I've got a doctor's appointment this afternoon - I'm sure that there's some interesting signage at the university medical centre I go to!

@Poida Same here; my mum filled the house with books, and my sister and I were both reading well before we started school. It's been intergenerational in our family too. Both my nieces are little book monsters who we've always given good books to as gifts, and who were read to constantly when they were younger. The oldest, who just turned 11, taught herself cursive writing because she wanted to, and sends me long, perfectly spelled, grammatically correct, well punctuated emails. She's actually proud of writing well. It's really all in their upbringing, I think.

These are the same idiots who think that HIV was bioengineered, long before we had the capability to even read the human genome. They know nothing of actual medical science or basic biology.

At least she got sick in the right country and won't be going broke because of this, but speaking of my own Canadian experiences with Long Covid, she's in for some real fun! A whole lot of specialists and elective surgeries were shut down for close to a year in some places thanks to the pandemic, and so even for people who are very sick, the backlog is huge and the waiting times are pretty long, unless it's an emergency. And we've had a far easier time of things than the States. For the record, I've always had autoimmune issues too, but I got the damn shots as soon as I could, because I'd already had Covid once and didn't want to ever go through that hell again, or risk exposing anyone else to it. Plus I'm not a selfish, science denying asshole. Ok, maybe I'm an asshole... 😉

Speaking as a mental health professional, were it not for the weirdly protected status of religion, I'd have to call all these people delusional. And when I've recovered from my current health problems, I think I'm going to have to go into a new line of work, because I just can't overlook how dangerously delusional these people are anymore.

Someone needs to tell these people that "The Handmaid's Tale" was intended as a dire warning, and not an instruction manual.

@Queer Butch Dyke ✯✯🏳️‍🌈✯✯ Thanks for the stories, and the advice! It seems that due to a combination of painkillers, antihistamines, and binge watching Our Flag Means Death, I missed a few days on here... Ooops. I'm very well familiar with the "hard on the outside, soft and squishy on the inside" butch phenomenon. And I've got deep respect for anyone able to give so much care to animals and people. Actually, considering some of the people out there, I think that if it weren't for the allergies (and other health problems...) I might prefer living on a farm with a bunch of relatively friendly critters, rather than among humans in the city. I really loved my grandparents' orchard when I was a kid - they grew mainly peaches and apples, with some pears, plums, apricots, and cherries mixed in, plus massive bushes of raspberries and strawberries. Although my allergies were even worse back then, I still loved going out there for an afternoon to spend some quality time up a tree with a good book, and snacks fresh to pick. And I still miss my Baba, and how she managed to run the entire place almost singlehandedly until she was well into her 70's. Never underestimate a little old Slavic woman! I've figured out that I might not be allergic to some goat hairs, (at least if the "100% Pashmina" labels on a couple of my scarves are accurate - I'll have to do a burn test on a strand from a tassel to find out!), so those might be an alternative to mixing with the Molly hair to spin it! And I've been storing the fur in big, airtight freezer bags, so it's well protected. The little beast is having her spring shed right now, and I'm collecting quite a lot of material! Now I just need to get my spinning skills up to the same level as my dye work or needlework... Which might be difficult, since I'm a bit addled from meds on one hand, but on the other, while I'm partially bed-bound from semi-diagnosed neurological bullshit that may or may not be Long Covid related, why not? I'm already working on one of my biggest embroidery projects yet, and spinning would make for a nice break when my eyes get tired. Thanks again for the good advice!

@Queer Butch Dyke ✯✯🏳️‍🌈✯✯ Solidarity! 🏳️‍🌈 That truly and deeply sucks that 2019 was such a shit year for you - so much loss at once is so very hard to deal with. I can't blame you for going out to the barn to howl - if I had an open howling space, I'd do the same. I'd never heard of the concept of rescued guard llamas, and they sound amazing. And I *love* the idea of hand spinning the wool from your own flocks! I'm pretty into textile arts, and I've been trying to learn how to spin with plant fibres (I'm allergic to wool), but I still love the smell of clean wool, and it would be amazing to work it all the way from the sheep to the sweater. And your favourite ewe had the same name as my super spoiled cat! I've often wondered if I could collect enough of her fur from her shedding and brushes to spin, and maybe make a silky soft charcoal grey scarf from it... Opinion? (I've been saving Molly fur, just in case!) Anyway, thanks for taking the trouble to give such a long, detailed and interesting response. Learning about everyone on here is being fascinating, especially the Only Other Gay in the Village! 😉🌈

I'd buy you a green dress - but not a real green dress, that's cruel.

If it's any consolation, one of my old buddies/roomies from uni has the unforgettable birthday of September 11th. We'd planned a good party for him the year after we graduated, in 2001, and bought a heap of booze and a cake in advance. We ended up needing more booze, but not because it was a good party.

@vaxxed and thankful Thank you so much for your kind words! And your English really is excellent. Way better than most Antivaxxers! I'm on painkillers with opioids too right now, but nothing else will work. At least I know that I don't have an addictive personality, and that my stepdad didn't have trouble coming off the same stuff I'm on, after a difficult knee surgery. Take good care of yourself, and keep well!😊

I'm not sure why it's been taking so long for people to notice what an asshole he is. He's always been just a bit racist, more than a bit sexist, even more homophobic, and he's utterly full of himself. I've never had much use for him.

I don't have an air fryer but my mum does, and since we just live a few blocks apart and I'm dealing with bad health problems, I eat at the Parental Palace at least once a week, usually more. And mum's in love with the air fryer. I'll have to ask what her secrets are, but so far she's managed perfect sweet potato fries, garlic asparagus, all sorts of everything you can do to a potato, fish, steak, and lamb in it, all in the month she's had it. I know she had some frustrations at first, but she spent a couple of days Googling and YouTubing every bit of advice and all the tutorials she could find, and she's rocking it now.

@piscean blowhard They don't act like Christians are told to in their holy book, but they've hijacked the religion and its image for their own political purposes. And their embrace of hate and denial has twisted their religion into something completely different than it used to be. They've become the American Taliban.

Okay, I've got some reading to do now...

@Melania's Sloppy Gash We all love you, Mel.

Oooh, being bedridden due to chronic pain is awful! (Thanks, Covid, for teaching me all about that.) I hope that your surgery in June goes brilliantly, better than expected, and you lose the pain and regain your mobility completely! Or as completely as possible. Hang in there.