Ok just being on the west coast doesn’t narrow this topic down at all.

Are you looking for prepared tea, loose leaf, or bubble tea? Depending on which city you are close to there are tons of great local options.

For loose leaf tea in bulk, I usually go to an Asian grocery store. They tend to have pretty affordable loose leaf options that a tasty.

When looking for something specific, I try and find a local tea shop to browse the loose leaf variety.

If you’re in a pinch and need some bagged tea, most grocery stores carry Celestial Seasonings. Their herbal teas rock, my favorite is the peppermint!

I am disappointed in Oregon. I have voted by mail in Colorado and California (not at the same time lol), and both states mailed the I Voted stickers with the ballot.

Have you considered checking out your local Community College?

Orchestra is back!!! The Fall season starts today and I am so excited to start playing again.

I am not sure what to call the genera but there is something so very consuming and soothing about Papers Please. It’s hard to describe how that game pokes just the right parts of my brain meat but it does. A major part of the game is learning patterns and picking out the pieces that are out of place and my goodness does my brain get a kick out of finding typos, inconsistent city locations, and mis-matching information between documents. I need to process an avalanche of information quickly but it doesn’t feel overwhelming, instead it is oddly soothing. The game is also short enough that I can binge and get to the end without ruining my life unlike something more open ended like Oxygen not Included.

For me it’s that I have to think less about my choices. I don’t have a ton of time anymore so if I pick a book I am not vibing with I can just return it and pick another in a matter of seconds. It’s led me to taking chances on books I normally wouldn’t read.

I love my local library because they’re keeping me sane on my work commute! I looove audiobooks and it’s so nice to be able to try so many and not have to worry about if I will like them because it’s all free!!!!

What a thoughtful thing to do. I am actually 1000% on board with having menstrual supplies in the men’s room, even knowing that probably a good percentage of them will be used by boys just messing around. I went to college with young men that acted like I kicked a puppy when I mentioned menstruation. Whole grown men who could not stomach even a mention something so common that it happens to half the population once a month. I firmly believe that having those supplies available to them will not just help the people who need them. It will also make them better parents and partners because they will actually have some basic understanding of what is involved in menstruation and how to help someone in need.

That’s only the half of it. He got into politics as a gun control advocate after his wife, a house representative, was fucking shot in the head at a political out reach event! He somehow won his senate seat in gun loving AZ! It’s wild.

There’s a reason why they’re my former employer. Upper management was discussing replacing our badges with the phone. We needed the phones to get into the building because that was where the covid protocol pass was kept and security checked. It was impressive how quickly they took advantage of the pandemic to make creepy breeches in privacy.

Preach. It wasn’t body cams but our company gave us all mandatory phones with custom location tracking software on them. It was done as part of their pandemic response. The phones were supposedly only tracking your location within a mile of the site and were only used for enforcing social distancing and infection tracking. Well when the return to office mandates came around, upper management was suddenly too informed about how much time we spent onsite. They swore up and down it wasn’t the phones and went to pretty absurd lengths to find some other metric to prove it.

I guess South Park called that.

https://y.yarn.co/ee732a42-0e9c-4467-b1ed-021ae33e2050_text.gif

Avenue 5 is a brilliant dark sci-fi comedy that I cannot stop thinking about. It’s basically a cruise ship in space but then things go wrong. The physics are actually sound which makes for some really fun and terrifying gags. It’s heavy on dark humor, but if you’re ok with that it’s such a fun ride. I am biased but I feel like this show is criminally underrated.

Good catch, I missed that part. Not impossible that they bought the car from another SovCit

Well with the tendency of SovCits to not pay for their vehicles, it’s entirely possible this poor soul came across this stash after buying a repossessed car.

I try to buy local loose leaf.

If you are looking for a grocery store recommendations, I love Celestial Seasonings herbal teas. They have an amazing peppermint tea.

What! I applaud your effort in promoting Dungeon Menshi in literally every instance.

Hey! Glad you got that time to explore the wilderness.

Work has been crazy. I have only been in my role for 2 months so I am still trying to figure out how to interact with the team. Basically, I need stuff done but am also concerned about pushing people too much. Guess I am still terrified of being called “bossy”. Beats being unemployed, lol. I got to go boogie boarding today so that was awesome.

Porphyria's Lover by Robert Browning just rolled around in my head for day after I first read it. It’s really dark but feels so completely human at the same time.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46313/porphyrias-lover

I am really happy that people are willing to consider how toxic that aggression is. It’s so engrained in our culture that it’s considered normal when a father threatens to have his gun out when first meeting his daughter’s partner. Nobody really thinks about the effects of this normalized violence.

I apologize but this will be kind of dark. As a father I know you are going to be desperate to protect her, but don’t wax poetic about dealing violence to anyone who would do her wrong. For example, don’t talk about beating her current boyfriend/girlfriend if they cross her. Girls are going to have shitty relationships because that’s a part of growing up. Don’t make her think talking to you about them is the nuclear option when she’s still trying to figure out what is acceptable and her boundaries. If she thinks you’ll go beat the shit out of any one who looks at her funny, she might not come to you with her problems until she is willing to accept her dad going to prison for a long time. Everyone is right about listening to her, but make sure she that she knows that you can be trusted. Listen, accept her decisions, work with her, and not to fly off of the handle. Best of luck new father, since you’re asking the right questions I think you are going to be fine.

I really hated the ending too. I have just blocked out that memory and pretend it’s unfinished.

Part of the reason why I was soooo disappointed that So I’m a Spider, So What? Got such a poor adaptation. She starts out very low level and has to grind, so all of the power she gets feels earned.

::: spoiler Minor spoiler The whole class gets reincarnated into other roles and there is tension between those who adapted to their new roles and society and those that don’t. I really enjoyed their interactions because it’s a constant plot point and their past lives drive a lot of their choices. :::

Sooo Honey I Shrunk the Kids fan fiction?

Seriously I wanted the Gervasio chapter to end with him trying to figure out how to leave the gate now that his schtappe is broken. That or I hope next book opens with Ferdinand coming back to pick him up.

Yay I am glad you’ve already started doing some gaming groups. Sounds like you’ve got a good thing going. If you don’t mind more of my suggestions. College was really fun because I used to just be able to walk into the common room and ask “Who wants to do XXXX?” And usually have more than a few takers. The plans don’t have to be elaborate either. Once it was just as simple as, does anyone want to go to the shop that has tin foil over the windows and see what’s inside? Turns out it was a spice shop and they had some interesting dried goods and tea. Just try and focus on things you like doing or think you would like to try. People are pretty amenable to suggestion, so don’t be afraid to put some ideas out there. Also, be sure to join a club or two. My college would give clubs money if they hosted events that were open to the rest of the student body. So more than once I would book a classroom to binge anime on a huge screen and the school paid for all of the snacks. Another club was founded on the principle that it was cheaper to make waffles in the quad on Thursday nights than to go to the local diner. They eventually became one of the largest clubs on campus and started sponsoring raves because they felt like it. College is fun and I am sure you will enjoy.

Well my human, it sounds like you already know that your resentment and frustration is valid but not productive. There will be things you can’t do and it sucks. You seem to know that you cannot function in the “typical” social events listed above. Have you tried changing your approach so the activities are in an environment that you can control? If you can’t go to parties because they’re overstimulating, host a dinner party or game night with a smaller group of people. I wasn’t big on house parties either, but I was always able to find people willing to spend the afternoon hanging out in a kitchen with me while we were baking. One of my favorite Friday nights in college wasn’t spent at a bar, instead we all went to a climbing gym and then got pancakes at IHOP. Your social isn’t going to mirror those college movies, but that’s ok. You will find people willing to hang out, it’s just going to look a little different. :)

Based on the number of comments on this thread there are way more of us than I thought.

OMG I was complaining to myself today about the same problem! I am genuinely grumpy that the pen cap has a bump that basically resembles a pocket clip but isn’t functional. It’s like having pants with decorative pockets!! Now I just need to get a version that doesn’t require me to constantly screw and unscrew the cap for use and I will have less complaints. Thanks for being part of the very niche solution internet stranger!

Good on you for sticking by her while she was working it out. Changing medication is so hard and takes a while especially if you’re taking more than one kind. I am really happy you both got through it and that she found something better!

Take my meds- man I never thought I was that different on or off meds until the recent ADHD medication shortage combined with some personal issues last Fall made me fall apart. My poor SO was worried sick because I was losing my damn mind, turns out I do not mask well. I didn’t realize that being properly medicated is as much of a public service as a personal one. May your meds always be available and well balanced.

Absolutely this! I work in tech and it’s shocking how much casual racism and sexism gets tossed around. It is super hard to build a cohesive team when one of the men won’t let a woman coworker speak because he doesn’t like their use of the word “we” when describing their team.

Dumb tic-tok trends and stupid dance videos are not what employers are looking for.

Laios’s reactions are so adorable! The man clearly loves monsters with all of his heart and watching him geek out is delightful.

I am just here to shill for Delicious in Dungeon. It’s a dungeon based anime that isn’t an isekai! Shocking, I know. The characters are really charming, there’s good world building, and while the plot is a slow burn, it’s super compelling. Also the adaptation is being done by Studio Trigger. Why are you still reading this, go watch Delicious in Dungeon!

I love that they’re now just knocking each other out now. Boom, it’s nap time!

Ummm well, it might be. In part 2 there were 2 times that Myne has a drank potions from Ferdinand that she called “sweet”. One was the one for the memory searching tool (and as was explained later, other things). The next was a potion she drank during the ambush chapter, that wasn’t a recovery potion, but the description sounds kind of like the juevere. He also said she had drank both potions before so my hypothesis isn’t completely unreasonable and it’s super scandalous.

Sorry about the insurance. It absolutely sucks when it feels like the copayments get more expensive and the coverage is less. Doubly so when there aren’t a lot of options for insurance to begin with. Glad you’ve found some solace with the meditating.

Happy birthday! Buy yourself the cake! There is something really therapeutic about celebrating, even if it’s by yourself. My birthday was last week, and I wasn’t able to get people together to celebrate with me. Instead I dressed up and visited a local garden that was on my wish list. It was delightful to take a whole day to treat myself, so I highly recommend doing something for you on your birthday. Last year sounded super trying for you so I hope you treat yourself this year’

So many beautiful misunderstandings in this arc. I am really hoping that they don’t compress it too much in movie format.

I love all of these names, but I still mourn that “Abolish ICE” was rejected.