Over COVID I bought a new guitar. It had been probably a decade since I stopped playing and suddenly found myself with a lot of free time. This absolutely was the best impulse buy as it reinvigorated my love of playing and I’ve since made it part of my daily ritual. It’s done wonders for my well being and mental health.

I would counter this and say any woman with a career can absolutely not show emotion. They’re expected to behave like men, which are in turn not supposed to show emotion in the workplace. It’s less of a double standard and more of a toxic standard.

I don’t mind that, but what I do mind is that it now costs as much to make food at home as it did to dine out two years ago.

Some of my favorites are

“Trust” by LOW

“October Rust” by Type O Negative

“Welcome Oblivion” by How to Destroy Angels

“Dusk” by The The

and more recently “DECIDE” by Djo

One day at a time.

Some say the slam was so hard the shockwaves were felt on the other side of the globe.

I’ve been on a few. My family loves them, but I am not particularly fond of them. They’re a super convenient way to see a lot of tourist attractions in a short period of time if you find the right one, but your time is limited at each port. I do feel guilty about the ecological impact of the cruise industry, not to mention some of the working conditions of the staff can’t be ideal. I am an introvert who dislikes crowds, I have a fear of open water, and I get motion sick easily. So they’re generally a pretty miserable experience for me, personally. It’s even worse if there’s high pressure sales or lousy patrons aboard. For example I was aboard one that really pushed jewelry and vacation package sales. The at sea days were just long super sale events. I kind of felt a side eye by some of the sales people, like they thought I was going to steal something. Truth was I didn’t want any of the crap they were selling. Dining can be hit or miss. The more affordable the cruise, the less tolerable the food is over time. I’ve had very few run-ins with grumpy people, but it happens. People overall can be rude following rules, such has hogging the sun chairs all day long, every day, or bringing noisy kids into adult only areas. If I can help it, I would prefer to not go on one ever again, but my family may drag me kicking and screaming again. I do think the right cruise could be fun if you were going with friends instead of family. A adults only party cruise could be fun in my mind. Keeping track of kids or boomer family makes the experience less enjoyable. If I were to do that, I would pack loads of Dramamine. Drink packages are a rip-off unless you’re an alcoholic. I had one once and it took a lot of drinking just to break even.