have you been to uni lately? that doesn’t exist anymore really.

most professors are adjuncts working 80 hour weeks for below minimum wage.

my life is pretty much perfect.

i just don’t have a wife or kids. that is all that is missing. but when i date my happiness with my life is a major turn off for most women I meet. Apparently I’m supposed to be miserable with my life because I’m not a billionaire or something.

i feel like i’m the only person in this thread who never knew anyone dumb enough to read that crap, let alone enjoy it or think it’s great.

must be nice. never had that experience. been hospitalized a few times and nobody showed up, not even family. they just called and told me i was a selfish jerk for getting sick/hurt.

that’s what most erotica is like. and yeah it basically is a magic wizard porn fest after the first book.

because it’s basically erotica

Vonnegut and Haruki Murakami.

I read three books by each author and was shocked at how boring/bad/repetitive they were. I will never understand why people are so obsessed with these authors. I guess they just like the simplistic/repetitive stuff they do. I probably would have liked them when I was 16, but I read them as a 30 year old adult.

pretty much. that’s why if you have a few million you can pretty much buy a visa/residency for any country.

Porn is just another tool. People use it in lots of different ways.

Way too many people generalize it’s use by other people, mostly because of the shame around sex and sexual identity.

But that’s also true of any media or medium. Tons of people still shame TV or video games as evil/bad inherently. And judge others consumption but feel victimized when they are judged for their consumption preferences.

Doing stuff. Exercise, learning, projects, etc.

I can’t understand people who want to do nothing. As in, sit there passively and watch a screen and/or drink and complain about their life. I feel like a lot of people do this and it is why they are miserable and unhappy. At least that’s how it comes across to me. I only ever want to do that if I’m exhausted, injured, or sick. In fact I most of the last month watching TV because I was injured, and then very ill for about a total of 3 weeks. It was super depressing/miserable, I also was so weak I had to get delivery of meals/groceries. Blows my mind that many people I meet want to be like that 24/7, like I went on a date two weeks ago with a lady and she said 3 weeks sitting around doing nothing sounded blissful to her… I was going absolutely insane.

I find it hard to make friends because I want to do things and most people… don’t. Most of my friends are very active people, but it feels like the vast majority of socialization among people is just complaining and drinking. My Thanksgiving holiday was 3 days of listening to people complain, watch sports, and drink.

I have on a regular basis. So much so I quit a lot of stuff to avoid their endless insane stupidity and their raw emotional takes that are totally delusional.

nah this is exactly why i gave up a lot of social stuff. too many bubble-brain idiots who become violent the second they hear an opinion or an idea that they mildly disagree with. it’s not just young people either.

i never dealt with such craziness 10+ years ago, but it started exploding with social media growth and is rampant now.

we only ever put the heat above 64 if we had comnpany and that was to 68.

never had central AC my entire life.

isn’t that because of taylor swift?

i don’t record anything. people tell me i’m a selfish asshole or i’m a liar if i don’t have vids or pics of stuff that i did.

i spent most of my teens and 20s at the movies, 5 bucks a movie was easy to justify. i went religiously every other week.

now it’s 20+ bucks and there are always assholes kids on their phones or talking during the movie. i go maybe once a year now. i rarely have a good time. my 4K OLED tv w/ 4K is a way better picture than most every theatre. i have a better time going to the library to rent a blu ray for free than I do going to the movies.

because you’re buying cheap non stick stuff.

you can. it’s just a lot of work. you also have to clean it without soap.

cast iron isn’t ‘easy’ to use or maintain.

non stick is fine if it’s seasoned or anodized.

i have anodized non stick and it’s worked for over a decade. it’s not cheap though, easily $80 a pot/pan.

Everything has it’s pros and cons. There is no ‘better’. A stocked kitchen will have variety of different cookware types, a professional kitchen will have more than one heat type as well. most people for whatever reason, only use one cookware type and convince themselves it’s the ‘best’, but that isn’t true at all. i’ve taken professional cooking classes and they use every type of cookware and tell you to but certain types for certain styles/dishes.

choose your heat source first, then your cookware. non-ferrous cookware won’t work on induction stoves.

personally i have non stick, stainless steel, cast iron, and ceramic. i don’t bother with carbon steel because i don’t do high heat cooking that works best with it. i have a couple of basic alloy stock pots too, because they are lighter.