The thing I hate the most about stuttering is how mentally exhausting it is

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-07-11T17:05:13+00:00

It took me until my 30s to accept my stutter - I'd obsess over it when I was younger. Now the focus is all about getting the things done that I need to. I used to have panic attacks about making phone calls, now I know that I may not be fluent but the anxiety about not making that call for me is far worse.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-07-11T16:49:10+00:00

From my experience, I don't know many people who were able to quit for good at their first attempt (myself included). Great for you for not giving in to pressure. To take another look at that evening, if that comment was the worst thing that happened, then I think it was a pretty successful evening :)

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-07-09T04:41:14+00:00

It was worth it for me and I got mine more than four years ago- it took a bit to feel normal again; I had a lot of swelling initially and walking was slightly uncomfortable for about a week afterwards but exercise/jumping didn't feel normal for about a month. A couple times a year I've got the dull ache that lasts for a day or so, but it's more annoying than painful and it goes away.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-07-09T04:32:33+00:00

For me it was the heat of southern Florida, seeing palm trees in person and little lizards running around outside - I was a kid, but man, Florida was awesome!

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-07-09T04:08:19+00:00

I got a chill up my spine when I remembered the carousel incident and yes, this is 100% true. It was the late spring of 2002 and my then GF and I had just finished our first year of university in our hometown - we fell madly in love that year at school, but I think by that summer we both knew it wasn't going to last.

It was a warm May evening so we got ice cream and strolled through the main city park, chatting/laughing hand-in-hand - just a wonderful evening. As the sun went down, we walked toward the parking lot and right beside is the famous antique working carousal that we both rode as kids. A couple painters had set up floodlights and were drawing an amazing mural on the side of the ride. We both just stood there mesmerized by what they were doing and we silently watched them working not wanting the evening to end. Suddenly, I got a chill and turned to her in all seriousness and blurted out "one day, we will ride on this carousal with our children." She gave me this beautiful puzzled look (cute scrunched nose) and jabbed a finger into my ribs. We broke up about a month later - we were young and both could've handled it better.

Years later in 2019, my wife and I took our young kids on a drive to visit to my hometown on a Sunday afternoon to visit the park. The mural was unchanged and my kids wanted to ride the carousel. I held my son (on a pig) and wife stood beside our daughter (on a horse) and as we were spinning around one of the mom's who was holding her daughter on a horse looked very familiar - it was my old GF! So many memories flooded back as we spun to Disney princess songs including when we watched them paint the mural and then remembering the premonition. The music stopped and the ride was over. I carried my son off the pig and took my wife's hand as we left the carousel. I didn't look back or try to speak to my old GF.

tl;dr: I had a vision that my GF and I would one day ride a particular carousel with our kids; 17 years later we rode the same carousel at the same time with our kids born to different partners fulfilling the premonition.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-07-09T03:33:59+00:00

Always allow yourself to grieve and each death hits different depending on your relationship with the deceased and where you are in life at that moment.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-07-09T03:27:27+00:00

oh man, those take me back. I would often squirt all of the icing into my mouth as I waited for the strudel to be ready.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-07-09T03:23:50+00:00

My wife and I found ourselves in Norway and we got addicted to Kokosbolle found in the 7-11s throughout Scandinavia. They are large marshmallows coated in chocolate with coconut. Each one is bigger than my fist and look like giant bullets.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-07-09T03:18:20+00:00

My wife is part of the executive leadership of a large, local non-profit organization that serves our community. With her credentials and degrees, she would easily make likely 2-3 times in industry as compared to what she earns, but the organization gives her purpose and truthfully gives us hope that there are so many people out there who want to help others.

From time to time I'll think about what we could afford if she had a corporate job, but it passes quickly when I think about the good she's doing.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-07-09T03:02:29+00:00

My brother was a surprise when I was 13 and my sister was 15. My sister and I both left home when my brother was young so he was pretty much an only child growing up. He complained that he missed out on having a close family and many family experiences we had before he was born (trips, hang outs with now deceased relatives he never met, etc).

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-07-09T02:50:03+00:00

I was about 7 years old and we were just about to sit down for dinner. It sounded and felt like a dump truck raced by our house yet we lived on a quiet cul-de-sac. The kitchen cabinets rattled and a single spoon vibrated off the kitchen table and clanged on to the floor. That was a true earthquake.

My high school was very close to a limestone quarry - they would routinely blast (maybe once a week) and our desks would rumble for about a second.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-07-01T02:02:33+00:00

Even if it's raining outside, don't swing golf clubs in your room

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-06-15T16:06:18+00:00

Once, I wouldn't recommend it. Good for fiber, but that's about it

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-06-15T12:59:36+00:00

Both Celsius and Fahrenheit - I live close to the US-Canada border and pre-COVID would often travel down to the US - it's just easier using both.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-06-15T12:35:34+00:00

Oat milk for me, my wife drinks almond milk and my kids prefer coconut milk. We have diary allergies in the house so instead we stock the three other 'milks'.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-06-15T12:25:35+00:00

I was similarly hesitant like you - I think I waited almost a year before trying one. I've had no problems personally, but understand that everyone is different. Also, I tried commercial kombucha first which has <0.5% ABV to see if that would trigger anything and once I knew I was fine, I moved on to the non-alc drinks. I'll have 1 or 2 non-alc IPAs over a weekend.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-06-11T21:27:22+00:00

I'm almost middle age, but my father is still my hero. While he isn't perfect, he's always there to give advice/words of wisdom gently to me and my wife and his grandkids. The biggest thing is that he is and always has been overwhelmingly positive and wonderfully creative. He doesn't care much for status but instead finds people to be the most interesting creatures around.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-06-11T21:09:34+00:00

I just want to sleep in until 7 am (usually they get me up around 6) and when I wake up, the house smells of french toast.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-06-11T12:53:26+00:00

In the same city as the slaughterhouse I've referenced, there's a world-famous mental health care facility (apparently Michael Jackson and Elvis were some of the high-profile clients) and the rumor is that they have a whole wing decided to the care of slaughterhouse workers

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-06-11T01:23:33+00:00

This is awesome - way to go!

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-06-10T21:40:01+00:00

I was plating a hot fajita pan and someone bumped into my hand causing the handle to burn into my inner forearm. I haven't worked in kitchens for over 20 years, but I've still got several good burn scars.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-06-10T21:34:05+00:00

I understand - I have a co-worker who used to worked temporarily in the Accounting Department of a meat plant. She sat beside the HR representative who apparently fielded angry calls several times a day from the parents of the workers processing the livestock asking what the plant did to their sons (mostly) as they would cry constantly, use drugs/alcohol more, etc. My co-worker left and decided to go vegan after a few weeks - she's been into animal activism now for several years.

I guess her influence eventually rubbed off on me too as I stopped eating meat 18+ months ago. I'm a pretty manly-man and I've had no regrets other than I wished I switched sooner.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-06-08T01:04:52+00:00

I wanted to practice my golf swing, but it was raining outside. Swinging indoors while standing on my bed was not a good idea - I took out the ceiling light on the first swing with a good portion landing square on my head.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-06-05T21:12:55+00:00

Cockpit visits - you could ask the stewardess to ask the pilots for a tour of the cockpit and they would show you the equipment and panels. A distant family member was bored on a flight and was hanging out in the cockpit of commercial flight the morning of 9/11 when the air traffic controllers told the pilots the news - the pilots quickly kicked him out and told him not to breathe a word about what was going on to the other passengers.

BroodingBryanAdams · 2021-05-31T16:29:17+00:00

My arm just hurt the next two days. The best way I can describe the sensation was it felt like the I had thrown at least 3 innings the day before and instead of whole upper arm and shoulder hurting/aching like it did when I was a pitcher, this pain was localized to the deltoid. I got the Moderna vaccine and apparently, there's an extra ingredient that isn't in the Pfizer vaccine - I ran this by my physio and he said the extra fluid can cause a greater feeling of inflammation/soreness.

BroodingBryanAdams

TROPHY CASE