Oh boy, are you ready, lol? I know what you mean about close friendships and I understand that male friendships in Korea can be physically closer than male friendships often are in the US, but I'm talking about something that goes way beyond that. Best example I can think of off the top of my head is WooSan which is the relationship between Wooyoung and San in Ateez. Nothing about that strikes me as straight. Either it's real or they are seriously playing up the gay vibe on purpose. As for flirting, Stray Kids flirt shamelessly with each other, especially Han with everyone and Changbin with almost everyone too. Really if you watch videos of Kpop groups like Stray Kids, BTS, and Ateez off stage, there are lots of examples. I'm not saying that all idols act like that, but there is a clear element there that tries to pass itself off as "friendship" but really speaks to a deeper relationship that may or may not be real. There is no way men in Korea act like some of these guys do, even with the higher tolerance for touching and affection between men. Do I believe straight male friends in Korea sleep in the same bed at times, slap each other's butts, and hug? Sure. Do they cuddle in bed while being filmed? Rub each other's thighs? Get matching tattoos? Exchange rings? Seriously doubt it. Now I'm the first to admit that I'm hardly a long time observer of Kpop, and what I see could very well be because of what is fed me, but I've done a little research and it seems to be a thing. Fans seem to like imagining them as couples for whatever reason, and the idols know it's a way to get attention from fans. Listen to the screams when there is interaction between favorite "couples" onstage or at fan meets, or when the choreo is something sexy between two guys. It's tapping into something beyond friendship whether real or not. There was a very similar dynamic with One Direction when they were popular. Fans put them in relationships, and those members teased around that.

Ha, I don't really follow the music but the fandom is a riot. My YouTube feed has been giving me tons of Stray Kids background stuff lately and I'm loving it. I've being trying to understand the whole concept of male idols flirting with each other and pretending to be in relationships for the fans (fanservice) while living in a very intolerant culture for actually being gay. It's strange and sad to me that some idols who are straight are encouraged to act this way because the fans love it, but actually openly dating women makes the fans mad (and is even forbidden under some contracts). It's also sad that idols who are gay can't openly date but sure can "pretend". I feel bad for them and find it all puzzling. Maybe some of it has to do with fans being young and seeing the guys cuddle and flirt without the possibility (in the fan's mind) of things going further feels exciting but safe. There's this weird duality of hyper sexualization in the music and dancing by the idols but off stage they are encouraged to be more like cute, shy, naive, boys than men. I have watched fewer female groups but it seems similar, if not more so, with the women being very sexual in their clothing and dancing on stage and naive acting off. It feels exploitative to me. Own your sexuality or don't, but trying to have it both ways is the worst of both worlds. I can act very sexy for your gaze but I'm not allowed to actually enjoy sex because that's bad.

Concussions are bad, but it's also the repetitive hits of football that seem to be an issue. Football is unique in that some players' brains are being jostled hard every single play, and that adds up. Finding ways to reduce concussions is great, but there is no way to reduce that brain jostling in football without changing the sport completely.

When our cat's kidney disease was getting worse, we tried a few prescription foods and tried a few things to make them taste better. He was picky to begin with and the disease was interfering with his appetite so we gave up and gave him whatever he'd eat just to keep him from going downhill quicker from lack of calories. It's a difficult thing to balance the fact that they need food to keep living, they aren't very hungry because they feel nauseous, and the foods they generally like might hasten their end. We went with the foods he liked and considered him hospice at that point. ETA the prescription food is notorious for being unpalatable for cats so she's not alone in not being impressed

Our 25th wasn't what we had planned - one of our young adults was struggling a lot mentally and we didn't feel comfortable leaving them. We are on a cruise right now for our 30th though!

When I was going through a major crisis and could barely function I watched Schitt's Creek and Midnight Diner. I recommend Fisk as well. The episode where she was trying to give a talk at the library and served some refreshments made me laugh until I cried. I love shows that acknowledge our human foibles with grace and understanding, and all of the above fit the bill.

I'm about four episodes into The Tourist. I like it so far. It's got a similar vibe to the movies Fargo or Pulp Fiction - interesting, quirky characters doing violent things.

Yes, there are other Harlan Coben remakes on Netflix. I have read almost all of his books and love him for a well-written page turner. They all kind of blur together, but I don't remember them being as depressing as the Netflix remakes. The Netflix ones seem darker with sadder endings. Not the vibe I get from his books generally. ETA Possible spoiler: Okay I just checked and the book does end similarly. Either I didn't read this one, or just forgot.

Oh, I understand this all too well as a parent who is living it, though my kid is not a minor. I'm pretty liberal and open-minded about gender stuff, and I still struggle with my own biases, believe me. There are ways to slow things down for minors while still not demonizing trans people, but we as a society are choosing differently.

Just to say a little more, I think part of the conflict comes from sides trying to shape what public spaces are going to look like. Are we going to be a society that is comfortable with gay men holding hands in front of children, or do we want to discourage that (and why?) Do we want trans people to be comfortable existing in plain sight in churches and elementary schools and government, or do we want them to be less visible? Do we want non-binary people to hear their college professors supporting them or telling them they aren't really real? Culture wars are at least partly about shaping what we want the majority of our society to value and what is okay versus not in public. We mostly agree that people can privately think, for example, that certain minority races are not as intelligent, but we don't tolerate hearing such things in our public spaces and there are negative consequences for voicing such opinions. So the rub comes from there being consequences both for voicing anti-lgbtq beliefs and for being lgbtq. What do we want those consequences to be and for whom? Who is going to be the dominant voice and who is going to be marginalized? Right now the dominant voice in most of the country does not want trans people to be comfortable existing in plain sight. That voice doesn't want children to even know trans people exist.

We might create space for religious beliefs in that we don't throw people in jail for having them, but if those beliefs are viewed as harmful to others, they still aren't protected from criticism. I know some religious people have views about gender roles that I believe to be harmful to women. They can have those beliefs, but I'm going to argue against them and work to minimize the effect those beliefs might have in the public space. Live and let live is much easier when the beliefs are benign. Of course it is much easier to see the harm in the other side's beliefs!

I'm not sure it's half the population, but I do think a very sizable (maybe a third or more) of people in the US do want trans people to not exist. They don't want to take them out back and shoot them, but if trans people somehow magically just disappeared, they'd be happy about that. They don't necessarily want to purposefully cause trans people pain, but they don't care too much if they do. They don't think it's a real thing and the whole concept makes them uncomfortable when they think about it. They want trans people to be invisible because it makes their own life more pleasant. True about gay/lesbian people as well, but with a smaller percentage. I have had so many conversations with loved ones, acquaintances, and strangers on the topic and frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if it is half. (I have those conversations a lot because I have a non-binary kid, so whenever anyone asks me about my kids, the whole pronoun thing happens.)

To be fair, my relative is a nurse practictioner specializing in endocrinology, and she refers trans patients who have hormonally transitioned or who want to. It's not bigotry, it's lacking the specialized knowledge that is needed to treat bodies that have been altered hormonally to the point that they exhibit different sex characteristics. I have no doubt there are medical professionals who refuse to treat because of bigotry, and I have no doubt there are many, many others who would rather not educate themselves even minimally to treat simple trans cases. If they are practicing in an area without specialists, then I think they should educate themselves and not refuse treatment. But treating say a trans man with ovarian cancer would be complicated, and the fact that someone had difficulty finding a doctor doesn't surprise me.

I just watched it. It's lovely and super sad. My YouTube algorithms have fed me a bunch of Kpop stuff lately (not sure what started it) but it's an interesting culture, for sure. The music is fine, but the drama surrounding the idols is topnotch, lol.

I have stayed for a couple of hours sometimes. I've packed up a bunch of stuff though, so it's pretty clear I'm on my way out. In first come first serve campgrounds I think people are comfortable asking if someone is leaving, and if I signal as much, I'm fine with sticking around for awhile. I would only do this if there are plenty of other sites open though. When things are full people get itchy, and I would want to respect that. If someone asked me and decided they wanted the spot, I'd leave then too and wouldn't make them wait. At sites where there is preregistration there is still a several hour gap between check out and check in too, and as long as I leave my site nice and neat, I have stuck around sometimes there too. Of course, if the next people showed up, even early, I'd leave.

We cruised with our kids multiple times on RC from elementary through aged out of the teen program. My kids really liked RC and the programs for kids/teens. The older teen program tended to be unstructured - more hanging out and them deciding what they want to do with some help from staff. Make sure they go for the first meetup. We never did Disney because we could do almost two RC for the same price and our kids never got into Disney characters etc. Food is probably better on Disney but RC is fine.

Then there's teabags. I felt cozy drinking my mug until I read about how most teabags are plastic. Someone did a study and yep, your nice mug of tea is full of plastic from the hot water and teabag. Celestial Seasonings and Bigelow supposedly don't have plastic in theirs. Those more sophisticated loose leaf drinkers are on to something.

I used the mandala printout they have and chose 16 shades of blue and green from my colored pencils. Then I decided on a pattern and followed it throughout the entire mandala. It was so pretty finished, and I really enjoyed watching it take shape.

I was raised vegetarian. Both of my parents were good cooks and my father had a big vegetable garden. We always celebrated the first tomato of the season and Dad would grow interesting squashes etc. Neither Mom nor Dad preserved much though. Cooking vegetables well was important to the meal, so I rarely got bad vegetables, whether fresh or frozen. Desert was for weekends. We all liked food enough to want to put some effort into our cooking, and other members were appreciative eaters, so that helped encourage us to learn to cook as well. We grew up with some favorites, but Mom was always trying new things as well since Dad liked that. My father liked ethnic food and would take us, even as young kids, to all sorts of different types of restaurants, though in our midwest area, there weren't many at first. I remember him driving us about an hour to a bigger city just to go to a new Indian restaurant. I was about seven and I loved it. We traveled internationally a fair amount too, so I got exposed to different foods then. We could have been more healthy - we ate a lot of cheese and pasta, for example - but overall our tastes were set for homemade, healthy food with lots of vegetables, lots of variety, and lots of flavor. Oh, and breakfast was usually leftovers because that's what we liked. We rarely had sugary cereal around and I wasn't a big fan of the healthier cereal, so I'd rather reheat whatever our protein was the night before than eat traditional breakfast food.

I really admire the families of victims who, year after year, keep trying to shift things. It would be so hard to see such apathy by a large segment of our politicians, knowing they are shrugging off the death of your kid. How they don't just end up curled in a corner is amazing to me, because that's pretty much where I am when it comes to the subject.

But why? I mean I know about the etiquette, but why is asking for material things fine, but asking for money is not? Is there a good reason for the etiquette? I struggle to come up with a reason good enough to overcome the simple reality that money is often the better gift. Not always, but often, so why should a couple pretend it isn't? Edited to add that I understand asking for anything is suspect and one shouldn't come across as greedy or expecting anything. But to me, once you are crossing that threshold, say with a registry, then money should be every bit as acceptable as a toaster oven.

I did it in 2021 and it wasn't easy. I finished the last 1/2 hour walking around my block on New Year's Eve, lol. I rewarded myself with a 1000 hours outside hoodie that I love, and I just noticed today it has a stain, so while I'm not going to try the challenge again, I am going to replace the hoodie! I could maybe finish it in two years, but all in one year probably won't happen again.

It's my understanding heavy equipment operators can make excellent money. I looked into windmill technician for my son at one point. Good money but travel is often necessary.

My backyard shows as a park with a name. I'm kind of tickled since I garden, and I haven't reported the mistake. No one has tried to access this park and they would have a hard time anyway since our yard is fenced and the gate is locked. Plus, anyone can easily see it isn't a park since it's a typical fenced suburban yard albeit with more garden than many. I'm leaving it for now because it makes me happy someone thinks my backyard is a park.

Tom Cruise and Kevin Costner for sure. I can tolerate Costner if I have to, but I can't with Cruise.