Yes, you’re right, my mistake!

I was a little lost until the iPod and the t9 showed up, then it was almost scary how normal it all felt. I didn’t even realize I still remembered t9 but I didn’t even have to think.

Poor Capone was born in the wrong time. He’d have been considered a hero and a good politician today apparently.

Amen. You’ll never hear me whining about that. Anyone desperate enough to risk their life to cross the border has to be escaping hell. I used to live in an area with a lot of immigrants and some refugees and my job put me in contact with them frequently and I never saw any reason to have a problem with any of them. Despite what the media says, they were no worse than any other person, and a lot of them were good people who were clearly doing their best.

I’ve said this before, but my abusive mother once told me that I wasn’t a human and had no rights beyond what she allowed me until I became an adult and moved out of her house. They truly don’t consider their children people. They also consider themselves wonderful parents who are victims when those children grow up and cut all contact with them.

I think all of what you said, except maybe add a side of martyrdom on top of it. I’ve been saying since the last election, it’s not Trump himself they need, he’s only the figurehead to stir shit up. Get rid of him when he’s outlived his usefulness and do it in a way that sets up someone who’s liberal, brown, trans, gay, illegally in the country, or your choice of combination, and his followers will happily start a war and fight to the death to “avenge” him. Allow chaos to reign for awhile, then come in heavy handed to re-establish order and there go the rest of our freedoms “for the good and safety of everyone until things settle down”.

I’d love to leave. I desperately want to. But I have no marketable skills (too broke to attend college out of high school, am trying now but still have 2 1/2 years to go, so too long), I’m terrifyingly broke, have a weird-ass employment history from years of undiagnosed mental illness and just recently diagnosed ADHD, and I never learned a second language because shitty education and I don’t pick up languages well from those programs that claim to teach you. If I could go, I’ve have gone already, but nowhere worth going wants me and I get it. I know I’m a loser. I’m stuck on this ship while the cool kids are leaving in the life boats. And yes, I vote, but what does it matter?

Last election I got to vote for “grab 'em by the pussy” or “black kids are just as good as rich kids” (or something similar. I can’t remember the quote exactly and I don’t have time to look it up).

This election I get to vote for genocide or genocide. I can’t wait.

Edit: I’ll take Biden over Trump any day. Trump terrifies me. I’m terrified of how many Americans are going to die if he wins. But I hate that these are our options.

I missed that update! This is great news!

I’m in the (gradual) process of switching all my stuff from Gmail and Google to Proton mail. I really like the mail client and Proton Drive works better on my computers than Google Drive did, but Proton Drive doesn’t back up my phone yet and I wish they had an office suite like Google does. I don’t put anything important or private on Google docs, but it’s useful to be able to access my textbook notes from any of my computers. I haven’t used the password manager because I’m using Bitwarden, which I really like.

I would love to consider getting an electric car whenever I can afford a new(er) vehicle. But there’s no way my landlord will let me run an extension cord from my 3rd story apartment around the building and around the pond between my building and the parking lot. It’s sad that an EV would be so great, but its really a mark of privilege to own both in initial affordability and just having the place to park and charge one. Not that it matters, I can’t afford anything other than my 24 year old Honda.

My very conservative mother (who I no longer speak to) once got mad at Amazon, as in Amazon.com the capitalist empire, and said that they were “the most communist thing ever.” Communists are whoever makes you mad or whoever the alt right media claims they are. Or something like that.

When I worked EMS I did 7 days/80 hours/7 days off. A lot of people hated it but I loved it. Worked 80 hours (plus some for OT getting held over for calls) in 7 days, then had the next 7 days off. Rotated every 2 weeks. By the 7th day I’d be tired and ready to be done, but it really wasn’t too terrible. I worked 2 8 hour shifts, 4 12 hour shifts, and finished with a 16 hour shift. Usually picked up 2-10 hours of OT on average every rotation from getting dispatched out on 911 calls at the end of the day before relief showed up, which always was an annoying end to the day, or from taking early 911 calls for the previous shift if I was there early so that they didn’t have to stay over. I also got 160 hours combined PTO/sick to start, so every year I’d burn 80 of those hours on a 7 day rotation and end up with a 3 week chunk of time away from work. Heaven for an American wage slave like myself.