ℕ𝕖𝕞𝕠

I had this conversation with my boss a couple months ago, and it turns out the only change I needed to make was eating and caffeinating before commuting. I was being grumpy and gruff in that period before we opened to the public when my only interaction was with my coworkers, and it was mostly because I was waiting to get to work to eat and drink my morning tea.

When I was homeless I slept the kind of places homeless people sleep: Libraries, park benches, unused buildings, moving busses, the subway.

When I was in the Scouts I slept the kind of places adventurous campers sleep: an igloo I helped build, on top of and under picnic tables, brush lean-tos, under the stars on a mountaintop. The weirdest was probably one time the weather turned dangerous during a jamboree and we all decamped to the nearest YMCA and I slept on the hallway floor with a towel over my face because we couldn’t turn the lights off.

There was also the time I got locked out and could wake my wife up by phone or banging or yelling. It was one in the morning the closest night if the year so I hopped the last train downtown and crashed in the break room at work on a massage chair.

OP’s question was a out whether I would encouragey child to do whatever they want, lneing I could remove any criminal consequences. I would not so encourage them. Grind your axe elsewhere.

I’ve crossed a six lane highway on foot twice this year. That had little to do with my suggestion to consider cycling if OP lives in a denser area.

Your suggestions on reducing car costs are good ones and I’m upvoting your comment because of them. But chill out, dude. We’re here to offer OP advice, not take potshots at each other.

I think you misread my comment. I described why I would not pardon him.

Why not? Because I want my kids to lead lives of virtue and respectability.

Do you drive? If you live, work, and buy groceries within five miles distance, consider ditching your car and cycling instead. If you’re nervous about how feasible this is, you can save on gas by keeping the car while you get used to riding. But the full savings come when you’re not paying for insurance, parking, and maintenance of the vehicle.

A bunch of e-books and all the SNES roms I can grab.

“This is an outrage! I was going to eat that mummy!”

pack my ashes into a cannonball and shot me over Lake Michigan

one week

The Economist

Dwarf Fortress, followed by Doki Doki Literature Club

Everyone talks to everyone. I don’t need a viper at my back.

It’s more that we’d enjoy it more if everyone put theirs away, but since we can’t ensure coöperation there’s no reason not to also defect.

So you’re also struggling with the apathy part, huh? For me, waiting tables, I just don’t think of the guests as fully human. They come in hungry and I make sure they leave happy. Giving them a sense of assurance is a part of that, but as soon as they’re out the door they cease to exist.

As to resentment, you shouldn’t be resentful of something you choose to do, or to put it another way, you shouldn’t choose things to do that harm your own well-being.

I like twizzlers

Okay, so you take a blueberry bagel and slice it and gently toast it. A little Japanese kewpie mayo, a good amount of Polish beer mustard, mix 'em together and spread on both pieces. Layer thin sliced Black Forest ham, then slices of one-year aged white cheddar. Dill pickles next but pickled red onions work in a pinch. Then a heaping handful of greens, spring mix by preference. Slap the top half of the bagel on and enjoy.

I would hate to receive such a text and am too conscientious to send one.

You don’t want a poker face! You want to be very expressive. But voice is even more important. Pitch voice soft and a little low, and always decreasing at the end of a sentence, the opposite of asking a question. Like a kind parent talking to a tired toddler or particularly stupid dog.

You’re trying to slip information into the person at a subconscious level, and the information you want to slip in is that you, the speaker, are trustworthy and will take care of them. It’s much easier to do this than to actually figure out and fix whatever bullshit problem they’ve created for themselves.

Note that this is not effective on people you see everyday, as they will eventually realize you didn’t do anything to actually help them. But for one-offs, work associates-of-associates, clients you’re not the sole contact for, and the more distant sort of relative, it works pretty well.