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Joined 1 month ago
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Cake day: March 19th, 2025

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  • The real horror is that the person panics when they can’t find their phone. They are just chilling at home, they know the phone is somewhere in the home, they don’t need it right now and they don’t have to leave anywhere.

    The phone will turn up. It’s just a gadget, you won’t miss it if it’s gone for an hour or so.

    (I may be jaded from misplacing stuff so frequently)



  • I know this is old, but I liked pondering the question because I made me sappy as heck, so I’ll share it with you:

    Music is like a cheat-code to life, especially my internal life. The music I listen to determines my emotions, my energy level, my focus and drive, and what activities I want to do. Without music playing I’m like an empty shell. With music I recognise my existence.

    I am not musical myself and I know nothing of production or quality, only what I enjoy and how it makes me feel. I was born to be an audience, and that’s a huge part of who I am and how I operate daily.




  • It’s crazy. My short stint working in child care I would always call the male parent first if I had their contacts, but it seems deeply ingrained in people to consider a mother “parent” and father “helper”.

    Maybe they’d be more comfortable calling you if you called them every day “just to check up, to see how the kid is doing”, making it abundantly (and annoyingly) clear that you have nothing but time for your kid. And encourage your wife to respond “Have you called the primary contact?” whenever someone calls her.

    I only have my own phone calendar, no shared alternatives unfortunately, but there is a multitude of options when you search for “family calendars”. Or create a personal calendar for your child with both of you having the password and colour code it for who is responsible for each entry.




  • Hmm. Probably no one.

    Small amounts are weird to need “no questions asked” and large amounts are too large to give away “no questions asked”. Partly for me financially, but mostly because there is a not insignificant risk of overdose if you give our large sums of money to someone being cagey about why they need it.

    If they can’t tell me what a significant amount of money is for, it’s probably because it’s something I don’t want my money to go to, so I’m not inclined to agree under those premises.

    At the least I would need a very good reason for why I can’t ask questions (“I’m preparing to vacation as a fugitive, and don’t want you to have to testify”), but by then there is no longer no questions asked…


  • Talk through how you want to deal with this in your family, but here are some suggestions:

    Give daycare, pediatrics, classmates parents, and family and friends your contact info and instruct them to call you first hand for appointments, meetings or emergencies. Don’t ignore calls from babysitters, daycare or medical staff regardless of how important your current meeting is. You’re the primary contact.

    A lot of them will still probably call your wife first no matter how hard you enforce this, so enforcing this will split the burden and responsibility.

    Make sure you know your child’s SSN, birthday, allergies, sizes, current number of socks, favourite toys, and teachers and friends. Dress them for the weather they will be in throughout the day, and always pack extra because they will get wet or dirty or lose stuff.

    Keep a family calendar where you can see appointments, and make sure to take a majority of those appointments if possible (plenty of responsibility will be pushed onto your wife regardless).

    Add playmates and family members birthdays and other events to the calendar, and go shopping for gifts at least a few weeks before, without being prompted by anything other than the calendar. Wrap the gifts yourself or pay for wrapping at the store.

    Let your wife know (or maybe add a checkbox to the calendar and check it off when the preparations are done) that it’s taken care of if it’s a shared task, but don’t bother her with it if it’s your specific job - that’s your responsibility and nothing she needs to keep in mind at all.

    Keep count of diapers and socks and formula etc, and buy new (in the right size) without being prompted. You don’t need instructions for every little thing regarding your own child, you can take responsibility without being given it.



  • It depends on if the subject of the sentence (the person) is doing the thing (being active) or having the thing done to them (being passive). Think like this:

    A helper (help-ER) is someone who is helping/doing the help. A caller (call-ER) is calling someone else. A botherer (bother-ER) is someone who is doing the bothering.

    Someone who is recieving bother is being bothered (bother-ED), one who is getting help is being helped (help-ED), or getting calls is being called (call-ED).

    God-botherer is someone who is god-bothering (bothering god). God-bothered is someone being bothered by god.



  • We can’t fix other peoples issues for them.

    We can choose to support them if they are actively trying to fix their own issues.

    We can also decide that even though they are trying the impact is too big on us and distance ourselves.

    But if they aren’t actually trying to better themselves there is nothing we can do except protect ourselves.

    Your sister needs to look into co-dependence and trauma-bonding (if not in this case then for future reference), and focus on becoming emotionally independent rather than confusing nurturing with doormat. She can only fix her own issues, not her friends. And learn that not every friend is worth the title.