BenSobieck

Buying NA beer as an adult, at least near me, gets you the same look as riding a bike solo as an adult.
          	
          	So what’s riding a bike solo to go buy NA beer get you?

BenSobieck

"The last whale swam deeper."
          
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReEGxJuFY34

BenSobieck

@Aunt_Beany2 Oh, yeah, I can definitely relate!
• Balas

Aunt_Beany2

I do that too! I e gotten better with sticking little  notes on my phone….. but then the stickiness gives out and the notes fall off and I still can’t find my notes. 
            
            🤪🤣🤣
• Balas

BenSobieck

@Aunt_Beany2 Yep. And I leave little notes for myself all over the place. I should probably start putting them all in one spot. But then it wouldn't be so cryptic, and what's the fun in that?
• Balas

BenSobieck

Any time there is a new horror movie out, I apply The Shining Test to determine whether to see it. It's simple:
          
          "Would I rather see this new movie or re-watch 'The Shining'?"
          
          It's a loaded question, but it still gets a 49-51 split. Horror is getting a lot of wind, and it's not all gore and jumpscares. It's the perfect genre for an anxious, isolated generation of moviegoers. It can also emulsify social commentary.
          
          In case of a tie, the bonus round involves re-reading "The Exorcist" or one of the 10,000 books on my TBR from the bookstore. I DNF'd "Pornography for the End of the World" but only because the dread gave me a terrible stomachache. Great book!

Aunt_Beany2

I agree.  Each episode tries to teach a lesson, usually about respect or some other life lesson.  One of my favorite episodes was when Bulbasaur refuses to evolve    Lesson: you don’t have ti give in to peer pressure.  Just be yourself. .
• Balas

BenSobieck

@Aunt_Beany2 Oh, yeah, I know Pokemon. My kids went through their Pokemon phase, and I think we watched all of it twice. For a kids show, it tries a lot harder to be more than battles and creatures---although it does those things well, too!
• Balas

Aunt_Beany2

What you really need to watch is the whole series of Poke’mon.  Yes it’s a cartoon and basically anime (I think I have the correct word). But the stories and lessons behind a children’s series are complex and enlightening.  I highly recommend watching it
• Balas

BenSobieck

If there is a secret to life, it should involve having a favorite gas station/c-store.

BenSobieck

@Aunt_Beany2 Ha! That 3:1 ratio holds anywhere that isn't a dry county. Wisconsin is a little different because you can sell beer and hard liquor in gas stations. 'Sconnie towns are more like 10:1.
• Balas

Aunt_Beany2

The typical small town in the Midwest: a Church, a gas/service station, a convenience store/restaurant and a bar.   And maybe a post office if it’s big enough. 
            
            The small town I grew up in had a Church, a school, 3 bars & two gas/service stations and a post office.  I guess the beer was most important since there were 3 bars.
• Balas

BenSobieck

@CarolAnneShaw Pillars of the community here in the Midwest!
• Balas

BenSobieck

Writing satire for The Hard Times makes me think it really does take a year to figure out how to approach a new genre. It's not the words; it's the tone.
          
          And I don't mean "master" a new genre. I mean how to think about it. It's important to be terrible, and to be so greatly, but to also leave the terribleness as soon as possible.

BenSobieck

I still get messages about Glass Eye and the Zandra books, especially about the series’s position on the supernatural. 
          
          First, thank you for reading! And if you made it to the sixth book, add five more tokens of my gratitude. 
          
          Second, the best way to approach supernatural claims is to start at the most extreme skeptical position possible and refuse to budge an inch unless dragged by the hair toward the extraordinary.
          
          There will never be good reasons to believe in psychics. There can only by incredible reasons. 
          
          That doesn’t mean these things can’t exist. It doesn’t even dismiss supernatural claims. It only means there’s nothing heroic in accepting those claims when only one side has anything to lose by doing so.
          
          So that’s the official position.

BenSobieck

Just a lot of noise for the sake of noise, because damn if the silence isn’t terrifying.
          
          —
          
          The dying process must be the least evolved piece of human biology, right? If there’s a quirk somewhere, it wouldn’t proliferate or get ironed out the same way other traits would. There is no survival filter. And this must be true for every species, right?
          
          So maybe the mystery of death isn’t so much a mystery as it is completely alien to us because it’s the same process little sea amoebas used a billion years ago.
          
          Anyway, the Knicks are in the Finals. I like KAT from his time with the Wolves, so I’m going Knicks in 6.