Onions, beans, cheddar, and of course the spaghetti. Gotta go with a 5 way

If it ain’t a five way why bother

Mustard, mayo, and all. The buns get soggy but are good in it. The side of fries is optional

I prefer an ale, or barring that a pilsner

Yeah but while booze makes board games better they’re still fun sober. Drinking games stop being fun when you’re older even if you drink.

I graduated college and assumed I wasn’t welcome anymore by the fact that growing up it was always made clear that I was allowed to stay as long as I was in school, and that my father and I hadn’t spoken in a few years at that point despite living together (mom was dead by then). Oh also the big binder of my childhood documents that appeared on a table with a note explaining what it was.

I moved in with my then fiancee and her parents in a different state. Got a job closer to home by sheer coincidence about 9 months later right as that relationship was starting to fall apart due to irreconcilable differences.

I don’t think it needs to be the biggest or best, but there is something to be said for “hey, this is mundane and local, if it impresses you you ought to go out and see more.” If you’ve spent your whole life in the plains you don’t necessarily need to see the redwoods or the Himalayas or some pristine tropical beaches, but it would be good for you to hit up some beaches, some mountains, and a forest and see how the world is different there. Hell a desert may do you some good as well.

As an American I highly recommend others in the country just hit up a different national park every few years if you can and visit a nearby city to it. If you’ve spent your whole life in a town an hour from Des Moines, seeing the Olympic peninsula and Seattle or whatever strikes your fancy near Santa Fe and Albuquerque, or the Cuyahoga Valley and Cleveland will help you better understand how much there is out there and how beautiful it all is. It’s not just the grand canyon, Yosemite, and Yellowstone though I hear they’re all amazing. I actually recommend picking ones you haven’t heard about before

No judgment, but you need to do some exposure therapy on separation. I know it’s hard and scary but it’s what works. I cried my first night living away from home, and fuck knows I wasn’t healthy when I lived in dorms, but it helped build independence. And I’m not saying “move out now”, I’m saying make a plan to spend a small amount of time away from your mom, do something, and you keep doing that until it’s no longer scary and then you do something more.

Also look up some anxiety management techniques, and start practicing some that seem relevant. I’m personally prone to catastrophizing and so for me figuring out the worst realistic scenario and planning for that helps calm me down by forcing me to actually reject unrealistic worries and reframe the situation as something where I can probably handle it if things go wrong. Breathing techniques and grounding techniques have done wonders for dealing with the physical experience of anxiety. I’ve also found exercise to be helpful, taking a walk and just chatting to myself about my feelings in my head is amazing, but if you can do something more strenuous like running, biking, push ups, or lifting that’s also awesome.

One step at a time, small, but consistent. The most important step a person can take is the next one. It’s ok to fail, but you get back up and try again. Getting out of this is a marathon not a sprint. You seem to really hate being in this position, and that’s fair, but you today can start the process that eventually will get you out of it.

I personally have found a “no zero days” philosophy to be extremely helpful for my goals. The way it works is every day you do something to advance a goal you have, even if it’s very little. When I was getting into shape that meant even on days I wasn’t running a calorie deficit I still did some bodyweight exercises, and if I forgot to exercise at all until bedtime I’d accept staying up a bit late to do a few push ups, just to ensure the habits stuck. For you that could mean even if you don’t have the energy to do anything you spend a few minutes meditating or doing a breathing exercise. But the low days should be accompanied by days with more effort, where you push yourself into the growth zone.

You can do this.

Better, but in a way that’s largely on them. They had more money, security, and opportunity, but they were a terrible match with a lot of mental issues and grew to hate each other. I have less, but I’ve been working on my mental health since I was younger and actively prioritized only marrying someone I was a good match for.

My life has been hard and painful, but I’ve played a difficult hand fairly well and my problems are rarely persistently internal

We’re Americans.

Yeah, they aren’t hiding it, they think she agrees, and until the past few years the only people I’ve heard irl who talked about wanting that were women

When I was in (catholic) high school the only person who openly opposed women’s suffrage was a girl. Her family was so conservative they rejected the second Vatican Council and sent another kid to a catholic military school. I liked her despite all that, I hope she got better

It was nice, but I was still in high school so it didn’t really feel like adulthood, that came in the form of my high school graduation, moving in to college, and then my 21st birthday.

Just enjoy it and appreciate the freedom and responsibility, but also take your time before acting on your newfound right to sign contracts. Maybe register to vote if you live in a democracy that doesn’t do that automatically, for me that was the biggest thing about that age, I was finally a full citizen.

Wait, touch screen for windshield wipers‽ Fuck that shit. It’s supposed to be a stalk opposite the turn signals because it’s safety critical. What next, touch screen for your turn signals‽

Oh hell yeah, I’d love to do that but my wife doesn’t like when I do mood lighting

Ah, that’s a cuisine I really ought to learn to cook. I never have because I’m a pescatarian and my wife finds falafel unsatisfying as a meal

Yeah, I thought everyone knew that. Is not knowing that why nobody makes friends anymore?

There’s the absolute classic: Halpelujah by Leonard Cohen which is just a beautiful song about the end of love

But my personal favorite is: I Will Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie, really the whole Plans album is amazing and wrecks me still.

Shorting isn’t just a bet that a stock will fail but also when

Ooh pomegranate molasses sounds really good

Ah 24/7 Walmart, that’s how I bought my first stuff for experimenting with femininity, waiting until 2am and going a town over to ensure nobody I knew saw me…

And to answer your question the wild west internet. There was freedom and rebellion there. A whole new world with every weirdo, freak, and nerd at your fingertips. A place where you weren’t alone until you found a person who could recommend a place, but instead you could just look it up and find out where your kind of freaks were chatting and they’d even tell you if there was a place irl. Ironically I’m noticing a shift back to needing to know a person to find a place, but that place is a discord server more often these days.