I think mostly bad cases make the news. I know people that had really mild symptoms, too. The thing that I find unsettling is that even people who are vaxxed and careful got this variant. 😞

My father who has been vaxxed and wears masks got Omicron. He tested negative on the first test, positive on the second test days later. It’s pretty bad. He finally went to urgent care and got a chest x-ray: pneumonia. He is in his 60s and at a healthy weight. Prayers are appreciated.

I understand what you mean. FWIW, early-beingness seems more temperament-related to me than anxiety. 😉 Economics says we get the behavior we reward, so I think there are some recent incentives to broadcasting infirmities, especially for women.

I think there is another level to this being-earlyness that bears considering: it contains the quality of “fresh snow” experience. I like the first doctor’s appointment of the day, getting to the library when it opens, going to the empty Target with no cashier lines. Is that weird? I don’t know. The funny thing is that I’ve known some parents over many years (from school activities our children share) and they are always early, too, to every event, every year. So there is something very static in it; maybe not anxiety but temperament?

I am early to everything and I always have been. I noticed recently that the same three people are early to drop-off and pick-up for child events, too. Arriving very early appears to be a fixed character trait for a small number of the population. I thought this was cultural (I wasn’t raised in the US). But then I read that it is a symptom of anxiety. Is this true?

…did your children do the same? I love the KJV Bible. But I worry it is difficult for children to comprehend and I care most that my kids love and understand the Bible than memorize meaningless terms. Am I overthinking this? Will they be in therapy someday lamenting the thees and thous?

My DH is almost a decade older and I met him at 18! We didn’t date until a few years later but I was “young” for our culture. I mention this only because I have always been an old soul too, so I think your daughter is right! It’s sad to me when intelligent, mature young women feel they must wait an arbitrary number of years to marry after college.

I guess we work backwards, because I only circle the problem sets done incorrectly. We have a saying: if you aren’t making mistakes, it’s too easy. 😉 My kids know if they get 100% on anything, I will make them invent a problem they can’t solve as punishment.

If he quit his job, doesn’t that make the Jan 4th deadline meaningless anyway? Or do the other jobs require it?

According to the CDC, almost 14% of the adult population in the US was on anti-depressants before Covid (maybe now it’s higher?). The highest use was found among women above the age of 60 (24%, so almost a quarter). Do you think this is new? Were this many people depressed 100 years ago?

I understand. It’s good to take a step back and set aside the weight issues, food issues and mom issues. 🙂 Maybe decide to deal with those after Christmas. Right now, just deal with the urges to binge. When you feel like you have to binge (like maybe you are saying ‚**** it, I already messed up so much today, might as well keep eating‘), just remember that’s just a record playing in your brain, it’s not you so just ignore it.

I‘m sorry, that sounds exhausting. Your brain has been rewired to think huge amounts of food are necessary for survival, so not binge eating when you feel the urge feels like you are fighting something super powerful. The best thing you can do is 1. not diet and 2. detach from the urges. They aren’t you! They are just an automatic misfiring of brain signals that will go away when you ignore them long enough.

Have you read Brain over Binge? You should read the reviews; people quit binge eating forever, without any diet or therapy. Brain over Binge: Why I Was Bulimic, Why Conventional Therapy Didn't Work, and How I Recovered for Good https://www.amazon.com/dp/0984481702/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_ME235NFP3CJKVB1Z2YPF

Jared Fogle (remember Subway Jared, convicted of possession of CSAM?) lost all his weight eating only Subway sandwiches as a college student. How does a college student afford to eat all his meals at a single fast food chain, you ask? Well, he ran a p*rn rental business from his dorm room for the general college population of non-CASM users, a “vast and extensive collection” he owned (which provided a lucrative income by all accounts). He had 5.6 terabytes of p*rn, that’s about 50 hard drives’ worth. I suppose we will have to agree to disagree, but for every man arrested with CASM, there is a long history of exposure to every type of p*rn. Most p*rn consumers will never view CASM. But there are no CASM users who haven’t consumed enormous amounts of “normal” p*rn. In case someone wants to read about JF: https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueCrime/comments/iv7g7e/update_the_rise_and_fall_and_the_depths_of/

I read about it too and regret it. There are some evils that are better left unknown. But JD didn’t wake up one day and decide to search for such wretched material, this is just a point on one end of the spectrum of p*rn. The vast majority of p*rn features violence done by men to a woman. With increased exposure, more violence is required to get the same “effect”. I will bet my entire retirement that JD was a heavy violent p*rn user for YEARS before he was arrested. Until we draw bright lines around p*rn this will get much, much worse. Just kidding, it’s too late.

This is the entire concept behind „barely legal“ p*rn. If you really want to be disillusioned with the state of the world, look up the most popular p*rn searches. Get the boat, Noah!

So I think something needs to be addressed here, because this is becoming an increasingly popular unpopular opinion: the number of „true“ pedophiles („fixed“, that is exclusively attracted to young children) is very, very small. When the general population thinks of pedophiles, they think of this, which is actually extremely rare. The number of „regressed“ pedophiles (men who would rather have sex with a hot 21 year old college coed, but will settle for a 12 year old „who totally looks like she‘s 18 tho“) is huge. And porn is contributing to their number daily. Josh Duggar is not a fixed pedophile; he is clearly able to have weird and normal sexual relationships with adult women. But I guarantee there are many more men like him, and they should not be pitied or protected, and I think the shift in vocabulary to make their attraction seem involuntary is misguided.

I think Anna is very seriously traumatized, to the extent that denial is protecting her mental health in a way. She was very sheltered as a child and she has seven beautiful, very sheltered children. I think the only thing that could make her sanity worse than being married to a man accused of owning CPS is being married to a man who doesn’t deny it.

I started piano as a young child and added violin in middle school. I wasn’t very talented, but the combination is incredibly useful for music theory and developing more complexity in skill. It’s not uncommon either, a lot of fantastic musicians play other instruments.

Someone told me that menopause make you lose the „gentle“ hormones that encourage kindness. Is this true? Do women get angrier with age?

Interesting; I was taught the formula „pull up half-way next to the car in front, reverse into the space at a sharp turn and then straighten out“, but as I lack entirely the ability to estimate the distance between my car and the one behind it, it is of little use to me. 🙂

You have invaluable skill! At my old office we were constantly looking for people who were proficient in QB and there are basically none. Except you! 🙂

Preferred pronouns are by definition the pronouns personally preferred over the normative by the owner. In the absence of the owner‘s directive, standard pronouns are used.

I wonder if your ability to bag well and envision space layouts is actually related! I‘ve noticed people who can pack trunks really well are also very good at parallel parking.

That’s actually a very creative skill! I‘m an awful cook and it is amazing to watch someone create a meal out of nothing.