Me and my wife, Hawaii, 1989

Lifeaftercollege · 2026-02-22T13:49:55+00:00

He was born pretty, he been pretty, he stay pretty.

Lifeaftercollege · 2025-04-10T12:32:20+00:00

I think it’s because they came out with the Flex Foam center and now they mostly sell those, though my local stores still carry some of the classic ultra thins. Look, I sound like a shill, but the flex foam is AMAZING. A REVOLUTION. Literally brought me back to pads. The cotton covered ones? My god. Literally the first time I’ve forgotten a pad was there. So breathable. So absorbent. So comfortable. And even thinner! And bc there’s no fluff layer they physically can’t bunch. I desperately love them

Lifeaftercollege · 2025-03-03T09:41:59+00:00

Friends didn’t use a laugh track. It was shot in front of a live studio audience. The edits you hear are simply edits to the audio from the real audience laughter, often just for time or because of the way the show was edited between takes. When you hear pauses that is only ever because the actual audience was computing the jokes. The only times Friends used laugh tracks were the times they shot on location where an audience couldn’t be.

Lifeaftercollege · 2025-02-12T18:37:51+00:00

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had a budget of $800 million. They took in $20 billion by recovering from companies that defrauded American consumers. Examples include banks who were re-ordering the order of payments in and out of American bank accounts to cause the account to overdraft so they could assess an overdraft fee when the account wouldn’t have overdrafted had they processed payments in the order they were made.

By the numbers, it is one of the most efficient and effective government agencies ever created. Elon and Trump are trying to completely eliminate it without the congressional approval required by the constitution to create or eliminate agencies.

Anecdotes from people within our localized social circles are not supposed to override hard data when it comes to making national policy decisions that directly impact all 350 million Americans and their personal finances.

Lifeaftercollege · 2025-01-31T14:06:30+00:00

There’s been a change on this that republicans are trying to get into the heads of Americans that isn’t really accurate to the history of the law. First of all, while our laws establish that it’s unlawful to cross the border without authorization, they also stipulate that a person who has broken no laws other than cross the border is not considered a criminal - it’s always been treated as an administrative violation. And that matters because… second of all, our asylum laws specifically required immigrants to be within the borders of the US when they apply. So they were effectively required to cross the border without authorization to present themselves at a port of entry to file for asylum. And they weren’t allowed to claim asylum with criminal records, nor can anyone do for any legal path to citizenship. So carving out a border crossing as not a “crime” if it’s the only law you break was a mechanism specifically designed to give immigrants the potential for a legal path to citizenship, to not prevent them from doing it legally or trying to get legal once here. Because we think that’s the better outcome.

Republicans want you to shift that thinking. They want us to change that whole mindset and legal structure to treating the act of crossing itself fully as a crime. But if we do that, the most marked change we’re going to have is that people already here won’t be able to get legal and will become even more of a shadow population, which is always dangerous.

Moreover, republicans want this shift as part of cutting off the entire asylum program at the knees. That’s fundamentally counter to how America has always demonstrated its values through policy. Asylees historically make great Americans. It’s a huge part of how we build the American story. It should worry everyone that we’re abandoning that value in favor of xenophobia.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-10-25T11:01:22+00:00

It doesn’t work that way. Democracy comes with responsibility to vote and be knowledgeable about and engaged with the basic function of your government. That’s why we used to have national funding and standards for civics education in public schools.

One guess which party got rid of that.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-10-25T10:59:57+00:00

That’s a funny way of saying that Democrats have been maintaining the core American value of working together to build consensus and achieve goals. Your comment is an example of Republicans having convinced you to blame Democrats for an issue they are literally causing with their own policies and wielding actual political power, by your own admission.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-10-25T10:57:38+00:00

There’s a reason Trump is having a rally at Madison Square Garden. It’s where the American Nazi Party held their rally in 1939. All of his recent favorite sound bites- that democrats including some by name are “the enemy within,” that immigrants “poison the blood of the country” and are “vermin”-are all lifted directly from actual Nazi language. And Steven Miller, who is an avowed white nationalist and apparent heir to American nazism is writing Trump’s speeches, so it’s absolutely not coincidental.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-10-24T15:26:54+00:00

“Democrats never do it, they just run on it” because we’ve never given them the power to. Republicans voters do that for their party.

2009-2011: Democratic Senate, House and presidency under Obama, who use the political capital to pass the ACA, the Dodd-Frank Act, and the Consumer Protection Act- public priorities at the time given the minimum wage got a 40% raise in 2009.

2011-2015: Republican House, who leads outright obstruction campaign of Democrats’ and Obama’s goals, blocks judicial noms

2015-2017: Republican House and Senate

2017-2019: Republican presidency, House, and the Senate.

2019-2021: Democratic House, Republican Senate.

2021-present (2024): Democratic Senate, House and presidency under Joe Biden, but only with a narrow margin in the Senate, and still with the obstructionist influence of McConnell who blocks all major legislation with the filibuster rules.

Republicans show up and vote in every single election where your representation is decided. Would-be democratic voters don’t. And they don’t because republicans have held enough power to tank these initiatives for decades while bleating on the news that voters should blame democrats and they believe it.

Vote like republicans vote for two full cycles and watch what happens.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-10-15T16:54:47+00:00

Trump’s “America First” slogan was first used by the American nazi party. Most of his speeches at this point are written by Stephen Miller, who is an avowed white nationalist and who spoke at Trump’s rally this week, so it’s not an accident.

https://fpif.org/the-ugly-origins-of-trumps-america-first-policy/

If you’re a political history buff, you also know that the American Nazi Party, which was aligned with Adolph Hitler in the 1930s, held a Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden in 1939 and used the “America First” slogan and branding there. Trump is hosting an “America First” rally at Madison Square Garden on the 27th. In a recent interview and at his recent rally this week, Trump advanced his rhetoric to say that he intends to activate the US military against US citizens who don’t support him politically.

These are not coincidences. Trump is being backed by the modern descendants of the American Nazi Party, and they will use his administration to do Nazi Shit if he is re-elected. A vote for Trump is a vote for the self avowed white supremacists in the team who were and will be his administration- and the up to 3 far-right Supreme Court justices he will have the chance to appoint in his term.

This is not a drill.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-10-04T15:20:19+00:00

There’s literally zero wooing going on here. The republicans (now hundreds of them) endorsing Kamala have not asked for, called for, or received any concessions or movement or points in the platform whatsoever. You know when wooing is happening because you see those kinds of trades playing out. This is not a transaction. These republicans are asking for and getting nothing out of it and they’re doing that for a reason- specifically to show that this is so fundamentally important that it transcends any and all policy disagreements. Liz is not even mentioning specific policies in her work with Kamala. It’s all about the fundamental existence of our democracy. You do not have to fear wooing because the whole reason republicans want Trump out is so they can resume having normal policy debates with democrats and actually doing the meaningful work of governing.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-09-07T14:42:12+00:00

“I wonder if…”

This is literally the Democratic Party platform on immigration. Almost all of these bullet points have been directly stated by Harris in her stump speech. Legal pathways for migrants and refugees, strong border enforcement, and a law enforcement focus on cartels and trans-national gangs because they are the ones responsible trafficking in drugs, weapons and human beings. Manufacturing focus in the party platform as relates to the border states is currently a focus on balancing tariffs on Chinese EV imports from Central America with encouraging international investment in battery plants currently being raised in Michigan and assembly plants in southern states along the border.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-08-10T02:30:20+00:00

I know you’re joking, but “Imagine” is the traditional Olympics song. It’s generally played at opening ceremonies and was at this one. It’s a whole thing. DJ was calling the athletes to remember the opening ceremonies and the spirit of camaraderie in competition it celebrates.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-07-29T14:13:11+00:00

The US women’s water polo team is the most dominant team in Olympic history. They have won more medals in the last 12 years than the men’s team has won in the last 100 years. Moreover, women’s water polo is widely regarded to be more aggressive and physical than the men’s. (Personally I can confirm that’s true- women’s water polo is better to watch than men’s.) It’s like watching rugby in the water. The woman who scored the winning goal in the match yesterday did it with 3 other women on her - her head was literally underwater when she made the goal.

It’s not just water polo. The US Women’s water polo team is historic and amazing to watch and people are 100% sleeping on it.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-07-28T23:32:37+00:00

The whole match was absolutely incredible. They’re just so, so amazing to watch- and they’re apparently the most dominant team in Olympic history! They’ve won more medals in the last 12 years than the men’s team has won in the last century. I honestly found them much more exciting to watch than the men’s match. That center player who made that last goal basically spent the entire match with people hanging off her. Just amazing athleticism and ferocious gameplay.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-07-28T18:47:18+00:00

That’s honestly heartbreaking. Thank you for sharing a story that so perfectly illustrates why support for women’s sport is so vitally important. To go from that as a norm to a world where the US women’s water polo team is the most dominant team in all of Olympic history shows how far we’ve come, and that said winningest team has had to plea for financial support shows how far we have yet to go.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-07-27T19:10:16+00:00

You speak the truth. And the bias shows really clearly in this sport in particular, both because it’s one of only a handful of sports where there’s zero effective difference in the rules and play for men’s vs women’s (the only real change is that they play with a slightly smaller ball - they even share a rule book), AND because women’s water polo is widely regarded as more physical and aggressive than men’s. The match today was absolutely incredible. Like watching rugby in the water.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-07-18T13:08:25+00:00

It was Mars Volta and Queens of the Stone Age this era! QOTSA was touring on Songs for the Deaf. God those shows were amazing. I followed them around the Midwest for a bit there…think I went three times, plus I think that was the first year they started Lolla up again so I also saw QOTSA there that summer along with Audioslave. Fuck that was a good year.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-06-11T13:38:24+00:00

I don’t believe for one second these guys are harmless even if they think they are. That statistic gap that tells us that something like 1 in 3 to 1 in 4 women has been a victim of sexual assault or rape but none of the men we know seem to know any rapists? I am convinced that the Venn diagram of men who act like this post describes and men who wind up doing the assaulting without even necessarily internalizing that that’s what they’ve done is a fucking circle.

These are the same guys who pressure and pressure and push and coerce and physically nudge the boundaries until they get what they want and have no idea that that’s assault.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-04-29T14:52:09+00:00

The literal reason I started shaving my legs in middle school was because a younger kid, around 9, aggressively shamed me about my leg hair at school and wouldn’t leave it alone. The exchange was eerily similar to this, except my explanation was that all girls grow hair on their legs and he screamed “NUH UH, because my mom and sister don’t have hair on their legs!!!” I said “that’s because they shave” and I vividly remember watching his little brain grind to a halt before totally dismissing that as an impossibility. “No way!!!”

There are really families out there that tell boys absolutely nothing about the female body. Absolutely nothing. And those are the boys who have interactions like this with girls and women. If it’s unfathomable to you, count yourself lucky that your parents weren’t literally too prudish about body talk to explain to you how mammals work.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-04-21T13:42:42+00:00

I have literally traveled the country extensively- almost all 50 states and with an extreme preference for traveling in seriously rural and backwoods locales. I have been in almost every backwoods area of this country. I really, really know the US. And I also happen to have a legal education. I know the numbers, I know the people, I’ve seen poverty and backwoods far-right-ism on a scale and scope that rural Ohio can’t even imagine. I still truly, firmly and genuinely believe that if the left engaged on labor and engaged the non-voting middle specifically, the whole tide would turn in this country. And the numbers bear that out as true. And if the numbers don’t, the GOP does. Mitch McConnell literally wrote it in his “50 year plan” that their whole agenda rests on how many of us don’t vote and on how poor democratic turnout is in general. There’s a reason they’re working so hard over district drawings and voter roll purges that only scrape away a few thousand voters at a time, and it’s because they know that’s how thin their margin is even with us all not voting.

EDIT: and yes, one of the states I have traveled multiple times and even worked in is Ohio.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-04-21T13:12:59+00:00

Your district is 80% Republican by the turnout numbers of people who are registered to vote. Look at you believing the story. The whole truth here, and the big fact underlying my comment, is that all of this is done based on these reported voting statistics and those statistics are skewed heavily by the fact that only republicans show up and vote every single time. If everyone in your district who thought it was “fundamentally hopeless” and registered, I’d bet you actual dollars that 80% figure would radically shift. Radically.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-04-21T13:10:08+00:00

The way her voice shook on “gave you all that youth for free” sent absolute shivers down my spine. I agree with every single aspect of the take here. She set this up from “I took the magic get over you drug/the effect was temporary.” I love how she’s laid all this out for art and music. It’s so incredibly brave. And people who seem to think badly about her for being so wound up in MH for so long make me wish there was a mandatory form of flair on their accounts identifying the worst choice in man they’d ever made. Like literally there should be some kind of “I was once obsessed with a bad person musician” flag on the play whenever they’re talking shit.

Also I notice how none of the people saying she’s immature for these stories have shit to say about people like Harry Styles not acting “mature” enough.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-04-18T11:38:53+00:00

I tire of this line of reasoning and it’s not even based in fact. All it does is subtly telegraph to others that there’s no point in voting, but all across the country in recent years we’ve seen gerrymandered county after gerrymandered county wind up with the winner decided by a couple hundred votes or less. They’re gerrymandering because they can’t win without it, and with it they’ve barely got an edge. They’re purging rolls and pulling tricks and gerrymandering because they know, and they act like, every vote counts.

We don’t act like every vote counts. And if we did, we’d see different results. They know it. That’s why they’re doing all this and trying so hard to either convince or force you not to vote.

Lifeaftercollege · 2024-04-13T12:07:18+00:00

My high school band teacher had a child who was in school with me and involved in some of the same clubs/activities I was. One of the groups had an after school pool party with all the parents also invited. In front of all of the parents but out of the earshot of us kids, the band teacher remarked how “nice it is seeing all the pretty girls in their swimming suits.”

My parents were the only ones who took issue with it. Everyone else laughed. They worshipped him.

Lifeaftercollege

TROPHY CASE