Oh damn, I’m starting on the Boomer habit of complaining about Zoomer culture when it’s actually Alpha culture.
It feels like yesterday, Boomers were complaining about how annoying millennial kids were, when we were actually adults in our 20s/30s at the time. I’m just realizing that was over a decade ago, and now I’m doing the same thing to Zoomers. Someone please stop time before I get any older; I want to get off.
Had to guess on the boomerang. I’ve seen boomerangs but didn’t know that’s what they’re called nor have I ever posted one.
I’ve never heard of a “boomerang” that wasn’t referring to the Australian tool/toy. I totally guessed on that one too. I don’t post videos to any social media platform, so I was totally out of the loop on that one.
Skibidi toilet? As a 39-yr old millennial, I’m aware that was a thing like a year ago, but I assumed it was a Zoomer meme or something. I can’t get past that captcha.
EDIT: Upon looking at it again, I see it just wants me to type in “what is skibidi toilet” into Google, not answer what it is. Ugh, I’m turning into my Silent Generation/Boomer parents.
^ This. I have 3,225 games on Steam and I’m always finding more that I want to try out.
I tried to sell my car on eBay back in 2008 - the first thing I ever attempted to sell on their site. I’ve bought a few random things from eBay over the years, including my car 3 years prior.
My account was immediately flagged for potential fraud and locked down. The only way they’d clear it was if I photocopied my driver’s license and mailed it to them; they wouldn’t accept a digital copy.
I just created a new account and have been using that ever since. I ended up selling my car outside of eBay; I’m never attempting to sell a vehicle through their site again.
I use Win+Pause as a shortcut to bring up the system menu in Windows. I’ve used it so much over the years, it takes me a minute to figure out how to find that menu when I’m using a keyboard that doesn’t have a Windows key.
I also use Home and End about equally. Quick way to scroll back and forth across text or files/folders.
Notice: Some moderate spoilers for the two media sources listed below:
Book: Misery, by Stephen King.
This is a horror story about a bestselling author whose car gets buried in a snowstorm. He’s rescued by a huge fan of his, but it turns out the fan is the crazy stalker type, and she keeps the author trapped in her farm house, demanding he write her perfect version of a sequel to his novel series.
I was reading it during class in high school one day and I got to the part about the “hobbling.” Anyone who saw the movie version remembers this part as where the crazy lady takes a sledge hammer to the captive author’s foot and breaks it at the ankle, effectively hobbling him so he can’t run away anymore.
But the book was worse. It was so much worse.
In the book, she takes an axe and cuts his foot off. But because it’s a dull rusty axe, it takes her several swings to effectively hack it off, all the while the author is screaming bloody murder, unable to stop this woman from painfully hacking away at his foot. The way Stephen King described the way the axe embedded deep in the author’s leg and squeaked on his bones as she dislodged it for another swing… /shudders
I had to set the book down for a moment. My teacher asked me if I was okay, because he said I was suddenly as white as a sheet of paper. When I couldn’t find the words to explain what was wrong with me, he told me to go to the nurse. He sent someone to help me walk there, as I was light-headed and wobbly, and having trouble standing on my own. Never in my life have I ever had a book affect me so physically and emotionally in my life, and I’m a huge fan of gory and grotesque horror.
TV show: Season 4 finale of Dexter.
I really enjoyed Dexter, a show about a serial killer who lived by a code and tried to only murder bad people. And my all-time favorite character on the show was his girlfriend, Rita.
When the series began, she was a broken shell of a human being. Which Dexter preferred, because the relationship was simple. She didn’t need much affection or attention and was the perfect cover to make him appear to have normal relationships without having to fully commit to someone emotionally.
But as the series went on, Rita became stronger, more capable, and more confident and outspoken. Through a relatively healthy relationship with Dexter, she was learning how to heal and grow as a person. She was even changing Dexter for the better; he found himself feeling attached to her and daydreaming about giving up the serial killer life to settle down and be a good father and husband.
Throughout season 4, Dexter met his match in another serial killer, Arthur Mitchell, who also had a family of his own, except he kept them under his control by fear and intimidation. It was an incredible acting performance by John Lithgow, who up until this point, I had only known as the funny man on 3rd Rock from the Sun. He was absolutely terrifying as a serial killer!
In the season 4 finale, Dexter finally gets his hands on Arthur and dispatches him, as he’s done with many other bad people. But the finale twist was that Arthur had gotten his hands on Rita shortly beforehand, and Dexter returns home to find her in the bathtub, murdered.
I was so enraged that they killed off my favorite character that I shut off the TV and never watched another episode of Dexter again. Which was apparently a wise decision, as the show apparently took a nosedive after that season and never recovered. To this day, most fans agree that Dexter ended at season 4.
CD-R, all the way.
I’m not gonna waste time constantly rebuilding playlists on the same CDs. I get my ideal track list built, burn it, then that’s my one CD for that playthrough. If I come up with another one, I’ll burn another CD. Music sets an emotional tone for situations; I have a lot of good memories that I can relive just by playing the CDs I listened to on repeat around that time.
If being thrifty is your game, then the CD-RW is a better choice. Yeah, it’s more expensive, but you only need one. You just rebuild your playlist anytime you want something different. Unlike CD-Rs, which require a new disc for every single playlist. That cost adds up over time.
But that’s all inconsequential, as burning CDs was only efficient 20 years ago. There are much better ways to transfer and listen to music nowadays. Heck, MP3 players pretty much replaced CDs as a better way to listen to music on the go, and those are outdated now too.
Nowadays, If I want music on the go, I either copy a few albums to my smartphone, or connect to Plex and stream them from my home computer.
That’s the route I took. I recently bought a 48" 4K monitor, hooked a mini PC up to it, and now I stream my movie and TV show collection through Plex. I still have Internet access on my “TV,” but I’m in control of what pops up (I block all ads on my home network). I just use a small wireless keyboard and mouse instead of a remote.
I haven’t actually owned a TV since about 2008. I have better media options through computers, and the technology just keeps getting better. Cable and public access television are a pain because you’re constantly bombarded with ads. With my own computer, I can circumvent ads and get a solid viewing experience.
There are already a lot of good answers/opinions/experiences/etc. here and I don’t want to rehash all of that, but I will mention this:
If you’ve heard the expression, “blood is thicker than water,” you should know that the original unedited expression was actually, “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.” Basically meaning that the friendships (covenants) you make in life are stronger bonds than the family you just happened to be born into.
You can’t choose your biological family, but you can choose your friends and (non-bio) family. Don’t let people drag you down just because they’re related to you. Cut the dead weight out of your life, regardless of relation, and live your best life. If your dad doesn’t care about you, then why should you exhaust any energy caring about him? He hasn’t earned your attention, nor the attention of his grandkids.
My wife came from a poor trailer trash family and felt obligated, as the only person who made something of herself, to attempt to support her grandparents (who raised her), mother, and 3 siblings. But it only led to greed, gluttony, and dishonesty. Eventually, she had to cut ties with most of them because they started to feel entitled in sharing her “wealth.”
We had to draw the line when one of her pregnant sisters was about to have her baby taken away by the state. (I believe it was her 4th one the state had taken from her at this point; she had been deemed an unfit parent, but kept pumping out kids regardless.) My wife’s family tried to guilt us into adopting the kid, just to keep him in the family. She finally put her foot down. Taking in illegitimate children from her family was just trapping her with the burden of her siblings (who were already trying to pawn off their kids to their grandmother). My wife cut ties and now only speaks to her siblings (and mother) if they call. But she makes zero effort to stay in touch otherwise, and she won’t give them anything except functional Christmas gifts - the one time of year she indirectly contacts them.
My wife had deep-seated anxiety for years, worrying about supporting her deadbeat family. Now she’s low-contact and made a rule not to support them financially. She’s living stress-free now and is in a much better place for it. Their lives are their own and she refuses to feel responsible for the horrible choices they’ve made.
I fall 2 feet onto my bed. I’m lying on my right side, browsing Lemmy from a tablet right now.
When I was a kid, it was one and done. I grabbed a clean towel from the bathroom closet every day. Even though I was clean coming out of the shower, I also knew that showering loosens dead skin cells, which I was rubbing all over the towel. Over time, those skin cells would decompose, giving off a musty smell. I learned that from my dad, who almost never changed his towel. Ick. It made me extra paranoid about reusing them, so I swapped towels daily.
When I became an adult and had to do my own laundry, I realized just how miserable it was trying to wash 7 towels every week. (Why did my mother let me use so many towels as a kid?!) So I started reusing them. I used a towel for a week before throwing it in the laundry.
Now, I’m recently retired in my late 30s and shower every 2-3 days (or anytime I leave the house). Since I’m not showering as frequently, I will reuse a towel for about 2-3 weeks before replacing it. If I go to dry off after a shower and the towel smells a bit musty, I’ll toss it on the floor and grab a fresh towel instead. I think I’m on week 4 with my current towel, but it still smells clean, so I’m not too worried about getting a few more showers out of it.
Hey Arnold! ended in 2004. Arnold’s been gone for a long time now.
I love tinkering with computers. Building, fixing, upgrading… software, hardware, networking, it’s all fun. I enjoy the troubleshooting process and the satisfaction that comes from solving a problem. I spent 20 years as an IT guy in the US Air Force and I enjoyed every minute of fixing computers while serving.
Now I’m recently retired and I could easily make 2-3x as much money working IT in the civilian sector, but… I just really enjoy doing it for fun. I don’t want to go back into a corporate environment and be told how and when and what to fix or upgrade.
My wife and I are planning to build our “forever home” (the last home we ever plan to live in) and we’re in the design phase right now. I can’t wait to wire the place for modern computer systems. I’d like to build my own server suite in a cold basement room and then network the whole house so I can automate tasks anywhere in the house. Open all my curtains from an app on my phone, answer the door, play music in any room (or all rooms) through an intercom system, stream movies/TV shows/video games to any TV in the house, etc. I’m definitely building a giant theater room in my basement, at least big enough to hold a dozen people, maybe more.
I’m excited for the possibilities that wiring my own house present. I also want to make it upgradeable over time, in case better standards for technology come out. Maybe run all cables through PVC pipes in the walls, so I can easily push new cables through without having to tear apart the walls.
Yeah, I’m really enjoying retirement as a former IT guy. I could make more money going back to work, but then I’ll have less time and freedom to engage in my hobbies. What’s the point in having more money if you don’t have the time to enjoy it? So I’m living off my govt pension now, which is more than adequate for me to live comfortably, and I’m just enjoying retired life.
For me personally, video games are interactive stories. I love movies and TV shows, and being able to have some level of control over the action is an amazing experience for me!
I’m also not competitive and don’t care so much about scores, rankings, or online multiplayer vs. games. Just give me an intriguing plot and let me be the protagonist in it. I’ll play that game for hours on end.
I don’t like games that are essentially movies with a few interactive scenes between clips, though. It has to be really interesting if I’m going to sit through a game like that. I’m here to play, not to watch. The only series that’s been interesting enough for me to deal with hundreds of cutscenes dispersed every few minutes throughout is the Metal Gear Solid series.
I realize I don’t speak for the whole gaming community, but this is my personal view.
The hair is styled differently.
Yeah you should let your stuff cool before washing it… but how many of us do that?
I used to love putting hot pans in the sink with cool water. Loved the sizzle and steam it created, and it was faster than waiting for it to cool down.
Then I would complain about all my pans being cheap and warped. I couldn’t cook evenly because there was one bulge that got direct contact with the oven and the rest of the pan rocked back and forth and either burned or undercooked all my food.
Until one day, my wife pointed out that putting a hot pan in cool/cold water causes them to warp. She got mad at me because some of the ruined pans were actually expensive quality brands. I’ve learned my lesson; no more hot pans in the sink for me. Let them cool a bit before you wash them.
I don’t use shower gel. I’m so hairy, my shampoo is used all over my body. Does the job just fine.
For deodorant, I use Old Spice, the Fiji scented one. I brought my wife to the store and asked her to bring me a deodorant scent that she enjoyed, and this is the one she landed on.
I make sure to use just the deodorant type, not the deodorant/antiperspirant. The antiperspirant stuff sticks to my armpits and clothes, and takes a few days to fully scrub off. I don’t sweat enough to bother with it.
George Lucas has said in the past that he had bigger plans for the original film(s), but the technology to pull it off didn’t exist yet. So he had to make do with what effects he could. He even invented many film effects for the original trilogy, creating his own visual effects studio to pull it off.
In the '90s, he realized CG technology had advanced enough that he could finally fill in the gaps that he couldn’t do back in the '70s, and so he released the Special Edition trilogy, which he considered the final and complete masterpiece.
Of course, a lot of people had experienced 2 decades of the original Star Wars trilogy by that point, so adding changes now seemed like inappropriately extending what was already considered a masterpiece.
George Lucas was never satisfied with his films anyway. He kept changing the story, even as they were filming, and it was purely by accident that they ended up being a massive hit. (Which is probably why his prequel trilogy was so hated by fans) I remember reading once that his original plot starred Luke Starkiller, and Leia was supposed to be General Organa and not related to Luke. Also, Luke was originally supposed to fall to the dark side and become the new villain, replacing Darth Vader. Mark Hamill was excited about that twist, until it was changed for a happier ending. He would later go on to play villains in other films, being famously known as the voice of Joker from Batman The Animated Series.
Also, I watched a documentary on VHS back in the early '90s where George Lucas laid out his plan for a 9-movie series. The first trilogy would be about the crumbling of the Galactic Republic, then the second trilogy would be about rebel forces fighting against the new Empire, then the final trilogy would be about rebuilding the Galactic Republic.
But George Lucas thought it would be boring watching 3 whole films about a government slowly collapsing, so he decided to jump into the meat of the conflict and start with the middle trilogy. It was a wild success, even if the plot kept changing as he was filming, and so when he got to the prequel trilogy, he decided to make it about one of the biggest characters from his original trilogy - Vader. Which changed the focus of the prequel films and made them less boring than just a series about space politics, but not nearly as interesting as his original trilogy.
Star Wars fans are a pretty contentious bunch, and the hate for the prequel series caused George Lucas to give up his dream of making 9 films. He eventually sold the franchise to Disney, who immediately started up their own sequel trilogy, plus a ton of spinoff TV series. And it’s been pretty strange since then. Episode 7 was basically a modern remake of episode 4, to draw back the fans of the original trilogy. Then Rian Johnson was given the reins for Episode 8, and he hated seeing the same cast of characters in every Star Wars film, so he tried to branch out away from familiar faces. It didn’t go well, so Episode 9 shoe-horned in as many familiar characters and stories as it could, to win back fans. The whiplash between films made for a pretty awful and disjointed series.
Personally, I’m on board with the idea that the original trilogy (in it’s unedited state) is the ONLY Star Wars series. The rest, I just consider to be non-canon fan films. There’s so much that could’ve been done to add onto the original series. And even the official book series (before Disney marked them as non-canon) had great additions to the plot. But then we got a prequel series about the biggest badass in the galaxy… and it turns out he’s just a whiny brat who’s manipulated into being a bad guy. Then the sequel series was all over the place. And the spinoff TV shows have been hit-or-miss. So yeah, I consider them all non-canon, including George’s Special Edition. And I look forward to seeing the original unedited trilogy in 4K one day.