A Fan of Many Things

All around you is ruin. You're badly beaten and hurt. Your friends are injured, your allies are dying. You're low on resources and spell slots. The villain stands before you, about to complete their ritual and destroy the world. It would seem as though all hope is lost, when out of the dust a familiar figure appears.

Clad in a sleek black suit and a warm smile on his face, is the mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani. He looks at you and says "let's save this city at no additional cost to the taxpayers."

This tickled me!

for any address to twitter you can replace the “x.com” with “nitter.net” and you will be able to browse as if you have an account. Lifesaver.

It harms your lungs and it’s especially bad for children (and pets!) or anyone with health problems. There are all kinds of chemicals in that smoke. It’s not only trees that are burning. The heat already makes it harder to breath. This makes it worse.

If any of you are experiencing it, feel free to tell about it in the comments. 💚

-> Phonics For Adults <-

I could feel myself working toward a crying meltdown and was getting preemptively ashamed of what was about to happen when he said, “Hey, are you someone who benefits from breaks?”

It broke me.

Did I benefit from breaks? I didn’t know. I’d never taken them.

When a problem frustrated or upset me I just gritted my teeth and plowed through the emotional distress because eventually if you batter and flail at something long enough you figure it out. So what if you get bruised on the way.

I viscerally remembered in that moment being forced to sit at the table late into the night with my dad screaming at me, trying to understand math. I remembered taking that with me into adulthood and having breakdowns every week trying to understand coding. I could have taken a break? Would it help? I didn’t know! I’d never taken one!

“Yes,” I told him. We paused our call. I ate lunch. I focused on other stuff for half an hour. I came back in a significantly better state of mind, and the thing he’d been trying to explain had been gently cooking in the back of my head and seemed easier to understand.

Now when I find myself gritting my teeth at problems I can hear his gentle voice asking if I benefit from breaks. Yes, dear god, yes why did I never get taught breaks? Why was the only way I knew to keep suffering until something worked?

I was relating to this same friend recently my roadtrip to the redwoods with my wife. “We stopped every hour or so to get out and stretch our legs and switch drivers. It was really nice. When I was a kid we’d just drive twelve hours straight and not stop for anything, just gas. We’d eat in the car and power through.”

He gave a wry smile, immediately connecting the mindset of my parents on a road trip to what they’d instilled in me about brute forcing through discomfort. “Do you benefit from breaks?” he echoed, drawing my attention to it, making me smile with the same sad acknowledgement.

"Why every time Castiel shows up they only show Dean's reaction?"

Friend, I am wheezing. WHEEZING. Woke up to two different friends texting me about it. Got on the dash and as expected, the memes were choice. Incredible. Just incredible. Waiting WEEKS for the Official Mitch Death Announcement and then Lindsay Graham the big old diva goes and pulls the biggest bait and switch. Outstanding. Incredible. 10/10.

Anyway, Lindsey, you sad old queen, I hope lying to yourself and serving as the biggest Trump suck-up for eternity was worth it. Thank you for this timely reminder that gay people can also be awful fascists and can equally rot in hell. If they conducted some secret evil ritual to sacrifice you and keep Mitch "alive," a) hasta manana, dipshit, and b) oh please keep doing it until we run out of a few more Republican senators. Either that or ALSO announce Mitch's death today, because what do you have to lose now, twatwaffles. If that's the case, we are going to have to declare July 12 the Official Fascists Drop Dead Day Challenge. I know someone who would be a good third addition to that. Just saying.

In the linked post, he's holding a newspaper that appears to be this: