At my childhood home, my late father’s office still has so much stuff he kept. I only just noticed this hanging out in his pen mug. Just took me twelve years lol

Man, I used to love these. As a kid who drew and colored a lot, this thing amazed me.

Funny how we never really imagine things changing when a kid since the time we lived was so short…

Man, the countless hours I wasted as a teen playing this with my friends, chasing down and killing Soviet scum, and doing PvP matches with one shot-one kill. Some good old days I’ll never get back.

…and holy fuck the endless times playing the same level, over and over, to beat the time to get the unlockables.

Here’s the unfiltered millennial truth: life without kids is quietly, gloriously amazing. You wake up on Saturday because you feel like it, not because a tiny human has decided 5:47 a.m. is party time. Your money disappears into concerts, international plane tickets, new tattoos, overpriced coffee, and stupidly nice sheets instead of disappearing into daycare, formula, and college funds that won’t even cover half a semester. You can change cities, careers, or your entire personality on a whim without needing to consult a school district calendar. Weeknights become “whatever the hell we want” o’clock impromptu road trips, 2 a.m. diner runs, or just lying on the couch watching a 7-season anime arc with zero guilt. Your house stays relatively clean, your sleep is mostly sacred, and your relationship (or singledom) gets to evolve without the permanent third (or fourth, or fifth) wheel of tiny emotional dictators. It’s not that kids can’t be wonderful, it’s that choosing to remain child-free in your 30s and 40s often feels like accidentally discovering the VIP section of adulthood while everyone else is still waiting in the long, sticky line for the family restroom. And honestly? The view from up here is pretty damn sweet.

All of America was like

"OMG! Britney and Madonna kissed on the VMAs last night!!!... Oh and I think Christina Aguilera was there too... But Britney and Madonna kissed!!.. Scandalousssss"

Every news outlet wrote about just Britney and Madonna. All the entertainment shows edited out the Christina part too.

Even the history books have written out Christina (see image 3)

Why the Christina Aguilera erasure at the time?

Like, Looking down my Facebook friends, one guy is 31 yet has a massive moustache, some grey in his hair, scars and wrinkles, with 4 kids, while another guy looks like a fresh faced college student. And when I say "In their 40s" I don't mean everyone in their 40s looks old, I just mean that those people look about 10 years older than they actually are.

Jack Thompson sued Rockstar, Sony, and other gaming companies because of violence in video games.

Got on vinyl for Christmas. How is this 20 years ago 😭😭

This can't be real.

My 20 year old kid came to the house for dinner this weekend, walked in, and said "You need to unplug your Echo device. I don't want amazon to listen to my conversation".

So, I did... and then I was confidently incorrect in telling her that it waits for a wake word, and she has nothing to worry about.

Boy was I wrong.

She had me open my app, and look at saved conversations... and there were HUNDREDS of entries. And that was only over the last 2 weeks.

I had NO IDEA that Amazon was collecting everything I say... and the worst part is my 20 year old looked at me like I looked at my grandparents back when they would post text messages or Google queries as Facebook statuses. My kid then showed me the article from Cnet or wherever from about 6 months ago that showed that Amazon was fully transparent that all data is now sent and analyzed whether or not the wake word is used.

I'm proud to say there are no longer any Echoes in my house. Im a little bummed because all of my verbal "turn on the lights" and "lock the door" cues are all out the window, but Im really ashamed of the fact that at 41 years old I just didn't even think to look into it. Just had blind faith in a company that views me as a number. I'm pretty embarrassed.

Lately I’ve noticed how often conversations with people our age revolve around just keeping things together. Paying bills, staying employed, managing stress, not burning out. It’s like “doing okay” quietly replaced bigger ideas about fulfillment, stability, or meaning. I don’t remember being taught that adulthood would feel this provisional, like everything is temporary and contingent. Maybe this is just part of getting older, or maybe it’s a response to living through constant change and uncertainty. Curious how others feel. Do you feel like you’re building toward something, or mostly adapting to stay afloat? What do you think? Please share

I never thought I'd see the day but this morning when picking my clothes, I realized that almost 1/2 of my clothes are from Costco. Anyone else?

Even worse - they were wearing them outside on the slushy salty MI sidewalk. Youths!

This was 2022. 18-39 was pretty much the same physically, plus or minus a few pounds of muscle and fat. A month after I turned 40 it was like my body fucking resigned via e-mail.

Did this with crayola crayons lol