Part of me wants to think so; I’m making a lot more money than they did at my age, even accounting for inflation. Aside from my car note, I’m debt-free. All objectively good things.

They had each other though. I’m a few years older than they were when they had their first kid, and they’d been married for a few years before that. I’m alone, and after I had some bad experiences, I don’t bother with dating. Whether that’s “better” than what my parents did or not, I don’t think it’s fair for me to decide.

Also, the people who are aware, but use it as a “gotcha” or some shit.

No waiting; the email was in my inbox as soon as I applied.

I stole some bullets from my workplace once.

I was unloading a truck at work one day, many years ago. One of the items on my trailer was a pallet of rifle ammunition. Whoever loaded this trailer on the other side of the country did a shitty job of it; plastic wrap was shredded, several boxes were torn open, the cardboard “do not stack” cone was crushed under the weight of a car engine, among other things. When I managed to exhume this pallet from the trailer, the plastic gave way, spilling dozens of boxes and hundreds of loose bullets all over my trailer and loading dock. While I was cleaning up the mess, I impulsively pocketed a few bullets for myself. Nobody ever asked me about it. I don’t even own a gun. But I have a few bullets.

I was able to make my account immediately, just this morning. Not on Google Play yet though, had to download the apk manually.

I was playing video games with my little brother, until about 4 AM. Made no effort to keep track of time, although we were probably setting up a heist in GTA when midnight rolled around.

Straight No Chaser - Who Spiked The Egg Nog?

An avocado! Thanks…

And to appease the invading forces, I also have a void:

One of their prison labor programs is for fighting wildfires.

At this point i’m convinced the USPS has been sabotaged to disrupt mail in voting.

Yep, that’s a pretty big chunk of it. Most of it’s just a typical right-wing grift though, privatizing public services in the name of “cost savings”.

Louis DeJoy is the current postmaster general, appointed by Trump in 2020. DeJoy also just so happens to be the founder and former CEO of XPO Logistics, a company that still has active contracts with the USPS to this day.

I was a truck driver a few years ago, working on a dedicated account that had me rapidly experiencing burnout. 14-hour days, sleeping in the truck. I was supposed to work 5 days a week, but more often than not, I’d have to work a 6th day to end up at my house. I technically got weekends off, but I had to go back to work at 12:01 on Monday morning, to stay on time. I was in a death spiral for a while there.

One morning, having overslept, I’d let myself get into a rush, and I’d backed my truck into a parking bollard at my first pickup. Damaged my hood, bumper, mirrors, and a bunch of other important bits. My truck was going to be in the shop for a few weeks, at least.

After my safety department got their pound of flesh, my dispatcher gave me some alternative work in the meantime, covering for an absent driver in a local position. Said position involved doing shuttle runs for a nearby factory, just taking truckloads of their product to a warehouse a few miles away, dropping them off, and bringing empty trailers back to the factory. No appointments, no paperwork, no live unloads. Just showing up and driving, for an hourly wage instead of mileage. 8-hour shifts, without having to sleep on the truck. A diamond in the rough I didn’t even know my company offered.

I asked to be moved to that position, and I was instantly approved, since dispatch wanted to replace that other driver anyway. That was late February 2020; shortly after I got acclimated to the new digs, the pandemic hit. I didn’t lose my job; my trucking company kept all of their shuttle drivers on-site at the factory. Said factory only ran a skeleton crew though, not putting out enough product to keep all of us busy. None of the drivers complained though, we embraced getting paid to sit on our asses with open arms.

For those Explorers and Tahoes, the only tell-tale sign is to look at the roof. Civilian models will have these roof rails, police models won’t.

Contingency, from Local58

Emergency broadcasts of any sort, fictitious or no, already put me on edge, but the idea of the US government having one ready to go, specifically to order people to commit suicide to spite some kind of existential threat, is especially chilling.

https://youtu.be/3c66w6fVqOI?si=JsF_-x6A65iwbaC_

I started to lose interest with Glenn’s dumpster thing, totally stopped when they made Negan’s introduction into a cliffhanger. In hindsight, I wish I’d stopped watching when Rick first arrives at Alexandria’s gate, before he ever goes inside.

Driving a Trabant through the desert. Occasionally shooting rabid bunnies.