Hard disagree on body wash vs soap. Soap always leaves a weird filmy feeling on my skin no matter what brand I use. Plus having to lather up the bar is annoying and I don’t want to deal with wet washcloths in the shower. Give me a poof and a bottle of body wash any day.

If it came down to it, I would take an extension to turn the video black, mute it, and click the skip button for me. Better than having to pull my attention away from what I’m doing to click the skip button or else have an ad that legitimately can play for hours on end. Having the pauses would be annoying but less so than the ad.

The older you are, the more effort I expect. A kid can get away with a cape and a mask. If an older teen comes, I expect full costume, not everyday clothes. Adult? You better be rocking a great cosplay. Not that I’d refuse anyone, but I’ll be happiest giving treats to young children or people showing off really amazing effort in the costume department.

Am I off base in seeing some similarities between this and the genocide of the Rohingya in Myanmar?

Over the past five or so years, I’ve watched the vegetarian frozen food section at my supermarket expand from one little freezer door with some Annies meals and Bocca burgers to five or six sections carrying even generic store-brand vegetarian and vegan meals. I don’t often buy prepared food but I like walking by to see what they have. Same with milk options - it went from a shelf with either soy or almond to a full section of different nut milks and flavors.

Some of the wildest changes to me have been at festivals and events. It used to be that you got french fries or onion rings or popcorn and that was about it. Then they started making efforts, as misguided as they could be, like just slapping steamed veggies on a sub roll and calling it done, or serving pasta and plain tomato sauce. Now I go to festivals and there’s usually at least one really good vegetarian option at every stand, if not an entire stand serving just vegan and vegetarian options. I look forward to seeing what unique choices there will be rather than trying to eat ahead of time so I don’t have to worry about it.

It’s impossible to have a real discussion about this topic, especially right now. Anything other than “Israel is perfect and an innocent victim” is viewed as anti-semitic hate speech.

Welp, reading this thread caused me to make a cup of tea.

It freaks me out. I hate how they’re making it so we’re pretty much dependent on these corporate-run networks, which then in turn make it so you can’t discuss topics that advertisers dislike, and then you have nowhere else to go to talk about those topics online. Inevitably, minority groups are the first to lose out. There was an absolutely chilling article posted a little while back about a leaked plan from a US conservative group to make is so allowing any discussion of LGBTQIA stuff online would be considered pornographic and disallowed. There are very dangerous people who want to control what we’re allowed to say in online spaces and they are scary smart in how they’re trying to go about it.

Saluton mi amiko!

There’s a number of takeout coffee places near me that will let you bring your own cup and give you a discount on it. You just need to know how many ounces it contains. I have an insulated stainless steel mug that I always bring. Most places that wouldn’t accept them during the pandemic are back to allowing it again.

And I crossdress (might boost me with socdems but halt momentum with undecideds and old people.)

Depends how sexy your crossdressing is… 🤔

Eurgh, I can smell that in my brain. You win!

In the winter, 68, 69 if I’m particularly cold, In the summer I don’t turn on the AC unless I’m absolutely dying, and then it only goes to 77. I’m a lizard, I love the heat, but I also hate paying high gas bills.

Hi fellow lolita! It’s such a pain trying to discuss the fashion with people who aren’t already into Japanese fashion. I feel weird every time I try to mention it because of the book. Also it’s so much deeper than people on the outside think! There’s tons of nuance in the brands and sub-styles and it all sounds so pedantic to outsiders. Have you been watching Tyler’s new videos?

Dang, old school! I only got into WoD in the last few years but it’s been so much fun and I’ve met amazing people through it. Spooky nerds are best nerds.

I’ve never heard of Daniel but looking him up, he seems like the sort I’d avoid. A lot of people use SL as wish fulfilment, making their avatars the way their idealized self would look. You can get really creative with an avatar but it’s less common than big burly biker dudes and girls with giant boobs. I mean, I play a femboy half the time, so that probably says something about me.

Sex is a thing you can do and it’s part of the world, but it’s as focused on as you make it. You can go your entire SL without having sex or engaging with sexual content if you choose. I know people who are family roleplayers and live their SLs as kids, and people who are just into art, or just into fishing and sailing. Sex is part of my SL but not the entire thing, just like RL.

Please talk to me about Mage. I’ve only gotten to play it once and really enjoyed it.

I’ve been playing Second Life for almost half of my life. I used to run a blog about it and often spend a few hours every day online chatting with people. Mentioning that I know anything about it inevitably triggers people to either ask “wait that still exists?” or “isn’t that a sex game?”

It gets better. Seriously. You will find your people and be happy. It’s just gonna take about seven or eight more years. I promise, life is worth living and you’re gonna do great.