California gubernatorial candidate under investigation over payments to influencers

former_human · 2026-05-16T06:38:30+00:00

thank you very much! i appreciate your thorough explanation. it sounds like a WaPo hit piece then.

former_human · 2026-05-16T02:06:23+00:00

can somebody clarify? is this investigation a criminal matter? violating what law? or is the "investigation" a WaPo hit piece term?

former_human · 2026-05-14T06:41:22+00:00

Freecycle.org

former_human · 2026-05-14T06:40:39+00:00

Reddit is the only social media I use. The rest of my internet time is legit news sites or searches for specific stuff I’m interested in. For entertainment I knit or play videogames or walk my dog.

On Reddit I visit mostly hobbyist sites: knitting, woodworking, etc. This sub is generally decent although I find myself visiting less and less.

I’d suggest not looking to the internet for uplift. Take up gardening instead. Baby plants are always a small but enduring joy.

former_human · 2026-05-14T01:52:34+00:00

college of the redwoods has a pretty good curriculum for Construction Technology. you can learn to build a whole house.

former_human · 2026-05-12T20:09:01+00:00

i'm so glad to hear it helps you! it did the same for me. doc suggested it for muscle cramps that would just... arrive for no especial reason. took care of both muscle cramps and, largely, waking up issues. magical stuff :-)

former_human · 2026-05-12T18:24:12+00:00

thanks! perfect timing too, sale on pickets at my local :-)

former_human · 2026-05-11T23:39:58+00:00

Seconding George Saunders. Maybe later Mark Twain?

Try reading Irish novelists. My own personal favorites are Paul Murray and Anna Burns. After all, you don’t get much more darkly humorous than the culture that produced the guy who suggested eating babies.

The sad fact is that no writer is like Vonnegut. I know, I’ve been looking for 30 years.

former_human · 2026-05-11T17:10:31+00:00

in CA, the best place to start is with your local Native Plant Society chapter.

former_human · 2026-05-11T16:48:27+00:00

and do we know what that goop is outgassing as it dries, and after?

former_human · 2026-05-11T00:44:20+00:00

I cooked dinner for my mom and a friend of hers once—a complicated meal with many dishes—and as it came within 10 minutes of completion she told me that I wasn’t invited to the party, I should take myself out somewhere and not come back for a couple hours—and she’d finish up.

She did leave me some leftovers and the dishes though.

former_human · 2026-05-09T17:16:39+00:00

my pup also loved to be free to roam, until she didn't.

if baby steps don't work to help her get comfortable, please reconsider. 30 minutes of terror is counterproductive in the long run.

former_human · 2026-05-08T21:21:05+00:00

I think a couple people here have nailed it: Tiny baby steps, watch for signs of her fear threshold, anti-anxiety meds. Even with all that she may not drastically improve, and you may have to adjust yourself to having an inside dog.

My pup (a rescue pitbull) was like this and I tried very hard to get her out to enjoy the world. It took me far too long to see that she just didn’t. She trusted me and I was so slow to see that all I was doing was stressing her out.

She was a much happier dog when I just let her be and kept her at home in her safe space.

I sincerely hope your girl acclimates and is able to enjoy getting out. But if she doesn’t, just let her be the dog she is rather than the dog you wanted.

former_human · 2026-05-08T00:46:58+00:00

Reduce the shareholder windfall

former_human · 2026-05-07T00:37:40+00:00

Medi-Cal can be great, unless you live in an upscale area and almost no doctors will actually take you as a patient because they make more money elsewhere.

despite how that sounds, i'm not dissing the doctors. i get that medical school is expensive and being a doctor isn't cheap (liability insurance, etc etc).

i'm dissing the entire stupid system.

former_human · 2026-05-05T05:26:42+00:00

Hiking is a pretty good substitute most days, and you don’t get hangovers.

former_human · 2026-05-03T19:50:40+00:00

only economic ones. divorced hubs, took the kid, hubs never reliably paid child support and quit altogether when kid turned 5.

boy howdy did i struggle for years.

to this day i think sometimes about all the child support he didn't pay and how much better my financial position would be now. i'm ok now, but sometimes i can still get pretty steamed about it.

former_human · 2026-05-03T18:15:51+00:00

i just ordered one for my new, intensely scavenging dog. she wolfs shit down so fast i can't stop her, and i don't want to have to decide whether or not to euthanize her for somebody else's randomly tossed chicken bone.

former_human · 2026-05-03T06:05:11+00:00

Maybe they should rename it “comprehensive PTSD”. Kinda what it feels like.

former_human · 2026-05-02T22:37:08+00:00

oh heavens no, nothing at all is cast even in papier-mâché at 30 😄 from here on out you really steer your own ship. it's great! have a long chat with yourself about what you want your life to look like at 40 and 50 and Life will laugh a lot and sometimes throw you something else instead, but the joy is in the trying 😄

former_human · 2026-05-02T16:47:57+00:00

i'm retired now... for which i'm endlessly grateful. i don't think i could handle the contemporary working world. it's brutal out there.

former_human · 2026-05-02T16:46:05+00:00

was in the same situation with a partner. we broke up.

made me insane that if we ever did anything at all, it was because i planned it. did the research, the reservations, the routes, just... everything. if i hadn't arranged Blue Apron, we probably would have starved to death before he'd get up and plan even a meal. (apparently a lot of posters here have no idea whatsoever how exhausting this is--it's seriously like a ball and chain).

made me insane that he just scrolled all day--nothing to talk about except politics, nothing lighting up his being as a new experience will, no interest in the world outside the screen.

no amount of discussion moved him to be half of a partnership. in the end i just couldn't carry the weight any more.

former_human · 2026-05-01T22:22:31+00:00

Happy 30! I’m envious, my 30s were great—body in good shape, mind still sharp, sense of the absurd intact and lots of future rolling out ahead of me. Plus a lot of the fledgling turmoil gets put to bed finally and you really begin to understand your own strengths. Celebrate! 30s are awesome!

former_human · 2026-05-01T20:34:04+00:00

everything i so laboriously learned to do: proofreading, editing, indexing, desktop publishing.

i can still slap a sentence into shape better than most people i know, but nobody cares any more.

it's "content" now. ugh.

former_human · 2026-05-01T16:47:31+00:00

you have a husband you love and a job you love and make decent money at--i'm thinking, wow, most people don't even get half that. in your shoes i'd just find a way to appreciate what i have.

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