I fucking hate this phrase with a passion and still catch myself saying it occasionally because I hear it so often.

Thanks so much for this. It really puts my jumbled up thoughts of the past two weeks into words, but if I were intelligent and well read. Fantastic. I’m sharing it around Lemmy and to my friends who were just here.

Yet he looks like a scholar next to Trump’s 5th grade reading level drivel.

I remember my first protest was against Iraq 2. I was 18. If I could go back in time and try to tell people what was happening now they’d have me committed.

Yeah top 12 hours for me. I want to see new communities.

I like all of it.

Possums are awesomes! Possums eat ticks and other stuff you don’t want around and are immune to rabies. Good animal to share space with.

I was interested, but I can’t click to visit any of the forums.

Haven’t seen it, sorry.

Please don’t do this to people. Yeah there are way too many pedophiles out there but you’re still so unlikely to meet one. Unless you go to church.

Some friends and I that hung out in college had this with 11:11 on the clock. Felt like we’d look at the time and it would be 11:11 once or even both times every day.

What’s unclear about that statement?

I absolutely refuse to watch something with a laugh track as well.

“Those are dead people laughing”

So I thought I pulled a great prank once. I made a QR code that directed to lemonparty. I used an online sticker service’s free trial to print a bunch up with my friend’s Instagram at the bottom. I travel all over for work so I was going to put them everywhere.

My problem was I printed them in yellow and they wouldn’t scan. I told my friend and he thought it was a funny idea just like I knew he would, not a malicious prank. Wish it had worked.

It’s true. Every day I want to get drunk. Somewhere after the third 9% beer I finally feel like “me”. Or like the best version of myself. But it’s false, just like the false confidence it brings.

I still drink once or twice a week. But every day that I don’t is a struggle whether I was drunk the day before or if I haven’t had a drink in a month.

My friend came over last night and we got drunk. At one point I said something and put my finger in his face. He misheard what I said and told me if I don’t move my finger he’s going to break it. I dared him to try. We ended up crashing over the table into the floor where he used his BJJ training to headlock me unconscious. This may sound terrible but we’ve always fought for fun over the years. What I regret is that my wife saw me go limp and it scared her.

What was the point of that? Today I feel like dogshit and my throat is so bad it hurts to talk. When we finally got around to playing the game we had planned on, my friend was so drunk he couldn’t play.

Yet I want that every day. I almost went out for beer before the snow got too bad but I stopped myself. That’s the best we addicts can hope for. To get to the point where we can stop ourselves.

Sorry a lot of talk about me, but OP you are 100% correct that your friend will never change until they want it for themselves. There is very little you can do to force that. If your friend is using opiates then please get some narcan for them and for yourself. Just be there for support because they’re going to need you once they make that decision. You can also try to make sure they have food to eat, easy stuff, because sometimes addicts neglect that and it just makes everything worse.

If it’s a group of 15+ people and I’m not with my wife I’m pulling the Irish exit every time.

Absolutely, I thank her all the time for cleaning. It’s pretty fair I think. I work a lot more hours, she works pretty much 40 a week. And when I’m home I do dishes, laundry, clean litter boxes, etc.

We considered a cleaning service but we’re trying to put a down payment on a house so her mom can come live with us. We spent a lot of money on Christmas for the kids (her sister’s), but we always do. We’re getting there.

Once we have something that we’re working to own, not rent, maybe we will feel differently about cleaning.

But I was getting paid for that. It makes a huge difference, along with knowing someone else will notice.

This is where we struggle. We are both tidy as can be at work. I go to new places all the time and leave them in much better shape than I found them. Anyone who has been in a lot of data/comm closets and server rooms can tell you that they are often neglected to the point of ridiculousness. My wife does pretty much all the cleaning at the physical therapy clinic where she works, even though that is not in her job description.

But our house is a mess. We have four cats, two with long hair. I’m usually gone all week so that leaves most of the work to my wife. I try to clean the bathroom when I’m home (toilet and sink at least). I’ve turned the “dining room” table into my resupply stockpile between trips. Most of the stuff there is used but it looks terrible.

Being paid makes such a difference in our attitudes towards cleaning.

Maybe because he’s doing ok now, getting 100k plus USD annually from a couple big-ass corporations after he struggled for 20+ years. And living in Germany, one of the best countries to be a citizen of.

I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve it, he does plus back pay for all the other work.

I hear you.

Do some fucking drugs and encourage your younger family to be better than the shitty uncle.

I’d love to hear how you shoot up crack though that’s like a next level speedball. Maybe you could even get the baking soda out and purify it. We could call it something different though.

I always just smoked the stuff.

I’m glad your wife understands you so well. I’ll forever be devoted to mine because she stood with me through my most depraved years of severe alcoholism. I had to be good and drunk before I went to any family function. Made an ass of myself and embarrassed her countless times. It’s nice to be able to remember Christmas these days even though I still kinda hate the holiday. I hate this time of year. I hate the dark. I hate the cold. But it’s also the best it’s ever been really.