Fruit? Eeeeeewwwwwwww. Gross.

Um, what about your favorite food sweatie?

What’s wrong with his leg? I can’t quite tell from the 4 blurry pixels.

I recently lost my job due to the federal government cancelling contracts with my employer. I won’t claim that I’m going through Hell, but it’s far from unicorns and rainbows.

It’s definitely a lot to deal with emotionally all at once. I worry that I may not find a job that I genuinely enjoy as much as the one I lost. Even though I know it’s not strictly because of anything I did wrong, I struggle with the idea that I was considered unimportant and expendable. It also makes me feel like I’m not a reliable “breadwinner” for my family. Then there’s the little things, like the fact that I’m having to cut back on purchases that aren’t necessities, forgo expenditures that I was hoping to make, and things like that. On top of all that, I have a lot of guilt about feeling bad for myself knowing that a number of my former coworkers who were also let go are in a lot worse situations than me.

I’m able to be a bit optimistic about some things. For instance, I’m glad that the ACA (health insurance not tied to employment) is an option. The COBRA healthcare coverage option is ridiculously expensive, but most of the ACA options are notably less expensive and, at least on paper, seem to be better options (ex: lower copays, deductibles, max out of pocket) and there are tax credits you can take based on income that make it even less expensive. Another benefit is that being unemployed gives me more time with my family, more time with friends, and more time to catch up on all the little chores that need my attention.

But, at the end of the day, I will say that I’m strongly considering getting some psychiatric help and/or therapy. The only thing holding me back at this point is concerns over whether I can truly afford it. Sure I can spend $100USD per session for a therapist now, but in a few months, will the cost of those sessions make a difference between whether I have food on the table or not? It’s a gamble that I’m just not quite willing to risk right now.

If (isConservative(fuckwad) === true) then “totally okay” else “not okay at all, impeach, repeal, reject”;

I’m sorry, if you’re growing cherries, fucking expensive ass cherries, and can’t stay afloat without almost a half million dollars of welfare, then what the fuck are you even doing? I don’t fully agree with it, but I at least understand the importance of giving welfare to people growing crops we actually need, but frivolous shit like cherries? What a waste. If we’re paying almost a half million dollars in taxes to give you cherry welfare, those cherries better be free or close to it.

My father’s side of the family is super, duper, ultra hardcore “conservative” Trump-loving “Christian”.

They love, love, love to bring up politics at every conceivable opportunity. It’s one of those situations where I have loathed going for visits for decades and sometimes even making the obligate check-in calls plays heck on my “nerves”.

But in the past few years when the conversation turns political, I’ve started hearing big shifts in tone when it comes to opinions on the ultra wealthy in the USA. The last time I was at a family gathering around the holidays, they were berating the Luigi situation and talking about how disgusting it was that anybody would do that, let alone condone it.

That conversation literally did a 180 once I pointed out how it was interesting that the school shooting that happened that same day (or maybe it was a day or two before/after) had received a fraction of the coverage. And it was interesting how murders of people who aren’t rich don’t get that kind of coverage. Basically, when people like you and me get killed for whatever reason, you don’t hear about it. But a rich person is shot and suddenly it’s national news and top billed news for weeks. Wonder why that is?

And those conservative “I hate liberals and liberals should be shot” relatives of mine were in complete agreement.

So, whether you think it sucks or not, you need to know that if you actually want change and actually want things to improve, you’re going to have to forgive and you’re going to have to find common ground with people that you otherwise disagree with on a fundamental level. Fuck you if you say otherwise, you are wrong. And I don’t say that lightly.

Why can’t they just make one universal standard format and then just stick to that in all systems rather than have 400 million random different incompatible file systems running around? Wouldn’t 400 million and 1 be better?

I’m just a dumb normie, but it looks pretty clear to me that this is the goal. And even if it’s not purely the goal, it’s certainly the completely expected and predicted outcome of this chaos.

He’s got some things going for him. Male. Presumably heterosexual. Caucasian. Old (but perhaps not quite old enough). I say go for it.