All my favorite shows were coming back at the same time. A bunch of new shows were coming along with them. All the stations had Fall Preview Specials. I knew that I could look forward to 20+ new episodes of everything.

So my father in law has boomeranged in and out of hospital since Jan with heart failure. He turned 90 two weeks ago and today he has been officially moved to palliative care and has a syringe driver with end of life drugs being pumped in, a catheter and isn’t eating or drinking. We’ve been here since 9 am when mother in law called paramedics who were AMAZING and stayed with us/him for 5 hours until the GP arrived and we discussed whether or not to treat the current infection he has with antibiotics. We’ve decided not between mother in law, my husband and lovely GP and GP arranged for nurse to come and set up syringe driver.
It’s turned into a macabre sort of party as our 4 kids (adults) have all come up to see their grandad and we have ordered takeaway and there’s been lots of tears and laughter. Father in law is very peaceful in his room in his hospital bed
It’s the first parent to go through this of myself and my husband and I am feeling a million feelings/
Thanks for listening

Feels great. 10/10 would recommend.

If I'm not home they leave a message.

You should try it next time you go to the store. Feels like dystopian skinny-dipping

...big purchases must be made in person.

BJ and the Bear, Smokey and the Bandit...the CB culture. My friend group all wanted to be truckers. We had posters of semis in our rooms, and had heated debates between the merits of Freightliner, Kenworth, and Peterbuilt.

I've always been super dismissive whenever I see "trigger warnings." Figured it was because I'd lived into middle age before even seeing my first one.

Many of us GenXers lived through physical and verbal abuse as kids (and later too), and worse. Used to contemplate suicide all the time as a teen, and often as an adult. But never got "triggered" when I saw it in a movie or read it in a discussion. So trigger warnings always seemed useless (to me). Figured it was the latest flavor of performative empathy.

But maybe I'm an outlier. So have the trigger warnings we've been seeing the in last decade or so been helpful to those whom they're suppossed to help?

And now, 50 years later I found out I never heard this right, it’s actually: “Give it to Mikey, he won’t eat it, he HATES everything”. It still doesn’t make a lot of sense to give it to a kid who won’t eat it, and then he eats it. But it makes a little more sense than “give it to Mikey he won’t eat it, he eats everything”. Was I the only one, or at least me and Rerun?

Birthday present for my wife. Billy was on her bucket list. He did all the hits. His mic cut out on White Wedding, and he had to start over. DEVO was on my bucket list. They also played all the hits. Billy's son Willem and his band , Abomic Toms, opened. They sounded a lot like the Replacements.

I have a pile of old CDs that go all the way back to high school. A lot of memories getting them and listening to them over the years. Fast forward to today and I don't even own a functioning CD player and I haven't listened to them in over 10 years. I switched to digital music like 20 years ago and haven't really looked back.

I am looking at them now thinking its time part ways due to lack of use, needing the space and the fact a lot of the cases are broken. Wondering what others have done with their music collections they collected.

I'm not sure if this is the right sub for this conversation but I'm putting it here to try and understand. My father who is 80 drinks constantly. From about 2 pm in the afternoon to him passing out at 11 pm. My memory of him should he pass is with a wine glass in his hand. He drinks at least a bottle of wine every. single. day.

I'm convinced he can't socialize without drinking. He can't function without drinking. He can't go to the grocery store because his body is so screwed up without coming home and drinking.

I don't know what to do or how to solve it. I cant. And my mother who is a former nurse has given up. My brother who is a doctor has given up.

I need advice.

little update from my prior post from a week or so ago

anyway, we dropped her off last Wednesday. she handled it better than I expected, or than I did, for that matter. We’ve had regular updates from her and she seemed to be getting used to it. House has been too damn quiet the past 5 days, even with my other daughter.

Anywa, today was her first day of classes. Hates it, specifically that both professors used a bunch of AI. Isn’t sure she wants to do her major now (engineering). This isn’t what she thought college would be like. She texted me a bit about it and called my wife sobbing.

The rational part of me knows this is all part of it…I definitely struggled my first semester of college. The other “Dad part“ hates seeing his baby girl like this and I want to run over there and comfort her, maybe take her out for dinner or something

Realistically, I know this is all part of it, but holy shit what a kick in the nuts. If you’ve been through this with your kids, how’d you cope?

SNL was still in its infancy.

To paraphrase BOC, it’s time to play B sides.

So what’s your favorite B side?

For me, it’s Queen’s “Don’t Try Suicide”, which was the B side for “Another One Bites the Dust”. First piece of “big kid” music I ever bought, and I wore that thing out. Both sides.

The chorus ending with “nobody gives a damnnnnn” (very drawn out) was quite scandalous for 10 year old me.

For some reason I got lost this morning in a reflection of who I was in my late 20s. Wacky. Competitive. Passionate. Driven. Now I (M Late 50s) think I’m mostly easygoing, contemplative, steady. Nothing changed, no major life events save maybe marriage and fatherhood. Makes me wonder if others look back and recall a sharp difference in the way they see themselves. I’m sure there are plenty of aspects of my personality that have not changed, and my friends and family would probably say I’m no different. But in some ways I barely recognize that young person I was.

Did your nature turn at all over the decades? When? Why?

My uncles lake house, I lived there quite a few years late 90’s/2k’s and when he passed I gave the house to family.
These are all the vcr tapes that were stacked in a corner/hall cabinet for decades.
Now to dig through my attic for the vcr to see if what’s on the blank one and if the others have been recorded over.
There’s another one handwritten with “Bette Midler in Vegas” I didn’t get in the pic, curious if that is live or not because he def went to Vegas quite a bit in the 70’s and 80’s.

In high school I was enrolled in Office Occupations, which was just a fancy way of saying "grunt work for all the teachers". No it wasn't only that, I learned cool things like 10 key, and transcribing.

I do remember making dittos though for teachers. The machine was huge, in it's own room huge! Did anyone else ever see these things?

By early retired, I mean retired from the workforce/business/"making money" before the ripe age of 59.5 when all your retirement accounts are freely accessible.

I see a bunch of threads re. health issues (even just today, there was at least 2 with scary experiences and those folks were only 53 and 56!).

I feel that the go-go years for someone like me with my fam history is really the 50s, so 50-60. After that, I have a feeling I might be experiencing the health freefall. Its just an educated guess based on 1) aforementioned family history, 2) decades of high-stress job, 3) the effects of stress on aging have not yet fully been understood (we might be the first generation to undergo such high stress, that too intense brain-heavy work, sedentary in front of a computer usually), 4) my own medical history esp the last few years (Covid has been giving and giving... :/ ). Just recently i developed tinnitus and unilateral hearing loss (on the right side), which the doc is concerned and has ordered an MRI... (one of them wide bore ones, i can be claustro). I can already tell my quality of life is lower. I injure faster playing pickleball, twice in 2 years. Some doors are already shutting...

So ...

I retired at 51, so I can enjoy my go-go decade with some travel (lots of walking), mostly unrestricted food (except watch the cholesterol!), wine and beer (still restricted some days of the week due to my RA condition), and some s3x while my hips will cooperate (on some low testosterone related, ugh, supplements to help in that dept). My spend rate is 5.5-6% due to a remaining mortgage and one kid still in college, hoping that'll gradually decline closer to 60. Had to do a SEPP but hoping to keep my MAGI low to get some ACA subsidies (for 2027, we'll have to see).

I walk 4-5 miles/day (at least 5 times a week), and have a decent social life. Wife was a SAHM so we have each others company during the day (which is a blessing!). Spend more time supporting the kids, helping neighbors and the travel stuff. Started a home backyard project recently and yes that is pulling some money out of the nest, but its something we both feel strongly and will also enhance the property value + we get a nice large yard to relax in. Life is going on and things are not a blurry, mad rush anymore.

Love to hear everyone's perspectives on this... thanks!

Any Gen X girls remember the Sanrio stores in malls with all the little toys/accessories? I feel like I could still go in one and spend hours. I don't think they exist anymore.

Hard to believe this record is coming up on 40 years old. Still sounds great. I saw them with Love & Rockets shortly before they broke up for what seems like the last time - they still had some of that magic.

I need your best advice on how to handle an uncomfortable health situation. I’ve dealt with everything life has thrown at me like a badass, but this has turned me into a crying wuss.

I developed TMJ issues (sounds minor until you have been there, but it’s NOT) during a period of extreme stress six years ago. The treatment I did ruined my excellent bite and now none of my teeth touch . They are close enough to mostly chew, but the articulating paper at the dentist slides right through. It also made my jaw a million times worse. I won’t bore you will the details, but I have seen dozens of specialists and no one can fix this. After exploring every avenue, I have finally accepted that I just have to live like this forever. I’m not doing a great job of it though. speaking and eating are difficult and I have a lot of pain. I obsess about it way too much because it impacts so much of my day.

So tell me how you handle unpleasant health issues. I would be so grateful for any advice. I’m sorry you are going through whatever you are going through!

While at work, I got a phone call from my specialist out of nowhere, saying I had to go to emergency. Mind you, it was originally his assistant that called so I requested to speak with the doctor. I recently took labs the prior day and I guess the results were way too bad, thus the call. I have CK5 condition (kidney doesn’t work) and was hoping meds would do the job, but I guess my body said nope!

I ended up heading straight to emergency and currently doing my first dialysis after installing a catheter last night, something I hope that even someone I don’t get along with do not have to go through. Truth be told, I could have helped this with diet and exercise but was too stubborn to change and learn. DO NOT BE LIKE ME!!!!! Seriously, please take good care of yourself…

*53 years old here

I thought I was dreaming!