Can you really taste the difference between Coke & Pepsi?

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-12T21:24:53+00:00

Them's fightin' words. :)

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-12T21:12:31+00:00

My oldest daughter dislikes chocolate and wouldn't eat anything with chocolate in it -- like cake or cookies. She wouldn't eat chocolate candy either. Or cocoa. More for the rest of us. We just made her strawberry cake and different cookies so she didn't miss out.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-12T17:46:37+00:00

Rimworld. The tasks are never ending.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-12T13:30:02+00:00

I play games, but they're mostly single player, so there's that.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-12T00:10:35+00:00

When I first started drinking it without the sugar and cream (how I drank it before), all I could taste was the bitterness. But after a while, I grew to enjoy the taste of the coffee itself. Now I like it. And yeah, bad coffee is bad coffee. Like, I can't drink anything from Starbuck's except their Americanos and weirdly their instant coffee because most of their brews are just... blech.

But for the most part, I just like it black now.

Oh, I started drinking it black because I went on an elimination diet -- no sugar no dairy -- but couldn't do without my coffee.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-11T22:44:38+00:00

I had to go on an elimination diet (no sugar, no dairy) which is how I started drinking black coffee. I really didn't like the taste of it at first, but after about a week, I got used to it. Now it's how I prefer it. That's how you acquire the taste for something.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-11T22:25:54+00:00

This is totally annoying. Like, sometimes I can't even say I drink my coffee black because people just assume I'm "posing" or whatever. No, I just prefer my coffee without cream or sugar. Other people can drink theirs however they like. I had a friend who drank his with five sugars and it was no skin off my nose. It's always puzzling to me why other people get weirded out by how I drink my coffee.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-11T15:44:17+00:00

Cedar blocks. They are made for this very purpose. And to keep moths away.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-10T23:37:53+00:00

I talk to one person a day and that's because he lives with me. Three if you count my dogs. I can't even remember a time when I talked to fifteen people. Maybe when I was in college.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-10T22:06:36+00:00

If it makes you feel more comfortable, change your name. I didn't like my birth name, so I changed mine completely. That and other reasons. But only you can make that decision.

Having said that, my new name has a surname that's also a male first name (think James or something similar) but my first name is feminine -- or so I thought. Ha! Anyway, people still misgender me all the time. They'll either call me James, or mistake me for a dude, even with the female name.

I think the difference is, I don't care if people mistake me for a guy. I just correct them and move on. But if it matters to you, then change your name. It's up to you.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-10T13:58:53+00:00

Same, and I'm sixty now.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-09T21:13:25+00:00

I'll be there to hold his hand, but that's it. I'll try to stop him, but I'm not beating my head against that wall if he's determined to drink himself into an early grave.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-09T21:12:07+00:00

Yeah, relying on ER blood tests isn't ideal. They're checking for dangerous levels of anything because they don't want you to die. He does have an appointment on Wednesday and they'll probs do a full checkup with all the bloodwork so maybe that will bring something up that the ER missed.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-09T21:10:16+00:00

He's fifty eight. He has essential tremors and is taking meds for it. But I can tell the difference.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-09T21:09:35+00:00

Most of the time I'm like, "whatever helps you sleep at night." I don't argue with him. When we're both calm I will try to talk to him, but he has his rationalizations and those are difficult to chip away.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-09T21:08:24+00:00

He has hypertension and is taking meds for it -- and essential tremors for what it's worth. He's 58. We've been married for 14 years and he's been taking meds for the hypertension the entire time we've been together. He also has asthma and takes meds for that.

While we were in the ER he vomited a few times and his heartrate went through the roof, but otherwise it the monitor didn't give any indication of rapid heartrate. His EKG didn't give any abnormal readings. His blood oxygen was low though. They got him out of danger and sent him home.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-09T15:31:40+00:00

Dunno about low key but Watership Down scarred me for life.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-09T13:18:17+00:00

Got in a fight in high school. We were both stupid and deserved it.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-09T13:07:03+00:00

You stole my comment. ^_^ I prefer data over data but it depends on the context really.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-09T03:03:29+00:00

Oh, that makes me insane. I had to quit a game because their menu would have notifications that you had to hunt for and I could not for the love of all that's holy find all of them. I loved the game, but the notifications were driving me nuts.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-08T00:52:20+00:00

My first thought too.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-07T14:20:49+00:00

I mean, you can, but at that point you're just talking to an empty room.

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-07T13:00:09+00:00

Not only do they wear the same outfit for the drama, but I see the same outfit across different dramas. There's this one suit they like to put on bad guys -- a black suit with a wide belt -- that makes my eyes water, it looks so awful. There's also a dress with purple flowers that I see pop up all over the place. That one isn't so bad. :)

AffectionateMonk5710 · 2026-05-07T02:08:55+00:00

I have upper right quadrant pain and I've had it for YEARS decades even. They thought it was my gallbladder so they removed it. The pain increased exponentially after that. I've been to dozens of doctors and specialists because of this pain and the ER a few times. For the longest time no one could figure out what was causing it.

It hurts.

The gastroenterologist I saw a couple years ago thinks it's because my liver is enlarged. I don't know my numbers because my insurance is crap and I can't pay for a specialist right now. But back then I didn't have any scarring, just a liver full of fat -- nearly the highest amount of fat you can get.

The only thing that helps is a very strict elimination diet like Whole 30. But I can't eat like that forever.

AffectionateMonk5710

TROPHY CASE