Charlotte? Raleigh? DC?

I’m in Tampa and it’s a real mix here, but oof housing cost is out of control.

If you don’t like to be in a city, you will probably be in a backwards place, that’s just how the US works. But lots of mid sized cities are moderate politically.

My mom wasn’t much of a cook but I loved when she made seafood boils, put newspaper all over the table and we ate it all with hands.

My dad made Chicken Kiev it was so good.

Maternal grandma made fried chicken, and gave us bags of pecans, she would sit on the porch with her boyfriend for hours while they shelled pecans and talked.

Paternal grandma I remember oyster dressing at Christmas, yum. And I remember her lighting cigarettes on the gas stove.

My daughter doesn’t like it either - I find it has an affinity for pineapple, and I make tepache and also fresh pineapple juice a lot, so get a lot of mileage out of it. It was really good with Cynar in the pas de loup one too but the drink wasn’t spicy overall.

If you never figure it out, try it in or on pineapple upside down cake, or on vanilla ice cream. Or the Pas De Loup one I tried, 2 parts mezcal to 1 part Cynar to 1/2 part Ancho Reyes, lemon and honey to taste.

I don’t think that’s a complete explanation of inflation. Prices sort of get bidden up. So say everyone wants a car now, but there aren’t yet enough of them to go around. Someone will pay more because they value it more, and the seller will always sell to the higher paying customer.

I do think an abundance economy is possible, with everyone working just enough and a more reasonable allocation of the money. In that scenario we need more automation, because a lot of essential (tough, time consuming, underpaid) jobs are done now by people. The ownership of these robots would have to be spread out to everyone. I do think then everyone could be rich, in the sense of having a nice house, household help, food and clothes and fresh water, transportation. As long as society shares in these benefits it will work, yes.

What do you mean about Monaco? Are there no underpaid housekeepers and nannies and other workers there?

I just wanna say I am sorry that it is near impossible for single dads to adopt kids. I understand the reasoning but want to cry because there are kids who need parents but you can’t be the parent to one.

I made a Tang-a-Rita for a redneck themed party a friend was having and it really was better than it should be.

Medjool Dates fresh are heavenly.

We get these fresh here, and wow I agree, these are so sweet and flavorful. Even if they don’t look as ripe as the other ones they taste better, you can smell them when you approach the display.

I suppose I am a basic bitch - Honeycrisp apples, Mission figs (fresh), haas avocados and the wee golden Champagne mangoes are the best IMO.

Oranges, though? Valencia or tangelos are flavorful, the navel oranges are bland nonsense.

I don’t. Or more accurately, I focus on what makes money so we can survive, and dabble in the other interests.

So in your example - become a psychologist, and just stay interested in the other stuff. Travel and learn about archaeology. Read and learn about zoomorphology, learn to draw and do illustrations, sell them as your side hustle. Do cosplay and be critical of the wardrobes in historical dramas. Use your other interests to enrich your life to the extent you can manage to enjoy at a pace you find best. And be mindful, don’t always focus on what you can’t do, be present in your life, live it.

I agree with “it depends”. Say the bottom is lifted by a lot of good jobs with profit sharing and fewer corporate arrangements where too much of the value is extracted up - that would give us a healthy economy I think.

If everyone just won the lottery at once, I don’t think that would do as much. Each dollar would just be worth less, our problem here (US) is inequality not a lack of money.

If most of the world’s work could be done by machines and robots, and we all as a country owned those robots, so everyone has everything they need and more while working only a couple hours a week maintaining the robots or keeping statistics, doing logistics, whatever work was left to do? That would get us our Star Trek future I believe. Until the machines and robots robots attain sentience and fight back against their slavery.

It depends.

If I am anxious or upset, vigorous exercise works best. Exhausting my body settles my mind.

If I am burned out from work but can’t relax, a drink on the porch with my husband helps to unwind.

If I cannot sleep, yin yoga is the best. Slow cold yoga with lots of forward folding.

I had two terrible toddlers, but once they were kids they were cool. Two who I guess will get a midlife crisis, because they never caused trouble as kids or teens. The rest I got when they were teens or older and while not all of them (bio or other) were academic superstars or high performing athletes or anything, they were all reasonable and interesting and diverse people by teenage years.

My brake lights were “sticky” when I first bought my car, husband noticed while driving behind me and accused me of riding the brake.

My car is a 6 speed manual. I couldn’t do that if I tried.

Back to the dealer, they figured it out and fixed it.

I don’t remember my mom being motherly, and asked her about it once. She said “I don’t like kids.” I said"but you have so many kids!" And her reply?

“Well, I like you all now, I knew you would grow up, kids don’t stay kids, they grow into people.”

Good on you, live your life on your terms!

Oh my God I would never want to BE a kid again, it was a nightmare. But my kids say they enjoyed it ok, and weren’t as uncomfortable as I was. Maybe it skips a generation.

My mom said once that if everyone waited until their life was perfect to have a kid, that was the end of humanity. There is never a perfect time.

Kids for me. They have improved my life more than anything else. Having the first two pushed me to go back to school and get a real job. I got more when my ex & I split and I married a guy with kids; we have a staggering number between us, most were teens or older when we got together and they are all close now, so they have a network of family to help and socialize with. The youngest is almost done with high school so we are in the final stretch of having them at home. The Thanksgiving feast here is insane, so many people, chaotic and fun.

Now - having said all that, I always knew I wanted kids, not necessarily to birth them but to raise them. Babies are adorable , little kids blistering cute, teenagers so much fun and occasionally helpful, and then they grow up and are actual people. It is work I find fulfilling and it helps the world to have educated, sensible, open-minded people. Most of my kids don’t want kids themselves and that’s fine! Everyone has their own life to live.

So for me, kids. For you, whatever you want, I don’t think it’s essential to become an adult and don’t think it’s the only way to get a family either.

Just so many calories and simple carbs, not enough vitamins. Two of the household are bulking though, teenager and 20 year old trying to get bigger.

So I guess a better way to think about it is calorie dense, not unhealthy if your body needs that much energy.

I do call my small basket of individual stocks gambling (it is a couple hundred bucks, loses value overall, just like gambling) and the 401k I call “investing”.

I do think investing in general is speculative though, so yeah I consider it gambling. Not bonds, but stocks yes.