JustSo

Us adults have a pact to cease gift exchanging. It's too hard and places too many expectations on people. We run the gamut lately from high paid remote workers, to my welfare scrub ass, and my boomer retiree parents who don't know how to not worry about money despite being fine.

But for the kiddos we all make an exception and do what we can. I don't miss getting gifts, I do miss being able to afford and to give them though.

I retract my earlier statement I definitely hit that Christmas spirit. Boy howdy.

Spirit of Christmas? No I haven't felt that since I was either a child or very early adulthood when I finally had an income and could visit home from the big city, bearing a loot sack to put Santa to shame.

But this Christmas was the first where my immediate family set aside their beefs and traumas and came together again for the first time in many years. I fit the stereotype of the narcissist-family black sheep, but even I have buried the hatchet on those issues, consciously recognising that I do want to have a relationship with my parents and they are victims of the same sickness I have, just aren't self aware of it.

So somehow, me, the blacksheep? I managed to help bridge the two splintered factions of my immediate family and literally everyone had a great day together, thanked me for being there, said me and my queer partner "literally made the day" and it all closed out perfectly. The future is looking bright for my family and this was an important moment for us. I'm feeling really proud and happy.

I took on responsibilities, I kept my promises, I over-delivered and left my folks with homegrown home cooked leftovers to last a week at least.

I also brought in one of my strays, one of my homies who is dealing with tough family stuff, so there was found family in attendance too.

It was all diamonds for me and mine. Christmas is just another day. I hate (my) birthdays. etc. But this was the excuse, the tradition, the framework, for us to set aside our shit and make sacrifices for each other so my parents don't die old and alienated and alone, my niece and nephew get to have some good memories of what being with family "should" feel like. And we provided friendly shelter for non-blood fam to come and decompress from their upsetting family gathering.

Doesn't have to be christmas, but to everyone out there hoping to one day experience the same sort of catharsis and healing- I really hope you get to. It was good. I'm glad I never went full no-contact. I'm finally sure I've made some good choices. I don't feel alone in the world.

It's an interesting coincidence grimes found her way to christianity to "quit vaping" right around the time elon musk needs Christian Cred

Yeah my earlier take was "this is a soft coming out as christian convert to her fanbase" PR type thing, in line with the Elon Goes Trad story arc. Now I wonder if it's actually a cope that she's found some minuscule bit of life improvement she can use faith as a lever to do easier, while she gets dragged (or is happily joining in) the new christian techbro awakening bullshit.

it's all so transparently manipulative. these mufuckas are trying to make sure the most psychotic militias recognise them as "one of the good ones" when shit truly slides sideways into a hot civil war.

or OR ORR

Now that Epstein and Gislaine can't provide them with esoteric child abuse retreats etc, they have to find new ways to feel spiritually fulfilled. Yeah that one's the take I'm keeping.

From what I understand after not going to any AA or NA shit, is that a lot of people find a framework for endurance when they hand responsibility for everything over to a "higher power" that has more control over everything than they will ever hope to have over themselves. From there I guess it's just a few cognitive re-wirings away from "I don't need this, I don't want this, and I have a reason to trust that my suffering will end and that things will get better" (the god part constituting that "reason" ironic when it is in fact an inversion of reason, ie faith. But the mind doesn't really know the difference.)

I think Grimes here is toying with becoming some sort of Christian and is using the vape thing as an excuse to explain it to her fanbase. Lotta weirdos doin tradcath or return to roots larp shit lately, including the rich.

Yeah the body learns, like for examples stomachs have elasticity so (as I understand it, crudely) the sensation of fullness is something that will incrementally change if you overeat to the point of really stretching your stomach.

I learned this from an ex who liked to eat them fancy 7-12 course meals at restaurants and taught me the importance of pre-gaming so our stomachs wouldn't shrink over the course of a day waiting to eat big for two+ hours straight. So it's in the "folk knowledge at best" category of what I know, but I assume those gastric band things work the same way in reverse etc.

The impression I get with big people who are "just big" and who don't want to be, that it's a multifaceted issue they have to address, and often a fairly unique-to-them combination of factors.

Like, I remember listening to how Kevin Smith would talk about food and eating before his heart attack and his philosophy of, essentially, hedonism-first life fulfillment. I could never have imagined he would lose all that weight. Even after the heart attack and his tearful realisation that he wasn't gonna live to see his daughter grow up and go through all the interesting phases of life (ie the moment that genuinely in retrospect did change and likely extended his life by decades) even after that I was like, nah he's going to try, but there's no way a man like him can drop the weight and keep it off and start a whole new health oriented lifestyle this late in life. I just didn't think he had the psychological discipline to make such drastic changes to both his philosophy on life AND his tolerance for discomfort etc.

Now I feel slightly ashamed that he was able to fix his shit in what now looks like the blink of an eye and here I am still with all the same bad habits and poor discipline I've always had. I know there's (apparently) a lot to hate on Smith for but I genuinely admire the way he just started holding himself accountable and streaming his early walks up the hills and complaining like a baby the whole time. Look at him now. It's hard not to be impressed.

I'm skinny tho, so nobody gives me a hard time about my shitty self destructive lifestyle (and useless philosophy lol.)

None of this is commentary on OP. I don't know a damn thing about them except their doctor sucks and that they're heavy.

Yo FUCK that doctor dogg. I'm skinny as fuck and deadass past the "youth boosted" metabolism excuse I was hearing in my teens, twenties, early thirties, etc. Still waiting, still can't put on weight. I mean I can, if I really really REALLY try, I can put on some weight.

But yeah, it's bullshit, I'm not like this from hard work, good eating or, generally, ever making a conscious, or intelligent decision, in my life. In fact I will probably die prematurely from preventable disease, while still "but she looked so in shape and youthful."

Horse shit. Hope you can find a smarter doctor one day, that one sounds straight up ignorant as in failed to learn a damn thing before opening their mouth on the subject. Not just ignorant as in lazy bigot. Not a good look, "DOCTOR".

so fucking cursed lmao

Vincent Vega as a "heroin enthusiast"

He just like me for real tho.

He had mid taste with all that China White though. Golden brown for the real pro-sumer hobbyist.

"Smoke weed everyday." Now that's praxis.

Hahaha. Well now you have your Hexbear book report assignment comrade. Take one for the team. :sicko:

Letting a clearly senile, vengeful man continue to be President of the United States

"But that is what you voted for! Checkmate Citizens of the Nation" - Mrs Jill Biden.