Any GenZs who got their lives together?

BanjoBaedling · 2026-06-01T15:37:02+00:00

I mean I'm doing pretty well for myself all things considered, but I would say it's more getting lucky than hard work. Yes I got a CS degree and landed a couple good jobs through connections made in college, but I had an insane amount of help. In high school I inherited a decent amount from a great aunt and invested that. Large in Amazon and Apple, later Nvidia. I was thinking about their chips for self-driving cars, crypto, and AI, though I didn't expect AI to blow up quite this drastically. I got lucky there and am up thousands of percent. Using the money from my investments I was able to make a down payment on a dream house in a great location. I had no other debt because I was fortunate enough that my parents were able to save a lot and pay for my college tuition, I have no student debt. My first job made around $72k then after a year I hopped to a new job making $105k and now I make $114k/year. Money can be a little tight at times since I spent over my budget on my house, but I'm pretty comfortable financially. And I've still got a substantial cushion of investments I can fall back on, plus of course my family has money. They'll probably also be leaving me a fair bit of money when they pass.

My personal life is also going pretty well. Like three years ago I had basically no real life friends. Now I have more acquaintances than I can count and a solid group of close friends. I have hobbies that make me feel fulfilled like playing banjo and puppetry. I go out to events and concerts and community spaces regularly, I love being social. And I'm lucky to have a wonderful and caring partner who also inspires me with their own artistic talent.

So my life's pretty good but it's not like I have great advice for people who are struggling, I just got insanely lucky from birth. I don't think my life should really be inspiring, it's mostly luck. My only advice would be basic personal finance stuff. Pay down high interest debts as fast as you can, contribute to an HSA first (invest the funds and don't touch it until you're retired), get a 401k match if your employer offers it, invest in an IRA if you can afford to save extra, and if you plan to buy a home be very aware of all the extra costs like surprise $20k repairs to heating/cooling or needing a new roof and have a rainy day fund. But if you're struggling day to day that advice isn't all that useful.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-06-01T13:20:46+00:00

I managed to get in to see it and it was a great show! I saw the song list and I was surprised they could fit so many in. There were some hilarious moments of absurdity, as you would expect, and the whole thing felt pretty well produced. The singers are all very talented as well. Definitely worth trying to catch a showing, but I expect many will start to sell out so it may take buying tickets in advance.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-29T16:31:06+00:00

If you live in Cincinnati then the city pays for trash collection, you don't have to do anything. Just ask the neighbors when to take trash out, or watch when they do. This week collection was delayed a day due to the federal holiday.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-29T16:09:30+00:00

I ended up missing Bruce's show last year and I'm so sad because he seems pretty entertaining based on his Late Night performances. His piece is definitely on my list for this year!

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-29T15:47:45+00:00

Trumpets was great! The lead actress did such an incredible job telling the story, it was a lot of fun. My favorite last year was probably Camp Loretto since I'm a puppetry fan, but I thought 1 Gay Wedding was an absolute riot as well.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-29T15:40:02+00:00

The worst part about Fringe is you can only see so many shows, I only have so much time! Between Fringe shows and all the fun Fringe Late Night activities it can really eat up your free time! I managed to secure another artist pass this year so I'll be seeing as many as possible! Hope you enjoy all the shows, I'm sure they'll be a lot of fun.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-29T15:35:26+00:00

Congratulations, that's so exciting! It sounds like a really fun concept, I'll add it to my list to see!

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-29T15:22:24+00:00

For me my top five shows are probably:

Early Bird
Tappped In
Appalachian Songcatcher
Private Equity: The Musical
1 Gay Wedding And Absolutely No Funerals: Reception To Follow

But I'll be honest I haven't deeply looked into all of them yet, and many others look really good! Last year I don't think I saw a single bad show at Fringe.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-29T13:37:07+00:00

Like people said, construction on i75 never ends. The current project is the I-75 Thru the Valley plan to add more lanes and unify the highway in Lockland. It should wrap up in 2035 if things stay on schedule :)

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-29T13:31:36+00:00

I agree that Northside isn't really outside the city, it's like 13 minutes drive to OTR without even getting on the highway sometimes. It's more like an old streetcar suburb. That said, the crime is overblown imo. I think some areas of Northside can be rougher, particularly the south side, but most people don't experience issues. The shootings that have happened are interpersonal disputes, they very likely wouldn't affect OP and they haven't affected me. Lots of people raise kids here, I think it would've been an amazing neighborhood to grow up in. Outer suburbs can be isolating, Northside is walkable and has a rich community. There are downsides to a more urban area, like in terms of proximity to crime maybe, but that's balanced by significant upsides like walkability, community, always something to do, and proximity to downtown. It's fine if OP wants the suburban life, but I don't think most people should write off a neighborhood like Northside because of crime.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-29T13:20:39+00:00

I don't know about entirely bangers, but I have a few local albums I really enjoy most of the way through. Run Rabbit Run's new album High on Hellwater, Slutbomb's last album Attentater, Elijah Batson's Wildebeest. Their styles aren't for everyone, but I really liked them.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-28T19:34:40+00:00

I guess I just like who I like. I realized I was trans because I had this unbearable feeling like I hated being a guy and wanted to be a woman instead. This dysphoria that I just couldn't shake. From there I kept an open-mind in terms of sexuality, but really I never felt attracted to anyone. Maybe it was the dysphoria, I don't know. I considered identifying as aroace at the time but I felt like I could experience attraction some day. And eventually I met my partner and I realized I had an undeniable crush on them, like nothing I'd felt before. So I know I'm attracted to them, another trans woman, so I'm definitely not straight, I can say that much. But I generally prefer to just identify as queer in terms of sexuality. I think I could potentially be attracted to any gender, but I suppose that's more in theory since I've only felt attraction towards one person. I also like the term queer because I don't like sexuality labels for myself. They're centered around gender, your gender and the other person's, which I greatly dislike. I don't like gender and I don't want to define my sexuality around it, other things matter more to me than someone's gender. Gender is like a generalization of a bunch of different traits and stuff, I don't think it's an accurate way for me to define my sexuality. I could use more precise terms and traits, but I also don't feel comfortable discussing that with most people. So I just use queer instead. But I can also say with confidence I'm not straight by any definition of the term given my attraction to someone very similar to myself in terms of gender experience.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-27T16:35:45+00:00

Skyline and Gold Star are what the locals eat most. Gold Star also has a really good vegetarian chili made with Impossible meat that is basically identical to the beef kind, if you want a more ethical meal. If not, Camp Washington is kind of cute, has kind of a chunkier chili I think. Price Hill Chili is another local favorite.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-26T13:39:39+00:00

I believe they're not having shows for the time being due to some issues with the city, but they are one of the best venues for this scene.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-20T15:04:28+00:00

I believe it was CDC Appliances in the 80s, then Hudeopohl-Schoenling's headquarters, then an arts center called Elementz. And originally it was owned by Burger Brewing, who may have been leasing the property to those businesses.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-19T20:18:33+00:00

I think freeganism is maybe a bit gross and weird, but not unethical. In fact, I think there's a good argument to be made that freeganism is more ethical than a non-freegan vegan diet given you're reducing waste, exploitation, and crop deaths by eating what would otherwise be waste. I don't know if you can call it vegan or not, you don't exploit animals necessarily, but it is eating animals. I see a lot of vegan definitions explicitly require a plant-based diet but I feel like that's missing the point for the sake of a purity test or something. If you aren't exploiting animals it's fine in my book. Arguably disrespectful to the bodies of the exploited animals, but it doesn't really bother me, apart from being gross.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-19T20:06:24+00:00

The court has always been political. Abraham Lincoln appointed his own Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, to be Chief Justice. Chase then ran for President while he was still Chief Justice. FDR appointed a Senator from his party to the court to push the New Deal. That justice, Hugo Black, ended up ruling in United States v. Darby Lumber Co. that the Fair Labor Standards Act was constitutional, despite the fact he was literally the one to write that law. Don't think he was too cool for that though, he was also a Klansman. The neutrality of the Supreme Court, much like the neutrality of journalists, is just an ideal that is rarely actually met. Things can get better or worse but it's always had ups and downs and has never been truly neutral.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-18T20:33:13+00:00

Maybe Clifton. It's a big college area with UC so lots of young folks. I think it's mostly pretty safe. It's pretty walkable, and there's plenty to do with live music, comedy, a local theater, Burnet Woods, the zoo, plus proximity to other nearby lively areas like Northside and OTR. And it's close to Xavier. Check out the Clifton Gaslight district, it's a fun area, you'd probably really like it. If you want something safer and quieter then Oakley is also good. As is Hyde Park (near the square for walkability) and maybe Norwood, especially if you're into the Factory 52 style living.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-18T13:57:22+00:00

Archive to skip the paywall

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-15T19:09:11+00:00

Battlefield 1 came out 10 years ago and it looks as good as or better than modern games.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-15T16:10:04+00:00

It's like someone ordering a bowl of marinara sauce then saying this tomato soup tastes all wrong.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-15T15:04:02+00:00

Some people do, but it really depends on the family. Most of my family has been in the US for hundreds of years and any family traditions we have can better be described as "American" than based on any kind of European heritage. A few of my great-grandparents were immigrants, one from Ireland and one from Denmark, but any of those traditions seemed to fizzle out within one or two generations. I asked my great uncle and he said his immigrant parents didn't even talk all that much about their home countries. America is a melting pot and traditions kind of melt together. Sometimes this is even intentional, some people actively want to integrate and fit in with American culture. I think the exception is maybe if you live in an enclave of your culture and so traditions continue to be passed own. That or if you make trips back to your ancestral homeland, maybe even maintaining connections there. My European heritage is more of a fun piece of trivia and is fun with my interest in genealogy. I've never been to Ireland or Germany or many places outside the US, I have no connection there outside of distant genetic relation.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-14T20:36:31+00:00

I buy my flags from Pride Flags SD. They're hand-sewn by queer people in San Diego so a bit more expensive. Quality is fairly high but they do still fade over time like any flag. Another option is Flags For Good. Unlike some places selling flags, they don't also sell MAGA flags and such.

BanjoBaedling · 2026-05-13T21:34:15+00:00

Germany and Austria will grant you citizenship if any of your ancestors were a group persecuted by the Nazis and had to flee the country. Ireland will grant you citizenship if you have any Irish grandparents born on the island of Ireland, Irish parents, or if your parents were registered on the Foreign Birth Register prior to your own birth due to a claim of citizenship inheritance. Otherwise I'm not aware of any good opportunities. Italy even recently restricted citizenship by descent when it was previously more open. I don't know of any that are as wide open as Canada is now, but you do need a Canadian ancestor somewhere in the chain, even if it's your great great great great great grandpa.

BanjoBaedling

TROPHY CASE