• 14 Posts
  • 443 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 4th, 2023

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  • The purpose(s) that drive me are:

    • share helpful knowledge and experience where they’re welcome
    • sow beauty and light where I can
    • hopefully bring levity, a chuckle, and maybe a way out when things are dark
    • build strong communities wherever I can
    • elevate those around me and hopefully improve their day
    • strive to leave my spheres of influence better than I found them
    • find the positive or at least an opportunity for me to learn
    • enjoy the trip

  • Some people get their validation from sex. They might not even like the sex. In fact they probably don’t enjoy it but they do like that bit of validation.

    It took me a few decades to get perspective, but then I encountered people with commitment issues, some of the more chaotic attachment style variants, and various traumas. “Ah, now I understand. You do you and be safe out there, neighbor.”




  • Oh, gawd, it’s a special kind of hell. My partner and I were ENM when we met, but mutually decided we preferred monogamy (long story). Over the past summer, we decided to dip our toes back into having sidepieces. And our tolerance for modern dating bullshit lasted all of three weeks.

    We’re not monogamous because of societal norms; we’re monogamous because of zero tolerance for the state of dating. 😆
















  • I also make a much higher salary than my SWE friends in the EU. But:

    • I’ve been at this for 25 years
    • grinding - my work-life balance is garbage compared to my European friends in SWE
    • regularly dealing with a fuckton of uncertainty
    • had my retirement completely gutted by my partner’s cancer treatment
    • got my stock portfolio screwed up because of my significant ESPP; my theretofore trustworthy, reliable employer decided to sell to a private equity firm
    • get to travel very little and have to work when I do because of paltry PTO policies; and I get “generous” PTO compared to most of my US SWE peers; my PTO is decadent compared to most US proletariat

    I could really go on. That great, yuuuuge, beautiful salary difference is deeply undercut to the point of collapse by everything all of the other costs (not just financial) that are co-requisite to working in the US.