We’re now 57. At age 25 my SO went to work for MSF in a really remote place - like, no road through the jungle, small airfield served by derelict Russian aircraft, and in the middle of that nowhere, a huge refugee camp serving 2 warring nations.

It’s something she needed to do.

The pay was shit, but the local expenses where null, with food and accommodation being provided; her entire salary went into calling once a week for about 20 to 30 minutes (if the phone lines worked). She wrote also, same rhythm like once a week, but I would usually get them as a bunch of 3 or 4.

I couldn’t write. Dunno why retrospectively, I just couldn’t. Not getting the phone calls was nerve-wracking of course.

She was good at what she did, so in order to have her stay beyond the scope of her original mission they offered a Logistics position to me so I could join her. As it happens, in these conditions that position was untenable & she didn’t want us as a couple to establish ourselves in such a hellish place.

She came back changed of course. But mainly, when she did move across the earth again a few years later, we went together.

Absolutely. And when bored (which is likely to happen), I’d visit Moorcock’s “Dancers at the end of times” universe, for the same carefree attitude, but in a much more spicy flavour

I work them, so I never just go and attend them - the experience is so much better when you’re “in”. I love the interaction, quite love the babysitting part of it even.

Also when I enjoy it, I will tell them & and it always work because artists know that if the local tech found them good, that same dude who see so much stuff day-in, day-out, it (probably) means something.

You meet jerks, of course. You learn to provide them with minimal service, but clean and decent for the public. You meet fantastic people who fail to make it through to the audience, and that’s heartbreaking. You learn to put 200% of yourself into a musical style you don’t enjoy because the dudes on stage are killing it and the audience is loving it - who cares if Jazz Manouche is the most boring, written down and set in stone style ever.

My most stupid interaction was, at the end of a programme that included both Chopin and Steve Reich, to tell the Reich’ piece clarinetist “sometimes, Chopin is boring. Especially in regard to Reich”. The Guy was in agreement lol.

Some magnificent pieces can be had for “only” used cars prices.

Lego’s (I can’t have enough, too expensive)
A full-sized bath (flat is pretty old, they did come with baths then, I love it)

You can’t deny what she likes ; what you can do is ask her to explain: what is it about it that resonates with her? Can we sit down, turn the volume way down, and spend a few minutes checking out her fav’s in that style while she tells you why she likes that stuff?

(The subtlety here is not asking her to justify herself, but to explain to that out-of-the-loop, quite-geriatric Dear Bro)

Her answers don’t matter much - what matters is asking her to view the topic critically, and verbalise it that so that you “get” that side of her.

Also, “I love you but I fucking hate that shit” can work you know.

Good luck.

By taking care of her. Take initiative, propose movies / games / ice-creams whatever. Things you like, things you think she’ll like. She’s having a hard time reaching out to you, do your best to reach out to her.

It’s not your fault, but it isn’t hers either. Try to have fun together, she’ll get to know how you work and you don’t one step at a time.

In short, like anyone else:

He’s absolutely right, and utterly annoying

Re-read your own words. This went from unhealthy to straight-up dangerous.

Nobody cares about you and your cheap AI-generated tentacle porn. The point here is at entreprise-level. Businesses will be legally locked down with expensive US vendors, it’s all that matters.

Infuriating thing above all that cretin protectionism is that pro use of AI stuff will consume a planet-destroying 10 30 times as much energy than needed.

I use KISS. it’s super minimalistic, allows fro hiding all the unremovable crap all phones come with today, and is basically a search bar with 5 icons on top. I have my Proton Calendar as the sole widget and that’s it. Single screen, no fuss.

Second-hand smoking. Not only is it bad for you, it is also bad for your entourage. Numerous countries are forbidding smoking in the same space as children for that exact reason.

Finding stuff on Mastodon is more about hashtags. Eventually, by subscribing to #stuff you’re interested in, you will discover accounts worth following. The Tusky app allows you to subscribe to hashtags like to an account. I don’t follow people anymore, I follow topics!