I told my wife flat out to not talk to me about news or politics at all unless it was good news. It took a few weeks to get it to sink in, but she’s stopped. I do keep up in small doses so I’m not completely shut off, but I get headlines a couple of times a week, not dozens daily. Set a boundary and either she respects it or you tell her it’s time to move on.

I got involved with my hyper-local community. Like 3 blocks around my house. I walk my goats almost everyday and make sure to chat to all my neighbors. I tell and share good news with them; recipes, gardening, weather, Halloween plans, whatever. If they start in with doom shit, I just gently redirect them. “Yeah, I saw that but dude, I found a place down the street that has the best cookies.” Again, it took a bit but they’ve started to get it. We don’t have to focus on the shit. We can be aware of it but it doesn’t have to be central to everything. One neighbor and I are going to start a block party movie night. I do dumb thing while walking too. Pick up trash, straighten other people’s yard signs, move trash/recycling cans back to the yard side when empty. Little shit that just makes other peoples lives a tiny bit better. That stuff is contagious too.

Another thing that’s helped is my core friend group. We were already a bunch of nerds, but now we have like 3 rpg games going. Not all of them are regular, but it’s a way to tune out without shutting down. There is a spoken agreement that we keep real life shit out of our sessions and they’re just for unwinding and living a fantasy for a bit.

Unfiltered water can have lead it in.

Oh. Wait, we have a misunderstanding. This can happen online when you can’t type inflection or tone. My bad.

I am fully aware of my actions, the results, the costs, and fully accept any consequences that come my way. I am not under any impression that I am not a problem, not the bigger asshole, or less petty than anyone else. I drive about 200 to 250 miles in a 40 hour work week and have tons of experience with bad drivers. Sometimes I get in a mood and basically lash out at everyone. It’s a fault of mine and I know it. I’m not apologizing for it or working to correct it. Petty? You bet. Asshole? Present. Cause of accidents? No, I’m actually very careful not to do that.

I’m by and large a way more courteous driver than most people I see. You have a turn signal on? I’ll do everything I can to help you change lanes. I zipper merge like they showed in the text book. Do I speed? Yes, but never more than 5mph over the limit and never in a resedential area. Every bicyclist gets at least 5 feet of clearance. People walking dogs get the same.

But you honk at me in the first second of a green? We’re waiting till I feel like going.

Fascinating probably isn’t the word you want.

It’s not my job as a driver to worry about someone behind me thinking I’m moving too slowly. It’s my job as a driver to be aware if some other moron is running a red light. And as impatient as you mother fuckers are, it’s probably you.

Same. I was in a hurry till you honked. Now all of a sudden I have all day and nowhere to be.

Lot of people in this thread thinking the split second the light turns green we need to gun it. Get fucked, I’m not on my phone and you’re just an impatient asshole. No one owes you a jack rabbit start. Calm the fuck down and breath.

Honestly it’s surprising there’s isn’t an X in it. Maybe Elmo had hit a new stage in growth.

Money isn’t real.

Give me it.

Two other favorites from last year. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells but you should follow it immediately with The Daughter of Dr. Moreau by S. Moreno-Garcia. It’s sort of a companion piece written by a female, indigenous author. It bookends the sci-fi by a white guy nicely.

Also, I’ll always tell people they should check out the book that is credited with starting sci-fi as a genre. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelly. It’s horror, it’s sci-fi, it’s speculative, it’s fucking awesome.

And the Blue Ant trilogy by Wiliam Gibson. He’s deff not for everyone. He can be really hard to get, and he just dumps you into his world and starts. There is no tutorial. But if he clicks for you, you’ll love it.

I’m not super versed in thriller but my friends have me dipping my feet into horror.

Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A Snider was a favorite last year. Creepy, timely, and let’s say visceral.

I’m in the first 3rd of Perdido Street Station now from China Mieville. He’s credited with helping start the New Weird. Not horror as such but it’s marvelous.

And Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki was just a rad read. It’s roughly about donughts, violins, and selling souls.

What kind of genres do you read? If you dig speculative fiction I’m happy to share recommendations and am happy to talk books. It’s not much, but just nerding out about stuff somtimes helps.

They’re all so bad at grammar and spelling.

Streetlight Manifesto covers this reslly well.

Well, the only legal thing we can do is vote. The other options shouldn’t be discussed online.

Yup. This is the election they’ve been training to lose for decades.

I’m still gonna go vote though. And try to get others to vote too.

When they bailed on Brian Johnson and picked him up, I stopped listening to ac/dc altogether.

Anything by guns and roses. I’ve turned off other people’s radios at work when they come on. It’s almost started fights but that shit can fuck right off. I can deal with anything else but there’s so etbihg about gnr that gets up my nose.

Can you please make us change to the metric system and dump dst first really quick though?

I like that it’s small and that most people are kind.
I dislike that when there’s a wave of reddit refugees it gets kind of gross for a bit till they either calm down or leave.

Also, beans and moths. But I’m not going to say if I like or dislike them, or one over the other.