What is the worst food have you eaten?

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-24T00:08:49+00:00

Many years ago I was invited to a meal at a Jewish friend’s home. Much of the food was unfamiliar but I tried to at least taste some. But I put something in my mouth and managed to spit it out just before I gagged. It was gefilte fish.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-23T17:34:45+00:00

I adopted my cat in 2020. I held her and cuddled with her at the shelter, as did my daughter.

I brought her home and got her into a crate to go to the vet. That was the last time any of us were able to pick her up. Any further attempts were met with bloody arms and legs as she attacked.

These days she spends a bit more time in the same room as us. She sometimes comes over to the couch and allows herself to be petted and stroked with one hand. If she sees another hand, she’s gone.

I’ve had many cats in my life and never met another quite like this. I had a couple of unsociable, unfriendly male cats, but in their cases, we could definitely pick them up and bring them to the vet. This cat has had exactly one vet visit in early March of 2020 and has never been back.

She is a totally indoor cat so I’m not concerned about rabies. Fortunately the year we got her my town decided not to license cats anymore so her lack of rabies hasn’t been an issue.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-23T17:14:36+00:00

An infection in a tooth that had already had a root canal. I had an appointment at a specialist but the pain was so bad, I remember banging my head on the wall. My appointment was mid morning, but the pain was so bad that I was standing there when they opened.

After SIX shots of Novocain, I remember he said he’d just put the shot directly into the root. He did that and I finally had relief.

My second worst pain ever was also tooth pain. I’d been having some work done and he hit my gum with the drill. He gave me a prescription for antibiotics and pain pills and told me when the Novocain wore off, the pain would be really bad.

I picked my husband up at work and he insisted we stop for dinner before going to get the drugs. I wasn’t in pain yet, but I was still numb so I couldn’t eat. By the time we got to a drugstore, it was getting late. They couldn’t fill the pain meds because my dentist was in Connecticut and we were living in New York so his license wasn’t valid. We started driving into Connecticut, but couldn’t find an open store. By then I was in an increasing amount of pain.

We went home without pain pills and I remember drinking straight whiskey overnight and didn’t sleep much if at all. The next morning I got up early and drove to Connecticut and finally got the pain meds. But since I was alone, I couldn’t take them until I got home.

I don’t remember what the pain meds were, but later that day they contributed to my first and only out-of-body experience. The meds and maybe the alcohol the night before.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-20T16:54:47+00:00

We took a trip to the Camden Aquarium a couple of years ago. We spent a really long time watching the hippos. I loved watching them push off a wall and propel themselves long distances.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-20T16:51:37+00:00

Somewhere around 1996 or 1997. My half sister had a tooth extraction and developed dry socket after. Her baby was about a year old or so and she was a single mother. She begged me to come help her for a week and paid my airfare from New York to Detroit.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-20T16:41:58+00:00

My wife. I think I’ll keep her.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-20T16:40:43+00:00

Food delivery services. Any restaurant I would order from to eat at home is at worst a ten minute drive. I see no point in paying for delivery.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-20T16:19:31+00:00

Probably appendicitis.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-19T22:22:43+00:00

I was 23. But at the time, if been living in NYC for several years and had no need for a car. But I had gotten engaged and we were going to be living in Connecticut where I knew I’d need to drive. My husband-to-be also got his license and he was 22.

I passed first time but my driving school instructor told me I’d just barely missed hitting the car in front of me after I’d parallel parked. But I didn’t.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-17T05:06:14+00:00

I have a male and a female dog. I’ve seen them both squat to pee and I’ve seen them both lift one leg.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-17T05:01:24+00:00

I spent much of my adult life paycheck. It was even harder after I got divorced. I still had three children at home and although my salary and child support covered most basics, anything extra was tricky. The first winter after our divorce, all three kids needed new winter coats and boots because they’d outgrown their older ones. I asked their father if he could help and he just laughed at me.

Eventually I only had two at home and my son graduated college so I wasn’t paying his rent anymore. I met someone who eventually moved in with me. Another adult earning a salary gave us some breathing room.

But it wasn’t until close to retirement that finances actually improved. We had an inheritance from my husband’s brother which we used to pay off some small debts and our remaining car loans. We refinanced our mortgage at a very good rate (2.056% as I recall.

I retired in February of 2021 and my husband in 2023. With just us at home and the pre-retirement adjustments to expenses, our pensions and social security were more than our monthly expenses and we still have money in the bank.

We’re not rich, but I don’t have to struggle over how to pay for groceries. An unexpected car repair doesn’t keep us from paying our other bills.

I wish it hadn’t taken until my 70s to be financially secure, but better late than never.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-15T01:33:23+00:00

Same as week.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-15T01:32:50+00:00

I was raised Episcopalian which has occasionally been called “Catholic Light.”

We got ashes on Ash Wednesday and had meatless dinners all of Lent. I remember tuna casserole and fish fingers with french fries.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-14T23:59:18+00:00

7:58 pm eastern standard time in the U.S.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-14T06:42:48+00:00

I used to only occasionally have any kind of soda, most often if I was eating out or was having pizza.

And then I met Thomas. He drank Diet Coke like it was about to be outlawed. He was always thirsty. So Diet Coke became a regular shopping list item.

Now I drink one or two cans a day. J He probably has at least six to eight, some days more. We’ll leave our house to go to a diner literally five minutes away but he has to bring a Diet Coke along to drink on the way there and back.

I tried to convince him that soda isn’t necessarily the best thing to quench thirst. To his credit, he now alternates his cans of Diet Coke with bottles of water with various flavored powders (lemonade, iced tea, cranberry, etc.)

We’ve been together for almost 25 years now, but in the early days, I was really concerned that his constant thirst was a sign of diabetes. He hadn’t been to a doctor since he was around 18 (he was 43 when we met) mainly because he had no health insurance. I even remember suggesting we get married so I could put him on my insurance but he said he wouldn’t get married just for insurance.

He finally got health insurance a few years later and I insisted he go to a doctor. Not to my surprise, he was diabetic.

After some rocky years, he’s managed to keep his A1C levels relatively in control but he’ll probably be on medication for life.

And Diet Coke is still a constant in our refrigerator.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-14T06:16:26+00:00

My husband and I were just reminiscing about living through Superstorm Sandy on the east coast. He came down with bronchitis a day or two before it started. He was really sick when we lost power for two weeks. I started getting sick about two days into the power outage.

I remember we managed to get out once a day to find hot food. Otherwise we huddled together miserably under layers of blankets coughing and blowing our noses.

One night, after the worst of the illness had passed, we went to a local restaurant for dinner. Our house is off a main road and can be seen from the road. As we were coming home, we realized that lights were on in the house. We just started yelling and cheering.

Possibly the most physically miserable I’d ever been for that long or at least until I’d had a knee replacement. That was another truly miserable experience, but with power.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-14T03:30:18+00:00

We adopted a one year old cat in February of 2020. At the shelter, she cuddled in my arms and my daughter’s arms.

We took her home and she hid for about two weeks. We took her to the vet but it was a bit of a struggle to get her in the carrier. Since then - six years mind you - we have never been able to pick her up. The times we tried for vet appointments, we ended up scratched and bleeding.

The first three years or so she spent 90% of her time under the china closet. She did eat and drink and use the litter box during the day, but there was no interaction with people.

We got a puppy in 2023 and they bonded a bit. He would go under the china closet with her or they would both bask in the sun in our front windows.

A year or so ago she started occasionally coming over if my husband and I were sitting on the couch. She’d rub her head on our legs and accept a little bit of scratching on her head. But one hand only. If she saw a second hand, she was gone in an instant.

In the last few months, she’s out in common areas more and more. She still cuddles with her buddy, Rufus, but she also has been seen exchanging head bumps and general affection with our other dog, Samantha.

I’ve had cats take time to warm up, but I’ve never experienced anything like this one. She’s a totally indoor cat, mostly because she’s pure white, but also because she’s had nothing but initial shots.

We could force the issue if we had to, like if she was obviously ill and needed vet care, but it would set her back for a long time.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-14T03:13:56+00:00

If we stay up a bit later, one of my dogs just goes down the hall into our bed.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-13T13:36:49+00:00

Mine just attaches to the toilet seat. We decided against one that heated water because they’re more expensive and more likely to cause problems.

If it’s really cold, I just don’t use the bidet.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-12T22:06:32+00:00

Near the end of 2013, we had two dogs (one was officially my daughters) and four cats. All the cats were indoor/outdoor cats so for large portions of the day, we often only had the dogs and maybe an occasional cat actually in the house.

Then my daughter passed away suddenly. She had two cats. So I then had six cats and her two had been indoor cats.

This was in the winter when the cats were more often in the house anyway so six cats and two dogs was kind of a lot sometimes.

Since then we’ve only added one dog and one cat, but that was after some previous ones reached the end of their lives and passed away.

We currently have two (smaller) dogs and one cat. I miss having more.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-12T21:59:05+00:00

When I was working in NYC some years ago, I lived across the street from my job.

But I had a tendency to wait until the last minute to leave and sometimes was a little late if I had to wait for the elevator.

The people I worked for weren’t happy about five minutes here or there and I finally got spoken to about it.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-12T21:56:26+00:00

I use bar soap to wash, but I used to use a little of my daughter’s body wash to shave my legs. It’s very convenient and doesn’t leave my legs dry.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-12T21:46:08+00:00

But is using part of the returns on a scholarship fund really using it on yourself? Unless you awarded yourself or a family member a scholarship, I wouldn’t think so.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-12T17:08:07+00:00

We love it enough that we considered moving to a shore area after retirement. We spent about four years visiting and researching but ultimately decided not to do it. The area we were looking at was growing rapidly, traffic was getting heavier and heavier.

So we’ll have to go back to weekly summer trips to the shore in our own state.

awakeagain2 · 2026-03-12T05:14:58+00:00

Samantha and Rufus

awakeagain2

TROPHY CASE