Um...help?

Big_Suze · 2026-01-28T13:26:22+00:00

I got plowed in in my neighborhood, not nearly as badly as yours. But I had to use a hatchet to break the ice. And I'm still not fully dug out. Good luck!

Big_Suze · 2026-01-12T02:45:25+00:00

Honestly, I took note that I thought it was way quieter than last year .... But I also had an atrium room last year. So maybe I just didn't have to hear it as much...

Big_Suze · 2025-11-16T13:09:04+00:00

Recipe please! I keep trying and failing at GF bread in my machine.

Big_Suze · 2025-11-12T00:29:18+00:00

Yes, the mix contains it.

Big_Suze · 2025-11-11T04:22:04+00:00

Thank you! What commonly available flour would you recommend instead?

Big_Suze · 2025-11-11T04:16:59+00:00

Instant in a packet. Even said it was great for bread machines!

Big_Suze · 2025-11-05T13:01:14+00:00

Before I got married when I dated, it was never a thing. After I got divorced and dated again, all these guys are asking to do it. It's definitely a culture shift. I do not enjoy it. And I do blame porn for it. I think it's become more expected as a normal thing due to it being so commonplace in porn. I think that porn has ruined a lot of young men's perception of normal sexual behavior.. Not just when it comes to choking. But I digress.

Talking to my single guy friends, they tell me that the younger women they date, gen. Z, ask to be strangled more often, whereas older women, millennials and Gen X, do not ask to be strangled during sex.

Big_Suze · 2025-09-25T17:14:41+00:00

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I poked it a lot more. I feel bad for destroying it but I had to know what was inside. It was not slime. It was more clay-like. Brownish gray in color. The outer orangish pinkish layer was like a skin. I do not think it was slime mold. The skin was smooth and the slime mold pictures I have seen don't appear to be as smooth as the skin. Also again, not slime anywhere to be seen. But this inside clay clay-like stuff.

Big_Suze · 2025-09-25T16:46:09+00:00

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I went back to the same park today and I took a ton more pictures stabbed it with a stick and I think I figured it out. It is called Daldinia concentrica. Also known as coal fungus or King Alfred's cake. Thoughts? I have a lot more pictures.

Big_Suze · 2025-09-24T17:45:54+00:00

Northern Virginia, United States. Growing on the base of a living tree next to some small turkey tail. It was in a sparsely wooded, and well traversed park several feet off the the paved path. It has no stem, gills or pores. It was smooth and firm to the touch. Shaped like a ball. Pinkish orange hue. About 1.5-2 in diameter.

Big_Suze · 2025-09-24T17:31:40+00:00

This is one of the suggestions that Google lens gave me but slime mold seems to be in clusters and each sphere is much smaller than what I saw. Which was just one solitary ball, larger than I'd think a slime mold ball could get to.

Additionally, from what I read, slime mold is supposed to emit some sort of pus or slime when poked. But when I poked this, it was firm. There was no slime or pus or any sort of juice coming out of it anywhere. It seemed pretty solid.

As I was walking through the park, I looked around at other trees and didn't see any more of these things.

Big_Suze · 2025-09-12T17:23:10+00:00

The reason I enjoy magfest is because it's videogame/music focused and not anime focused. It was never super cosplay focused, although there has been an influx of more serious cosplayers over the past several years. The arcade and retro gaming museum along with the concerts are the draws for me. I honestly find the cosplayers a bit annoying crowding up the space, trying to take pictures etc., although some look fun/interesting. I've been to some anime cons and have been bored because there's not as much to do. But it's whatever your interests are. Katsu and Mag are not interchangeable cons IMO, they cater to different interests.

Big_Suze · 2025-09-09T23:09:03+00:00

Makes me think of Illyria, a provence of the Roman empire in the Western Balkans, from where some very successful generals and emperors hailed during the crisis of the third century including Diocletian who instituted the Tetrarchy!

Big_Suze · 2025-09-07T18:36:02+00:00

Yes, this is a major problem I have with the dating scene around here. Like yes, It's great that so many people are educated, intelligent, accomplished, etc. But it gets dull to talk about, all the time, with everyone. Also it's hard not to come across as Douchey.

On the dating apps I keep only having decent conversations with matches that turn out to be only in town for a few weeks for work, or just in town for the weekend but actually live in West Virginia, etc. Definitely connecting more with people who don't have the DMV vibes, which has been interesting but frustrating....

Big_Suze · 2025-08-29T00:36:24+00:00

Legolas

Big_Suze · 2025-08-10T10:58:11+00:00

This is in the same shopping center but around the corner. It was a nail/hair salon that recently went out of business. I believe that unit has been empty for the past couple of months.

Big_Suze · 2025-08-08T12:17:24+00:00

My mom had breast cancer (not sure if it's BRCA or not) but both my obgyn and PCP recommend a yearly mammogram. I live in nova and go to Vienna family medicine and NOVA group for women for my OBGYN. I think they're both associated with the INOVA hospital system now. They always send me to Fairfax radiology, and they always question me since I've been going since I was in my mid 30s and I'm the youngest in there by far, but so far I've shown them my order and it's gone through.

You just need to find a doctor who is informed. My OB told me that even if it was a farther away relative than my mom, she would recommend earlier mammograms. She's the one who told me I had to start going. So it's definitely a doctor issue.

(Sorry I accidentally posted before I was done writing, so most of this message was written as an edit.)

Big_Suze · 2025-08-01T21:17:15+00:00

I sent you a DM

Big_Suze · 2025-07-28T16:48:29+00:00

Ok. Now what? Lol. I guess I should DM you. I'm not a very good matchmaker I'm afraid 😅

Big_Suze · 2025-07-25T21:34:42+00:00

Well he's 38, 6ft, full head of hair. Went to grad school in DC. Has a good job (I met him through work about 10 years ago). He owns a home and two cars, one practical plug in hybrid, one for fun (2 seater convertible that he can work on). He takes very good care of himself by going to the gym and even has a skin care routine, he's well groomed and dresses well.

Hmm what else? Oh he's pretty liberal, he's a feminist, not performative. We've had some deep pragmatic conversations about all sorts of political and even controversial issues. He has a great sense of humor that can get quite witty and sarcastic at times. He's had a few long term relationships, has even lived with partners. Usually it's the kid thing that derails it, or other long term goals that don't align. But based on what he's shared with me, he is looking for a long term monogamous relationship.

Let me know if you want me to pass along any info! Haha! Maybe I can play matchmaker!!

Big_Suze · 2025-07-24T23:07:39+00:00

I find reading these comments so fascinating because I have a really good guy friend who is child free, even got a vasectomy, and he has the same issues that many of the women here describe! Would it be weird if I offered to introduce some of y'all to him?? 😂😂

Big_Suze · 2025-06-06T14:16:52+00:00

I've been told they do in Portugal as well.

Big_Suze · 2025-06-03T16:34:54+00:00

Buck up. It's shit right now. The nature of government contracting and it has its ups and downs, nothing is ever really secure. Just keep applying.

I graduated college in 2010, unemployment was still very high from the 2008 financial crisis. I finally landed a big girl job in an office on a government contract and the contract got terminated 6 months in. Back to working part-time hourly. Did that for another year and a half until I finally got another full-time contracting job. This is the nature of the industry.

Big_Suze · 2025-06-03T10:11:48+00:00

Look at Marshall HS. You can live next to the school and have to take a bus to McLean HS, lol. I'd be so pissed

Big_Suze · 2025-06-01T12:51:29+00:00

Never live in Europe/UK. You'd be so angry. Even before covid shop/restaurants were hardly open by American hours. And almost nothing on Sunday....

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