I got a bench and all the weights and bars I could ever need for a couple hundred bucks on Craigslist after looking for deals for about a week. They even came with little bars so I can use the smaller plates as dumbbells. Obviously it’d be harder for someone in a more rural area, but exercise equipment is usually pretty easy to find relatively cheap second-hand. Way better than a gym membership so long as you’ve got a bit of space in your home for a bench. Paired with basic body-weight maneuvers and some running shoes, you can get all the exercise you need without all the fancy stuff at a gym.

Those aren’t mutually exclusive, though. Even if 99.9% of a species fits in perfectly with the environment, if that last little sliver destroys everything, and the rest of the species is unable and/or unwilling to stop them, then we destroy everything anyway. Sure, it may not be ALL humans, but it’s still humans.

Huh? I bought my first house in 2020. It was $200,000 for a run-down house in a bad part of Minneapolis. It was my first home, so I could use the first-time home buyer benefit to only need $10,000 for the down payment, which I had built up over a few years of saving. While in the house, fixing my garage door when it broke was $250, and repairing my AC and Furnace each time they broke was $300-500. Stuff that was bigger than that was covered by insurance. I fixed everything else myself, however poorly. The money I got for selling the house in 2023 for $230,000 was enough to afford the down payment on the next place after paying back my first mortgage and the realtor fees.

If your first house is anything like mine was, it’ll be a lot of “What’s that sound!? God dammit…” followed by either a day’s worth of work fixing something, or a bill for several hundred dollars. It took a few major problems before my wife and I started getting confident that we knew what we were doing. You get used to it, and eventually problems that arise are no longer a “will we get through this?” and instead become an “ugh, I can’t wait until we’re through this.” After a few years I was able to sell it to someone else as their starter home, and use the equity I built to buy a much nicer house with far fewer problems, though you’ll never be totally free from the occasional sudden panic of a major issue.

I always thought I was too ugly for people to be attracted to me. Eventually I cleaned myself up a bit, got on a dating app, and found the woman who is now my wife. I was proud of myself for becoming someone who could be attractive. Since then, 2 girls I knew in school have told me they had a crush on me… Like, why didn’t you say anything!? It was obvious I had no idea!! I now think everyone must have at least one person who’s yummed by their yuk.

It is. But do you see any other cops moving to arrest the shooter? This is why people say ACAB. Sure, some of them probably really do want to make positive change, but they don’t actually take the actions against other officers required to allow for that change. They instead fall in line, which makes them just another part of the problem. Law enforcement finds it more important to show a united front, even if that front is squarely against the people, and even the law itself.

I find that the tired part is easier to swallow if you instead think of it an a happy opportunity to put on some music and rest your eyes.