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Cake day: July 5th, 2023

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  • jpreston2005@lemmy.worldtoAsk Lemmy@lemmy.worldWhat's your "weird flex"?
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    25 days ago

    I’m pretty good at… just about everything. With some rare exceptions, just about every new thing I try, I pick up really quickly, and am pretty good at it. Ice skating, volleyball, stand-up comedy, acting, dancing, singing, gymnastics, hockey, rugby, capoeira, woodworking, drawing, painting, sculpture, chemist, surgery, gardening, swimming/diving… Just a whole bunch of random stuff that I’ve had the opportunity to try and… yeah, I’m pretty good at 'em.

    I’ve often thought about being the subject of some sort of “Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe” style show except they challenge me with new tasks/activities to see if they can find something I legitimately suck at.


  • Nobody goes their whole life without becoming intimately aware of the danger cobra chickens present. Once when I was a teenager, I decided to drive aggressively close to a couple geese while they were strolling around a busy parking lot. The goose took exception, and as I went by, he pecked at my car door, which left a dent and made a VERY loud noise. I was so flabbergasted by the violence contained within this downy devil, that I let my car slow, which was a mistake. The goose took it as a sign of weakness and was now charging at me.

    I freak out, not wanting him to damage my car anymore, so I make haste out of the car park, pause for a moment at the stop sign, and turn right onto the road. I look back to the parking lot and what do I see? The goose, full flight, full speed, coming right at my passenger window. Before I can accelerate away, he collides with the passenger side door, leaving a HUGE dent, right next to the little dent he made earlier.

    At that point I was doing like 60 in a 35 mph zone just to gtf away from that hellish demon spawn. Methinks perhaps reincarnation is real, and all truly evil people come back as canadian geese.



  • PDF Files! hadn’t heard that one before, ha!

    I remember getting lost there as a child. I was with my family, but that day it started raining cats and dogs, so we went to the closest shop and bought rain ponchos… which evidently is what EVERY family did. We started walking, I got separated for a second, and ended up following this other family around the park for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few minutes. When I finally caught up with the family, and grabbed the mom-looking ponchos hand, I realized what I had done.

    I ended up running from them, and hung around the shop we bought the ponchos from. Luckily, my mom came and found me there. but yo I legit was like “Well, I guess I’ll just live and work at the park now. 😐” Like some Floridian Robinson Crusoe, I felt like I was awash on a strange island, and it was there I would remain after being abandoned. 😅



  • After my divorce, I had a random friend tell me that they were bummed about my divorce because they (him and his wife) had wanted to swing with us. Gave me the ick. I was SAd when I was a kid, and so people expressing interest in me is like a train crossing signal at night, big red blinking light with loud bells, all I can foresee is what terrible things they’re capable of if given the opportunity.

    Then him and his wife got divorced, and he started texting me, calling me, emailing me, like he couldn’t believe I didn’t want to hook up with him. ghosted him HARD. I felt bad about it initially, but after he kept texting/calling/emailing for weeks, I was moreso relieved that I never gave him any more of my time/effort.



  • My parents have always been well-off. At christmas, us kids would get like $1500 worth of toys and junk. each of us like 10-15 presents. I remember a few of them, but you know how much I would have given to hang out with my dad playing video games? All of those presents, from every christmas. He never had time for me, time for us. He was too busy trying to make as much money as he could. It rotted his brain. He truly believes that a persons worth is determined by the numbers in their bank account. So I guess I’ll always be a failure to him. I don’t speak to him anymore.

    Keep offering to hang out.


  • When I was working as a line cook in college, I was one of two white guys behind the line, with the rest of our BOH (Back Of House) crew being black. One day on the line we were all joking around like we always did. One of the black cooks, named Rose (he was an older guy, with coke-bottle glasses and strong, thickly calloused hands. He had a snaggle tooth and a big ol’ pot belly), was regaling us with stories about how he has a veritable harem of women at his beck and call. He told us he was supporting like 5 different women, and all of them were entirely devoted to him.

    I thought that he was being hyperbolic, and decided that I would poke fun. I was going to say something like “Rose, I can’t believe for a second that even 1 woman would be after your ugly mug.” But my midwestern-whiteness shone through, and before I could deliver that absolute blister of a line, I decided to use an exclamation so as to punctuate my lack of belief in his statement. I started with “Ooh boy,” and didn’t get to finish.

    I was immediately accosted by Rose, his spatula gripped tightly, and he was mad as hell. The other line cooks were instantly aware of the situation and reacted to hold him back, as Rose was about to knock my befuddled ass into next week. Eventually they were able to calm him down, and explained to my dumbass that calling a black man “boy” was explicitly racist, and derogatory.

    We were fine once he realized I had no idea it was racist, I just thought of it as an exclamation along the lines of “Boy howdy!” or something.

    It was a very eye-opening moment.


  • I’ve only ever been to one. Been to a lot of protests, but only one political rally.

    I went because the politician inspires noble actions, noble thoughts, and I wanted to hear him speak in person. I’ve been a supporter of his for quite a while now, and I wanted to physically show up for him just like I do metaphorically at my polling place. It wasn’t really about hearing his ideas, or receiving new information from him, it was just about being present in the moment, together in a throng of people who all gathered in solidarity with what he and his candidacy represents. Like, how you don’t have to worry about being embarrassed about singing your bands favorite songs out loud, when you’re in a crowd of people gathered to see that band. It was there that I could enthusiastically cheer for what I believe in, what I prioritize.

    The rally I’m speaking about was for none other than Bernie Sanders. He was introduced by Donald Glover, and oddly enough, while introducing him, a bird alighted upon the podium, much like what happened at another rally he did. It was a great time, and I’m glad I was there. I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.