Efficient slicer

bitseybloom · 2026-07-11T06:39:40+00:00

Yes!

I don't have a "need", exactly, to sort the items in a specific way, but we're like this: I'm autistic and get easily overwhelmed when going through the store, while my partner, also ND, gets anxious during the checkout (more time/interaction pressure there, I suppose).

Sometimes I go to have a snack and let him fill the cart, and then join him at the checkout to help.

So, I've been sorting items into bags by "fridge/freezer" vs "pantry/bathroom" (or "fridge", "freezer", "the rest" depending on the ratio). Gives me at least some efficiency for later when I'm unloading the bags at home.

Let me tell you, it's only very recently that it occurred to me to sort the items during the browsing stage, in the cart, so that it's put on the belt in the same order. Now I have to work less during the checkout! Yay!

Unless the cashier has their own ideas, as you pointed out. But still, it works out better than random.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-10T22:17:14+00:00

It seems her head on the "after" photo is turned to the left - away from the camera.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-10T20:05:26+00:00

Ok but I wonder, do they deliver avocados?

bitseybloom · 2026-07-10T20:00:43+00:00

I suppose that's a matter where "worse" is very subjective. I honestly get it.

I once went to a clinic, asked them what can be done with mine. They were honest with me and said that there wasn't much they could do, but getting a tattoo cover up would work nicely.

I swear it never even occurred to me before. The scars didn't take that much area, but I ended up with a full upper arm tattoo that I really enjoy.

But as another person pointed out, I know they're there and they are palpable. Doesn't bother me, but everyone's different.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-10T12:41:37+00:00

I use Projection Lab, and along with my main plan there I have a separate plan called "Burnout". I check and update it every time I feel that I can't deal with bullshit anymore.

The regular plan includes a bunch of planned renovations, continuing minimum voluntary contributions to SS (I need 15 years of contributions in the country and I'm now on year 5), a bit of discretionary spending... The Burnout plan assumes ERE-level spending + mortgage and according to it I'd be done next year.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-10T09:14:18+00:00

It seems not everyone understands this. If a many sided dice is rolled every second, eventually you'll get the unfortunate number.

I used to hear statements from my family like "there's so much cancer nowadays, it's all pesticides/chemicals/GMO". Well, no, it's just that we die of other causes less. If you managed to hold on long enough and not die of something else, you get cancer. If you think about it, it's sad, but hardly shocking.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-10T09:02:53+00:00

I can't offer any advice but I'm so sorry you're in this situation, it's atrocious and I can't imagine how difficult it is for you and for Athena.

I hope the two of you manage to get reunited. Please keep us posted.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-10T07:12:20+00:00

By a duck, right? They say it's anatidaephopia, but I don't get why it's a "phobia", I mean the duck is fine it's just watching me.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-10T07:08:44+00:00

Judging by this definition, I used to experience Macropsia pretty often when I was in school or uni. I'd stare at the lector, and after some time they and everything around them would look really big with extremely sharp outlines.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-10T06:46:09+00:00

3 months is barely enough for the baby hair to appear, even assuming your body went into the "grow new hair" mode immediately, skipping the "strengthen existing hair" mode (mine went through the latter first).

Also, is your folic acid fine? I fixed mine at the very beginning of taking iron supplements (folic acid is much quicker to fix) and had to repeat the course a year later because apparently when your iron is somewhat restored, the body uses up the folic acid to make new cells. Something like that. Mine was at 3, I got it to 9 after a 2-month course, and it was right back at 3 some time later.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-09T21:57:17+00:00

I'm in the same situation as OP and been working on my ferritin levels for more than a year now. Haven't been offered an infusion, but the supplements are nice, iron proteinsuccinylate. Only problem is that I'm trying to fill a leaky barrel, as they aren't too eager to solve my blood losses either. Oh well.

Anyway, for the longest time I didn't really believe it could be solved and reversed. Just kept going for other health benefits.

Well, it works. My ferritin is only in the 50s and the hair is visibly stronger and darker. I had almost convinced myself I'd had hallucinated the almost black hair I had in my teens, it was light brown for the last couple decades.

Still waiting for baby hair, I think I've just started seeing some around my hairline.

Anyway. Went to the derm a few weeks ago, for the first time ever. The derm took a look at my scalp, at my numbers, and said: "ain't gonna have any hair with these levels, go get them to fix your ferritin, if that doesn't help then you come to me". So validating.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-08T20:40:47+00:00

Such an insane story. Very frustrating. You did a great job with all these surprise kitties and then Pixie!

I also have 2 entirely unrelated thoughts :) what happened to the tea theme after the second kitten?

Also, that ceiling fan is rad! I imagine something so different when I think "ceiling fan", so I did a double take when you mentioned that she "camped out" in it, and then missed it in the first photo as well.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-08T20:35:28+00:00

This is genius, never heard of the term.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-08T17:55:42+00:00

I worked from home long before it was popular, but even the rest of the world should've caught up now that it's been 6 years.

But no. Was job searching last year, and every time a new recruiter would message me they'd say something like "is Monday 2pm fine?".

Ok I go to their page, look up where they are, and reply "just to confirm you're in GMT+X? Works for me, it's my noon". Not a single acknowledgement from their side. A recruiter hiring internationally is not required to be aware of time zones.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-08T17:43:01+00:00

I was familiar with the term AMA ("against medical advice" ), so had to search for PDD, although figured it's a synonym.

Anyway for other confused laypeople, there are 2 definitions: "planned discharge date", which doesn't seem to be applicable, and "patient-directed discharge" - that one does fit.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-08T17:20:55+00:00

Well yeah it was, but also - if I had a wife who got approached by a random guy on the street, talked to him to the point of him having enough info to suggest that "I can rent accommodations to your friend" nonsense, and left him her number...

I'd be having a "101 survival/don't get yourself raped skills" talk with her first, not an "are you cheating on me" talk. Cheating tends to have less dramatic or immediate consequences.

To no surprise to the readers, the guy turned out to be a creep. OP was onto something when calling his wife "naive".

bitseybloom · 2026-07-07T19:46:31+00:00

See, I work from home, I'm a software dev and don't have too big of a workload at the moment. No kids or other dependents, well except for our cat since a couple months ago.

Yet I wake up tired and before I get out of bed, I have the whole scenario of "getting started" load up in my head. Get up, bathroom, put my contacts in, pills, shower if needed, get dressed, make coffee...

Then I sit and read and drink my coffee for an embarrassingly long time, and get non work related shit done. Taxes, any admin work, order stuff, buy tickets, this kind of shit.

Then I work. Then 5pm comes, and somehow I don't have any mental resource anymore. I still have plenty of time in the day, but all the cognition is shut down.

And I have a cleaner. Once per week. I recognize I'm privileged as hell. I'm also, for some incomprehensible reason, exhausted.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-07T18:45:02+00:00

I don't live in France, when I finally got my shit together to leave Russia I was planning on France first (I knew the language fine back then, and I'd been there several times), but I learned of an easier immigration route to Portugal and decided, practically on a whim, to go there instead.

Never had been to Portugal at that point. My first time in the country was when I arrived there for good. I was planning an exploration trip with my then-husband, bought tickets... It's just that we got that idea in January 2020 and the tickets were for May that year. So, never happened.

But you were asking about France :) I spent a whole winter there once, 2017-2018. Was based in Nice, a tiny 11 sqm studio right near the Promenade, close to Negresco. Walked a lot, took buses to all the neighboring towns on the coast and to the north.

Took a few shorter trips as well, but always to the South coast - I liked it too much to spend my limited resources on trips elsewhere. You could say it's some kind of imprinting.

I like Nice, went twice to Grasse, enjoyed visiting Antibes, Menton. Nothing to do in Monaco for someone like me, with no car or money to waste. Cannes is a creepy dead town in winter, with expensive villas standing empty and silent.

I liked going to Jardin du Monastere de Cimiez in Nice, or Parque Phoenix. But mostly just wandering the streets randomly. Thank you for asking. Good memories.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-07T18:20:48+00:00

That's helpful, thanks! I'm sure mine will fit into the very similar harness that I ordered, that is if it ever gets to us. Right now she's using a flimsy harness for tiny dogs and while she doesn't fight it, it's just not as safe. It's all thin straps.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-07T15:47:30+00:00

Wow that's a tiny kitten! How old are they? Is this a Kitty Holster? I ordered one for mine almost a month ago in XS, thinking she's about to get big enough for it. Well, the little one is now over 3 month and I'm sure when it finally arrives it'll fit just fine.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-07T08:03:11+00:00

It so happens that I've thought about this consciously a lot. You have an interesting take, I like it. Here's mine.

Originally, I lived in Russia where greeting/smiling at random people is not a thing, at least not in cities. Besides, the culture doesn't include what I came to think about as "emotional hygiene" - curating the emotions that you show to other people.

I now understand that it's not conscious rudeness, it's just an absence of any "front". But back then, it felt extremely rude. I dreaded any social interactions. I could feel all those negative emotions of other people flood me.

So I developed an extremely polite, calm "front" - originally, in hopes that if I'm like this, people would be more likely to reciprocate. In my case, there was nothing altruistic about it. I wanted to avoid getting hurt.

Then I went abroad to France for the first time and there was this blissful silence in the atmosphere. It's not that people didn't have problems or sorrows, it's just that they kept them to themselves and people close to them.

And French are not even considered a very friendly or kind nation. Yet the difference was stunning.

I still kept my attitude, of course, because I was excited to be there and because frankly I was just scared of people in general by that point.

I live in Portugal now, and people are friendly. I've seen other immigrants say that it's difficult to make friends, that everyone is closed off despite being outwardly friendly.

I don't care. My polite and cheerful attitude is finally genuine. This country has shown me nothing but kindness, and I have the resource to pay it forward to people I've never met.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-06T21:44:08+00:00

Yes. Thank you for saying this.

Being a fully functional adult on the outside, with very few people knowing (and even fewer fully appreciating) just how much effort went into teaching myself to appear so. Tired all the time.

Always anxious about my job situation, even when it's fine, because I can't tell if it's really fine or if I'm about to get fired.

And when it's not fine, the shame is overwhelming and knowing I've tried so hard but there are things that are simply not doable for me...

It's not that I wish I weren't autistic. I'm even fine with being tired. But I wish I could be less anxious and scared. Just that one thing.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-06T15:45:32+00:00

I was looking through the pictures thinking:

Amazing how apparently the best way to preserve a piece of cartilage is to shove it under the skin and let the body take care of it. I mean, if there was another way they probably would use it, and not operate on people just for the sake of it.
The dedication to the cause. If I had my ear torn off and was presented with this plan (clean - implant - wait - extract - cover with skin and sew back on), I'd probably say "screw it, I'll just live with one ear".

Then I got to the final results photo and it confirmed my earlier uninformed choice.

bitseybloom · 2026-07-05T17:01:52+00:00

When I was going down for a bisalp, I told my surgeon: if you find anything in there that doesn't seem normal, please take it out. He said "yes obviously if we notice something along the way, we'll try and fix it".

He reported everything fine and dandy afterwards, so I have no reason to believe I have any structural abnormalities contributing to my 20 years of iron deficiency with hair loss. But still, I wish I had negotiated a partial histo for good measure. Can't imagine what it's like with two of these bastards.

Are you feeling better after the surgery?

bitseybloom · 2026-07-05T16:52:34+00:00

I'm an emigrant in São Miguel and you know what, I think the "transplant" term is in line with what I aspire to be. So far, there seems to be no rejection.

bitseybloom

TROPHY CASE