I’m old enough to have lived through several recessions, though I was poor for the first couple of them. I think a recession more likely than a collapse. If it’s a recession:

1. If you can keep your job you will be ok, really. Try to keep your job if you can. Yes even if they do temporary pay cuts.

2. If you’ve been unable to buy a house, a recession may make it possible. That is how we got our first house - prices tanked, we got a run down house, couldn’t improve it really but it was a place to live for a long time, and when you buy in a crash, taxes stay low here.

3. Remember there have been worse times and you are descended mostly from people who survived them.

4. Be nice to people. Always be nice on your way up, because what comes up must come down. We used to have to dumpster dive, and I have lived on the streets and in a car, don’t want to again, at all, but there are plenty of less extreme tactics - live with more people in one house, we used to have one family in each bedroom, not one person, and that makes housing cost so much easier.

#1 is really the most important though - if you can keep a job you will be ok. If that falls through, do not think you are on your own, reach out to others and work together.

I can’t think of a best moment, though I’ve had a life that has gotten better over time, lots of good & great moments, none stands out as best.

Which leaves the worst moment, so I guess as an individual point it made a bigger impact.

Some thoughts: In a dry place, humectants can work the opposite way, pulling moisture from your skin or hair out into the air, or from deeper layers of your skin out to the surface so you may need something more occlusive; and when my skin is feeling sensitive, mechanical exfoliating (,like your loofa) always makes it worse, but chemical exfoliation (like a toner with glycolic acid) usually no problem.

La Roche Posay Triple Repair (the drugstore version) is really good and not too pricey, it’s like it both sinks in and leaves a slight protective layer; and the Ciclaplast if you need immediate help with healing. If you are very sensitized and everything is bothering you you can also try just putting a very thin layer of coconut oil all over you while you are still a little damp after shower, assuming you aren’t allergic.

The sunscreen IUNIK Centella Calming Sunscreen is good too, not irritating and very effective as a sunscreen.

I hate dry air so much. Live in a humid sea level place and occasionally have to travel to dry altitude and it’s so shocking, my nose bleeds even. Hopefully you can get your skin calmed down and get ahead of it.

No, quite honestly I do want to live an enviable life AND would be so happy if everyone else did too. I do not want other people to literally want my life, no. I want them to be too happy with their own lives to care about mine.

Nah we are here, just staying out of the drama I guess. Busy working. My guess is we aren’t enough of a market - not the desirable-to-marketers 18-30 age group, and not a huge group with money like the boomers. So we are not targeted as much.

Oh no. I would hate this need, I’m not good at teaching, but let me take cooking. Not home ec in general, no. But culinary I could handle getting a curriculum together and teaching it, and it would be helpful.

Yeah I have said I want a transmissible immunity to sexually transmitted disease, that would save a lot of suffering, and be a lot of fun to get the immunity going out into the world but all disease? Is that advisable? There may be some need for it to keep evolution going, or some effect we can’t predict. I like the way you are rolling it out here.

A Jubilee year should happen regardless. Yeah.

I would take it but it would be quite a job to manage that. If literally infinite, and not an amount, it would break the idea of money, right?

I’m not sure society can be fixed from the top but would be interested to see what happens if grants are directed in ways that grow the bottom part of the economy, could it be made vibrant, can the value be circulated around not exploited? Can the land be restored? The oceans? How do you audit to prevent fraud, to keep it from making things worse?

I would be very happy to not have to worry about my personal budget but to have the responsibility to try to fix the world with money seems like an impossible task. Money could fix my personal situation, but can it fix everything? Probably not.

I do think I would try though, yeah.

The owner we bought from had been divorced and was so depressed he neglected the yard and house. I am grateful they didn’t change the insane layout, so it didn’t sell, because apparently nobody else saw the potential - we changed it when we moved in, and dealt with the yard, once the bamboo was out (that was a struggle) it was huge, and while house is not fancy and will doubtless be a lifelong project it is so nice now for us, and getting better all the time and I love the basic layout of it now.

Here when there is a big line like that, usually they will temporarily rent more licenses. So it will say 38th in line for one of 8 copies, not just 38th. If it’s a popular new book they do that. I read mostly sci fi and fantasy, occasionally smut, it’s been solid for those categories. Have found many enjoyable reads and those sorts of books are great to read on the device. Stories. Informational/resource books less so, for me it is easier to go back & forth with a paper book.

ETA I don’t know why someone would down vote you for sharing your experience, that’s silly.

Books, though? If I had to buy every book I’ve read, I would be destitute and need a hundred storage units. Even with a concerted effort not to buy books I have a whole shelf of them.

Where are you? My wait here (mid size city in Florida) is usually 0-3weeks, unless they don’t have it at all, then I request and it can be 6 weeks to infinity. But they will send hard copy books around between libraries not even in our county, and the electronic collection is huge too.

It’s more like padding, I was an anorexic teen and young woman so even though I’ve finally gained weight in midlife and feel fat by my standards, people see me as thin. I’m tall, so even if I lose a couple inches to age I won’t be short. If you are very smart, it doesn’t prevent dementia, no. It just takes longer to slide from a higher point, you have farther to go, your early dementia isn’t going to be as apparent to others.

As far as I know, only physical exercise can prevent it and only for a subset of people. Like, if you keep your heart and circulation healthy, you can prevent it if it’s preventable for you personally. Some people are doomed to it from heredity.

I don’t mean you can gain native intelligence, but nobody is using their full potential. I remember my mom saying that my sister got the most out of the “gifted” classes in school (I sincerely hope they don’t call them that anymore) because she barely qualified, so was challenged, engaged by the curriculum, and learned more than those of us who were bored because it was easy. Long after I was out of school she said she wished she had put me at least in a private school where you could move at your own pace. But hardly anyone gets that, in any family.

So I think a person who is less intelligent, recognizes it and learns and trains can end up in a better place than someone who is smart and so less motivated to try, since they don’t have to.

If just asking if I’d take extra smarts or extra looks from my starting point now? Extra smarts. I need them to hedge against dementia when I get older.

Arcane

Where do I live? If I’m in a place where people are beautiful, slightly below average attractiveness would be perfect for the rest of the world, make me a genius.

If I live where people are so intelligent and are ugly, please make me better looking and slightly dumber than them, I can make my way through the world just fine.

I think looks are easier to fix, but learning can help fix stupid - I’m sure there are at least some stupid people with more sense than some smart people.

One of our dogs turns off the Roomba by thwacking the button with her paw. It took awhile to catch her in the act.

I wouldn’t trust this scenario, but do have a complete inability to fly under any radar, so might be ok at being well known. Wouldn’t enjoy it at all but already people remember me, notice me and as my youngest put it, I am persuasive. So it’s hard to move unnoticed through the world, might be able to fill this role, if it’s just a figurehead sort of thing. If it involves governing, no.