Chit-Chat: What's On Your Mind Today?

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, ECM1231 said:

Well, my fave bagel shop is on the corner, so I popped in to get a tuna melt on a sesame bagel, to go. Bagel prices have gone through the roof! $12.98, including tax, for a tuna melt. Is it just me or is that insane? 

I hardly eat out anymore, so I got curious and checked the price of tuna melts at several local diners, and they were all $16-something plus tax.  They're larger than bagel sandwiches and come with sides, so I thought a bagel version would be cheaper, but I just checked two bagel shops and they're both charging $15-16 plus tax.

[Acmeproducts]

8 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I made the tuna melt.  Yum!  I used an English muffin.  Is that standard? 

I used to make grilled cheese sandwiches on English muffins. They are delicious. 

[annzeepark914]

20 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I made the tuna melt.  Yum!  I used an English muffin.  Is that standard? 

I can't remember as it's been too long since I ordered one. But it sounds good!

[BlueSkies]

I was pretty saddened recently when I stumbled on a page on Facebook that claimed a father of a childhood friend I had died.  There was some nice tribute postings to him.  I met him once a long time ago and I recall him being a friendly, charismatic guy.  

 

What's kind of weird though is I never actually found an obituary online for this old friend's dad.  I would think if they used a funeral home there would be some life story on him or something no matter how brief.  I mean my dad's cousin was a recluse and you can still find an online obituary of him.

 

So yeah I'll hold out hope maybe he's actually not dead.  Or is it possible funerals can be kept that private for no one to notice if it's the families request? 

[Ohiopirate02]

13 hours ago, BlueSkies said:

I was pretty saddened recently when I stumbled on a page on Facebook that claimed a father of a childhood friend I had died.  There was some nice tribute postings to him.  I met him once a long time ago and I recall him being a friendly, charismatic guy.  

 

What's kind of weird though is I never actually found an obituary online for this old friend's dad.  I would think if they used a funeral home there would be some life story on him or something no matter how brief.  I mean my dad's cousin was a recluse and you can still find an online obituary of him.

 

So yeah I'll hold out hope maybe he's actually not dead.  Or is it possible funerals can be kept that private for no one to notice if it's the families request? 

 Maybe the family chose not to write one.  You can always check the webpage of the local funeral home to see if there is one, but Google does pick those up.

[shapeshifter]

This ad came up on my New York Times subscription app on my phone. 
I laughed because I do not need a Plan for my Personalized Anxiety. 
I come by it naturally.
Fortunately my phone browser blocked me from accessing the site out of curiosity.

If you click on the picture, it should get a bit larger and easier to read.
Note there are animal types: Bear, Lion, Wolf, and Dolphin.
I'm guessing that's similar to my little grandson being a member of the Fox Den at preschool. (They also have a Rabbit Hutch and a Fawn Room.)

And it looks like Negative Journaling is encouraged??

[PRgal]

3 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

 Maybe the family chose not to write one.  You can always check the webpage of the local funeral home to see if there is one, but Google does pick those up.

This.  We didn’t send one out when my grandparents (at least maternal) passed.  Mostly because they were non-English speaking (I guess my parents didn’t send one out to Chinese media). I know that my paternal grandparents had ones sent out because they were in Hong Kong and the obits were in Chinese.  

[shapeshifter]

19 hours ago, BlueSkies said:

I was pretty saddened recently when I stumbled on a page on Facebook that claimed a father of a childhood friend I had died.  There was some nice tribute postings to him.  I met him once a long time ago and I recall him being a friendly, charismatic guy.  

 

What's kind of weird though is I never actually found an obituary online for this old friend's dad.  I would think if they used a funeral home there would be some life story on him or something no matter how brief.  I mean my dad's cousin was a recluse and you can still find an online obituary of him.

 

So yeah I'll hold out hope maybe he's actually not dead.  Or is it possible funerals can be kept that private for no one to notice if it's the families request? 

Did he pass during the pandemic? My Mom passed August of 2020, and I found the obituary I wrote for her, but I'm not sure we published it publicly, whereas we did publish my Dad's in a local paper five years earlier, but it's not searchable because the paper was so small and local.

[peacheslatour]

We didn't do an obit when my mom died and we won't when my dad goes and neither will I or my husband.

[Acmeproducts]

I’m shopping for shoes and bedding tomorrow. 

[roseha]

22 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I made the tuna melt.  Yum!  I used an English muffin.  Is that standard? 

That seems to be standard for Tuna Melts in my local NYC diners.  I order them from Gemini Diner who make a very good one though I ask for rye bread and Swiss cheese and usually save about 2/3 of the tuna to make wraps with it for the following two nights.

[isalicat]

23 hours ago, EtheltoTillie said:

I made the tuna melt.  Yum!  I used an English muffin.  Is that standard? 

Why not? I like sourdough but I think as long as tuna and melted cheese are involved, its whatever you like/have on hand! 😺

[EtheltoTillie]

2 minutes ago, isalicat said:

Why not? I like sourdough but I think as long as tuna and melted cheese are involved, its whatever you like/have on hand! 😺

Cheese is the nectar of the gods.

 

I wanted to try Swiss cheese last night, but I had only cheddar.  Next time. 

[Acmeproducts]

58 minutes ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Cheese is the nectar of the gods.

 

I wanted to try Swiss cheese last night, but I had only cheddar.  Next time. 

My favorite is Monterey Jack. 

[BlueSkies]

10 hours ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

 Maybe the family chose not to write one.  You can always check the webpage of the local funeral home to see if there is one, but Google does pick those up.

Yeah most if not all my family members that passed if you Google their name you'd find a write up at the funeral home they used.  

4 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Did he pass during the pandemic? My Mom passed August of 2020, and I found the obituary I wrote for her, but I'm not sure we published it publicly, whereas we did publish my Dad's in a local paper five years earlier, but it's not searchable because the paper was so small and local.

It was in 2023 it seemed.  A couple months back.  

 

Yeah went I meant trying to find the obituary I mean something online with the funeral home.  The local paper used to have obituaries but that feels kind of old school already.  

[Blergh]

On 1/2/2024 at 7:57 PM, Kitty Redstone said:

There are definitely some fun and interesting areas of Reddit. I mostly just read and upvote, though, and avoid arguments like the plague.

My list is 19. I ignore them because life is too precious to waste on dickheads.

Yes, a relative. He doesn't have an ounce of interest in any other human being and just wants to talk about himself, his opinions, his observations. It's a mix of loneliness and mental illness and I feel for him, but don't have the coping skills to deal with him very often. Your mom is a saint!

Thanks! I may be a bit biased but I agree!

BTW, one of Mama's earliest memories was  when she was roughly two and  saw her paternal grandmother doing some sewing - every so often breaking off a small strand of thread from the spool then licking the tip to aid  threading the needle. Anyway, Mama decided she wanted to help make things easier for her relative  by making sure she'd never have to lick again- so Mama put the entire spool of thread in her mouth!  Yes, even back then Mama sought to help others as much as possible but her grandmother just thought she was being a destructive & naughty toddler and scolded Mama - and her daughter-in-law (Mama's mother) for what happened!

Thankfully, it wound up becoming a funny family story (though I'm not sure Mama's grandmother ever saw the humor in it) so I thought I'd bring it up here!

[Ancaster]

On 1/3/2024 at 12:05 PM, ECM1231 said:

Returns at Macy's took a bit longer than expected and, on the way, home decided to stop at the optometrist to pick up my new eyeglasses. Apparently, they're closed on Wednesdays. Drats! Well, my fave bagel shop is on the corner, so I popped in to get a tuna melt on a sesame bagel, to go. Bagel prices have gone through the roof! $12.98, including tax, for a tuna melt. Is it just me or is that insane? 

 

On 1/3/2024 at 2:40 PM, Acmeproducts said:

That is a lot for a tuna melt. Even these days. 

 

On 1/3/2024 at 4:33 PM, Bastet said:

I hardly eat out anymore, so I got curious and checked the price of tuna melts at several local diners, and they were all $16-something plus tax.  They're larger than bagel sandwiches and come with sides, so I thought a bagel version would be cheaper, but I just checked two bagel shops and they're both charging $15-16 plus tax.

I checked them out too, and they range from $5.25/$8.50 at Subway for a 6" or 12", to $9 on a bagel at Einsteins (bagel place), to $12 at a good quality, local bakery, to $15 for lunch at a somewhat upscale restaurant.  What surprised me was that I checked a few places that are known for their sandwiches and they didn't even offer tuna melts!  I live in a relatively crunchy town, but most places only had one sad veggie option - basically salad between two slices of bread.  🥺

I'm not sure where the OP is from, but for me, these prices don't seem unreasonable if it's a decent "sandwich".  Minimum wage is high here (which is a good thing by me), so is rent (not a good thing by me), so I reckon if I can't be bothered to make a tuna sandwich, that's what I'm going to pay.

As a tangent, I'd hesitate to order a tuna sandwich at most places unless I could be fairly confident they weren't using some nasty cheap tuna in water. 

And on another tangent, since we're chatting here after all, I miss the kind of sandwiches you can get all over in the UK - at M&S, Boots, petrol stations, etc.  Cheap, good.  (At least they used to be, it's been a few years!)

Edited January 5 by Ancaster

[Browncoat]

3 hours ago, Ancaster said:

And on another tangent, since we're chatting here after all, I miss the kind of sandwiches you can get all over in the UK - at M&S, Boots, petrol stations, etc.  Cheap, good.  (At least they used to be, it's been a few years!)

I love that about the UK -- the prepared sandwiches and other foods available everywhere.  When I was in Edinburgh for a few days a couple of years ago, I think I only ate in a restaurant once (had to get fish & chips!).  There was a very convenient Sainsbury's, and between that and the farmer's market, I was quite well-fed.

[EtheltoTillie]

Yes, that sandwich thing is good.  I enjoyed it in the UK.  Here in NYC they imported the Pret a Manger chain quite a while ago, but they've gotten a bit expensive now too.  Pret has always been a bit fancier than a Sainsbury's or a Tesco, I guess.  Pret was also my savior in the UK when I wanted to get coffee.   I'm just now remembering they have a different price for people who want to eat in versus take out!  There's some kind of tax.

Edited January 5 by EtheltoTillie

[stewedsquash]

Ha! I posted earlier about gas station food/WaWa(sp?) building here in a larger town I visit a couple times a month and 7/11 taking over our Speedway’s relating to several posts about UK and US food on the road and got a few likes. 
Then I got home while ago and until I saw the announcement above thought I had had a topsyturvy moment because everything was gone. I was looking forward to seeing discussion about stores.
 

[emma675]

I really wish this site would stop attempting updates. It never seems to work and we lose so many good conversations. 

[annzeepark914]

9 minutes ago, emma675 said:

I really wish this site would stop attempting updates. It never seems to work and we lose so many good conversations. 

This last one made me a bit nervous, wondering if primetimer was finally biting the dust (& I'd miss you all so much 🥴). If this ever happened, is there a "corner" we could meet on to continue our fascinating discussions, problems, likes & dislikes, etc?

[BlueSkies]

Sometimes I think us homo sapiens are more alike than different generally speaking.  But then I think of my friend and cousins reaction to getting luxury box invites to an NFL game

 

My cousin:  Man this is going to be sweet!  All the food you can eat!  

My friend:  My wife's company invited us.  It looks like the only reason we got the invite is so her company can write this off as an expense for their taxes.  They had some food they served but it was edible at best. 

 

Well my cousin is younger than my friend so there is that.  But yeah my friend can defiantly be on the analytical side of everything.  

Edited January 6 by BlueSkies

[Ancaster]

17 hours ago, BlueSkies said:

Sometimes I think us homo sapiens are more alike than different generally speaking.  But then I think of my friend and cousins reaction to getting luxury box invites to an NFL game

 

My cousin:  Man this is going to be sweet!  All the food you can eat!  

My friend:  My wife's company invited us.  It looks like the only reason we got the invite is so her company can write this off as an expense for their taxes.  They had some food they served but it was edible at best. 

 

Well my cousin is younger than my friend so there is that.  But yeah my friend can defiantly be on the analytical side of everything.  

Is your friend an accountant?  Otherwise I'd just call them cynical 😄

This morning I caught myself talking to myself.  Not in my head, which I've done since time immemorial, but out loud.  "Not that there's anything wrong with it" if you're that way inclined, but to suddenly find oneself doing it aged 60 is a little startling alarming.

[peacheslatour]

3 minutes ago, Ancaster said:

Is your friend an accountant?  Otherwise I'd just call them cynical 😄

This morning I caught myself talking to myself.  Not in my head, which I've done since time immemorial, but out loud.  "Not that there's anything wrong with it" if you're that way inclined, but to suddenly find oneself doing it aged 60 is a little startling alarming.

Being a designer and flower shop manager, I worked alone a lot. I got used to talking to myself. My DH, who owned an auto repair business for thirty years, worked alone much of the time too. He talks to himself as well. We can be having two different conversations at the same time.

[chitowngirl]

My boss and I both talk to ourselves out loud.  We decided long ago that if we wanted to speak to each other, we’d let the other know.

[Bastet]

4 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

My boss and I both talk to ourselves out loud.  We decided long ago that if we wanted to speak to each other, we’d let the other know.

I talk to myself, and I used to have a co-worker in the next office who talked to herself, so it was the same situation -- if I heard her say something, I figured it wasn't for me unless it started with my name.

My dad talks to himself, loud enough that I can hear him (although my mom can't), but not loud enough to make out what he's saying.  That is an incredibly annoying noise in the background, so when I'm at their house I frequently wind up telling him to either mutter to himself more quietly or share with the class.

[oliviabenson]

Carol are you talking to me?

No I’m talking to myself stop interrupting my perfect conversation!

[BlueSkies]

1 hour ago, Ancaster said:

Is your friend an accountant?  Otherwise I'd just call them cynical 😄

This morning I caught myself talking to myself.  Not in my head, which I've done since time immemorial, but out loud.  "Not that there's anything wrong with it" if you're that way inclined, but to suddenly find oneself doing it aged 60 is a little startling alarming.

No.  But I am 😁

 

My friend though is very much into analytics and numbers though.  

[Ancaster]

From reactions on this board and others, I'm guessing that I'm not the only poster who refuses to use the new, hideous LOL reaction, and instead chooses to "wink, "like", or "love" instead. 

Wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more if you agree.

Edited January 6 by Ancaster

[Mondrianyone]

I adhere to the old saying that talking to yourself is the only way to guarantee having a good conversation.

[annzeepark914]

I started voicing my thoughts aloud as a better way to remember what I planned to do. This is when I have a lot of things to accomplish. 

[peacheslatour]

41 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:

I started voicing my thoughts aloud as a better way to remember what I planned to do. This is when I have a lot of things to accomplish. 

I do this too. I will enumerate what I should do and I prioritized them out loud.

[ABay]

I find it useful to sat things out loud like "I locked the door", so I remember I did it and don't have to get up in the middle of the night to check.

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, Ancaster said:

This morning I caught myself talking to myself.  Not in my head, which I've done since time immemorial, but out loud.  "Not that there's anything wrong with it" if you're that way inclined, but to suddenly find oneself doing it aged 60 is a little startling alarming.

23 minutes ago, ABay said:

I find it useful to sat things out loud like "I locked the door", so I remember I did it and don't have to get up in the middle of the night to check.

Other than saying things on purpose to remember them better in the short term (like "I locked the door" or "5" for parking aisle number) I do not talk to myself out loud.
I used to talk to myself out loud. But, at my first job after becoming a single mother of 3, I was talking to myself as a means of troubleshooting the photocopier, when a permanent, full-time employee walked up close to me and in a shouty whisper told me that talking to oneself was a sign of schizophrenia. So I stopped doing it, because it was a rural town with few employers.

That was over 30 years ago. I squelched the urge to talk to myself outloud in the workplace thereafter, and I think it carried over into my private life. Except I sing or hum if no one is too close to be bothered by it, or if I'm in the shower.

So, @Ancaster, my only real concern with your post is that your beginning to talk to yourself out loud is "alarming" to you. 
Is it just that you're spending more time alone than you have previously?
I think I did do a bit more talking to myself during the quarantining part of the pandemic.

And note all the replies above that serve as evidence that talking to oneself is not unusual. 

[oliviabenson]

2 hours ago, Mondrianyone said:

I adhere to the old saying that talking to yourself is the only way to guarantee having a good conversation.

You got that right haha. One always receives the perfect answer.

[stewedsquash]

My brother is schizophrenic and talking to one’s self out loud is not a symptom.  Having a conversation or responding out loud with or to a person or people who you think are there with you but do not exist is a symptom. 
So it saddens me that the person stifled your out loud talks with yourself @shapeshifter

Edited January 7 by stewedsquash
@

[ABay]

One of the benefits of having a pet is that you aren't talking to yourself, you're talking to them. Perfectly normal. If they start answering you in a human language, it might be time to worry.

@shapeshifter, that coworker was an ignorant asshole.

Edited January 7 by ABay

[chitowngirl]

I will admit to making my husband repeat what I just said so I know he heard me. He does tell me he tunes me out, so this way I make sure he hears the important stuff.😆

Edited January 7 by chitowngirl

[Kitty Redstone]

8 hours ago, Ancaster said:

This morning I caught myself talking to myself.  Not in my head, which I've done since time immemorial, but out loud.

I do, too, and always have. My youngest laughed at me the other day for sailor cursing at the Aldi self-checkout machine, which rags at you if you don't scan your items quickly enough and is absolutely infuriating.

But anyway. I talk to myself all day, every day, about everything from the most mundane to the most dark and serious, in my head and out loud, and can't imagine not having that voice (or really, that inner friend). When I learned that there are people who don't have an inner monologue, as well as people who don't have a "mind's eye" and can't picture things in their heads, I was blown away. It's still difficult for me to understand what that must be like, and tbh and am grateful to be able to do both.

 

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

I will admit to making my husband repeat what I just said so I know he heard me. He does tell me he tunes me out, so this way I make sure he hears the important stuff.😆

How’s his hearing? Seriously. ❤️

[chitowngirl]

7 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

How’s his hearing? Seriously. ❤️

Oh, his hearing is fine. He just gets distracted easily. Squirrel! He admits it. He laughs when I ask him to repeat, which is really not that often. 

Edited January 7 by chitowngirl

[PRgal]

I talk to myself from time to time.  But I'm an only child and I grew up playing pretend by myself a lot.  Playdates don't happen every weekend!  I had a crazy Little House phase where I played pioneer teacher with myself.  I think I mentioned this here before, but I even had a "pioneer girl" skirt made with an old duvet cover (hey, using what you have is a pretty Ingalls thing to do!) and often wore it when I played teacher...to imaginary students (I didn't use my dolls or stuffed animals).  It was so much fun! 

[peacheslatour]

28 minutes ago, PRgal said:

I talk to myself from time to time.  But I'm an only child and I grew up playing pretend by myself a lot.  Playdates don't happen every weekend!  I had a crazy Little House phase where I played pioneer teacher with myself.  I think I mentioned this here before, but I even had a "pioneer girl" skirt made with an old duvet cover (hey, using what you have is a pretty Ingalls thing to do!) and often wore it when I played teacher...to imaginary students (I didn't use my dolls or stuffed animals).  It was so much fun! 

I'm an only child too and I remember making up stories for my dolls to act out in my dollhouse. I had a great time!

[BlueSkies]

One of the deepest questions I ever contemplated in my life 😅.

 

Shaggy from Scooby Doo- How in the hell does he stay as rail thin as he does with the appetite he has?  Where exactly is he putting it all?  

 

I have a big appetite as well but yeah if I don't watch it I will easily resemble Theodore from my avatar!  Well actually I'll be bigger! 

 

 

 

[peacheslatour]

14 minutes ago, BlueSkies said:

One of the deepest questions I ever contemplated in my life 😅.

 

Shaggy from Scooby Doo- How in the hell does he stay as rail thin as he does with the appetite he has?  Where exactly is he putting it all?  

 

I have a big appetite as well but yeah if I don't watch it I will easily resemble Theodore from my avatar!  Well actually I'll be bigger! 

 

 

 

How about these two?

 

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

How about these two?

I didn't watch that show, but that drove me nuts about Brenda on The Closer and Jane on Rizzoli & Isles; one does not exist on a diet of candy, take-out, and Mama's southern cooking and look like Kyra Sedgwick, or exist on a diet of burgers, beer, and Ma's Italian cooking and look like Angie Harmon. 

Shaggy is a cartoon character in a world in which dogs talk and teenagers travel all about without parents yet never have sex; his size despite his food intake is just par for the course in that universe.  (With a touch of reality, though, I guess -- he's clearly a stoner, and a number of studies have shown regular users of marijuana gain less weight than those who don't partake, with all other things being equal, so there's some speculation it increases metabolism.)  But it bugs me on shows with "real" people.

Edited January 7 by Bastet

[PRgal]

2 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

How about these two?

 

Maybe it's the coffee (provided that they drink it black)? 

Edited January 7 by PRgal

[Browncoat]

Woo hoo!  My months of being on call for jury duty are over!  And I never had to actually go in -- all the potential trials I called in for were cancelled.

[isalicat]

Back to the talking to oneself topic:

I am an only child and spent many, many blissful hours alone (reading! just give me a book - I had little desire to do anything else as a child other than almost daily ballet class), so never developed the habit of talking to myself in play.

I do have two autistic friends (both in their late 20s - what they call "high functioning", I guess, as they are both verbally communicative and although they can't live on their own, they do hold down part time jobs etc.) and they both talk to themselves out loud (a lot!) whenever they are not actively talking to other people. They are both very amenable to being politely "shushed" in situations that call for it, but I think at this point it is pretty ingrained. They are very definitely not schizophrenic and I think that is kinda insulting to say to someone. 😾