Women prefer it if that’s all they know/if their uncircumcised partners aren’t very hygienic. I’m an American woman and grew up thinking uncircumcised penises were gross, but they feel better inside me and it’s way more fun to give a clean, uncircumcised penis a blowjob. It’s more obvious and unpleasant when an uncircumcised penis is dirty though.

I was recently a bridesmaid for one of my friends from high school, and we talked about circumcision- all the friends I had growing up who were also grossed out by uncut penises who have actually had sex with a person with one agreed that they prefer them. It’s not something I would hold against a partner or anything (and my husband had phimosis, so he got a partial circumcision in his teens), but penises are naturally well formed for the purpose of enjoyable sex.

That’s not correct though, you don’t start at zero

Psst. 2001-3000

Magda Goebbels killed six of her seven children with cyanide and morphine, even though her oldest daughter struggled.

…good? Shouldn’t we only take advice from those who survived their own food storage habits?

I had a good job for a few years and I spoke the language. I wasn’t planning it the whole time, I just tend to save money, and when the pandemic hit, I realized that living near my family doesn’t guarantee that I get to see them, so why not live where I want?

I had done one year of study abroad and a second year of being a normal student at a German university about fifteen years ago, and I’d wanted to live in Germany since. During the pandemic, I joined a discord server with some Germans, began dating one, and had time working from home to do a four hour intensive German class every day before work online.

I was able to stay with the person I was dating for a few weeks while applying to all sorts of internships, master’s programs, and volunteer positions that would give me a visa, and I sent my cat to a different friend’s house until I got into a program and moved into my own apartment. At the time, everything seemed far, far more complicated than it needed to be, and I definitely do still consider immigration in Germany to be kafkaesque, but I now realize how lucky I was that everything fell into place.

It’s now been over four years and I’m married to a (different) German, but I don’t think I’ll really fully unclench until I’m a citizen. I’m from the US, and it’s starting to look fucking terrifying, so I’m very glad that I’m here and that I’m a little more settled. I’m still slogging at my degree (I opted to take a full year of just intense German classes when I started, so it’s not quite as long as it sounds- unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to work during that time and they’re expensive as fuck) and my husband’s an apprentice, so it’s financially a little tight. I liquidated my retirement account in my mid thirties, which felt bad, but I’d like to keep an emergency fund and we’ll be able to save a lot more in a few years and we’ll be entitled to small pensions.

But it’s quintessential MIDwest

Why not just make a poll if you don’t want discussion?

Tbh, a full moon means a lot of increased predatory activity, I wouldn’t be surprised if we subconsciously become more anxious and rash, and I wouldn’t consider that any more supernatural than the tides (provided there’s actually at some point a link discovered).

Right, it implies vegetable. Luckily, those are vegan.

If they’re skilled enough to make that reflection in photoshop, they’d probably have made it look more realistic

Guy Fawkes day superiority

Everyone who likes me has always called me weird (not in a negative way) and I have never understood why, which I guess proves their point. Like, obviously I’m weird, but so is everybody else, and I’m not especially expressive, so I’m not wearing green feather boas to funerals or anything. I don’t mind, and I never did (because again, I think everyone’s weird and know that I am weird), but I just don’t see what they see.

Damn, that hit the mark. The most common adjective my parents used to describe me as a child in comparison to other children (so not things that they would say about all children they loved, like smart or kind or silly) was “adaptable,” and I really struggled with feeling very rigid as an adult. Looking back on it, I think I just didn’t know myself very well and couldn’t predict what would overwhelm me. Growing up has been a slow process of learning what does and does not occupy mental energy and how to maximize my spoons.

Edit: also regarding the pain thing: I’ve immigrated to Germany and learning how to complain has been both difficult and revelatory. I tend to consider myself happy and content up to about 70% pain/unpleasant feelings, which is… neither standard nor helpful. I frequently don’t realize that I’m hungry/thirsty/in need of a stretch or bathroom break until it causes problems. In trying to make conversation the way that Germans do, I started kvetching about things, which led to me noticing things that were bothersome. Like, I replaced my work shoes because I only realized they were uncomfortable because I mentioned them to customers. Plus, said customers gave me good advice on what shoes to get.

I was told at a young age that autistic people by definition don’t have empathy (I know how wrong that is now), which was an insurmountable barrier to realizing that I’m autistic. I have a huge number of absolutely textbook symptoms, but I couldn’t ever get past the empathy issue, because it’s an emotion I feel so strongly. I also have ADHD, so I ascribed all of the sensory issues, clumsiness, and social anxiety/difficulties to that and considered my echolalia, fixation with numbers/words, and the fact that I didn’t begin to speak at until I came out with full sentences at nearly four to be quirks. I thought getting frustrated to the point of tears over silly things because I couldn’t properly communicate my distress to others just meant I was immature.

I read about the double empathy problem on the same day that I had essentially interpreted for an autistic customer being served at our coffee shop by my coworker (the customer needed more time to decide what she wanted, but my coworker kept asking her if she wanted anything else, and she appeared to be too overwhelmed with the questions to ask for a moment). Then I realized that most of my favorite customers who don’t tip, but whom I just vibe with, were autistic and everything else just kind of clicked.

As a note, I haven’t been diagnosed, but I did have a therapist who thought I was autistic and referred me for a diagnosis multiple times, I just really didn’t think it was likely at the time, so I never made an appointment. I’m glad for that now and I’m not going to look for a diagnosis until I’m no longer an American citizen, but I start that process next month.

I’m too rash to live in such difficult times. I just want to gather a mob of terrifying trans men and hit up women’s bathrooms, but I don’t think that’s how we maximize rights.

I still like flattish soda, but as a kid I preferred totally flat soda because the prickling hurt more.

I’ve got wiggly joints too! It stayed a purely positive until I lost weight, and now I sometimes wake up with dislocated joints, but it’s not really painful at least. The easy/serious bruising that comes with them is more irritating, I find, because I occasionally wallop myself walking into something.

I’m from an area where colds/flus are more common and I haven’t noticed a change with those yet either. I noticed a small difference in recovery from knee injuries in my late twenties compared to my teens, but I know that’s not bad yet.

Well done on not being injured for decades! I don’t think that’ll ever be true for me, lol.

I (mid-thirties) had a 12 hour stomach bug on Friday and my body is still just exhausted. I’m trying to figure out if I simply need to gain a little weight to make a couple of days without many calories less impactful or if this is just aging.