I grew up without AC in Florida.

Sit in the shade with a fan, be still. If in the shade and a breeze, and not moving around, a pretty high temperature is comfortable.

Go to places with cold AC or to cold springs to get cold, it will last awhile after you leave.

If it gets cool at night, open your window at night to let in the cold air, close it in the morning to keep that air in for the morning. But once it heats up inside, you are better off with ventilation - open windows on both sides of the house and run fans, to move air throughout the house.

If it’s dry where you are (it doesn’t work here) get wet and let evaporation cool you. Even here you can get wet and stand naked in front of a fan you will get cold.

STAY HYDRATED.

Orange soda.

With my third baby, she did not want to come out (in stark contrast to her sisters, who all seemed to want to give me about one hour of advance notice before getting born) and the midwife said, before trying induction, try castor oil, sometimes it will kick the labor on. Not a spoonful, no. A whole bunch. And don’t puke it out. I chased it with orange soda because I liked it but figured I could certainly manage without it.

Oh God. I couldn’t even look at orange soda without nausea for several years. And it didn’t even work, I still had to get induced!

Honestly I would like to try microdosing LSD, not mushrooms. Something that can be measured, and my youthful experience with these, the tripping is more comfortable/happy/open.

Also it’s the only drug I’d ever try again as far as recreational drugs go. Well, I tried cannabis but hated the high, so I guess not the only one but the only remaining one that I would like to try again. In particular the very, very minimal microdosing but might be willing to also trip. Since I am hella respectable now, too many degrees away from being able to get the drug, especially in a format I could divide up to microdose, not sure it will ever be possible. But other than the legal considerations leading to lack of access nothing else makes me not want to - other drugs I think physically unhealthy or bad for your cognition as you age, or too addictive. I don’t have those concerns about LSD. I think, like coffee it’s more likely to protect your thinking in the long run, and certainly almost nobody wants to trip often.

Pixel 5 is my new phone, lol. I had the original Pixel, now the 5. One of my kids used the original one for a few months after I upgraded too.

I do miss headphone jack :(

It’s ok, and getting better. My big problem with it is (like you) that Google Play Music was incredible, so good, and they discontinued it in favor of the much worse and awkwardly named YouTube Music.

Whoever convinced them to give up the branding of “Play Store, Play Music, Play Movies” should be drawn and quartered.

I got a new laptop at work and everything, every file I worked in, was creating a second copy of itself on OneDrive. It was so annoying and took awhile but I found instructions on deleting the duplicates.

It took all the files off my local machine and left the ones on OneDrive.

Aaaargh!

Emmylou Harris wrote two that are so beautiful and so sad, if you need to cry, Boulder to Birmingham:

"I don’t want to hear a sad song full of heartbreak and desire

The last time I felt like this, I was in the wilderness, and the canyon was on fire

And I stood on the mountain in the night and I watched it burn, I watched it burn"

And also in the same song she sings - “well you really got me this time, and the hardest part is knowing I’ll survive” wow.

If that somehow doesn’t work, Red Dirt Girl might.

"She loved her brother, I remember back when

He was fixing up a 49 Indian

Told her, little sister gonna ride the wind, up around the moon and back again

Well he never got farther than Vietnam, I was standing there with her when the telegram come for Lillian

Now he’s lying somewhere about a million miles from Meridian "

Beebop-a-rebop-a-rhubarbar!

My mom wasn’t much of a cook but I loved when she made seafood boils, put newspaper all over the table and we ate it all with hands.

My dad made Chicken Kiev it was so good.

Maternal grandma made fried chicken, and gave us bags of pecans, she would sit on the porch with her boyfriend for hours while they shelled pecans and talked.

Paternal grandma I remember oyster dressing at Christmas, yum. And I remember her lighting cigarettes on the gas stove.

I just wanna say I am sorry that it is near impossible for single dads to adopt kids. I understand the reasoning but want to cry because there are kids who need parents but you can’t be the parent to one.

I had two terrible toddlers, but once they were kids they were cool. Two who I guess will get a midlife crisis, because they never caused trouble as kids or teens. The rest I got when they were teens or older and while not all of them (bio or other) were academic superstars or high performing athletes or anything, they were all reasonable and interesting and diverse people by teenage years.

I don’t remember my mom being motherly, and asked her about it once. She said “I don’t like kids.” I said"but you have so many kids!" And her reply?

“Well, I like you all now, I knew you would grow up, kids don’t stay kids, they grow into people.”

Good on you, live your life on your terms!

Oh my God I would never want to BE a kid again, it was a nightmare. But my kids say they enjoyed it ok, and weren’t as uncomfortable as I was. Maybe it skips a generation.

My mom said once that if everyone waited until their life was perfect to have a kid, that was the end of humanity. There is never a perfect time.

Kids for me. They have improved my life more than anything else. Having the first two pushed me to go back to school and get a real job. I got more when my ex & I split and I married a guy with kids; we have a staggering number between us, most were teens or older when we got together and they are all close now, so they have a network of family to help and socialize with. The youngest is almost done with high school so we are in the final stretch of having them at home. The Thanksgiving feast here is insane, so many people, chaotic and fun.

Now - having said all that, I always knew I wanted kids, not necessarily to birth them but to raise them. Babies are adorable , little kids blistering cute, teenagers so much fun and occasionally helpful, and then they grow up and are actual people. It is work I find fulfilling and it helps the world to have educated, sensible, open-minded people. Most of my kids don’t want kids themselves and that’s fine! Everyone has their own life to live.

So for me, kids. For you, whatever you want, I don’t think it’s essential to become an adult and don’t think it’s the only way to get a family either.

Water with electrolytes? I got unflavored electrolyte drops for times I fast, and for my kid who has to do band camp in the summer here. You can get flavored ones too, I don’t like them. Dilute them more than the bottle says to, sometimes a splash of lemon.

Topo Chico and orange juice is great, if you are just looking for something that tastes good.

Ask your doctor if it’s safe for you to take creatine, that certainly helps muscles retain water.

I hate ketchup as a sauce or spread, don’t mind it as an ingredient but it’s way too fucking sweet to put on anything.

Mayonnaise for sandwiches, with mustard or horseradish.

Hot sauce for eggs, beans or French fries (chips) . The salsa yucateca if I want hot without sour, Tabasco if I want sour; hot chili garlic paste if I want flavor bomb.

And lot size in football fields, a 1500 square foot 3 bed 2 bath on 1/4 of a football field.

I miss the non-porn nudes threads, Normalnudes and NakedProgress, the ones with an “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything” policy where people of all body types could show their shape and/or their fitness progress.

This hasn’t happened for me in the last 35 years, but if I am, say, on vacation? I like to read books, exercise, eat at restaurants.

If you are feeling isolated, it’s really good to go get coffee at the same place everyday. We tend to discount the value of weak social connections, but they are the glue that holds humanity together.