Before reading the questions:

• The ball was uniformly gray, with a slight shine.
• The person was genderless and featureless. I only pictured their hand and arm pushing the ball. The moment of contact was indistinct, as if the arm was hiding the ball from view.
• The ball was the size of a large watermelon.
• The table was square, about 1m² , brown-gray, with four turned legs. Same material as the ball: uniformly colored and vaguely glossy.

Xena

Using the wrong register for the material or topic. For example, using very literary language in a technical manual… No, “peculiarities” is not an appropriate synonym for “features” or “specs”.

First heard about it on r/dndmemes during the API shit storm. I stick around because it’s so much nicer. Smaller, yes, but easier to curate I guess? I read about my specific interests and just vibe.

Cyborg-like implants. I want titanium joints and UV vision and magnetic field sensors and charging my phone by laying it on my belly. Uncap each finger to reveal a small tool: screwdriver, USB key, cutting blade, etc.

Note that none of that includes or requires a constant connection to a network/internet. I want to augment my interactions with the real world, not replace them with a virtual world.

Microplastics!

Charmeleon! Wartortle,

Mewtwo, Tentacruel, Aerodactyl,

Omanyte, Slowpoke…

That’s all I’ve got. I will shed a single tear in remembrance of happier days.

Another clue it isn’t Quebec is that Quebec wouldn’t bother having a separate US section when the States are just a couple hours drive away.

There are three feline modern constellations: Leo, Leo Minor, and Lynx. They’re adjacent, so they’re all visible around the same time.

Leo’s heliacal rising from mid-northern latitudes is around early September. Alternatively, it is most easily visible in the evening in early May. So either early May or early September could be considered the “cat days”!

Congrats on getting the job!

It’s a close call between kidney stone (the initial dislodgement from the kidney into the urether) and labour… Kidney stone wins because it had the element of surprise, extremely rapid escalation (0 to 100 in less than 10 minutes), and unlike labour contractions it just. kept. going nonstop until I got those sweet sweet IV drugs.

“And there’s a funny thing about honesty; there’s no two ways about it.”

This quote from Lassie Come-Home comes up whenever I’m not sure if I should be honest about something bad that I’ve done. It’s a pretty good motto.

That, and “Smile, tomorrow will be worse.”

Never be afraid of paramedics, they aren’t there to rat you out. They just want to know what they need to do to make you better/not worse. They hate paperwork as much as anyone, and a dead patient is a ton of paperwork.

But back before medication, that frustration would just stick in my brain.

Yes! Exactly that. What you call emotional stickiness I call spiralling. Before meds, once something upset me it was nearly impossible to stop. That minor annoyance made me feel anxious and upset, which in turn reminded me of other times I felt that way, and it all amplified.

I’m glad you’re in a better place. Remember, if you can’t make your own neurotransmitters, store-bought are fine. 👍

I take fluoxetine. It doesn’t have an immediate physical effect like Tylenol, Gravol, and the like. The effect builds up with time. I would describe it as feeling like “quiet”. Fluoxetine gave me the ability to quiet bad thoughts. From there, I had more stability to climb out from the pit of despair and anxiety.

The first few days (maybe two weeks or so) after starting, I slept a lot. Where I used to go to bed at 11:30pm and wake up at 5am, I was now out like a light at 8pm. My brain was finally quiet, so I could feel my body’s exhaustion.

The next thing I noticed is that I was able to let small annoyances slide. I used to be triggered by stuff like someone playing music too loudly in the bus. Instead of hyperfixating on that sound and ruminating for the entire bus ride, I could now let it fade in the background and think of something else.

After a few weeks, I noticed less crying, less blowing up at my partner, and less panic spirals. That time and energy I could now put into other stuff: chores, hobbies, socializing. I wanted to be happy and I felt empowered to make it happen, rather than at the whim of the exterior world.

While fluoxetine greatly diminished my lows, it also muted my highs. In my manic-ish days I felt “happy” for hours, and often hypersexual. Now my happiness was different, like… instead of going on fun rollercoasters and having my heart race, I was now sitting in a cozy armchair with a cup of tea and a snack, and my heart was peaceful. I do have a lower libido, which is tough on my partner. (OTOH I now contribute a lot more to household tasks, so it events out lol.) I do miss the euphoria I used to be able to feel, but I don’t wish it back because I know the price I had to pay for it.

Flip a car while streetracing on a narrow three-lane highway in the middle of the city, in moderate traffic that was moving 70 km/h ish at most. Amazingly they didn’t take anyone else out.

I called 911. They redirected the call to the police station. After I described the incident, I could feel the officer’s eyeroll through the phone. It was odd to realize that something so extreme for me was literally just another day for them.

Edited to add:

personal grooming was the fourth leading cause of accidents.

An old co-worker liked telling the story of how he was rear-ended on a very busy city highway. The other driver was a young woman who stepped out the car all distraught and said “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you, I was putting on my makeup!” My coworker was ready to wave off the incident because there was basically no damage to any car but he changed his mind as soon as he heard that.

The serious thing: When taxes, interest rates and mortgages were no longer abstract concepts but things I dealt with on a regular basis (I have spreadsheets!)

The funny thing: When I realized I could spend >500$ on a telescope without having to ask, wait, bargain or argue with anybody about it. I want it, I buy it.

That’s because the cost of living is a bitch. We may make 5x more but our bills might be 7x more than yours, so overall we’re worse off.

I’ve always agreed with that saying “jack of all trades, master of none, but better than master of one” … but I didn’t expect to feel so frustrated that I don’t have any fun niche knowledge.

This was a great question, and I’ve loved reading all the answers!

It actually means “the tulips”, with the determinate article, like this:

• Tulip = Lalea
• Tulips = Lalele
• The tulips = Lalelele