My cat would respond when my wife or I sneezed. Anthropomorphically, it was similar to how we blessed him when he sneezed. We adopted another cat who does the same when one of us coughs.

You may have more in common with people from the south than you realize. I live in WNC where plenty of people use that word regularly. Folks in the mountains have widely varying knowledge bases and depth that they often don’t reveal right away. It might seem out of place in Southern California, but you may be shutting yourself off to the possibility that someone could surprise you and offer insight from a perspective you hadn’t considered.

Interesting litmus. Thanks for explaining. I hope it continues to serve you well.

What do you feel like it tells you about them?

Right, it was more of a metaphor between the Fed and Apple

As an American, makes me think of real dollars backed by silver and gold and then everything else that’s been printed and printed and printed (and printed) since the 70’s. Same manufacturer.

Shemomedjamo - Georgian word meaning to eat past the point of fullness because it tastes so good or as I heard it, “I accidentally ate the whole thing.”

Love my 2nd gen Toyota. Runs well. Needs just basic maintenance. It can hold it’s own in any “Made in Murica” pissing contest. And the only annoying thing is the TPMS sensor light, if you could even call that annoying. It’s manual, 4wd, doesn’t record me, no backtalk. As loyal as a truck can be.

I’ve tried so many things throughout my life. Getting yourself to stop is going to be a personal thing. The last thing I tried that succeeded was taking a job out of town where I worked 12-16 hour days. It was manual skilled labor. I was working with my hands, they were often dirty, and frankly, there wasn’t much downtime to find myself chewing my nails. This attempt to stop just happened to finally work for me. It’s been almost four years. Keep at it, you can do it!

Biting my nails.

I started at about two years old and chewed them to the quick for over 35 years.

Careful with pressies

I’m over 40, have ADD, have extensive experience, and am grieving two close friends who died of fent in their coke in the last few weeks. You’ll likely conclude the same thing I did, that it’s way overpriced and you need a whole lot more to get the dopamine dump that makes it worthwhile.

You asked, I answered. Knock yourself out (but please, test your shit. Fent strips are cheap and often free. Check with dancesafe.org or others for best practices on testing. I’m not worrying about you, but I’m sure you have people in your lives that love you dearly, and I hope they never go through what I’m going through right now.)

Because of that? It’d be a lot cheaper and much much safer to get a prescription for ADHD medication. You’re not missing anything.

Have they tried holding down the handle until it’s done flushing?

I use it too. Tried a few different ones and like boost the best. I finally just paid for the non-ad tier. One time cost of 3.99. I would have been turned off by a subscription.

That’s fair. I think we agree that it’s important to emphasize proficiency and responsibility. It needs to be explicit. Otherwise, it just plays into media extremism.

I won’t rule out your point. It’s good to be pragmatic. But I do know that fear isn’t a good leader. I’ll continue with my therapy. It does help. I recommend it to everyone.

I thought the same thing at first lol. Like, woah woah woah.

This is a more compassionate approach. The idea of all or nothing puts a lot of pressure on someone when they’re trying to change. The flip side is that many people can’t moderate and any amount of substance can make them spiral, but start with something that helps them feel the encouragement of others even if they falter from their goals.

The path to sobriety isn’t cut and dry, and this approach will help reduce the shame that’s often felt along the way. Shame can lead people right back into the same patterns that got them where they are. The dehumanizing stigmas don’t go unseen by the people they’re applied to. Those stigmas become internalized and self deprecating in a very hurtful way. We’re our own worst enemies.

Hey, hey. This comes from a place of fear and that’s okay, but recognize it for what it is. Buying guns in fear is what gets people hurt. If you choose to buy a gun for the first time, take proficiency courses. Learn the legal responsibilities that come with it. If you’re genuinely concerned, protect yourself in a responsible way. That may or may not be with a firearm. There are many ways to protect yourself. Take martial arts classes for instance.

This may seem like a wild suggestion, but try therapy. It did wonders for my anxiety. Seriously. I don’t worry as much. I don’t live in fear. I have friends ALL across the political spectrum. We get along fine. We treat each other with love and respect. The news and media drums up fear and excitement for attention. It’s what sells ads.

No life is without pain. We may have fundamental differences in how we view inhumanity, and while I’m sure neither of us want anything to suffer, it’s the end of life that we may disagree. Death doesn’t have to be inhumane or painful though.

That’s 2-3x longer than cows raised for meat from what I understand. That may sound inhumane either way depending on your perspective, but doesn’t mean that they’re treated poorly while alive.