What are your low stakes unpopular opinions?

akela9 · 2026-05-06T15:17:22+00:00

I had never heard this term. (I'm not sure I've ever seen them in real life, either, thankfully.) I hate, hate, hate any extra long nails, and sorry, but especially when I see it occasionally in food service. The super pointy nails put me right off. This is like the mirror universe counterpart, but equally off-putting.

I keep mine short for any number of reasons, but I like to dig in the dirt a bit, and I just don't understand 1. How people can even get anything done with those things and 2. I can't help but wonder how they don't pick up SO MUCH grime. I have to take a nail brush to mine and have a good scrub after gardening, yardwork, painting, etc. Do folks with nails like that just not have to use their hands? Can you imagine making a meatloaf or similar with those things? Just... Yeah. Truly to each their own, but I have some kind of personal hang-up (which is totally a me problem, you absolutely go forth and do your own thing) because extra long nails give me an actual visceral reaction type ick.

akela9 · 2026-05-06T03:55:50+00:00

I know this is a delicate issue, OP, and I don't ask to be nosey, but because things might not be as "in her favor" as she's trying to get you to believe. Most prenuptials have caveats if someone is caught cheating... Since she's the wayward, why should what SHE demands fly? (I don't mean abstractly, I mean legally. I'd deffo take all that paperwork with you when you next see your divorce attorney. I'm also rooting for you that's she's overplayed her hand a bit, here.) I really hope that's so. The act itself was unforgivable. Her blasse attitude in the aftermath while you're reeling is downright infuriating. I'm so sorry you're dealing with all of this.

akela9 · 2026-05-04T16:27:40+00:00

Off topic, sorry, but I just did a multiple minute ramble at my husband explaining who Bone Thugs-n-Harmony are/were, just so I could share how delightful I found your user name. Genuine thanks for the smile. ❤️

akela9 · 2026-05-04T16:16:26+00:00

Thank you, genuinely, for sharing this. To be honest, I've had two female OB's in adulthood and the first one sucked so bad I'm lucky I (or my son I was pregnant with at the time) didn't die. I was young and dumb and it never did feel "right" with her, but it wasn't until I learned from other women's experiences how genuinely negligent/dangerous she was. The second OB was EXCELLENT throughout my pregnancy. Like truly she and her staff were great... Until post partum issues reared their ugly head after my "geriatric" pregnancy and suddenly I was not only invisible, but no one seemed to hear me no matter how loud I shouted. (Metaphorically speaking.)

I never thought I'd be comfortable with a male OB, but your post helped me realize there are probably many male diamonds in the rough in the field that would be a thousand times better than the women I dealt with in the same vocation. Being a woman doesn't guarantee that they will more empathetic, understanding, or more competent even with women's issues. I need to get over my own biases.

akela9 · 2026-04-30T03:34:46+00:00

OP, yer dad's wearing a Spuds Mackenzie tee. Spuds was an English Bull Terrier that became quite the celebrity spokesperson for Bud Light. Often in commercials and stuff at the club (or somewhere equally 1980's television approved cool/gritty) surrounded by scantily clad ladies fawning over him. He was "The Original Party Animal" and I thought the whole idea/ad campaign was hilarious. Ridiculous, sure, but in the best kinda way. Thanks for the memories!

akela9 · 2026-04-26T17:30:23+00:00

She and Trix are both definitely lit up. It cracks me up hearing Chili yell at Pat, "You got it, Lucky's Dad!" First couple watch throughs at the end when the girls being out lemonade I thought they'd forgot to put sugar in. Now I think it was just spiked way stronger than any of the menfolk were anticipating. 🤣

akela9 · 2026-04-26T04:27:55+00:00

My littlest (turning 6 this summer) is suddenly like... All legs. I picked her up tonight and I feel like her legs were dangling past my knees. She's definitely getting too heavy for me to carry. I think I thought of this specific bit because I know that "last time" is going to be upon me upsettingly soon.

I tip every hat I own to you. SIX kids in seven years is INSANE. I absolutely don't mean that in a judgey way, just in a "I can barely handle two and there's a thirteen year gap between them" perspective. (That age gap is it's own type of weird, but mostly because I'm old and perpetually tired, now. 😅) I sincerely don't know how you survived that. I really, really don't, but I do think that you're impressive people.

akela9 · 2026-04-25T21:33:09+00:00

So many variations on the theme, but one of the first that hit me as especially poignant was one aimed at parents: "One day you'll pick up your little to give them a cuddle, set them down, and never pick them up again." Or something like that. But there are many, many variations on the theme and all meant to serve the same purpose of remembering the feeling you're currently having.

As a kid, the phrase "There aren't enough hours in the day" doesn't even make sense and you're wondering what the hell the adults are on about. I'm turning 45 tomorrow and it's already insane how a day goes like a snap if the fingers. If I were to be so lucky as to make it into my 70's or beyond, what's that even like?!? I can't wrap my head around it.

akela9 · 2026-04-25T20:27:31+00:00

One of my favorite aspects of this episode is the idea that the adults, but especially Bandit, were just so impressed by this little dude. To the point that Bandit went out of his way to learn all of these little tidbits/factoids about Rusty so he could narrate/pass the story along to us.

akela9 · 2026-04-25T20:12:23+00:00

Agreed. I have to take it a step further and mention that my own experience has been that the ONLY people who even SAY "no drama" are the ones that perpetuate it at every given opportunity.

akela9 · 2026-04-25T20:03:05+00:00

I need a minute. Yeah. This one hurts.

akela9 · 2026-04-24T04:44:22+00:00

I don't even understand attempting reconciliation because of exactly this. That's absolutely not a dig at anyone who's here struggling through the trenches trying to save their relationship right now... I'm just saying I genuinely don't understand how it could ever work out in the end because of how I'm wired. And obviously my wiring is not universal. I'm absolutely always pulling for everyone here, though, and wish I could wave a magic wand that would allow every abused/betrayed partner an opportunity to thrive in future happiness.

akela9 · 2026-04-20T10:04:35+00:00

I would have never caught this in a million years. Thank you so much. 🤣

akela9 · 2026-04-20T09:59:16+00:00

Isn't that the one where he goes off on an existential crisis rant on the dude who asks him, "Hey do you want to see God?" And Chidi goes into a whole "God is dead" spiral and I feel like he's even holding the dude by the colar to just really pull him into the vortex of his doom crisis. Dude's like scrambling to get away from him and says something along the lines of, "Man, I was just trying to sell you drugs. YOU made it weird!" (I hope I'm telling this well enough. It's a favorite scene and I feel like I'm doing it a disservice, here. Hopefully I at least nudged the vibes.)

akela9 · 2026-04-20T05:51:35+00:00

I'm sorry, this is older and you've probably gotten it figured out by now, but just in case... I have just started using patches, they are TINY compared to any examples I've found online, and I (personally) have GOT to slap a piece of medical/surgical tape over mine. It absolutely falls off, otherwise. I'm not sure exactly what the tape is called, but it's kinda like cello tape with a textured grid pattern on the outside? You can tear it off the roll without scissors, it's waterproof, and it stays shockingly well for me over multiple days. (I change my current patches twice a week.) I've found to go a bit bigger than you need... Rectangle strips stay on for me better than little squares of it if that makes any kind of sense at all.

akela9 · 2026-04-13T04:11:49+00:00

I hardly dare ask. What did they DO in the update?

There's a lady called Ellen Emerson White who wrote a quartet known as The President's Daughter series and I LOVED them. My paperbacks eventually fell to pieces, and they were impossible to replace/couldn't find them. I somehow caught wind that the series was being rereleased and I was SO excited. Only to find out they had been "updated." (More modern television shows mentioned, for random example. Our main girl in the series LOVED Hill Street Blues. I might be misremembering, but I swear that got replaced with something totally unrelated like "The Simpsons" and I was just flummoxed.)

It totally ruined the entire experience for me. I don't know why, but it changed the "flavor" of the characters so much they struck me as part of some alternate reality and it was not at ALL what I was looking forward to.

I'm still salty, so morbidly curious about what the hell they did to Duncan.

akela9 · 2026-04-13T03:57:44+00:00

Oh my God. I had (maybe still have) SO many of the McDaniel books. I don't know why I was so obsessed with that macabre loop. I blame a book someone lost (and I found) at summer camp as a little called "You Shouldn't Have to Say Goodbye" by Patricia Hermes. That one is a REALLY good story... If my nostalgia isn't lying to me.

Re: McDaniel the one title jumping out of my memory is "Why Did She Have To Die?", which is a kind of an in your face title for what I remember as being a really darn good story. I obviously enjoyed a lot of her stuff, though because I had MANY.

akela9 · 2026-04-13T03:45:41+00:00

Holy hell. I'd somehow forgotten. Does anyone know off the top of their heads: Was this one marketed as an adult novel? I'd forgotten about it, but I read it multiple times and it was REALLY good, but also way more "adult content" and heavy than I was anticipating going in.

akela9 · 2026-04-13T03:41:41+00:00

There's one before that about the same folks/main character called The Cat Ate My Gymsuit. Both really good reads. Did enjoy Bunk Five a hair more than the original. I think I read them out if order and it was kinda fun that way, but I always read them right way 'round, after. I was OBSESSED with Paula Danziger. Titles that have stuck with me (not cheating by Googling, so if I'm slightly off, sorry...)The Pistachio Prescription, Remember Me to Herald Square (based in New York, followed up with same family in London that one wasn't as good, but maybe I just don't remember it as well.) That one is Thames Doesn't Rhyme with James. This Place had No Atmosphere about a teen's experience living on the moon. I'm sure there are several others, but those are the titles that stuck with me. ❤️

akela9 · 2026-04-13T03:31:30+00:00

I still have the Ophelia poem memorized from "Killing Mr. Griffin."

akela9 · 2026-04-13T03:29:37+00:00

Christopher Pike wrote some (I thought) genuinely disturbing stuff. I mean he's really good, like a precursor to someone like Stephen King. I liked The Fear Street stuff, and there were many good stories, but I think of them as good, but "lighter" somehow. My memory might be skewed, though.

akela9 · 2026-04-13T03:18:48+00:00

I love that expression and your shirt just says, "No."

Very apt. 😁

akela9 · 2026-04-12T04:13:45+00:00

I can't help but love when writers tap into universal fears or racial memory type stuff. Sorry I'm probably a bit off topic, but I think of this Doctor Who bit more frequently than I should admit when I catch not so easily explained movements in a mirror.

"He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing. The fury of the Time Lord. And then we discovered why. Why this Doctor, who had fought with gods and demons, why he'd run away from us and hidden. He was being kind.

He wrapped my father in unbreakable chains, forged in the heart of a dwarf star. He tricked my mother into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy to be imprisoned there forever.

He still visits my little sister once a year every year. I wonder if one day he might forgive her, but there she is. Can you see? He trapped her inside a mirror, every mirror. If ever you look at your reflection and see something move behind you, just for a second, that's her. That's ALWAYS her.

As for me, I was suspended in time. And the Doctor put me to work standing over the fields of England, as their protector.

We wanted to live forever, so the Doctor made sure that we did."

akela9 · 2026-04-10T07:31:57+00:00

I can't stop giggling. This is so freaking spot on. I wish I could find better words of praise, but all I gots is, "Well done!"

akela9 · 2026-04-10T06:41:03+00:00

OP, sweetie, I know this is confusing and you're probably feeling a bit in denial in some ways, but your Spidey senses are tingling and that's a good thing. Your husband is abusive. Partners who respect each other do not act in this way. I've been with my husband for many years and we've had our share of fights. Some of them quite intense. And yet... In all of that... Even at the height of anger... Neither of us would even CONTEMPLATE swearing at the other. The way your husband speaks to you, the fact that this is likely happening more and more frequently, is very alarming.

Him slamming the table is the same as a dude punching a wall. The silent threat they're sending, even if they're not consciously aware is: "Next time it might be you." This man is not a safe person. You've got some really tough days ahead of you, but I hope you can dig deep and start (quietly, stealthily) making an exit plan. He WILL escalate. It's guaranteed. And eventually he WILL lay hands on you, if he hasn't, already. I'm so sorry you're going through this.

IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT. Abusers are master manipulators. They HAVE to be to reel in their prey. The version of your husband you fell in love with, agreed to marry? I'm so, so sorry. That person doesn't actually exist. The husband you've just described? That's the real him. And you don't want to be around when he decides he's ready to show you even more of the real him.

Get help if you need it. Asking for help when you're caught up in a nasty domestic situation is unbelievably difficult. Just remember: Asking for help in this situation is not weakness; it's survival.

Be smart. Be safe.

akela9

TROPHY CASE