(I lived.)

Phew Thank you for that closure.

To any prospective and new parents stumbling onto this thread: Turn back. NOW.

This thread will give you nightmare fuel. You have been warned.

I accidentally slammed my picky toe into a corner once and I’m pretty sure I broke it. But I was scared to tell my parents, so I just wore socks around the house until it healed.

I don’t think it healed properly either. If I feel the edges of my picky toes, I can feel a difference between my right and left. Using standard anatomical terms of location for clarity, the toe that got injured has a pointier joint on the medial edge, with the distal bone of the pinky turning slightly more laterally than the uninjured toe bone does. It doesn’t hurt today and doesn’t cause me any issues, as far as I can tell.

It still sucks that I’m not the only one who felt the need to hide an injury as a child.

Oof, this happened when my family went tubing down the Delaware River. It was the first time in my life that I was grateful women’s bathing suits include a top, as I got burnt horribly, but I didn’t end up with as much burn as the guys in my party all did. My poor, Canadian boyfriend looked like a tomato at the end.

I know you don’t want to hear “it depends,” but there is no one rule that would cover all art. Some art is made to communicate specific ideas. Some art is made simply out of self-expression, without intent for any particular audience. Both are valid.

If I doodle in my notebook, it’s for the artist (me.) However, I also draw and paint to communicate specific emotions. I made a painting while listening to “September” by Earth, Wind and Fire, with the intent to capture the energy and joy the song sends through me. I don’t expect anyone to immediately connect the image with the specific song, but since it’s a lively concert scene, my hope is that the emotion that inspired the art comes across to an audience.

Sometimes I’ll make something more abstract, intentionally left open to interpretation. I may have my own thoughts about such pieces, but ultimately I want the viewer to find their own meaning.

In reality, everything is up to the audience. There will always be people who interpret things in their own way, independent of the artist’s intentions. We can’t control what others will think, but learning to tolerate and/or accept people who “don’t get it” is a stage all artists have to go through. I’ve come to accept that there is no one perfect mode of communication, so if I intend to communicate something specific, it’s on me as the artist to put effort into making that message clear.

We use Chromebooks at my work (along with the whole Google suite), and we are bound by the rules of HIPAA. Without a way to opt out of this AI crap, I increasingly worry about what all of this means for our clients’ privacy. Especially with this administration, with RFK deadset on targeting people with disabilities.

The comments are ridiculous.

People: if ThE cOuNTry sUcks, wHy doN’T aMeRiCAns dO anYthiNG aBOut iT?

Also people: LoL siLLy aMeRiCAn, AcTiviSm doESn’T wOrk

We’re damned if we do, damned if we don’t. Keep fighting the good fight. You’ve got a good decade on me, but I see you and I’m right there with you. ✊

It would be nice if there were a year attached to this. Is this supposed to be based on the current day? Or was this map put together several years ago?

There should at least be a decade listed, as birth trends today aren’t going to be identical to trends from the recent past. For example, China only ended their “one child policy” in 2016. If this map were made before that, it might need an update by now.

I dunno, I still frequently hear the term “tin can” used to refer to aluminum cans.

Also, people looking for answers famously love being made to talk to a computer instead of an actual human. A full-on “uncanny valley” AI pretending to be the boss is sure to go over just as well.

I guess robotic phone trees that demand you speak, yet constantly misinterpret what you say, simply don’t hammer home the amount of contempt CEOs have for the rest of us. I’ve found that repeatedly hitting the zero key usually makes those calls transfer to a human, but somehow I doubt a CEO’s AI clone would give people that option.

Ask any Baby Boomer for career advice, and you’ll see how true this is. Who else was advised to “go straight to the boss” when applying for a job?

Double points if you were then directed to apply on a website.

Triple points if you told whoever offered you advice that you had to do the entire application process online, and they didn’t believe you.

I’m glad you had the foresight to keep yourself safe, but unfortunately not everybody is as observant or skilled in critical thinking as you are. We all started from ignorance, and no matter how well-learned a person is, they can’t possibly know everything. The least we can do is remind ourselves that we’re imperfect too, and have some compassion for those that are just discovering things that we have already learned.

I pay for an emby share personally.

I read this as “enby share” and thought, “Is that like a queer polyamorous social group? If so, I want in.”

(BTW I use emby share to pirate too, so no need to explain. My brain just expects the word “enby” first.)

I don’t know about that, I’ll be fine until someone with no comprehension of “right of way” nearly kills me. Those moments usually create a string of angry swears that would make a sailor proud.

I feel you. I have to keep reminding myself that a lot of my anxiety isn’t mine - it’s my mom’s. I just inherited the behaviors that she picked up, that in turn were created in reaction to my (long-gone) toxic grandfather’s abuse.

Generational trauma probably lurks behind all of us, deeprooted and insidious, propping up maladaptive behaviors that go unexamined simply because they are considered “normal” in our families.

My sapphic brain wasn’t tuned to understand that quote properly at first. Instead of seeing an insult, I thought, “Wow, that sounds like a busy, but amazing, morning.”

Oh god, it looks like it’s about to sing.

Did you date my former coworker? I used to use a chartreuse coathanger because it was the only one of that color, which made it easy for me to spot. One day, as I was putting my coat away, this coworker started talking as if we were already mid-way through an argument. “It’s so green. I don’t know why you said it’s yellow.” Huh? I had no idea what he was talking about at first. I asked if he meant my coathanger, and I responded that I didn’t know what color it was. (I didn’t know what “chartreuse” meant yet.) He ranted on, claiming we fought about it once before, even though this was the first time he’d even talked about my coathanger. It was bizarre.

I think that guy had something psychologically troubling going on. I’d also seen him: ask a question, make up an answer for that question, then immediately proceed to believe the answer he made up with 100% certainty. The question? “How do those Magic Eraser cleaning sponges work?” His answer? “They use paint.” I asked how it could possibly match the color of every surface it’s used on, but he insisted his answer must be right. Truly magical thinking.

I also saw him watch an ad for a random product, then promptly declare that he needed that product. I had always thought of ads as something to tune out, but he legit followed them as if they were friends giving advice. I had never seen anything like that.

If someone asked the latter question, I’d think they’re concerned for my well-being.

If somebody asked the former question, I’d think they’re stalking me.