Congratulations, that’s an amazing accomplishment!! I hope it makes it easier to see your own worth, and I hope it sets you up for more of the physical self-care that will give you more and better years down the road. Great job!

Call your local fire department non-emergency number. I noticed an old device that my kid was using had developed bad battery bulge while on vacation. The fire chief said to bring it to him and they’d dispose of it. If they don’t want it, they should know who locally can safely handle it.

I’m sorry to hear you’re at where you’re at right now. I sincerely hope venting and getting some feedback makes your tomorrow a little bit better.

I grew up with some of the same feelings you have. It took a lot of time and distance to stop inflicting the same mental abuse on myself that others had (and some days it’s still a work in progress). I hope you get there too, someday.

“The horrors persist, but so do I.”

Your issue doesn’t seem to be the greeting itself. Please - talk with someone about your potential depression. Maybe someday you can say honestly “I’m OK.” and it’ll sit better.

The kind of people who came to Lemmy when Reddit enshittified are also the kind of people who went to Linux when Windows enshittified. Tech savvy enough to figure it out and zealous enough to stick with it, even if the FOSS solution objectively isn’t as great. (I’m that kind of people, it’s me.)

I love the snow covered scenery if it’s like 30 F (-1 C) outside. We got our first big snow yesterday, and it’s definitely an improvement over browns and grays we’ve had for a month. When it’s negative degrees F though, that can piss right off.

My favorite season is spring, when the very first spring ephemeral flowers pop through the slush and mud, before the tree leaves bud out. I wouldn’t want to miss that.

We made it less than two weeks without a new dog; the silence around the house was what did it. We were so lucky to have found our latest sweetheart at the humane society. She loves everyone, is smart as I’ve ever seen, and is so easy around people. Sometimes good things can come from bad ones.

Just putting it out there - this is one of those situations where a story about the inner drama of clown school (with pictures if possible) could elevate you to an internet legend. I personally had no idea it was a multi-year process.

Joel McHale might play you in the movie adaptation. This lady could make a cameo once she’s out of prison and deported back to the US. Maybe don’t startle her on set, though.

I shall seize one of his yachts (probably metaphorically) and sail under the Jolly Roger when enshittification comes for Steam. Until then, it’s a pretty solid solution for buying PC games.

Steam Deck is also amazing, in that it’s as simple as a Switch to get playing but open enough through desktop mode to do so much more. As your customer, thanks for not treating me like a paste eating delinquent.