I’m aware that I am a very messy person and I desperately wish I wasn’t. My executive dysfunction makes cleaning and keeping things clean so damn hard

She’s doing well. She seems to have gotten over the grief better than the rest of us. She’ll talk about her brother sometimes, but doesn’t bring him up often because she knows that the rest of us are still grieving him. He isn’t dead, but the loss feels the same

I’m not a parent, but my little sister was adopted. The worst experience of the whole process was losing my sister’s little brother. The boy was a foster child and my sister had just been adopted at the time and the judge presiding over the boy’s case decided he didn’t wanna go through the evidence and sent the poor kid back to his abusive bioparents. It tore my family apart to lose him and my parents divorced a year later. My sister didn’t understand why her little brother was taken away and I was crushed and haven’t fully recovered, and that was 18 years ago. I always tell people who are fostering/adopting in the US to be prepared for heartbreak because apparently this kind of thing is very common. They don’t care about keeping siblings together, and jokes of judges can damn a child to more abuse.

My mom loves this song and tries to sing it all sexy and its so cringe that I feel my soul leave my body

I thought that I’d die of cancer because that’s my zodiac sign and nobody could convince me otherwise.

I donate to my local food bank. I worked in their hydroponics garden a few years ago and saw how much work goes into providing food for the needy. They need all the help they can get.

I also donate time and energy and a bit of money on a specific horse at the stables I volunteer at. She’s an old mare with an owner who doesn’t give a shit about her. Nobody really does anything with her other than me and another person, and that other person only lets her out to graze. I exercise the horse, groom her, give her lots of attention, and I got her a winter blanket recently.

I got rid of all my yarn one day last year because I was overwhelmed. Haven’t gotten any since but I really want to get back into knitting/crocheting. I’m afraid I’ll just end up with way too much again

I’ve decided to start going back to the range and practicing with my pistol again. Considering getting a concealed carry permit just in case things get bad enough where I feel I’ll need to defend myself while out and about. I don’t think things will get that bad, but better safe than sorry, right?

One of my best friends is a martial arts instructor and she said she’ll give me free self defense classes. I’m small and weak, so I need every advantage I can get.

If by younger, you mean two years younger than now, them I have a story that is applicable in regards to my career.

Got fired from my first job in my field (IT, specifically tech support/help desk.) The firing was unexpected and done in a Tuesday afternoon with zero warning. I wasn’t given and kind of formal write-ups and had been getting great performance reviews. I was crushed. The reasoning that my boss told me was that “I wasn’t learning fast enough.” Which was absolute bullshit because I was left alone to run the department on a regular basis. I did all of my tasks and did them well and users loved me.

I suspect I was the fall guy for all the failing projects my boss was implementing. They cost far more money than he said they would. I believe I was fired so he wouldn’t get a pay cut.

I was absolutely heartbroken and considered going into another field entirely, after fighting my way through the rampant sexism in college and in job hunting. The first tech job I applied to after being fired (three days later), called me almost immediately after I applied. I did a phone interview and was then asked to do a practical interview the next day. I did well enough to get offered the job before I had finished the half hour drive home.

I make so much more money now, have great benefits, and I am respected and encouraged to grow. This job is absolutely incredible.

My grandmother says getting fired from my previous job was the best thing that happened to my career and I agree with her.

The emotional damage getting fired like I did has given me crippling anxiety that my therapist likens to that of PTSD, but without some of the PTSD symptoms. I’m getting treatment for it, and I’m at the stage where it’s getting worse before it gets better.

I had an hour long panic attack when I had to tell my boss that a doctor told me to take a week off to recover from an injury that wasn’t healing right and hindering my daily life. My boss wasn’t pleased and told me my attendance will need to be near perfect because I have already missed a lot (I have.) I’m not worried about getting fired anymore, so I haven’t panicked since, but I do get flare ups of anxiety. I get to go back and face everyone on Tuesday and hope that I won’t have to talk about it face to face because I will end up panicking then.

We have found a bunch of sedation dentists for my stepfather and he always cancels appointments last minute. His mouth is literally rotting. I can’t comprehend how he can be okay with his mouth being in that state. It could kill him so easy

My stepfather has constant, disgusting mouth infections because he eats terribly, never cares for his teeth, and smokes. Bro had a pocket of puss inside his mouth that made him look like he was keeping a golfball in his mouth. He won’t go to a dentist because he claims his mouth can’t be numbed. He says it just doesn’t work. In reality, he’s just scared. Man never goes to a doctor for anything because he’s scared.

I would love to buy her tbh, but idek who actually owns her lol. Most of the horses I interact with don’t get the attention they deserve from their actual owners. Seems like most owners there don’t actually come around too often. It’s a full service stables, so you pay a monthly bill to have your horse fed, watered, and their stall mucked. You just have to worry about the mandatory vet visits and hiring a carrier for their hooves.

The horse people I grew up around also had the most heinous alcohol as well lmao.

Your partner is totally right about horses. I had a mare growing up that knew my my depression was getting bad and did her best to cheer me up. There’s a horse I love at the stables I volunteer at who is similar. She knows when I’m down or frustrated or whatever and demands attention lol. Hopefully she stays that way once she has her foal and doesn’t become a hella protective mama lol

Thank you for the encouragement.

One of the best child plastic surgeons happened to be in town when I got attacked and he took my case. Can’t even tell anything happened. He did a GREAT job.

As for college and making money, I’m not family oriented per se (I don’t want kids and I’m single ATM), but I have pets (2 dogs, 2 cats, and 11 ducks) and I want to buy a horse eventually at the stables I volunteer at. The horse is a few years off because boarding is expensive, but it’s an obtainable goal lol. Just gotta get promoted, which I am working towards with the guidance of my boss and the owner/president of the company.

Negative experience: got half my face ripped off by a dog as a kid. I’m scared of almost all dogs now and I panic around heelers.

Positive experience: going to college. I’m considerably successful because I decided to go on a whim lol.

Wikipedia rabbit holes every time lol.

I am fascinated by medical stuff, especially conditions I have and similar conditions. Spent like 2 weeks reading about so many kinds of diseases.

Mine was actually pretty good. I volunteered at a stables on Friday evening. Watered and groomed some horses for a couple hours. Got a haircut on Saturday and my dog got groomed. Spent Sunday playing video games.

Horses as transportation.

Do decorative video games maps count?

As someone who had carpal tunnel in both hands that had to be fixed surgically, this would be an absolute nightmare to use. My hands cramp just thinking about it.