Sorta. I dreamt I had an imaginary family in which I was the only child. IRL I am one of seven kids, plus some cousins and other kids my parents informally took charge of.

I used to imagine getting new clothes and toys instead of hand me downs, and getting to go to first run movie theaters (too expensive with 7 kids at $10+ per ticket), and eating foods nicer than basic bulk nutrients (Lunchables were the pinnacle of unnecessary expense on food).

Now I am employed and financially self sufficient. I don’t think about the imaginary family. I do sometimes have trouble spending money on myself. I recently bought a new jacket for $40, very reasonably priced for what it is and the quality. I had in the back of my head for a good three days after buying it that I didn’t really need it and it was a waste of money. Maybe I need the rich imaginary version of myself to tell me to stop feeling like a class-jumping fraud.

I still have never had a Lunchables, but that desire is long gone.

Wait,blackmailed for dick pics as in “send me dick pics or else”, or blackmailed for sending dick pics, “yo, you just send nudes to a minor, give me cash or I’ll tell the cops”.

Yep, I have one for keeping friends and family updated on my travels without relying on FB/Insta/whatever. If interested, they can subscribe to my RSS feed. If not, I do it for myself and Sarvesh, a random (alleged) Indian man who thinks I am very beautiful and wants to marry me.

If a gathering seems like maybe a host gift situation but maybe not, skip presents for the human hosts and get something for their pets. Picking out wine for a gift would give me hives, everyone will be much happier with treats for the dogs.

I’ve seen three at my state’s Capital building. All three got about 5 seconds of local media coverage and zero national media coverage.

You assume they care about truth as an ideal to uphold.

Their optimization model is set to maximize power and wealth for their people. Truth is a tool to use or discard as needed in reach of their goal. It makes perfect sense, just not within the logic and morals framework you or I would use.

I knew it as arm wrestling growing up. And what most call arm wrestling (hands clasped, elbows on table), was hand or wrist wrestling.

I didn’t learn to read/write it, just simple spoken conversation. I would not claim any level of fluency.

No screen wrap, just in need of a quick display settings adjustment.

I saw One of Them Days starting Keke Palmer the other day. Solid comedy, maybe a little formulaic but comfy.

Full agree. My personal desktop is clean. My company-issued is littered with shortcuts I can’t get rid of because they don’t give general users that permission. I hate it so much.

Aside from cost, there is also privacy to consider. Subscription home alarm systems don’t fit into my threat model, personally. I focus on hardening physical access points as compared to my neighbors, and good insurance.

Just like how I only need to outrun my hiking buddy instead of trying to outrun the bear, my house simply needs to look like a more challenging target with lower yield than my neighbors. I am not going to get robbed when my neighbor leaves their patio door unlocked with valuables visible through their always-open windows.

Young Bobby was so eager for his beard to grow in, but this is not what he had in mind. being 15 is rough.

I’ve been told my polish sounds “old”. I know only a little bit, learned from grandparents and great grandparents. However they were speaking in the early 1900s when they left Poland for the US, that’s the Polish I grew up hearing.

I grew up in the Midwest where there were quite a few 2nd, 3rd, + generation Polish Americans. Now I live on the East Coast where there are more people who immigrated from Poland in the last ~20 years in addition to the generational families and they sound quite a bit different from what I grew up with.

Set your default view to the communities you subscribe to. Don’t subscribe to communities that overlap with politics or reddit.

My uncle, from the time he was a little boy, liked nothing more than farming and gardening. He has one friend and they talk exclusively about growing stuff. He had to be forced to finish high school because all he wanted to do was wrench on a tractor. He barely talks unless it’s farming related.

He apparently takes after other men in the family, always one or two per generation, who were pretty much mute except when it came to their special interest. And they were 100% focused on their special interest.

Back in the day, it was “Uncle Bob just has those family genes. We get one of them every once in a while. He sure is a helluva good farmer.” Today he would be diagnosed with autism.

Just annoying men named Damon.