Well, probably not what you're looking for but I used to work yard maintenance for a property management company.

I was sent to rake and tidy up the back yard of some house. In the back, there was an entrance to a root cellar that was separate from the house and had crappy wooden doors covering it. I was told to open it up and sweep the steps leading down to the cellar.

I don't have a problem with dark places, or bugs. But that was the first time I'd seen camel crickets. They were big, hump backed and striped. And there were dozens of them. I dutifully swept the steps, from the dead center of them, my eyes darting around constantly trying to gauge whether or not the weird ass bugs were about to launch themselves onto me. They didn't. They were super chill.

I told my dad about it later and he laughed at me for not knowing what the crickets were because they were so common. I've only seen a few more since then, and they still kinda weird me out.

I don't know why, but the sticker still being on the axe is the best part to me.

This happened to me when I was a kid. My family was having a picnic which included the rare treat of fried chicken. A wasp buzzed down, landed on my chicken and sawed away a chunk of it. Then it took off, faltered because the chunk was so heavy, then buzzed away. Your comparison to a helicopter is spot on! We all just sat there and watched it, not knowing what to do. We still talk about how weird that was.

I've noticed over the last few decades that every time I start worrying about WW3, climate change, solar flares, super volcanos, giant meteors etc. that there's something going on in my personal life that's causing me stress. Something I feel like I have no control over.

I guess my brain doesn't want to admit/deal with my own issues, so I focus on something else, something that feels just as overwhelming.

Working on taming the anxiety itself is quite useful, especially if you can't help the situation you're currently in.

The things that have helped me the most are: meditating (chakra and mindfulness) which has been great at helping me calm down; finding activities that feel meaningful to me; spending time with the people I care about (making the time); and finding beauty and/or amusement in everyday life.

All of these things take practice and time, which might seem useless if you think that the world will end tomorrow. But even if all you can do is one meaningful/fulfilling thing today, then it will improve your day and help make your last day on earth a little better.

Of course chances are good you'll wake up tomorrow, and the next day etc., which means you have even more time to live an even happier life.

Good luck my dude.

It's a song about a ship that sank, a pretty good song too, imo.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/...

For decades there was a funeral parlor down the street from my house. Right in the middle of a busy residential neighborhood in the city. There's only on-street parking and they had two spots in front of their building reserved for funerals. Only no one ever parked there. No cars, limos, hearses, anything. A neon open sign turned on every day over their door but no one ever came or went.

My parents had a tenant who was an elderly gentleman with few relatives. When he died, my mom called the parlor to arrange the funeral but no one answered. She left a message on their machine but no one ever called back. We weren't fully surprised because we'd been calling it a front for years, but mom was unconvinced until then.

The building got fully renovated a few years ago and we actually saw a funeral taking place, so they've upped their game.

My dad and I were shopping at Home Depot one December and found a small Christmas decoration I wanted. When we got it to the register the cashier couldn't find a tag or sticker on it. Normally I'd go get another one with a tag but this was the only one they had. The cashier tried looking it up through the computer system but still couldn't figure it out. She handed it to us and told us it was free because it was the store's fault that she couldn't find the price.

We've been enjoying that decoration for years, my mom still puts it in the middle of her kitchen display. And we always remember how nice that cashier was to us.

This is exactly what my dad does. "It's easier" means "I can't be bothered to spend five minutes figuring out what the question I really want to ask is, and write it out in a ten word text. So instead I'll ramble for fifteen minutes and hope you figure it out for me."

When people say "it's easier" they mean for them, not you.

Mashed, with butter and garlic scapes.

My siblings and I are all in our 30s and we still get visits from the Easter Bunny. We go through our baskets in front of our mom and talk about how much we enjoy our gifts from 'the bunny'. I wasn't able to be with my family this year so my Easter basket shower up in a FedEx box. Chocolate is chocolate, I've got no problems with this tradition.

Holy moly, that sounds like a very unpleasant basement to have to deal with.

"Whelp, time to do laundry. The fun part is when the creepy mutant spider cricket launches itself at my face, yay!"

Clearly I was very lucky. I highly doubt the tenants ever used the place either. It just belonged to the crickets.

I'll suggest that to the neighbors. Maybe they'll trying one-upping each other and the rest of us can just walk down the block like it's a buffet.

1st, I think this is really neat

2nd, that robot makes me want to go get some delicious green olives

Oh my gosh thank you for saying this. I just realized my library has a subscription and I can read this thru the Libby app. Nostalgia here I come. I'm gonna go learn about whales =)

So cute! Congrats and well done!

Your mother sounds like an amazing woman. I'm sorry to hear everything she (and you and your siblings) had to go through. It takes incredible resolve to survive all that.

As someone who's had poor health their entire life, I can absolutely agree that the 'tender moments' really make life what it is.

Thanks for sharing.

Looks great. You figured out what works for you and went with it instead of fighting it. That's the way to get things done. Awesome job!

Yeah it's easy to get bummed when plans don't work out like you hoped (I've been dealing with a lot of that this season). But your efforts go to show that if you keep trying you can wind up with something you can be proud of =) I'll keep that in mind as I soldier on with my back yard.

"This morning, ICE agents came to Dodger Stadium and requested permission to access the parking lots. They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization," the Dodgers said in a statement posted on X.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs for the Department of Homeland Security, said the agents were not trying to enter the stadium.

"This had nothing to do with the Dodgers. [Customs and Border Protection] vehicles were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement," McLaughlin said in an email.

Haha, yeah that's pretty accurate!