For a simple example: my mother is Catholic and until Trump came along, a lifelong single-issue Republican voter who always said she would be a Democrat if it weren’t for abortion. She attends church in an extremely progressive, famously LGBTQ-friendly town.

There’s a transwoman who attends her church (let’s call her Rita). This lady is probably in her mid-50s to mid-60s and has been a fixture at the church for at least 5 years. My mom has been in choir and bible study groups with her for years now. She still just can’t see Rita as a woman. Treats her politely but behind her back refuses to call her “she” and says she’s a “man in a dress”.

She’s really offended that Rita uses the ladies’ room. I’ve asked her why and she can’t articulate it, she just feels like it’s an invasion of her privacy, because men don’t belong in the ladies’ room. And when I point out that Rita isn’t a man, she just rolls her eyes. I’ve asked her if she’s worried that Rita is in there for predatory purposes and she admits that she doesn’t think Rita intends any harm. I’ve asked her how she’d feel if she were forced to use the men’s room and she says “but that’s different!”

My mom prides herself in being a moral person, and still can’t manage to get past her bigotry to see Rita as a woman. There are just too many mental blockades against it. But since she thinks she’s so highly moral, she thinks she must be correct in this situation. It excuses her from finding empathy and bettering her attitude toward trans folks.

My longwinded point is that when people who consider themselves highly moral are bigoted, there’s almost zero chance of getting through to them. And I think a lot of the people who are bigoted against trans folks feel that morality is on their side and being trans is morally deviant, so they think they’re justified in their prejudice.

I didn’t change my name. My perspective is that my identity doesn’t change just because I got married. My name has been mine since birth and it’ll remain that way.

I have zero paifs of underwear.

I think the point is he won both the popular and electoral. In 2016 he lost the popular vote but won the electoral anyway.

Yeah also 4chan

When I was growing up, I had some family in LA & San Diego. One year when we visited them we ended up going to both Disneyland and SeaWorld. This was the late '80s or very early '90s and not a huge deal, I think it was just something to do to keep us kids busy. I know Disneyland isn’t “the” Disney that everyone talks about so maybe I’m missing something but Disneyland was sorta underwhelming. I wasn’t huge into Disney stuff anyway but I remember being kind of bored.

When we visited in 1997 we went to Universal Studios Hollywood. They had an attraction where you could get photographed in front of a blue screen and edited into a scene from Star Trek - they had uniforms and props and everything. I loved TNG and was so stoked to wear a command uniform and hold a tricorder. My uncle Ira was appalled that I chose TNG over TOS…I can still hear him saying “but that’s not real Star Trek!”

Gym membership & personal training. Expensive but completely worth it!

Ouais…Camus est omniprésent haha

Putain 🙄

No, more like “hey you’ve got some schmutz on your shirt.” I don’t know what it is (might be crumbs or maybe lint) but it’s definitely there.

Gooch, taint, bung, flunch.

Chutzpah is great! There are tons of great Yiddish words. Some of my favorites are schvitz (to sweat; alternatively a sauna), schlep ([traveling] an annoying distance), mischigas (nonsense or nutty behavior, or kinda similar to a clusterfuck), noodge (kinda like a pest, but said with some affection), zaftig (pleasingly plump, like Christina Hendricks), and kvell (to be really happy/proud, opposite of kvetch).

Smeg is actually a well known appliance brand

Chicken cheesesteak with provolone and fried onions on an amoroso rollllllllll

ONE letter away from Nostril…

YES, emoticons are so much better than emojis!

Assuming a healthy, loving relationship:

Advantages

• You always have someone in your corner. Someone who will stand next to you and face whatever comes. Someone who will listen to your fears and anxieties, and reassure you. Someone who can take one look at your face and know that you need a hug, or a tickle monster attack, or a cup of tea.

• You have someone who considers you vital to their happiness. You’re the person in their corner. You get to love, support, and nurture them just as they do for you.

• You have a built-in partner for things like camping, traveling, going to trivia night at the local bar. Someone who will bring you a beer when you’re too lazy to get up from the couch. Someone who you can make smile just by bringing them coffee in bed.

• You can be yourself! They love you just the way you are, you lil weirdo.

• The stability that comes from a relationship with mutual respect, cooperation, and negotiation is really comforting.

Disadvantages

• You lose some spontaneity for doing things solo, because you need to check with your partner to make sure you don’t already have plans.

• Sometimes you have to hide snack foods if you hope to get your fair share. We have a drawer in our fridge that didn’t get much use. I started squirreling away cans of sparkling water in there because if I didn’t hide them, they’d all be gone by the time I decided I wanted one.

• You can get into a rut, but neither one tries to change it on the assumption that the other one is happy that way.

• Sometimes they toot in bed 😡

I bring a book and pace around in the water while I read.

Aw, you just reminded me of something. My grandma used to wash out soup cans, then use them to bake small raisin breads. She would make several at once and you could freeze them. I don’t know where she got this idea but it was awesome always having these tiny raisin breads available :) especially if you don’t want to commit to a whole full-sized loaf!

It was reclaimed a while ago.