In my experience it was like making new friends but more stressful.

Dating felt a lot like looking for a job, trying to find prospects, going out on job interviews but with a relationship at stake instead of employment. You start with this rough pretext of wanting to get to know each other, and you ask questions about things that are important to you, muddling through small talk. You try to be entertaining, showing your best self until you get invested enough in each other. It’s stressful but can also be exciting because when you find someone you get along with it can be exhilarating.

Then, if you know you like someone but are unsure about whether they reciprocate your insecurities go nuts. You live in two simultaneous imaginary universes where in one, things go well and you live happily ever after, in another they declare you unfit for their life goals and leave you hurting and back to the grind of searching. Then, if you get to it, there’s the comfortable period of having your relationship defined and developing on what is ostensibly a good path and you can relax more and show your “real” self. If both of you can tolerate each other at your worst, that can lead to a proper partnership which and should feel like hanging out with a best friend. Your partner becomes your go-to person to enjoy things with and consistent companion, which obviously can be really nice.

When your kid runs at you to give you the most enthusiastic hug of your life just because.

Toxic Magic fuckery could fill this entire thread. Hell, just toxic blue deck fuckery could fill this entire thread.

I have an irrational dislike of her voice and the way she talks but nothing against her as a person or a professional.

Not necessarily, people don’t travel through time in Dune but they do see through time, and Spice specifically enables humans to see the past and future. I can theorize that actually traveling into the past is something only intelligent machines were able to facilitate. It could also be a situation where the high tech solution (lasers) has already been countered (shields) so the low tech solution (swords) becomes the better weapon. It could also be by a mutual agreement, or simply lost tech.

Terminator, the Matrix and Dune are all the same universe at different points in time.

Timothy Dalton’s James Bond died deep under double cover in Hollywood in a tragic airship related rocket pack accident.

Who would find throat warbler mangrove hard to pronounce?

Haven’t seen anyone here recommend The Woman in Black (2012) which fits the atmospheric horror genre perfectly. Stars Daniel Radcliffe and I remember it as being quite good, with no gore and minimal cheap jump scares. I don’t think the trailer is a good representation of it so that would be one to go into blind.

Dance, and music. It could probably be argued that dolphins already dance and don’t need any extra encouragement. I bet a dolphin would love to play with a sound board that could play tones when buttons are pushed. Object arrangement, like someone else said. Sand patterns maybe. They can also interact with things out of the water too so painting isn’t so ridiculous, they just don’t have the dexterous appendages that elephants or chimps do.

Dark chocolate (75%+) has a non-insignificant amount of caffeine in it, an ounce can have as much as a cup of black tea, so that may be why.

There have been downturns in the industry before, but it always seems to bounce back.

Princess Cimorene from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles

Came here to say Avasarala.

I love Ranking of Kings. The art style really threw me off but I stuck with it. I appreciate how everyone has their own stories and motivations and all of the characters that enter the stage where you say “well that person is clearly the bad guy” becomes someone you understand and even admire later. The theme of the show is definitely that things aren’t always what they seem, so err on the side of kindness. It’s a good lesson.

I like Walz so it was frustrating to hear him tripping over his words and misspeaking. I think I heard him say he was friends with a school shooter, when I know he meant to say people effected by shootings. I felt that unfortunately Vance sounded clear and authoritative which will sway some people, despite being full of shit. One question Walz handled excellently was the one on abortion and reproductive rights. I just wish he had been that solid and aggressive and confident throughout the whole debate.

This is one is genre specific, but Caesar 3. I love city builders and have played them for as long as they’ve existed. I’ve learned all the little tricks and systems of the ones I’ve played, exploiting esoteric mechanics and optimizing my little utopias and creating epic, sprawling empires that far exceed every metric asked of me. That said, Caesar 3 is a challenge I still relish after (oh wow, has it really been) 25 years. It’s the only city builder where the “peaceful” branch in the story is harder than the “wartime” scenarios. I revisited it recently wondering if I was just missing something back when I was younger, but nope. On the harder levels it asks you to sustain larger and larger populations with increasingly limited resources, and reaching the level of getting patrician housing (only achieved with sustained, stable access to literally every amenity) is extremely difficult but oh so satisfying. Every other city builder I’ve played, I barely have to think about every house becoming the top tier, but in Caesar 3 it’s impressive if even a single block achieves it. It stands out even now after so many new entrants into the genre. Hell, it’s still worth playing haha.

I’ve had to make the call on senior pets about four times now, and it’s tough. Sometimes it’s easier, when they’re in visible and obvious pain and sometimes it’s hard, when there’s no one thing you can point to. The lovely home vet who helped my last senior kitty pass said it helps to keep track of the good days and bad days. If your pet is affectionate, playful, can get excited, that’s a good day. If they hide, lie in quiet places and aren’t interested in things they usually love then that’s a bad day. When the majority of their days are bad days, it’s time.

I wouldn’t think your dog would have better care in a shelter, even if you’re feeling guilty about being away a lot. Maybe there’s a way to shift your schedule to have more time with your dog when he’s most active, or maybe there’s a local kid who wouldn’t mind hanging out with your dog on certain days. It’s worth exploring more options because a shelter will almost certainly be a worse experience for him.

The one I eat most often is overnight oats, just steel cut oats and whole milk with some fruit if I have it. Favorite to eat is probably bananas foster french toast made with home made brioche. Nothing like starting your day with a brown sugar, caramel and rum sauce haha.

Oh is that the term for it? I’ve been calling it “super smooth scrambled eggs” which doesn’t adequately describe the texture. Egg curds is pretty close but it’s almost like a creamed egg. So soft and fluffy, I like to add cream cheese into it while it’s cooking and serve it on toast with melty cheese and a bit of tomato salsa. Yum!