And it is work, by, again, both definitions.

All right, honey. What would you call the constant care an infant needs, if it isn’t work?

American Heritage Dictionary; Work, definition:

Physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the production or accomplishment of something. ”Cleaning the basement was a lot of work."

Such effort or activity by which one makes a living; employment. ”looking for work."

Again, kids are work. And since, as another lemming pointed out, some people do it as an actual job, it counts under both definitions.

And if you do hie off to the Bahamas, you still have to bring that work along. You can’t just leave it behind and just have a relaxing vacation with nothing to do. (Unless you find a babysitter, but then you’re not doing the work of childcare anymore; now you’re using maternal leave for something that isn’t work).

Yeah, but you couldn’t just hall off to the Bahamas or whatever; you were still glued to the kid. Still looking after them 24/7.

Yes, it becomes routine, but It’s still a routine, you still have a lot to do, and again, no call-outs, you’re on-call all day. It may not be a ‘job’, but it is still work.

Babies are work. They are constant, screaming, pooping, work. Not even 9-5 work, because a very young infant requires around-the-clock care, so really it’s worse than work.

At least in a regular job you can punch out and leave work at the office and go home and relax, or call in sick if you don’t feel good. None of that with a baby. You have to always be there for them, all day, all night, no matter what, no matter how you feel.

I think we’re also running into an issue of language, however. ‘Time Off’, as in, not being in the office for an extended period of time, yes, maternity leave is that. ‘Time Off’ as in, a rest, relaxation, vacation, no. Maternity leave is most definitely not that.

This is why I’m not against term limits. He’s been our senator for a long time and always fought the good fight.

Sadly, this sort of thinking has been prevalent in authorship and publishing circles for quite a long time; Bloomsbury Publishing didn’t invent it.

And it’s not for no reason. As this article notes, even in a 2011 study books written by men tended to get more reviews and more favorable ones, and publishers tend to prefer publishing books by male authors.

Another modern example is Carolyn Janice Cherry, who, when she started writing Sci-Fi, was asked to use C. J. Cherryh, so as to be perceived as 1. male and 2. ‘exotic’ (the publisher felt ‘Cherry’ was far too common a name to grace a Sci-Fi series).

Don’t forget how it would mess with medical care, given how much medical equipment, especially things like gloves and masks that keep the doctors safe, are plastic.

Those are jesses used to let the handlers keep ahold of the bird while on their glove, as well as tether the bird to a perch. So basically the bird version of a leash.

‘Raises concern’ is just another way of saying ‘nothing will be done about it, don’t worry’.

Polite counterpoint: ‘echo chambers’ are more than that, I feel. It’s not that they are a group of like-minded people, so much as they police groupthink and don’t allow even moderately dissenting opinions.

See: r/conservative, and them permabanning anyone who so much as hints at a different mindset.

My trick for gnocchi? Ziplock with the corner cut off.

Well, you shouldn’t close yourself off just because you’re afraid. But don’t force yourself into trying to love either, just because you think you ‘need’ to be in a relationship. That sort of thing rarely goes well.

If you’re having trouble ‘getting back out there’, it’s probably easiest to develop hobbies, and meet people that way. Then you have a better chance of finding someone walking a similar path to you, which at the very least means you get a good friend out of the deal.

For me, ‘attraction’ is simply being physically attracted to them; a fluttering in the chest, so to speak, enjoying the eye candy…

When it changes to ‘love’ though, I found my thoughts to be more on wanting to take care of them, seeing them smile, being happy when they are happy. It goes beyond the superficial and the physical. I suppose the best way I can describe it is it makes my soul sing.

I think the Ancient Greeks, with their words for different kinds of love, were more on point with these sorts of things.

Chemistry is something different again. Lust and Love are all well and good, but you need more than that to make a relationship work. You need mental maturity on the part of both parties, the willingness to move beyond and work through problems, and something of a similar life trajectory in order to make love last.

Or just eat more good healthy food. I know UPS drivers that eat a bit of breakfast, don’t eat lunch, and then do a decent dinner. And of course they get a good workout every day. But they’re still overweight because a lot of the food they do eat is, well, fast food and junk food.

Five ball pythons; two Normals (Monty and Lucky) one Super Mojave (Hisui), one Jigsaw (Amber), one Mystic Spider (Jasper). And two Leopard Geckos (Spot and Rover).

And anyone who tells you reptiles don’t have personality is lying. Jasper is very snobbish and a homebody, Hisui is a coward but tries to be brave, Monty is laid-back and lazy, Amber is adventurous, and Lucky is very gung-ho (and food obsessed, because his previous owners starved him, then dumped him on the side of the road).

Rover is very confident, and Spot is a grumpy old man.