There was even a pig that got convicted in, like, 1700s France or something.

Freshman year of college, my friends group had to explain how stuff works to a member. She’d just gotten her first boyfriend and really needed The Talk.

My mom handled things by just leaving out a copy of “What’s Happening to My Body?”, but then again, I was a very bookish child.

My shoulder critic is my mom. I’m working on evicting her from my brain, but yeah. It’s a thing.

Depends. My feet are too small to keep me secure in my partner’s inversion table, which tightens around the ankles. So, if the ankle monitor is similarly unable to go small enough, I’d expect a similar problem.

On the other hand, I’ve worn ankle bracelets just fine. But an ankle monitor might be less flexible/able to tighten into the curves of the ankle.

My current theory is he doesn’t experience pleasure or closeness from sex and doesn’t have the emotional capacity to understand that others might. Maybe he thinks others are making up/exaggerating the non-reproductive benefits they receive from sex?

This is not the representation we asexuals need.

Just because sex is boring AF to me doesn’t mean others can’t enjoy it. I have hobbies y’all might not enjoy. Let people enjoy stuff!

It’s from Encanto

Yep. Heard a coworker vomiting her guts out in the accessible stall and I asked if she needed help. Turns out she was just having morning sickness.

My aunts’ grandparents came from Poland. Their parents spoke Polish in the house. They were raised with a whole close-knit gaggle of cousins, also with Polish grandparents and parents. The old country wasn’t that long ago for them. They’ve visited.

Me, eh. My dad married someone from Appalachia and I grew up away from his family. I haven’t heard Polish spoken outside of my great-grandaunt’a funeral. I like pierogi, kielbasa, and sauerkraut because they remind me of my dad. He’d cook them when he was feeling nostalgic.

I have looked into claiming Polish citizenship through descent (mostly because an EU passport would be comforting what with USA politics), but my folks came over too early for that.

Tldr: thinking out loud about my relationship with Poland in a way that might be a cognate to how others feel about Ireland

Yeah, we Americans have an odd relationship with the countries our ancestors come from. My dad’s grandparents were all from the region now known as Poland. He was always fond of Polish foods, I think because that’s what he grew up with. His niece wore a borrowed traditional Polish dress for her confirmation. My aunts knit and are into Polish patterns. Lots of Polish love on that side of the family.

My mom’s family has been in Appalachia since the 1800s. That side brings in Hatfield and McCoy blood and carries on those traditions by being a disfunctional mess. I don’t associate with that side.

Given the choice, it feels better to lean into Polish stuff. Pierogi and cabbage+anything is a comfort food. Makes me feel closer to my dad. So, for me, it’s not about the country Poland. It’s about distancing myself from my asshole mom’s family and embracing my dad’s relatives.

I moved over to Podcast Addict from BeyondPod. I’m pretty happy here.

I did like working in an open office back in a previous career. I did QA and was integrated with a team of devs. It was lovely to turn to the person whose code I was testing and ask for clarification on a behavior. There really was a lot of teamwork facilitated by the lack of privacy.

The office had small rooms with doors where you could make phone calls without distracting everyone.

I

Nah, I just forgot about it for 4 years until I got the “accepted” email. And it was 1 line. 1 character, even.

On another project, my 4-year-old readme update was finally approved this month. Timely.

My current assessment is that having a gun in the house would increase the risk of a household member’s suicidal ideation turning into suicide. That risk is higher than projected benefit of being able to shoot a threat in the face.

I grew up with guns. I’ve enjoyed shooting guns. I should not have a gun in the house…

I am team “know your neighbors and have a disaster readiness kit”. My neighbors are great. We help each other.

They can also force transgender people in institutional settings (prison, college, military, etc) to be housed with the wrong gender. That can be dangerous.

They’re clearly “supposed to” do both. They are both male and female. It’s a sort of super power. /s

Flashback to riding the bus home from middle school in Kentucky when my slightly older friend confessed that she’d been raped by a cousin but she was still a virgin because it’d been anal.

I didn’t think I gave particularly good advice on that topic in 7th grade.

I’ve been to venues in New England where the formerly gendered restrooms are unisexed with just signs–something along the lines is “unisex with urinals” and “unisex without urinals”. Sometimes the change is just for an event, sometimes it’s more permanent. It just works.

For me, I’m in a condo that we bought with a 15-year mortgage during the pandemic. My mortgage (including escrow/taxes and insurance) plus HOA fees is about $2100/month. My old apartment (including monthly pet fee) was more than that when I lived there. It’s currently listed for $2500/month (big complex, not necessarily my unit).

I promise all y’all I’m not spending $400/month on homeowner-specific costs. And, I could reduce my monthly cost by moving to a 30-year mortgage instead of a 15-year mortgage.

Edit: looked up my old apartment again. Holy shit, it’s listed for $2750, which doesn’t include a pet fee.