Housepets!

Plus if you quit for 3 years your body probably isn't adapted anymore.

I still do drink Coke or Pepsi but only one special occasions like holidays, going out to eat, getting a small bottle in the store, being near a vending machine and Burger King Fridays (not when we are in Lent though because no meat on Fridays). I just don't drink it non-stop like I did when I was younger. Also I don't drink iced tea non-stop either. Just enough so I don't get tired in the daytime.

I drifted away from iced tea a long time ago. Folks in my family were big iced tea drinkers, even in winter - iced coffee, too. I'm basically a bot coffee drinker with the occasional Coke zero thrown in or - a nod to a quarter-century in North Carolina - I'll have a Dr.Pepper, a Mr. Pibb, or even a Cheerwine. Beer when I'm out or feeling recreational. Lotta water in the summer. Happy hydrating, ever'body!

I can't drink soda cause it does terrible things to my stomach. I avoid milk because I'm not very lactose tolerant. I avoid fruit juice because the acidity doesn't always sit well in me. And I can't stand the taste of coffee. So that generally leaves me with water and tea. (and my vending machine corn soup in a can )

I only end up drinking milk if I have nothing else to drink in the house at the time that is sparingly because I suspect milk makes it hard for me to be able to use the bathroom. If I use it for cereal it doesn't affect me as much. I'm not lactose intolerant either. I just thought I was.

Also, sometimes I drink vanilla almond milk because I like the taste of it.

When we reach fifty pages, does "Chat Thread 43" get locked and we start "Chat Room 44"?

I never liked iced tea (or iced coffee) though one side of my family loves it, and I can’t drink milk. I like most sodas, juices, coffee and (hot) tea.

I drink iced tea a lot but I also like iced coffee though I drink it if it comes only from Dunkin' or in a glass Starbucks bottle.

NHWestoN wrote:When we reach fifty pages, does "Chat Thread 43" get locked and we start "Chat Room 44"?

When we get there… if we get there. This thread's older than my account, but people don't post as much on general threads anymore, so I think it'll last a while longer.

Oh, well, give me something to look forward to in my sunset years.....

Just bring up whatever you feel like bringing up, I guess. Maybe you'll get a response.

I'm just here trying to decide what to do with all this spare time I have now. And it's not that I don't have options, I'm loaded with them, I just don't know which one to pick long-term, so I often end up doing nothing.

The paralysis of too many choices, eh?

That and desire is pretty much gone at the moment.

D-Rock wrote:Just bring up whatever you feel like bringing up, I guess. Maybe you'll get a response.

I'm just here trying to decide what to do with all this spare time I have now. And it's not that I don't have options, I'm loaded with them, I just don't know which one to pick long-term, so I often end up doing nothing.

Learn a language.

recommended method of doing so?

Haven't used it myself but I think that Rosetta Stone might be good because I remember all the commercials about it and it seems like it was highly rated.

It's mostly about finding ways to use the language. Read and listen to learn patterns. Write and speak to practice applying them. Start with easier concepts to express and slowly work your way up. The best way to do it is to incorporate the language into your daily life by some amount. Starting with something like Duolingo or Rosetta Stone or what have you is great because they help you to gamify your learning process, but after a while you'll still have to branch out on your own to find your own resources for getting input and your own ways to express yourself in the language. It's one of those "journey without a destination" things, where only you can decide if you're satisfied with what you've accomplished

Seems like the perfect recipe for “never going to really bother.”

Like when I took French classes for a quarter. Foreign language was required in college and it was all that was available at the time. Think I’ve only retained numbers 1-8 since.

The old cliche, "use it or lose it", sure applied to me. Back in my research years, I picked up reading skills in several languages, each reinforcing the other. Once I got away from the work, the skills began to erode. Going through copies of old documents now, my most common experience is to come across words of phrases and think "I remember when I knew that."

Despite the fact that I was supposed to in high school, I never took a language which I always attributed to having an IEP. Instead I got academic support classes where I could do homework.

I studied French for 5 years. Hated it during my high school years. I regret not studying German instead because my friends were in those classes and they had all the fun kids and teachers. I've forgotten everything except one through five and a few random words. At least I got college eligibility out of it.

I did take German. Oddly enough, although I only had two years, the conversational exchanges come back from time to time. I used it in the Army because I was in and out of Germany and, in of all places, the Republic of Korea. German, it seems was very popular there. I also used it in West Africa (Togo) and in North Africa. Sometimes, I dream in German. But fluent ... no, that's gone.

I took Latin and Spanish in high school and German in college. Still remember a bit of Spanish and German, but less Latin.

Fortunately for me, I only studied English in three different levels of schooling, for a total period time of about 10 years. Anyway, it's in the successive years that I improved my level of mastering and speaking of it, by using it everyday.

Makes me wonder what my late grandfather had to do to learn English as he originally came from Italy also as an 8-year old.

trekkie wrote:I took Latin and Spanish in high school and German in college. Still remember a bit of Spanish and German, but less Latin.

Four years of Latin in High School. Our third year teacher made us memorize and recite lots of Cicero and, oddly, those speeches are still with me. The rest, phffitttt!

Changing the subject to something a little more somber that I picked up on for the second time (the first time was last year) is that there was a forum member here named Zalgo who was killed in I believe a car accident. It's his birthday today. Who knows what he would have accomplished had he lived.

Every day for the last month has felt like December 26-31. I wouldn't be able to keep track of the days of the week if not for the fact I'm only off work Mondays and Wednesdays. On a side note, I've been sinking all of my free time into ESO, so a combination of that, the comic not being new to me anymore, and no current story arc to follow = me not being active in the forums much.

NHWestoN wrote:

trekkie wrote:I took Latin and Spanish in high school and German in college. Still remember a bit of Spanish and German, but less Latin.

Four years of Latin in High School. Our third year teacher made us memorize and recite lots of Cicero and, oddly, those speeches are still with me. The rest, phffitttt!

Interestingly, I also took 4 years of Latin at my (Catholic) high school. Don't remember any of it though, though I wish I did. I tend to attribute it to the fact that our regular Latin teacher was absent for a large chunk of my sophomore year due to her pregnancy, and the long-term substitute we had, he was a great guy but just couldn't get to our class. By my Senior year, there were 4, count 'em, 4, people in Latin, me included.

Amazee Dayzee wrote:Changing the subject to something a little more somber that I picked up on for the second time (the first time was last year) is that there was a forum member here named Zalgo who was killed in I believe a car accident. It's his birthday today. Who knows what he would have accomplished had he lived.

Just before my college class reunion (1968 grad), the celebration committee sent out an In Memorium] pamphlet with almost a hundred names and many photos of deceased classmates. It was pretty sobering. Only six died in Viet Nam - I'd expected more, but many of the names surprised me. There were also names missing but I'd seen their obituaries over the decades. One of the deceased was my former roommate, Bill K., who had left us that very spring.

"Life is a cooperative venture - we're all in it together and nobody gets out of it alive."

Wow I can't imagine what that must feel like. It must really be very unsettling to know that classmates you were in school with are dead.

Amazee Dayzee wrote:Wow I can't imagine what that must feel like. It must really be very unsettling to know that classmates you were in school with are dead.

Well, it gets you a little melancholy, but death is a part of living and you make your peace with it. So you savor your joys and memories, greet each morning, say farewell to each night, and never forget to walk the dog. (Sophie wanted that last clause added. )

I remember a few years ago I found out by chance one of the students I went to elementary school with was killed in a car accident so that is what made it so weird to think about death.

However small, the sense of absence, a permanent loss, is just so very sad and haunting. We usually like to think nothing is final but there it is.

Honestly I try not to think about it until it happens.

Random question, does anyone follow Rick or any of the mods on social media? I’m following both him and Diss on Twitter.

`fraid I don't. Doc says social media is bad for my blood pressure.

Your doctor is a wise man.

I follow a few of them on Twitter. Do note, they’re allowed to be more of themselves outside of the forums.

Amazee Dayzee wrote: ↑Fri Apr 10, 2020 5:39 pm Changing the subject to something a little more somber that I picked up on for the second time (the first time was last year) is that there was a forum member here named Zalgo who was killed in I believe a car accident. It's his birthday today. Who knows what he would have accomplished had he lived.

May he rest in peace.

I don't have a twitter account, but I do keep up with Rick's twitter posts

I have a Twitter account but i don't use it much nor do I use my FaceBook account either because I much rather would post on forums or Reddit instead of on there. Also my life is kind of boring and it doesn't warrant me posting updates anywhere.