestions?

I don’t know your insurance, location, or financial situation, so the following might be totally irrelevant.

If you have a primary care doctor/physician, they should be able to get you antidepressants. You don’t need a specialist. You might even be able to have a telehealth visit, instead of going in-person.

I hope things smooth out for you. BTW, my therapist says carbs are good for short-term stress. Ice cream and chocolates help.

Also, maybe look into if your local library has any meetups? Mine does a regular knitting/crochet circle (if you just show up, you’ll probably find friendly folks happy to teach you to make a dish cloth), book club, grown-up crafts a couple times a month. Might be good to get out of the house and meet some friendly faces.

Some/most electric toothbrushes have built-in timers to help you give each quarter of your mouth equal time, so you don’t rush. Some will vibrate in a different/angrier way if you brush too hard.

I’ve taught literal toddlers that my dog needs his alone time when he’s in his crate.

A 10 year old should be able to understand that sometimes people just don’t want to play/talk. Maybe wear headphones or some other very visible indicator that you’re not social right then?

True! Let’s encourage them to work towards goals that seem attainable and worthwhile.

Sometimes, just small changes can make a big difference to the individual. I used to take the elevator to my 5th-floor office. Now I take the stairs. The only conscious change to my routine was converting from carrying a bag/purse to carrying a backpack–I carry the same amount of stuff more comfortably, and so the stairs don’t seem daunting.

And “fit” doesn’t have to mean “able to run a marathon”. That might not be achievable for you. Even minor improvements can be big, though. For example, I have lower back pain. It sucks and I do not recommend it.

I’ve started physical therapy. It’s two 30-minute sessions a week, plus 10 minutes of homework stretches every day. My pain is much less than when I started.

I feel much more able to do things like long trips to the grocery store. Before, I’d sometimes have to beg off and lie down in the car and let my partner finish the trip.

Anyways, fitness. It’s good. YMMV, PT might not work for you, I am not a doctor.

Yes, but it was a slog. My summary:

the weather was dreadful, some high muckety muck is back from Michaelmas break. The scene is in London. All the people and critters in the street are covered in mud. The ground is slippery with mud (and probably horse crap, but we’re too polite to mention it). OMG the weather sucks, very wet and dreary. Everyone’s in a bad mood. Did I mention it’s wet and icky and muddy and the weather is bad?

Yeah. I had to carefully word my dad’s obituary to not gender me–I wasn’t out yet, but it would have added more pain to the event if I’d been misgendered in it. Luckily, I have a sibling, so I able to rework the first draft from “survived by his son ___ and daughter ___” to be “survived by his children __ and __”.

Anyways, if I had a kid I think I’d just go by my name, or any nickname they came up with. I called my binary parents by their names so it doesn’t feel weird to me.

I think lots of libraries do that. It’s awesome! (Source: my last 3 libraries in New England did that.)

Be sure to return the pass on time, though. You might screw up someone else’s trip to the museum if you return it late :( (that’s also why they tend to have higher late fees)

Seriously. We don’t even know how old the poster is, just that their dad is 48.

I was 20 when my dad was 48. I was in college and was only ‘home’ over the summers and winter break (when the dorms closed). My brother was 15. I don’t think it’d be reasonable to tell either of us to move out just because the adults in our lives were a tad indiscrete.

Agreed. I wouldn’t interrupt their fun, but I’d mention it to my dad some time when the girlfriend wasn’t around. I’d send an email or text if I felt too embarrassed/shy to say anything face-to-face. “Hey, Dad. Just FYI the walls are really thin in this apartment and I can hear what you two get up to.”

I’d also look into earplugs. Earplugs + bone conductive headphones could be a good work around. I’m a fan of Shokz, but other brands exist.

My partner almost always has a shawl tied around his waist, like a sash or belt. For him it’s a comfort object that can convert to shield him from the sun or cold. For me it’s a warm thing I can borrow that smells like him.

Anyways, he’s genderqueer sometimes, if that helps. And no one’s ever given him guff about his shawls that I know of. (Edit: I guess he might be called genderfluid, but he’s not very into labels, but wouldn’t mind me labeling him to strangers he’ll never meet)

I don’t blame you for wanting to move. My partner and I are straight-passing, cis-passing, white folk in a blue state. We’re thinking of leaving the country. (Well, I am. My partner’s kind of like yours–not convinced we’re in danger.)

You’re much more visibly “other” than we are. One thought I’ve seen floated around is that options are good. If you can claim an international citizenship/passport (through, I dunno, Irish parents or something) it’s worth doing.

It reminds me of what’s often sold as a “pashmina” around me (USA), but it looks much wider along the tasseled edge than the pashminas I have.

I don’t know what my dad’s death certificate says, just that when the doctors removed him from the breathing machine he died. I blame Obamacare. /s

(And I haaaate when people ask me what “he really died of”. Like, seriously. Do they hear themselves?)