supposebly

Granted, as I said, I'm glad I can afford to visit them and my mom adopted skype as soon as I suggested it 20 years ago. But I do miss Toronto, and flying in and out of a small city in Canada is one of the reasons. At least we have an airport! Although more and more flights have been eliminated over the years. ETA: I looked up Kincardine in Ontario. It looks nice!

I'm not in any of these cities. I'm in the prairies. It takes over 3 hours to Toronto. I have to book a long layover time since we are almost always late. With the almost guaranteed delays out of Toronto, over 8 hours to Munich and the drive or train to my parents' small town I spend about 18-20 hours to get there. Try flying in Canada from the smaller cities these days. It's a nightmare.

I see my parents once a year. I emigrated to Canada from Germany. These days I'm less ok with being so far away since it's my siblings who have to deal with my parents becoming older on a more regular basis. At least I can afford to see them this much.

That's tough. I hope the moving won't be too hard on you. I'm starting to get a sense of what all that will be like. I'm on my way to Germany for my annual visit. One thing will be to convince my dad to let me drive his car and include me on his insurance for the time I'm there. The other will be to sit down with my mom to get the bathroom renovations going. So, there might just be a chance one of them WON'T die unceremonoiusly and in an undignified manner by slipping in the bath and breaking their head on the floor-to-ceiling bathroom tiles from the 1980s. Or break their back/hip/ass falling down when the old wall-mounted toilet breaks. Both of these issues have been addressed and not resolved for at least 5 years. Wish me luck.

Reading the comments underneath, it strikes me that I don't really understand this seemingly quite common anti-union sentiment in the US and where that originates from. I grew up in Germany and while we complain a lot about unions, no one I know would argue that they're useless and not necessary. They are often seen as the only thing standing between exploitation and a humane work life in a capitalist system.

The first time she had them tied up was in season 1 and that's when she concentrated on Sam. I find the writing of having their fun and then kill the demon in a female body creates quite awful optics.

I'd rather look for work while I still have a job than being desperate when out of work. The latter situation may mean I take or have to take something I hate and won't stay with for very long.

Congratulations! That couldn't have been an easy conversation.

@Bastet I can't even imagine what it's like to be in your shoes at the moment with Riley. I haven't been in that position with a pet yet, but it must be so much easier when you have a prognosis. At least you know what the right decision will be in that case. Sending calming thoughts in the hopes that Riley will recover soon.

Quoting myself to report his stent surgery wasn't necessary but they "cleaned out" the other ones he has. He's already back home. Apparently, they need to find another reason why he is short of breath a lot. So good news and uncertainty.

Same here so I relate. Two serious illnesses in the family are just so much. I'd be a wreck just worrying about the cat. Meditation, yoga and audiobooks are my go-to methods when life becomes overwhelming. I hope your kitty recovers soon. And your mother's illness remains manageable.

English spelling rarely makes sense, so why should it in these cases? Maybe the dialect of those speakers has no or less difference in those vowels in that position. Every dialect pronounces the same spelling a bit differently. And different spellings the same sometimes. Merriam Webster lists two so-called standard pronunciations and includes the non-standard nucular. That doesn't mean other's don't have the right to exist. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nuclear For another example for the inconsistency of English spelling, the word "data". Merriam Webster alone has three pronunciations for it. I'm sure there are many more. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/data

It all just shows me that I'm kind of over these types of movies and TV shows. I've never been a comic book fan, so I was quite surprised how much I enjoyed them. I only started watching because I've always been a fan of Robert Downey Jr. I guess Superhero movie fatigue is real. At least for me!

Thanks for the spoiler. It prevents me from spending more money on that abysmal Disney+ channel. I was a bit intrigued by the trailer. No more.

I grew up in Germany an area filled with small lakes that would warm up quickly in the summer. Not being able to swim was unheard of. My mom took me swimming from a very early age on. She still swims as much as she can in the summer. Another sign of the end times, this year our natural outdoor pool is closed because they can't find anyone to supervise. And in true German bureaucracy, it has to be someone with the rank and certificate of a Bademeister (pool supervisor?). No, the Red Cross lifeguards are not good enough..... Now, at least while I'm there, I can be with my mom swimming in another lake but I hope they will open again next year, so I don't have to worry about my mom who, well, she's getting on in years and I would like to know that someone can help just in case something happens while she's in the water. I actually never swam in an actual pool with chlorine water until my town got an indoor pool when I was maybe about 10? I learned to swim by one day being so annoyed with the swimmies? water wings? when I was 5, so my friend and I took them off and just swam without them. We then went somewhere and left them at the edge. Imagine the heart attack my mom had when she saw them lying there with no children in sight.

I wish. I will be at my brother's birthday bash for a day or two, and then a day or two at my sister's place before I go to the UK. But, this is still all family, so it's not "away" mentally. Thank you very much for writing that. I don't know anyone who is in a similar position. Not a lot of friends who moved to another continent. For now, I hope my dad's stent surgery will be going well. That is happening this Thursday.

Thank you for sharing, everyone. I know, my sister and my brother back home deal with this more often than I do, but when they visit they can leave after 2 days. And actually take their vacations. I'm going to be there for 3 weeks and then have a work week in the UK. I'm sure I'll be regretting all my belly aching once they're gone but right now, I just feel utterly overwhelmed. And having to leave my cats for a month isn't helping.

I'm just here to vent. For years now, my yearly "vacation" has been about visiting my parents in Germany. I love them dearly and my small hometown is nice with lots of lakes to go swimming in the summer. However, the older they get, the more my "vacation" becomes dealing with all the stuff they don't want to deal with. Renovating things in the house, so they can stay living in their house and not have preventable accidents. Nagging them to make a will and get their paper work done in case something happens. Or, in case of my dad, add me as a driver of his car, so I'm not stuck in the countryside while he refuses to let me drive because I'm not a driver registered on the insurance. At least that's his argument. My "vacation" this year starts with an uncle's funeral on the day I arrive and my dad going to the hospital getting another stent. Meanwhile my mom doesn't drive anymore and keeps apologizing that she isn't as active as she used to be. I wish I could just go somewhere I've never been before and be on an actual vacation. I'm sure that makes me a bad daughter but I don't care. I've been sick for 6 weeks this summer and I have lost extremely valuable work time, which put me behind on two important projects. I need to get out of my head for a while instead of feeling stressed and sad that my parents won't be around for much longer during the next 3 weeks.

This member of Gen X is rolling her eyes. I could not care less about movies based on toys.

The problem I have with raising children is that they grow up and become teenagers. I like small children, not infants, though. But raising them to the point they hate you or at least become real people? Hell no. I had a time (maybe 6 months) in my thirties where I almost seriously considered having one. I'm so grateful that I didn't.

I agree this is the part to focus on. People who matter are the ones who don't make you cry. 🤞 that you find a wonderful job soon!

People watch this for more than the insane stunts? The scripts and plots and characters have always been, say we say, pedestrian fluff, old-fashioned, and one-dimensional place holders, there to hang off things, fly, fall, joke, serving as decoration around Tom Cruise running and doing his best to eventually die or get injured permanently while jumping off something while making these. A bit like cartoons but with real people. I never thought of these of more than devices to move the action forward. Every attempt that possibly could have been interpreted as adding a layer, just elicited an eyeroll or laughter for me. I like the above posted video but it feels someone is taking them way more seriously than they have any right to be. Like James Bond movies, I rarely remember what happens. The McGuffin that's the list, the key, the key to the list, the list for the key, the codes for the key or the list, whatever. I'll probably see it eventually when it streams but I never expect anything else in those. In the end these are very traditional simple action movies with a white male hero who vaguely has the typical characteristics, bending "the rules", protective with women, and always right in the end.

I grew up in the 80s and I've never seen this movie, it sounds just awful.

Well, it IS a pod person! 😉

Actually, it can. What I found is that its performance gets better with the quality and specificity of the prompt. If I add "and give examples", it does and the examples are to the point (I quoted the output here). They aren't all that great but they got better when I ask for specific examples from storylines. But this is getting quite off-topic. I invite everyone to try it out, it's fun, a bit unnerving at times, but overall interesting to get a sense where things might be going, and what the limits are at the moment. Again, keep in mind, this free version doesn't use information more recent than up to 2018, I think, and is limited in length for its output.