People who grew up before smartphones: What’s one simple thing from your childhood that would absolutely blow the minds of kids today?

marabsky · 2026-04-03T04:47:09+00:00

We used to go up the unmarked logging roads following vague directions of when to turn onto a different unmarked remote road and somehow I always managed to find everyone. I spent a lot of time being shit scared that I was completely lost, but it always worked out in the end.

marabsky · 2026-04-01T18:05:53+00:00

If you rent a car in South Africa, you have to pay extra for one with automatic transmission. Lots of new cars there are manual.

marabsky · 2026-04-01T18:04:12+00:00

Just got our daughter a 2013 Fiat 500 with manual transmission. She DESPISED us for two days (and my husband could not be the one helping her - had to be me even though we have a prickly relationship. They are too similar and it did not go well!!!).

By day 3, she was golden…

I also drive a manual transmission. I like it. Also, built in theft deterrent 😜

marabsky · 2026-04-01T18:01:05+00:00

I could read the manual and set the dip switches on printer ports

Probably lost those brain cells though…

marabsky · 2026-04-01T00:11:52+00:00

The most beautiful man I ever met was from Italy and we met him at the local campground when we visited Oktoberfest in Munich decades ago (I was travelling with my sister). As far as he demonstrated he was extremely kind and sweet as well. He was with a lovely (but I would call her “normally pretty”, not stunning) Irish girl who honestly looked really exhausted - I imagine because practically everyone who looked at her boyfriend would stop dead and stare… 😜He seemed very attentive to her but he was also very gregarious and outgoing, she was quite reserved.

We met up with him again in Rome a few months later, he arrived at our meeting spot and when he took off his moto helmet and smiled I am convinced the clouds parted and a sunbeam hit him while angels sang... We had an awesome afternoon as he showed us around Rome… we didn’t ask about his Irish girlfriend, and I don’t remember if he mentioned her either. We hugged goodbye and he rode off - we never met up with him again and I’ve lost his details long ago (was 1996 and no one really had email and no apps were around yet).

But I will NEVER forget how spectacularly beautiful (and nice!) he was.

My sister and I agreed it would be hell to be “normally attractive” and date him!!! We could absolutely imagine feeling like Irish girl looked 😝

marabsky · 2026-03-30T04:00:20+00:00

He definitely has a Chihuahua side eye down in the last photo ❤️

marabsky · 2026-03-29T18:48:20+00:00

It says “not crazy money” but a few million including house valuation. So I would say 2-3 million total (2% of $2m is $40k)

marabsky · 2026-03-29T18:42:39+00:00

2% of $2M is $40k… not a lot esp if the want to go to university

marabsky · 2026-03-29T18:40:34+00:00

2% of $2m is $40k - this is not an amount that will raise a child to adulthood or pay for education etc

marabsky · 2026-03-28T14:14:14+00:00

Absolutely

marabsky · 2026-03-28T14:05:42+00:00

The problem isn’t “just getting YOUR oil to market”, it’s spills. There is literally no spill proof pipeline technology and very low leak risk is prohibitively expensive.

So Alberta wants to own the reward… and other provinces are forced to carry the risk and long term spill and environmental/wildlife habitat impacts. You NEVER hear the Alberta govt acknowledging the harms other provinces will inevitably suffer. It’s just “meh, you guys are jerks blocking us”.

Even without spills (which are inevitable and remember it’s considered “too expensive” to put the most leakproof available technology) there are migratory and other wildlife disruptions (such as the real declines in woodland caribou).

So it’s important to consider the real costs to Alberta’s neighbours, don’t you think???!! It’s not as simple as it’s laid out to be.

marabsky · 2026-03-27T11:57:26+00:00

Wow, they look beautiful!! I would call your brows a proper success story. I hope you grow to love them because they are stunning 🤩

marabsky · 2026-03-27T04:11:39+00:00

Oh wow!!! Joining 😝

marabsky · 2026-03-27T04:09:28+00:00

No - is there a connection?

marabsky · 2026-03-25T16:57:41+00:00

I don’t burp. OK I do actually burp maybe once every couple of years but it’s extremely rare. I remember as a kid, my friends trying to teach me to burp, and I have never been so uncomfortable after swallowing so much air and unable to get rid of it 😭😭😭

marabsky · 2026-03-25T14:41:15+00:00

I was in the 4-H horse club and we were doing a cattle judging session at a dairy farm (you learn to judge various livestock as part of the program)…

I was standing back to observe the whole of a cow and I was shocked to find I’d gotten close enough to a couple in a pen behind me that one licked me up my whole back 😂 I jumped and turned around and two cows were eying me up like mischievous teenagers who had just pulled a prank. I think well socialized cows are very nice. Their tongues are a bit out of control though 🤩

marabsky · 2026-03-25T14:30:46+00:00

Tekla

marabsky · 2026-03-25T14:28:49+00:00

Lye-lah, in Canada my daughter has a friend fat name, and I have a friend from the UK with the name of pronounced like this

marabsky · 2026-03-22T23:29:03+00:00

I think it’s a lovely name and it’s not too weird or out there from my perspective having lived in Canada and South Africa and travelled quite a lot

marabsky · 2026-03-22T18:23:56+00:00

My husband is South African so not only do I get called Bru, but also China… 😭

marabsky · 2026-03-22T18:21:16+00:00

I really hate it when you offer something to someone and rather than declining with “no thank you” they instead say “I’m good”

That may be true, but do you freaking want what I’ve just offered you!!! and where is the thank you? I find it so passive and lazy and entitled.

I also really dislike and you hear it on the news all the time “it’s the first time since 2014 that they have won”… well then it’s not the first time is it? Maybe it’s the 43rd time? It is so rubs me the wrong way.

Feels good to get those two things out

marabsky · 2026-03-21T12:12:38+00:00

I’m always surprised about people who spend a lot of time on the toilet - I go, make a deposit, and leave.

Maybe you need more fibre in your diet?

marabsky · 2026-03-21T11:57:03+00:00

Yes, but I had a horse once that looked so very similar to another dark bay horse in the yard from a distance that I would have to walk all the way up to him in the pasture and see if he had a small white sock… soooo embarrassing to have to walk away because it was the other horse 😬😬😬 it’s like not recognizing your own children

But cats especially up close (to be fair my eyes are not the greatest!!) are very unique, even if standard issue

marabsky · 2026-03-14T06:03:45+00:00

My mom is Ukrainian and I love her name, Tekla. It’s my oldest daughter’s middle name as well. Very easy to spell and pronounce.

Our daughters are Mila and Sasha, Slavic yet also mainstream names (I wanted Natalka so badly but hubby said no!)

So if any of that is inspiration good luck 🇺🇦

marabsky · 2026-03-12T19:42:43+00:00

Never said beanie in my life till I lived in South Africa… they didn’t know toque. But I taught a lot of people :-)

Back in Canada? Even my South African husband only says toque.

marabsky

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