Oh, continuing down that line of thinking leads to far worse then “kinda fucked up.” If the judeo christian deity exists and is accurately described by their books than it is a total monster not worthy of praise or devotion…

What I understand about the judeo christian god is that they are believed to have created everything that has ever been or will ever be. They have total knowledge of everything past present and future, and they “knew me” prior to them creating me, knew what kind of person I would be, and knew without doubt that I wouldn’t believe in or worship them… so they created me with full knowledge that I’ll spend eternity being tortured in hell. What kind of benevolent deity brings a creature into existence just so they can be tortured? If that’s not full blown fucked up, then I don’t know what is.

When you’re brainwashed from birth, it’s difficult to recognize you’ve been brainwashed.

I have no problem tipping wait staff or bartenders for the service, but I’ll be damned if the cashier at my local Chinese restaurant is getting a tip because they handed me a bag of carryout food I ordered online… tipping has definitely gotten out of control.

But are you sure you do?

Or even simpler things that people take for granted, like antibiotics, which weren’t discovered until 1942 and weren’t widely available until 1945. Can you imagine how awful things like strep throat or a minor infection were to deal with before penicillin.

Have they never been to a restaurant, retail shop in a downtown area, or countless other businesses? My local hospital even has awnings over some of the entrances.

So they have a different name for it, but awnings are fairly universal… at least in every country I’ve ever traveled to.

How do you not know what an awning is?

Just wait until you hit forty, and you’ll have most, if not all, of those.

Changing their plug design with every new generation of products has created a lot of e-waste as the older plugs are no longer usable, as well as some countries have deemed this practice as a form of planned obsolescence which they have policies/laws against. So the EU basically told Apple that if their new products didn’t switch to a universal standard plug design (currently being the usb-c), then they would not be allowed to sell them in Europe. I’m guessing Apple is now trying to pass this off as their idea.

There have been over 18,000 different gods, goddesses, and various animals or objects worshipped by humanity since we started writing our history, and likely countless more that have been lost to time. The majority of these worshipped deities are no longer believed in, and the fact we as a species have been unable to move beyond the fairytales of omnipotent gods told during the bronze age will never cease to amaze me.

Religion in all its various current forms is a tool of manipulation used against the masses to keep them complacent and scared. That being said, even though I tend to lean towards an atheististic view, I will concede that the possibility exists of a higher life form we may consider as a god. If such a life form does exist, it would be so far beyond our ability to comprehend that any claim to know what it expects of us is pure human foolishness or intended maliciously to control the ignorant.

I live my life by the simple principle that if a god exists and is a just god then I’ll be judged by my actions in this life, whether I caused harm to others or lived well doing what I’m able to make the world better, and not on whether or not I believed in and worshipped them. If a god exists that would punish me for all eternity for not worshipping them, then they are not a just god, and as such would be unworthy of such devotion. Bottomline is we will never know as long as we live, and with as short as our lives are, why waste them worrying about what we can never know. Just live your life well, be kind to others, and be the best you that you can be.

Edit: fixed a typo

The first year was the roughest as I adapted to the new normal. The second year was all about rediscovering myself as an individual. It was somewhere during that second year that I began feeling happier, and in the years since then that happiness has multiplied.

If I can offer some advice, don’t go out and make any major life decisions for the next year or so. You probably won’t be thinking soundly for awhile and don’t want to do anything major you’ll regret once you are. Secondly don’t go running off looking for another long-term serious relationship, you will need some time to rediscover who you are as an individual as people have a tendency to lose that sense of self during long relationships. I made both these common mistakes, and they’re among the few things I’ve done that I regret in my life.

Lastly remember what you’re doing is probably the best thing for your son as every study I’ve ever read says children are better off with two happy parents who are divorced over those who have unhappy parents who stayed together for the child’s sake.

Stay strong. Your world is being shaken up right now, but things will settle down and once you’re on the otherside you will likely realize, like me, that you’re happier. Best of luck.

Divorces are rough, but things do get better. I’m 4-5 years out since mine and I’ve never been happier, it was worth every penny spent.

I’m leaning roaches just because I won’t have as much difficulty explaining why I killed them.

Well then, guess I’m fucked… I’m allergic to lavender.

I grew up outside Chicago and hate big cities and the endless urban sprawl, moved to a tiny town in Wisconsin with less than 7k people and had similar experiences as you described. Currently living in a nice big/small town of about 50k and loving it. It’s big enough that most people don’t know me or my business, but small enough it still has that small town vibe to it. As an added bonus I’m only an hour or two away from large cities, so not an unreasonable drive if there’s something fun happening that I want to attend… I’ll probably live here for the rest of my life.

I’m in my early 40’s. I’m still hanging in there, and I do still enjoy gaming, just not with the same passion or levels of enjoyment I once had. Every once in a while a new game drops that will bring it back but only for a little while though.

You’re getting older unfortunately. I’ve been watching this happen among my friends for a long while now. They all slowly grow up and leave gaming behind replacing it with other hobbies or interests. Your free time becomes more limited the older you get and the more responsibilities you aquire in life (career, spouse, children, etc.). I’m one of the last hold outs from my childhood friend group, and even I’m slowly starting to lose interest in gaming. I don’t think I’ll ever give it up entirely, but it definitely doesn’t hold the same appeal for me that it once had.

I was starting to think I was the only one. This is the first I’ve seen someone else mention it.