Thelsim

Samurai Jack, though not really from growing up… (Then again, when do we ever stop growing up? :)

It had great stories and beautiful artwork. But to an adult eye it was obvious that all those “robots” were there to keep it kid friendly.
All that oil was a clear stand-in for tons and tons of blood.

The introduction of CD-ROM was mind blowing for me. Encyclopedias, interactive storybooks, talking Carmen Sandiego?!
It felt so futuristic.

Yes! I loved the mind maze. I was never really good at it (English is not my native language), but it was always fun to play.
I would bother my parents afterwards with all the facts I had learned. They were indulging at first, but even the greatest of patience will run out eventually :)

Old episodes of MST3K. I don’t know what it is, but it’s really relaxing to watch. Puts me right to sleep if I watch it at night :)

I’m not saying this as criticism though, I love the show. It’s just that combination of old movies with bad sound and the fact that I don’t get a lot of the outdated jokes puts me in a very relaxed mood.

I once had a supervisor called Dataram.

Granted, I don’t know if this is a common name in India or not. But I’ve never heard of it before, and never did again.
Friendly guy though, he looked out for all of us.

I really love Jack Vance’s world building. His Gaean Reach setting gives an endless variety of cultures, customs and beliefs. And the Dying Earth novels formed the basis for magic system of DnD.

But the real treasure is in how he can let these worlds come alive with his descriptions. Often he would spend a whole paragraph describing something that will never be part of the story but manages to perfectly set the tone of the local atmosphere.

I grew with these books (thanks to my dad’s impressive personal SF library) and they’ve always managed to spark my imagination like no other book.

I use a large folded microfiber towel as knee support in pilates. It’s not as spongy as a normal towel but soft and supportive enough for those exercises that put a lot of stress on my knees or tailbone.

A small side note on that 30% ruling, it’s only for highly skilled workers, so there are some requirements to meet.
Also, you’d best not boast about it to your Dutch coworkers if you want to make friends over here :)

Since most games are often mentioned on the internet, I’m going to reach waaaaaaaay back to my childhood and mention Cartooners:

This was a game for kids to make their own cartoons. I spend so much time making all kinds of funny and weird stories. It was very basic, but it had me giggling every time.

The Netherlands is generally quite friendly towards (English speaking) immigrants and expats. Almost everyone speaks English and no one really bats an eye at a non-Dutch resident in most of the major western cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague, etc.)
Housing is terrible though, prices are high and it’ll be hard to find something nice. One advantage for you (or any US resident), is that you’re exempt from the inburgering exam. Which means that you won’t have to learn the language and won’t be tested on your integration in Dutch society.

My partner is from abroad and they’ve experienced living here as quite pleasant. They weren’t exempt from the exam though (different non-EU nationality), which was a bit of a nuisance. But in general, reception was positive. They’ve been living here for over 16 years now.
But like most of Europe, we’ve got a far-right government right now, so there’s a lot of anti-immigration talk going round. Of course it’s only aimed at what they think are the “wrong” (Middle-Eastern and African) kind of people, so I doubt Americans would ever have to deal with it.

I’m not a native English speaker, but I always thought an expression like “oh boy” was more self-reflective. Like you say it more to yourself than to whoever you’re talking to.
In which case, the other’s gender shouldn’t really matter?
In any case, I personally don’t feel insulted or misgendered if someone uses it in a conversation with me.

For a moment there I thought I was looking at a !sciencememes@lemmy.world post and was taking this seriously :)

Taking a kayak out into one of the local waterways on an early morning. We have a few canals that run through a nature area on the outskirts of the city. Around that time no one is yet on the water and I can just glide peacefully past the water lilies and other plants. The silence is so soothing. Everything just seems to live and breathe all around me.

It’s great until about an hour later, when some of the locals use their motor boat to put-put-put down the canal, stinking up the place with their exhausts :P

Oh I love raspberries as well, it’s just that mangoes are more chewy when frozen.
Raspberries tend to be very hard and not as nice to bite down on when they’re straight from the freezer. But the flavor is great, no argument here :)

Frozen mango pieces. I love eating those whenever I’m in the mood for something to snack.

Not sure if it counts as junk food, but it’s something I always try to keep at home. Though lately they’ve been sold out at the supermarket. So I’m forced to fall back on my 2nd choice, frozen raspberries.

I don’t know if this can be darned, the threads are very very thin. I might give it a try if one of those holes becomes too big.
When I do, I’ll definitely use different colors. I like your idea :)

I have an old light green neck Buff made from bamboo fiber. It’s like three times the normal size so you have to wrap it multiple times around your neck which is great in cold weather.
And it’s so soft! I love wearing it the moment autumn turns cooler.
It’s getting a few holes so I hope it’ll still last a couple more years. They don’t sell this design anymore 😞

Being appreciated… either by my kids, my partner, co-workers or anyone else really…

If I feel like I’ve made someone happy or helped them out somehow and they give a heartfelt “thanks” or even just a big smile, well that always makes my day.

I’m blocking a couple of bots but no actual people.
Though I guess I would block someone if they were being persistently trying to harass me. I can take offensive internet behavior, but not if you’re coming after me as a person.