Make sure both people get tested before doing the deed.

Not one for spontaneity, eh? 😄

“I’ve had a great night, what do you say we keep this night going?”

“Sure, swab yourself here, here, and here and spit in this tube, and in a couple days, if all goes well, I will be so down for that!”

I got a vasectomy when I was already in for other surgery, but condoms were a mild annoyance with a more than acceptable tradeoff. They’re ready to go whenever, it’s a no-go for some if you won’t use one, and it’s as much for my own protection as it is for the other person. I wouldn’t necessarily expect someone to take my word on it that I got it done right off the bat either.

If you’re out dating, I think it’s just respectful to have them available. Different people have different comfort levels, so one should come prepared to accommodate.

The latex free ones aren’t a bad idea either if you need to keep some on hand. My partner has an allergy so I couldn’t use regular ones. They were more expensive, but I actually thought they were better, and it was still a low price to pay, considering what I got in return. She carried her own, but after we continued going out I wasn’t going to make her keep paying for them every time.

I’m with you. I’ve tried it a bunch of times since so many people seem to like cucumbers, cucumber water, cucumber in sushi, cucumber gin, and whatever else. I don’t like pickles either. I just cannot cuke.

I used to be about the slashers, but now I like stuff that makes you use your imagination. It’s hard to make something that will scare a large group of people, but if it gets you to engage your mind or feelings to fill in the gaps, it fills it in with things you do find scary.

I just watched Weapons last weekend. I wasn’t expecting much, it sounded like a simple plot, but it really created a disturbing vibe that was creepier to me than the on scene deaths. It kept my attention throughout and though the ending went gorey, I think it would have been just as good without showing the result.

I just recently got a PZ2 driver from Vessel for my Honda. It was remarkable how nice it was to use compared to a Phillips screw and driver. I felt so much torque could be applied while the grip stayed rock solid.

Also learned PZ screws are often used in cabinetry, and lo and behold, all my kitchen cabinet do in fact have that tell-tale X mark to indicate they are Pozidrive screws.

I’ve still not had the opportunity to use a square drive Roberston screw, but would still like to use them for something one day.

At this point they’ve been doing it long enough, if you haven’t blocked them, then you’re seeing them because you want to rage about it.

Seriously, other than the thorn, sxan’s comments are just regular stuff, nothing antagonistic or unusual. Go annoy people that have obviously commented without reading linked articles. That’s the real crime!

Using thorn: 100 years dungeon!

Lemmings: Screw corporate social media! Here we can do as we please!

sxan enters chat

Lemmings: Kill them!

I don’t like when people trash the OP in cases like this. Sometimes they are trolls or attention seekers, but at least at first, everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt. I appreciate you not crapping on him. He already has that covered, and more certainly isn’t going to fix him.

I only got out of my own mess because enough people were patient with me. If I can give some of that back, that’s just me passing some of that grace I was given forward.

Every day gives you another chance. It’s really freaking hard when you’re down in a hole like this. That’s why I said to check out that other post. Many of us have been in similar spots. We’re here to help, but we can’t give you answers cuz we aren’t you. You need to work every day to find what does work for you.

There’s no secret to being liked by women. It’s the same as being liked by anyone. You have to be someone likeable, not just fake likeable, and it starts with valuing yourself enough to lift yourself out of the mental place you are at. This is like anything else, you got to build from the bottom up with a strong foundation.

I don’t know your full story, but a skim through your posts makes it feel like you have some internal things you need to address, and I mean that in a helpful way.

You really sound like you would want to have a partner, but you seem to be chasing symptoms and not core issues.

I’d recommend reading some of today’s thread on overcoming incel-like behavior. I shared a bunch of my personal story on there in BodePlotHole’s reply, and reading that and some other comments in there might be of real value to you.

That’s about all the help any of these posts are going to get you, and most of it is not bad advice. There’s no quick-fix other than the stuff you’re already getting burnt out of trying. You’re going to have to put in real work and take yourself seriously if you want to get out of this hole you’re in and find a happier life.

Again, not here to lecture you, do what you want, but I think your solution is fixing you, not continuing to ignore things and smooth them over temporarily with prostitutes and substances.

I’d completely forgotten about the spray. I started with spray deodorants originally, but switched to sticks after getting tired of tasting the overspray.

After that I tried gels, but at least the early ones were always sticky feeling. Not sure if they got better as once I tried the basic green Degree, it had everything I’d wanted from an antiperspirant and thankfully they seemed to have never changed it in all this time.

I have almost exclusively used Degree Sport since it came out probably 20+ years ago. The sole variation has been sometimes I got the powder scent if the sport was sold out and I think I used 2 sample sticks of Old Spice for paid surveys.

The Degree just works, is dirt cheap, and has a texture that doesn’t feel funny. Don’t mess with success.

Aww so cute! It looks like it was its first Fourth of July, still small.

I’m right next to the park where they do the town fireworks and I always feel my terrible for the bats that seem to think it’s the end of the world.

The handful I’ve had to handle seemed very shy. For most, I’d be going to clean the juveniles’ cages, but after they saw me coming to pick them up, they’d usually climb the wall and I would just leave them there while I cleaned up and gave them food.

I had one run on me and be pretty feisty. It didn’t bite, but it did not want to be touched one bit.

We had a momma opossum have a surprise litter and since she was already in an outside pen, she got to raise the family there. They were all extremely pleasant and everyone loved them. Momma was a picky eater, but that was about it.

I’ve really enjoyed seeing how different individual animals’ personalities can be.

One of the last skunk babies we had sprayed someone 4 times before we figured out it was getting freaked out by the orange gloves. Any of the other gloves and it was fine.

I haven’t spent near as much hands on time with the oppossums as I had wanted, but the times I have had to grab them, they tend to act scary, but then not really do anything if their tough guy act didn’t get me to leave.

I’ve got tons of pics of them. I think they’re very adorable.

This is the last batch of joeys we incubated.

I grabbed this guy to move it to an outdoor enclosure.

This one is coming out after I dropped off breakfast.

It hasn’t been bad so far. The way I’m getting it is an interdermal shot instead of intermuscular, so it’s a shallow injection with a small needle. It feels like a bug bite, a minor skin bump, I didn’t have any itching, but it hurts really bad if I forget it’s there and scratch it by accident. The first injection is still visible, which I’ve never had from another shot, but otherwise I don’t feel it, so I’m thinking it’s not abnormal, but I’ll ask tomorrow.

I was extremely tired the next day, but I have been sleeping like crap all year and I had to drive 6 hours round trip, so it’s probably just that. The shots are very expensive, and the place I’m going is doing a clinic where we can use the same vial of vaccine for multiple people, so it’s saving us all a ton of money.

Even with all the gas money, I’m still saving at least $500 on the shots. Plus I stopped to see a pair of nice waterfalls and listened to a whole Discworld audiobook on trip one. Tomorrow I think I’ll hit up the state college’s store where they sell the ice cream they make in their special ice cream program and maybe hit up the wildlife rescue out there if the rain is light.

I always love to hear it. It makes my day better to talk to you guys about owls and misc other animals too.

Owl of the Year Qualifier starts sometime next month, so be sure to come play along!

Strictly not pets, but I’m getting my 2nd of 3 pre-exposure rabies vaccinations this weekend so I can work with skunks and the other rabies vector species (bats, coyotes, fox, groundhogs, raccoons) next spring!

While I haven’t been able to handle them, I have prepared their food. Out of all the baby animals formulas we have, skunk milk smells the best!

I joined up to work with the owls and other raptors, but all the animals we get are fascinating in their own ways.

“The Yakuza series itself was originally created with the concept of ‘Japanese people making a game for Japanese people,’ so we never imagined it would be accepted globally.”

Besides it being GTA with likeable protagonists, the specific Japanese stuff is what I really enjoy about it. The setting feels authentic because everything is in kanji, the onigiri aren’t jelly donuts, the characters and situations feel culturally different to me (American), and the social issues raised in the game lead me to learn about things going on in Japan, and now Hawaii since I’m working on Infinite Wealth now.

Much the way Golden Kamuy anime/manga got me interested in different Asian minority cultures, Yakuza has exposed me to many things I wouldn’t otherwise hear about in Western media or things made for a more generic audience. I wouldn’t call myself a weeb, so much as I just like to learn about anything I’ve never heard of before, and having media targeted to specific audiences makes me investigate questions about what comes up I’m unfamiliar with.

Plus I think the games just kick ass even if you aren’t interested in that stuff! A lot of story elements are still generic, but there’s a ton of fun fights, finishing moves, leveling up, a billion mini games, karaoke, and so on.

Yup, just an excuse for many to be outraged. If the shooter was the most liberal dude on the planet, that’s not a reason to go after anyone deemed ultra-liberal, whatever that means anymore. Biden/Kamala is as far left as a communist or social democrat to these kinds of people, but as we see, those 3 groups don’t get along from a leftist perspective.

Plus the shooter was like 20 years old. How deep is your political ideology at 20? If his family is MAGA as nobody seems to dispute, he’s been raised Republican more than he’s had any chance to form any real opinions, so the excuse is really flimsy for either side to be placing much blame politically.

As unbiased as I can be, if you liked Kirk, it sucks that he was killed. But you know who did it, and you caught him and he admitted it. That’s more closure than most people who have loved ones murdered get. He broke a law, murder, everyone seemingly agrees is a no-no. Punish the dude according to law, the end. Any more than that, and you’re using it for your own selfish purposes.