Emotionally ready like am I ok with it, or would I rage rage against the dying of the light? Yes I think so, I could go gently.

Don’t want to, still happy but I am not that worried, if I had to I could, my kids are grown, I have experienced a lot of stuff, learned a lot, enjoyed being alive and physically embodied, probably more than many people do in a lifetime. I would not feel like I got ripped off or anything.

That doesn’t happen to me, but I cook for my family every day, usually just once. (So not so infrequently It’s something unusual, but not so often it’s a drag). It’s more like an appetizer or something.

If you have enough sinks, or a big enough pot to soak them in, one soak in hot soapy water, wash them all in the next sink, do your scrub-scrub without rinsing then rinse them all in bulk, then final rinse by dipping them into a sink full of hot water with a little bleach.

Then dry them with a clean towel.

That’s how we hand wash when the dishwasher was broken and someone in the house was sick. Because otherwise my husband will wash them with the water running the whole time.

One of the odd effects I’ve noticed with the last round of inflation is that prices are converging. Cheaper places raised prices more than more expensive places. I never liked McDonald’s - the french fries are good but I’ve never chosen to go there, only had them incidentally. But it was cheap. Not now, it’s more like going anywhere, so why would you go there? As someone else said, I can get tacos down the street, closer than any fast food place and they are pretty fast, or we go to the cafe up the street, they did have inflation but at least the money stays local.

Guy with knife in my face, I looked right at him and said what the fuck? He said he was trying to talk to me & I didn’t respond and I just said that a knife was NOT the way to get someone to talk to you and he put it away, walked me to my floor and said thanks & bye.

I don’t know, exactly, and just like a gun surely it wouldn’t work in every situation but de-escalation works more often than you might think.

Only once have I had to use violence, I kicked a guy off me (I am physically stronger than I look, not objectively strong but enough to surprise someone) kicked like a fucking kangaroo, so hard he hit the wall and believe it or not, it shocked him into stopping what he was doing and I left.

Ha!

I don’t usually talk about my feelings (I am a woman) but people of all genders seem to feel comfortable confiding in me.

So maybe it’s not so much that men don’t express emotions, more that people in general don’t express them to men?

Or even more likely we are all different and it’s not so much a gender thing. As a stereotype I’ve heard it plenty but in practice it hasn’t seemed so. If I was being sexist I’d say men complain more about physical pain and women complain more openly about unhappiness, but I can’t say it’s a big difference IME.

Same here. I have had a knife pulled on me in a dark stairwell, have had several dangerous situations and at no point did I wish for a gun, it would have escalated those situations and made them worse. I have been able to deescalate, shock guys into being nice way more often than I would ever have imagined possible.

I’m not saying NO situation is better with a gun but not nearly as many as you think. Hopefully most people with guns never need to use them. People who sell guns sell fear, it’s becomes the “if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” problem.

Figure if I have made it half a century without needing one, it isn’t likely I will need one now.

I like those big cabinets in place of kitchen cabinets. Glass front makes everything look better, I don’t put curios in them. Plates, glasses, bottles, booze, whatever goes in them ends up looking good.

Yeah I am often so shocked that people think the modern world is dangerous. Like, I guess, but crime where I live has dropped precipitously since I was a kid here, especially violent crime, so I always want to laugh when someone talks about a ‘rough neighborhood’ or worries I am walking somewhere. Crime has been dropping for the last 50 years!

The most dangerous place to go is the past.

I get a quarterly magazine from the Bruderhof, I would consider that cult Real Christians. They live in community, don’t own things individually, are pacifists, and seem overall to be actual Christians, in the way I understand Christianity.

One data point only. My mom and grandma had osteoporosis, and I had restrictive eating as a teen so didn’t build enough bones. I do work out heavier than my mom did (lift occasionally but also yoga with pushups & arm balancing, etc. More focus on muscle) because of starting at a disadvantage and also, importantly, do MHT. At mid-50s I did manage to immaterially INCREASE my bone mass, so a little better than maintaining, rather than the steep loss that would be expected at menopause.

There is more than one factor, right? I encouraged my daughters to eat more and do more exercise when they were teenagers so they will start out with heavier bones than I did, if you start with more you can lose some and still be ok.

But plenty of people have osteoporosis as an endocrine issue, the chemistry of their blood is taking more bone than it’s building. I don’t think that’s something that you can necessarily lift your way out of.

Love them. I don’t find them woody tasting. My daughter’s girlfriend is allergic to nuts so I don’t cook with them much now (they are living here) and I miss them.

I don’t usually just want a handful but they make food better not worse.

Walnuts or pecans, such a pleasant texture in cinnamon rolls or banana bread, cookies.

Almonds are delicious with green beans.

Cashew butter makes better cream of mushroom soup than cream does, and I say this as a lover of cream, milk, cheese.

They are high in calories and nutrition for something that grows on a tree, too.

I was a single mom of 4 when dating so was not open to dating childless men my age. Ended up with so many kids without having more, when we consolidated, but they all get along and as adults are happy for the network of siblings. They are much closer than I was with my brothers and sisters.

I absolutely would NOT have expected a childless man to be into me - it would have been an uphill battle to convince me. If I had been younger, maybe, but it seemed like anyone my age would have already had kids if they wanted some.

We have crab cakes, some snacks you heat in the oven (jalapeno poppers and bean empanadas), tinned fish like sardines and similar, and cheese and crackers. And a “champagne” the Cava Raventos Blanc Blanc de blancs which is the best bubbly white wine I have ever had and not even expensive.

New Year’s Day is black eyed peas, collard greens, and potatoes. Yum.

Not good at receiving criticism in the moment, kind of defensive. I can hear it but cannot immediately say “yeah you are right”, it feels more like insult than help. Some of this is leftover hangups from my ex, who was quite cutting, mean about it. But some just my own immature tendencies. I have pretty much learned not to react and wait until I can think about it more objectively.

Oh yes. I call them by their names and they know their names.

I do kinda think everyone should have to Freaky Friday swap with anyone they disdain or don’t have empathy for, and also one random swap.

I’ve never been bothered by catcalling but haven’t had it happen in a dangerous feeling situation.

A house, a car, and enough to pay all the bills and still have some lifestyle, without the terror of knowing you are one job loss away from homelessness and starvation. Able to retire for 25 years before dying.

I think for us (a family not a single person) that really is a million in the bank and 200k per year. We don’t have that, nor do many others.

As a cap? I think nobody needs to accumulate more than 5 million in cash and other assets. Less if you live somewhere with reasonable pension and healthcare.

This looks like a style thing, not anything ugly about the person. Haircut, wardrobe. Not even wardrobe, never mind. Better haircut and glasses, maybe teeth? Guy has good bone structure in his face and looks built ok.