Casual Conversation

I've been out of my apartment for a couple of months while it's under renovation, and basically living out of a suitcase in a furnished apartment.

Now I'm moving back in and need to unpack all my furniture, etc. It just feels like so much stuff that I don't even remember having!

How do you deal with that in your own lives?

Okay so I'm Gen Z so for the older generations, this might not make sense to you. But basically, this is my experience with life as a Gen Z:

When I was in high school some years ago, everyone in my class had smartphones, and I did, but I'm horrible at taking care of my stuff, so I kinda just broke a lot of phones.

When I was in Middle School, I had one in like Grade 7, I broke it in like about a year, then in Grade 8, I also broke in in a year. It was some budget phones that did not have any water resistance, and did not have gorilla glass like modern day smartphone do. So, I don't even have to explain, I don't remember what exactly happened, but its probably a combinations of drops or water damage, plus budget phones are very poorly designed. And in Grade 9, I also got a phone, and broke it in a few months. And, since I didn't really have a job (already stuggling at school and my parents were not struggling financially in any way so... yea there was kinda no push for me to get a job, don't judge pls), and my parent's weren't very happy with me breaking stuff so often, so I never got a phone ever again. I mean, they could afford it, but they were reluctant, and I didn't wanna push for it since I felt bad for asking.

So basically I spent like the rest of high school not having a phone at all.

When ever there was a class assignment that required doing online research, the school would often not have any chromebooks available (this was in like 2018 to 2020, for context), so teachers just asked the class to use their phones to do research in class. So there was valuable class time that I WAS UNABLE TO DO THE ASSIGNMENT. 🤦‍♂️ And this happend quite often. So often that I lost count. Probably over 100 times throught highschool. So I just sad there, bored, doodling on a piece of paper. Sometimes its worse when it was a CLASS ASSIGNMENT that aas due at the end of class, and the teacher had to ask a classmate to lend me their phone, or the teacher had to lend me their laptop so I can do the research or whatever that it was. Makes me feel like a caveman lol and I felt awkward af.

Also, my acquaintances (I never felt like they were "friends") all have smartphones, but I didn't so we kinda didn't have a connection outside of school. No jokes, no shittalking teachers behind their backs, no meme sharing. I kinda felt left out. I mean it didn't even matter if I had android, MMS groupchats still would've worked, and some circles used discord.

But I didn't have a phone... so FOMO to the maximum. And thats probably why the acquaintances remained acquaintances.

These days, everyone is on their phones. If yiu didn't have one, you stood out. Like the standard thing when there was no assignments, boom, everyone pulls out their phone. Substitute teacher, boom, everyone on their phones. Lunch time, boom, phones. On a school trip, phones. Any "downtime" is apparantly phone time. And of course, its fueled by boredom, before phones, people probably just got bored and stared into space. So I get why people use their phones. But they could also TALK TO EACH OTHER. Today, if you tried to have a conversation, you're a weirdo. Its all just Instagrams, Snapchat, and lately, fucking TikToks 🤨 (circa 2020).

So at lunch time, I'm just some weirdo doodling, or finishing homework assignments because why do it at home, when there a whole free lunch period that have nothing to do?

And the worst thing is this thing called "Kahoot", its a classroom game thingy where the teacher sets up like a "game room" where the class joins it using their phones to answer (class related) questions, sort of like a quiz, or sometimes its just a fun practice thing. And you get a score for getting it right, and also extra point for getting it faster. So sometimes the first place gets extra credits, sometimes the 2nd and 3rd also get extra credits. But you need a phone to participate, and I don't have one. Meaning, no chance for extra credits. Like, Fuck My Life lol.

So yea...

TLDR: Everyone these days just expect you to have a phone, in school, in social life, in work, everywhere, and, according to society, you're a "weirdo" if you don't have one.

The Roman dodecahedron is an item that has turned up in a lot of sites where people do archaeology. While most items, given time, have their purpose easily or at least approximately deduced by researchers, the Roman dodecahedron's purpose is largely baffling to even the most studied of archaeologists, who have no idea on where to start with it. This in turn would probably baffle the Romans, who would have seen it as a common household item, no different from a spoon or a comb.

Suppose a few thousand years from now, archaeologists were excavating our remains and had varying degrees of success deducing what different things were for. If you had to guess what common household item of ours would stump them the most, what item would you guess it would be?

Its starting to warm up a little. I used to go metal detecting a lot when I was younger but fell off the hobby. I figured my toddler nephew would love digging holes in the dirt and playing with the tools as we hunt for some ~~scrap metal~~ artifacts in the back yard. We had such a great time and I got some good exercise in.

Metal detecting is a finicky hobby, honestly one not really suited for hyperactive children with short attention spans and addictions to instant gratification. There are no gaurentees you will be finding anything in the ground. If you do get a hit you need to get lucky with the plug/hole placement, get lucky its not too deep into rock soil, and just plain old get lucky its even an object you can take out and not some ghost blip in the soil. I'm lucky my nephew is the right age to just enjoy playing with dirt and the rolly-polly pill bugs we dig up.

Given time, effort, experience, and statistical diceroll you'll eventually find something interesting. Always a great time pulling out an object encrusted in dirt and cleaning it away to find something youve never seen before. He was so excited to pull this out of the ground! We made a racket over it as we raced in to Clean it off and the neighbors dogs were real interested lol. Very nostalgic and special experience that I am grateful to have.

We found a old stake too but that's not as exciting as this thing. My mom thinks its like a gas valve cover. My dad thinks its a large vehicle fuel cover. I don't know. Thinking of submitting it o a what-is-this community.

I think were gonna be making lots of holes in the back yard this year! It would be cool get a display case for all our findings even the tabs and aluminum can scraps.

One of my goals for this year is to fly more, and fly further. I've got Mauritius, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea at the top of my list.

I know some people find airports to be stressful or a chore, but there's something about just sitting in an airport cafe in the early hours of a sunny morning that gives this vibe I can't really articulate. I just love it. I'm still like a little kid whenever the plane is taking off, and even in cruise I just can't get over the fact that we're travelling in a metal tube so high above the Earth at incredible speeds, and we could be on the other side of the world in less than a day! Getting a window seat is a must!

It makes me feel really proud to live in an era where it's possible for us to fly to one continent to the next within hours...

I remeber 2006 I was in the 6th grade, all the world cup songs, chilling at my local lake with friends, ... maybe it was just because I was a young kid.

But now I think a lot about the 2000s.

I was able to download and Listen to All Songs of 60s, 70s, 80s, and the 2000s had great songs too.

Like Linken Park with Breaking a Habit or Red Hot Chili Peppers with Snow.

It was also a time I spent a long time in Azeroth (WoW) but also a lot of time in real life with friends.

Right now at this moment my job is awesome, I earn enough money, have a wife,... but I cant recreate the Summers of 2000s.

I said it in 2015 those were the best days and now a decade later I still say it. The 2016s to 2019s were also great. But not like 2005 to 2009. Something about those years that gives me a cozy Feeling.

Sonetimes I think Corona ruined everything. Nothing is back to how it was pre 2020. People are so confused, lie and cant tell the difference between fake news and Real news, all only on the phones.

This feels like Im living in a Shell that is empty now. And all this being said my Life SHOULD now be better than in 2006. I have a great job, money, more free time... but dunno.

Anyone else feel this?

I am putting this up on behalf of someone else (I was asked so nobody would get in trouble for bumping while this thread is pinned). This is going to get thread-gamey. Here is how this works. Each person will comment with a feeling. You can go as intricate as you'd like in terms of details, and see if anyone relates. People who relate must reply "+1" to the initial comment, and maybe detail it even more from their perspective or try to explain the feeling for example. Those who don't relate must reply with "-1".

You can look in the replies for examples. There's another thread on another site that serves as the inspiration to this as well, if that helps to provide a basis for how this works.

I just entered a text message chat from the group of students of my course, and after talking a there over some days with a sophomore (most of the chat was just me interacting with someone else) someone replied after some time "wow, the freshmen are really getting acquainted, writing shit and what else". That was so out pocket, closed the app and now I am ranting here, is this still kind of behavior normal in your uni/country? Its so bizarre, the guy was just sophomore. EDIT: thanks everyone for the replies, I appreciate them, I think there's some grow on my part to be done, because this seems to be way more common than I think. Welp, kinda of a bummer anyway.

Feel free to have a look at

• !movies@lemm.ee
• !showsandmovies@lemm.ee
• !animation@lemm.ee
• !horrormovies@lemm.ee

That statement isn't some random thing to grab one's attention, it's something I've seen come to light lately. Those who have been keeping tabs on me will know who I am talking about. Everyone is in a positive frenzy over it. Guess who even helped buy the uni supplies and garb (cuz things like uniforms aren't just for high school) for them?

What's a time when you learned that someone you know is more connected to another person you know (perhaps you yourself) than you would've originally thought?

I've never taken a vacation, and I'm determined to take on this year in Spring. I'm in Pittsburgh area and would like to bring my dog along (he is too anxious for boarding or a dog sitter), and don't want to put him on an airplane. Any ideas?

The best I've been able to come up with is renting a small island with a cottage on the Great Lakes. My pup could run totally free on the island for a week and live his best life chasing squirrels and swimming. I'm not much of a nature fan, though, so it might be a bit boring.

Earworm - the experience of a song stuck in the brain. I find myself getting earworms so often haha. My latest one is this song, I Want To Be In Fabric by Todd Edwards, particularly the part starting at 2:28. Gives me massive Freezepop vibes omg!

What are some songs that have been stuck in your head lately that you'd like to share? 😃

During my childhood, I had a Nintendo DS. I always thought the DS was so cool and futuristic, I was obsessed. The only game I had was Super Mario 64 DS, the remake of Super Mario 64. It was the first "real" Mario game I ever played, and it influenced my childhood in so many ways.

Nowadays I don't game much, but a few days ago on a whim, I decided to get back into the game, maybe I'd mess around on it for a few minutes and delete it. So I installed Lemuroid and loaded the ROM on my phone.

I started out as Yoshi, like usual. When I was younger, I always struggled with the courses, and at first that was my experience here. But soon enough, I found myself racking up Stars real quick. The levels that I'd struggled with so much were now a breeze to get through. I even managed to finish the Secret Slide in less than 20 seconds, on my first try! Before I knew it, I had already unlocked Mario, and I was headed straight for the first boss. I also managed to defeat Bowser on my first try! I'm not sure if it's me playing on a phone that made it easier, or just me being older and more experienced that made it easy, or maybe it's a bit of both.

I now have 26 stars, with only 4 more to go before I move on to the next Bowser battle. After that, I plan on unlocking Luigi and Wario.

The music, the sound effects, even the outdated graphics just brought me all the way back. It unlocked a lot of good memories.

Anyway, that's all I wanted to say, I'm glad I rediscovered this game!

I'm definitely a sensitive man. Like most sensitive men, I definitely find it challenging in the "yeah, you gotta eat 50 lb of bacon, pump iron 7x a day, never smile, and always take on a challenge" world of masculinity. I mean, we've definitely come a long way over the last decade making emotions something men can accept, but we got a long way to go.

Most articles I read about sensitive men are mostly about hiding it, how we're not supposed, to, and then when we do we'll feel better, blah blah blah. But I'm already expressive. I find it challenging, from both men and women.

From men, I don't feel like a man (I don't mean in the sexual sense...just from a psychological sense). In men's groups I get so tired of talking about work and (maybe) hobbies I just wanna run out of the room screaming. It's hard to find any other men who are okay talking about their feelings. When I do (I'm not afraid to), I find no one is able to relate.

From women, I think they often want to see me as a stereotypical stoic man. So when I do express myself, I'm seen as "not manly," which can be a turnoff, whether for romance or friendship.

So how do other sensitive men cope with expressing their feelings?

I feel like I've dealt with some utterly uncalled for behavior from people at work recently. Like them blowing up at me about something if I'm just asking a polite question, etc.

I just tell myself "maybe they're having a bad day".

But I think about myself. I have bad days too. I never let it get to the point where I'm exploding at someone. I extricate myself from the situation, maybe fume about it privately, but I don't go on a rampage or yell at someone. In any rare case where I do end up letting a bit slip out I always apologize for it.

These people NEVER apologize to me for their outbursts. Why am I the only one walking on eggshells and trying to maintain professionalism, politeness, and kindess with people who seem to make no effort to regulate their own stress.

Someone having a bad day isn't an excuse to be bad human being with zero consequences. But it seems these people can get away with it because of how much power they hold in the company.

I honestly don't think I have it in me to as rude as some of these people so I'll probably just swallow their rudeness until the next time it happens while continuing to try to be kind and polite.

Have others had similar experiences?