They’re not gonna leave no matter how much they threaten. A few maybe, but not a significant amount. No matter what, it’s still THE New York City. My old sugar daddy used to bitch and moan about how he’d leave the city if Mamdani was elected and he’s still there and his life has barely changed. He’s screening my calls now though, pray for me

It demonstrably is not. The average over a lifetime was 1.7M in 2023.

I want to so bad! Are you from there

I do like transit hubs but yeah. I think if we do Costa Rica we’ll pick just one city because she’s older and I don’t want to drive much, and due to the length of her leg of the trip renting a car will be a pain. I certainly don’t want her to drive lol.
I was thinking 3 days nice resort, 3 days sleeping rough-ish, so then she has time for the flights and then the rest will be just me and I can do anything by myself

Which aren’t environmentally devastating?

Bless you

You need a massage babe

Kinda wanted to just have some people weigh in instead of using a tool. I can research it myself but I like it when people share anecdotes. I got lost though

You delete it.

Yup. I should be executed in the town square

Yeah I fucked up. Promise it wasn’t on purpose I’m just sleep-deprived

Omfg I’m so embarrassed

Thought it was where you can yap about yourself, is it not?

Wym not all AI data centers?

Omg that is so frustrating! Gotta laugh so you don’t cry I guess. It’s like they get stuck on a topic and can’t do anything else for a while.

My mom has really rigid thinking and finally got divorced, thank god, so she is all about doing whatever she wants all the time, with some odd results. I don’t want to control her, but I do get concerned when it feels outside the bounds of normal behavior. I see her often and try to challenge her beliefs because it feels like she reads something once and then believes it forever, if it’s from someone she views as an authority figure. She’s an engineer and not dumb or senile (yet) but has a hard time accepting new beliefs. The kind of person who thinks something is wrong because it’s illegal, and when I asked if the same thing would be right if it were legalized (gay marriage, weed, etc) she short-circuits. It isn’t even due to age because those conversations were half my life ago. Strange for me because I’m the opposite–every day I change my opinions . I tell her things I know a lot about and studied in my education that she paid for and she won’t listen, but will if a man tells her the same thing, e.g. using Metamucil, which I recommended but which she only adopted because a male coworker told her to. I push her a little because it’s good for your brain and I want her life to be as full as possible but I have to walk that line of making sure I’m not dictating.

Seems she puts herself in strict categories and can’t view life as ever-changing. She’s like an anti-Buddhist lol. Sorry for the personal rant you just struck a chord.

In this specific case she just doesn’t use it and pays for it outright (no cable) and is unwilling to cancel. She only watches TikTok snippets of Chinese dramas on her phone. There’s always a child screaming or someone about to be hit by a train for max drama. I worry about her. Having aging parents is weird

What if I want to but can’t somehow? I’ve always struggled with tech stuff, and not in a completely tech illiterate boomer way. Google sends me in loops when I search something like that. Even searching VPNs only gets me best and worst ratings. I’m not dumb but I am exhausted and sad for personal reasons. I’d be willing to pay someone for a couple hours of setting me up. Do I go on fiverr and hire someone for something I should do for myself? Is it wrong that I want someone to do this for me, or is it the same as hiring a plumber for something I could theoretically do myself? Do I just crave having my hand held?

Could they be lying? How would we know

But are you willing to walk me through it?

I love that you included the alternatives instead of just identifying the problem. So many posts tell you what’s shitty without helping you know what to use instead.
I used to use bandcamp exclusively because I don’t listen to a lot of big artists and I had some lovely interactions. I asked a band called Roommate for the lyrics to a song called ghost pigeon and they actually replied. It was very sweet. Couldn’t tell what the hell they were saying.

I cancelled every subscription except Netflix because my mom uses that. I steal exes’ subscriptions until I get kicked off when they eventually notice hehe, not sorry.

I am not ready for whatever it is you are trying to teach me <3