HomesliceAbe

Mood.

My parents would preach something fierce about the dangers of even interacting with strangers online (even just having a generic "how are you" back and forth). In my 20s, I started playing Tibia and really enjoyed the fact that I could interact with people from around the world. I learned plenty of things that I simply didn't learn in school. When my folks learned I was talking to people I didn't know, they were appalled. I hate to think how they would have reacted to the knowledge that I shared my first name with some of those people (it's a veeeeery common name where I'm from).

Then my mom got a Twitter account. Then joined group DMs with like-minded people. Then she started giving out her first name, then her cell number. Then she shared our address. I'm still salty. Luckily nothing bad has ever come of it. The group seems like they're wonderful people and my mom is able to turn to them when she's not feeling the best and vice versa.

I took an introduction to nursing class in high school where we had to know the names of all the bones, the chambers of the heart, CPR, etc. During one particular topic, one of the students kinda snapped and exclaimed "I'm too stupid for this!" The teacher, a badass ER nurse who was a single mom, rode a Harley, and had seen everything from electrocuted flesh to years-old bed sores, simply said "Good. That means you're learning."

I work with special needs kids, and whenever they complain about feeling stupid, I pass along that wisdom, but in a bit nicer way: "You're not stupid, you're just learning."

Highly recommend the Piano Guys. They mix classical music with modern hits.

I've never understood this. What're they gonna do? Vote to make crimes legal?

I forget to eat all the time due to hyper focusing. I'll hyperfocus on an activity as a way to avoid doing a chore, and then the chore never gets done. I'll start hyper focusing at 8pm and next time I look at the clock it's 3am. It absolutely has drawbacks. The best way to get out of it (for me, at least) is to set an alarm (if I can remember).

Meowdy

Well, years ago Hidden Valley set up a hunt a la Willy Wonka style, but with only one golden ticket in one bottle of ranch, only sold to people living in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, the Dakotas, and participating stores in Nebraska and Missouri. The person who finds and comes forward with the golden ticket gets to learn the location of the Hidden Valley. We're always in a scramble to increase our own chances of finding that ticket, so we have to use it on everything we can get our hands on. Some say it was all a trick by the company, but the true believers like myself know it's out there waiting for it's winner.

1. "I promise I will be loyal and true to the flag of the USA. The flag is the symbol of the USA, and I promise I will be loyal and true to the USA as well. The USA is one being, which cannot be broken apart. The USA is watched over and protected by God (assuming they mean the Christian god, but it could be any). The USA holds true the notion that freedom and justice should be given to everyone."

2. Just don't say it. I completely skip over the "under God" part. Or if you don't agree with any of it, you don't have to say it.

3. There are no legal ramifications for abstaining from pledging, but you may suffer some peer pressure. Freedom of speech (or not speech) does not mean freedom from consequences, just freedom from legal punishment enacted by the federal government.

4. Same as above. Generally what I do (I work in a high school that says it every morning) is sit quietly, and I encourage students to do it as well if they choose not to participate. You may not believe in it yourself, but I think it's good to be respectful to those who do choose to participate.

I think the first my sister and I played was A Link to the Past. We didn't know what we were doing, and we didn't know why the princess and the green guy had the same name... We really got into the series when we watched our dad play Ocarina of Time. Detailed graphics, 3D, a day-night cycle, horse back riding... That game had it ALL.

My dad wears this when he mows the lawn because he's had a few melanoma spots removed. So... cancer I guess.

Their loss.