Whats_your_reasoning

This just in: adults don’t get kids’ memes. More news at 11.

I think it’s all fascinating, how adults flip out over kids’ trends every generation, without fail, without ever recalling that they followed silly fads/memes when they were kids, too. Like the “cool S” from the 90s.

I remember adults coming up with all sorts of absurd ideas, straining to connect it to something meaningful, failing to acknowledge that… it’s just a fun thing to draw. And if it’s fun, that’s all kids need. It didn’t mean we were in a cult, or that it’s a gang symbol, or any other ridiculous narrative. Some teachers got so annoyed or suspicious as to ban it from their classrooms, too.

I’m not bothered by 6-7. I’m not excited by it like kids are, but I get that it’s fun for them in a way that it isn’t for adults. One of the kids I work with said it the other day. I just laughed and told him, “Congrats on learning your first meme.”

If it wasn’t 6-7, it would’ve been something else. There’s no point in fighting it - just as other fads and memes have come and gone, this too will fade someday. Possibly to be replaced with something more obnoxious. We’ll have to wait and see.

I'm pretty sure the only posts I've put on Facebook in the past five years are all a version of, "Hey, I'm just checking in so y'all know I'm still alive." I haven't updated my personal information on there in about a decade.

I never thought I’d say this, but going to work actually makes me happy. I work with autistic and disabled children, and man, they give me life. Helping them learn and grow, seeing them pick up and apply new skills, hearing their unique observations, and witnessing their creativity all bring joy to my day.

I’m currently waiting for my first learner of the day to arrive, and I know that when he gets here he’ll be making the most joyful squeals as he plays with his favorite ball. His smile is like caffeine mixed with sunshine, energizing me every morning even on the hardest days.

Don’t get me wrong, this job has its challenges, but the fulfillment I get from working with this population is immeasurable. It took many years of crappy jobs with crappy management before I got here, and I’m glad to say I think I finally found the job where I belong.

It also frustrates me how restaurants in international airports only follow the local "meal schedule." If everyone were in the same timezone all day, then okay, I can see why you'd only offer breakfast before 10am. But that isn't the case in an international airport. Why are all the dinner places closed? (Rhetorical question - I know the answer is "$$$")

But if you've been flying for hours, jetlagged from changing timezones, and you still need to catch a connecting flight, you may be ready for dinner/supper. It sucks when you want a more substantial meal, but the only options are eggy breakfast sandwiches and doughnuts.

It just makes more sense to offer options for any time of day in a place that's open 24 hours, where you know the people you intend to serve will be on different meal schedules from what the locals might follow.

And that includes allowing people to buy/drink beer. But alas, those damn blue laws supersede all of that.

This is a good call and it’s refreshing to see a police chief trying to enforce something sensible.

At the same time, I don’t have high hopes of US police being able to correctly identify and react to “unlawful force.” They sure don’t stop themselves or their colleagues when they use it against a minority, but they’re expected to intervene when ICE does it?

My car’s radio busted last year. Instead of replacing it with a modern touchscreen, or paying $3000 for a manufacturer replacement, I’ve simply gone without it. Thing is, the radio includes the back-up camera screen. It also contains the controls to the car’s clock. So half the year the time is off by an hour, and I’ve gotten used to backing up my car “the old fashioned way.”

Thankfully, none of these are issues I can’t tolerate. But it does make me wonder what would’ve happened if I’d had a newer car. If so many functions can rely on a radio, how many more functions might somebody get screwed out of if this same issue were to happen in a newer vehicle?

I get that, for my parents’ generation at least. But I’m the weirdo autistic chick that lives multiple “alternative lifestyles” simultaneously.

I don’t go to the church I was baptized in, because I’m atheist. I don’t eat the food my culture cooks, because I’m vegan. I’m a pansexual who practices polyamory. I don’t share my parents’ values, nor those of my ancestral culture.

Which is partly why I gel better with people who don’t share the “dominant” culture around us (in the US.) I get along with others who’ve been marginalized, who don’t “fit in,” who ~~want to burn down capitalism~~ have been on the “outside” for so long that we share a common bond through it. Most people I’ve dated have either been born in other countries and/or have disabilities. It makes sense for me, but from the outside it’s easy to imagine that my mom thinks I’m still “rebelling” somehow (while deep into my 30s.)

My mom refuses to admit that she’s racist.

Oh, but when I brought a black man home, she asked me afterwards, “Why do all your boyfriends have… a tan?”

Don’t worry, I let it out on her. I’m practically 100% Slavic if my brother’s DNA test is to be trusted (it lines up with the family tree I’ve got, so yeah.) I asked if she’d rather I marry a “nice Polish boy” that I have nothing in common with, like she did, like her sisters did, like her mother did. Because why should personal compatibility matter so long as our ancestries are the same?

She backed off and hasn’t made a peep about my “tan” partners ever since.

Lmao, where I live that’s par for the course.

Years before my dog passed, I sat in my bed, with her at my feet, and thought about the days she’d be gone.

I started crying. Then the little sweetheart did what little sweethearts do - she came up to me, snuggled me, and gave me kisses.

I held her and let it imprint into my mind.

When she did pass years later, I thought about that night and how she did her best to comfort me. I imagined her still doing that, if she had been here.

Her passing wasn’t easy, but having known how she reacted when I’d already thought about it made the time easier. I know she didn’t want me to be sad. She wanted to make me happy and be a supportive friend. Even in death, I could recall that one night and remember her sweetness trying to pick me up.

To this day, I carry some of her ashes in a necklace over my heart. She used to want to follow me everywhere. Now she always will.

Last year I got a portable swinging camping chair from Costco. It’s the next best thing to a rocking chair, which itself is the next best thing to a hammock. It even has a cupholder (which doesn’t swing, so you don’t have to worry about your drink spilling.)

You never know what you might find.

Oof, yeah, same. There’s too much cringe.

I also can’t stand fight scenes. They’re way too intense. The best I can do is zone out when they happen and at the end ask whoever’s watching with me, “Who won?”