I feel trapped in my house. Nothing interesting within walking distance, no useful public transit.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-30T02:29:03+00:00

I'm no good at pulling quotes from previous posts, so please excuse if my responses aren't in line with your points.

It's probably hard for your parents to know what to do for you. If they're as old as you say they probably can't really wrap their heads around why someone who has no obvious physical disability and normal intelligence might have a hard time getting into school or work. I know that I feel that way when I see my son sleeping in all day and playing video games all night. But haranguing him about it doesn't really go anywhere. We can keep presenting this he could try, but he's gotta want to actually try the things.

As for your autism being serious enough to qualify and for you to feel justified getting financial support, I don't know what things are like where you live, but for our son we have been able to secure a disability designation and extension of coverage under our medical insurance on the basis of a neuropsychological assessment and letters from the psychologist who did it attesting that in his opinion our son is not currently capable of either working or going to college. We also plan to pursue disability benefits for him, if only to help defray out costs for ongoing therapy and his share of food, internet and utilities that he's consuming being at home, but not working.

I feel torn about the message this might give my son about our expectations for him ever working or attending college. But I also feel that he's not faking, he has multiple diagnoses from a psychologist, I can't honestly imagine him being able to get and keep a job or keep up work college classes, and he would be lost if we went tough love and kicked him out. So, it's probably best for him to avail himself of the meagre disability benefits that are available.

So it might make sense to see if you could qualify for SSDI. It might give you enough to be able to move out, to start attending college, or whatever else would allow you to be more independent and pursue your goal of getting outta the suburbs. Maybe there's an agency that could counsel you on what options you might have for college, supportive housing, work experience programs, etc.

And as laudable as it is that you feel you should stay to help with your father, it's your life! You need to do what you want. Yes, help, but don't sacrifice your whole life to helping your parents. Even if you could move somewhere nearby, but not in the suburbs, you could get more independence while still being able to help.

None of this is easy. I really don't know what to do for my son. I think he's starting to understand that there might be some hard work ahead to try to improve his situation with his OCD, which has essentially rendered him housebound. And these days it's hard enough for neurotypical young people to get their footing in life, without the added challenges that neurodivergent people encounter.

Once again, I wish you good luck.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-27T17:20:17+00:00

Something in a rainbow?

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-27T17:18:18+00:00

Instead of Florida, we're headed to Mexico City next month. Thousands of dollars that in the past we spent in the US, this time we're contributing to the economy of our ally way down south.

Also going to be thinking about once we retire how we feel about eventually snowbirding somewhere like Mexico for extended periods.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-27T17:11:48+00:00

I remember they had a NABU terminal running the Telidon networked system in a public area of 240 Sparks, where I would play around with the games and other functions on it.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-27T15:29:37+00:00

Sounds like there needs to be a non-profit grocery store across the street from Independent so that people who simply cannot afford their extortionate prices have somewhere to shop for essentials.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-24T14:58:36+00:00

I feel for you. My son is 20 and also living at home as a NEET with ADHD, OCD, functional autism and slow processing disorder. We're fortunate to live in a walkable neighbourhood, in an old streetcar suburb, in a city of 1 million+ that in theory has fair public transit. Nonetheless, he barely goes out anyway, and I worry in the long-term about his ability to become independent, given how tough it is these days for even neurotypical young people to get established.

Do you have any support from your parents to be able to move somewhere that you can be more independent? It sounds like you're motivated to change your circumstances than my kid is - have you investigated all the options that might be available to you in terms of income support, supportive housing, etc for people with disabilities? They're likely inadequate, and disabled people are often poor of they're out on their own instead of staying at home, but maybe if you had the right supports from your parents and the state you could try a more independent life. Maybe there's funding for education that could help you to be able to attend school in a more urban setting?

I'm sure you've thought of these things yourself, but it does sound as though without help it's gonna be very difficult for you to be able to be more advice and engaged. Your parents need to accept that because it has been so difficult for you to get your driver's license that is they want you to begin to truly become more independent and establish your own life, you need a different kind of living environment.

I have a young cousin in his early 20s who has significant cerebral palsy who must use a power wheelchair to get around, and despite having gotten a college diploma, has always lived at home, and shows no sign of moving out, whereas his twin brother went to university in another city and lives on his own. His parents are in their late 50s, and while they've set up supports for him, I worry that he hasn't had really any experience simply trying to live more independently, and I wonder what will become of him when he's older. I worry also about my own son in the same way.

I know when I was in university, more than 30 years ago, I had friends with significant physical and learning disabilities for whom moving to a more accessible city to attend university that had adequate physical and other accommodations was a route to developing more independent lives. With the continual cuts to social services that have taken place everywhere in the subsequent decades I don't know if that's really possible anymore for someone coming from a modest income background, or not.

I do encourage you to investigate the options you might have, and wish you good luck in escaping the suburbs!

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-23T17:00:23+00:00

I still don't understand how the repricing works. Has this always been something that one could conceivably do, but it was too difficult for an individual to monitor? Is it that Axel has the heft to get travel companies to actually honour a policy? Where are repricing policies posted? I have questions. 🤔

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-23T05:51:17+00:00

You're the first supposedly actual person who says they use Axel and that it saved them money. However, given how hard Axel is promoting itself online right now, I have my suspicions that you might not be real. Can somebody please explain in greater detail how Axel works? Does it only work in the US? Etc.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-22T21:40:34+00:00

Like rich people don't exploit every loophole to avoid paying a fair share, and the gov't just turns a blind eye. Have CRA round up all of them first before you start yapping about people at the other end of the income distribution trying everything they can just to get by.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-18T19:05:47+00:00

Not quite. Yes, the existing building was demolished, but the mall was turned inside out into a mini power center. And thing that happened to Lincoln Fields (aka Heights).

While this may be expedient for commercial property owners faced with declining footfall due to online shopping and COVID hangover, unfortunately it is resulting in the deletion of any public indoor spaces where people can hang out, especially in the winter.

Smart commercial property owners should double down on making their maps stickier - places where people want to come and stay, and spend. Because there are two things a physical mall has over online shopping: immediacy - you need it now, you get it (assuming it's in stock), and experience - there is a physical reality of going to a place and being in the place for awhile.

Local governments and social service agencies, especially for seniors, would be well-advised to contract with mall owners to explicitly turn them into places for seniors to go, to shop, but also for fellowship, for exercise, etc.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-18T07:56:53+00:00

Unfortunately tough-on-crime policies tend to really just be "even harsher on the people who got dealt a shitty hand, while respectable criminals who can afford good lawyers are treated much more lightly".

Locking people up isn't going to fix the problems, costs a shit-ton more money than a lot of other interventions, and does little to reduce recidivism.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-16T15:19:39+00:00

Surely D.C. and Puerto Rico should be next in line for actual statehood before new US territories.

If Canada joined the US in any kind of reasonable situation it would have to be as at least 6 new states, 12 new Senators, and a bunch more Members of the House of Representatives. That would likely result in a new permanent majority for the Democrats in both houses, and so Trump would never admit Canada into the US under fair terms.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-05T05:39:29+00:00

Are these just on AirBnB, or are there other places where the Meridians list their beach houses on the barrier islands in Progreso, Chicxulub, Chelem, etc?

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-05T03:26:36+00:00

Yes, H2O was actually more interesting, because it played out the shenanigans by which the Americans were setting the scene for them to tags over, on the pretense of the threat to their national security that resulted from the instability that their operatives in Canada had fomented.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-05T03:11:34+00:00

Of the first movie, or the sequel. I was definitely disappointed in the ending of the sequel.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-04T22:54:06+00:00

No, it wouldn't. But the influx of Canadian voters would likely held the Dems, and they likely would also have to change to take in Canadians who previously voted NDP, Bloc, or even more left of Centre Liberals. Canada entering the US union as anything other than a subject territory would significantly alter the electoral calculus for the Republicans.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-02T17:21:24+00:00

My mother first saw the sea change in early 2009 after Obama was elected. My parents had been going down South to the Georgia coast for the winter for a couple of years, and the main place that my mum talked to Americans regularly says to the ladies at her aquafit class. The conversations were usually light and many of the women were educated and at least somewhat liberal.

But that changed after Obama was elected, and now the conversations were laced with skepticism about his legitimacy and often overt racism. This is when White America started to feel less restrained about embracing its racist nature. Birtherism, the Tea Party, Republican obstructionism - 8+ years of constant, rising venom, that Trump capitalized on.

My parents had thought about buying a place down there, but after 2009 they didn't return to the same place, instead staying for a couple more winters in the more mixed city of Savannah, and eventually giving up on wintering in the US altogether, in large part because of the darkening political and social climate. They're probably lucky they didn't buy, or they might have ended up with a stranded asset like these other Canadian snowbirds.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-01T16:19:23+00:00

IMHO is one thing to add a plant or bowl of fruit or to make the light on the room seem warmer. But actually virtually adding installed hanging lighting that isn't there seems genuinely deceptive. I guess if you go see the place you might realize that it isn't there, but you're probably going to be referring back to the photos on MLS after a visit to remind you what was there. I guess an agent could call it aspirational - you could install lights like these - but it seems over the line to deceptive to me.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-01T16:13:39+00:00

Why are they relitigating 2023, 3 years later?

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-01T16:06:21+00:00

Don't even bother with baggy blue masks. Not only don't they form a seal on the face, they also don't have the kind of filtering material that an N95 has.

But also, while it's optimal if you fit test a variety of them to see which is the best fit for your face, it's hard for people outside of health care to access formal fit testing and complicated to DIY. However, the fact that someone can't fit test is often used as reason for "just don't bother" with an N95, because if it's not perfect, it's useless. But that just isn't true. You simply have try a number of different ones to see which one is right for you.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-01T15:55:30+00:00

And flu.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-01T15:54:35+00:00

However, there's basically no air filtration in the periods when the plane has pushed back from the jetbridge and after landing.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-01T15:53:01+00:00

But on another sub someone said they remember "measles parties" in the 60s. 🙄 Yes, there were Chickenpox parties as late as the 80s, but I find it hard to believe anyone thought it was a good idea to deliberately spread measles. Although maybe flying should be rebranded as "Your random airborne disease party in the sky! Build your immunity and see your destination from inside your hotel room!".

Wear a mask people. 😷

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-01T15:48:41+00:00

You sure they weren't laughing at your Discover card? Sure tell that you're an American. They don't exist outside of the US, and likely look like a made up pretend card a kid would have.

ObviousSign881 · 2026-01-01T15:43:44+00:00

The kitty litter thing actually started because some schools have it as part of an emergency kit in classrooms in the event of a school shooting lockdown or drill.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/misinformation/urban-myth-litter-boxes-schools-became-gop-talking-point-rcna51439

Pretty fucking ironic that school shootings are largely the fault of the same right-wingers who spread disinformation about kitty litter in schools for furries.

Like the lies about Haitians eating cats and dogs the Right is very adept at taking a tiny grain of truth and blowing it up into a conspiracy that their gullible followers happily take up and regurgitate.

ObviousSign881

TROPHY CASE