Void, here. And I just gotta say…

Arch Linux user here to say… Ubuntu’s fine, man. Love all the derivatives that can take advantage of the core Ubuntu system (e.g., Mint, which I’ve installed for family members).

I love Arch. I use it all the time. I will not inflict it on any family members.

This is partially true. The rich have definitely benefited more than everyone else. But the actual statistics don’t lie… Wages are not actually stagnant, they’ve been ticking upward, and it’s finally happening faster than inflation. It’s not helping everyone, of course, but it’s not all doom and gloom, either. And inflation really is down - importantly, lower than the global average by quite a bit.

I’m not going to argue that everything is going perfectly, because it’s clearly not. For one thing, everything that can get passed in the House has to overcome Republican obstruction right now, only to face Republican obstruction in the Senate, too. We have a half-&-half government where one half is sociopathic, and that’s not amazing. In fact, while some economic indicators are good, the whole thing does appear pretty fragile.

Which is kinda the thesis of my original comment.

Good, but fragile.

Let’s talk about the fragile first:

• We have unrest due to the genocidal war in Gaza. Israel is a long-term ally of the United States, but… their government has lost its mind. They’ve responded to a horrendous terrorist attack with an even more horrendous war that it’s hard to see a good ending to. Lots of blame to go around on it, but as for the United States, we’re stuck with a particularly sticky political problem because of it.

  If we cut off support for Israel, it’s likely that they’ll face invasion by their neighbors, plunging the entire region into war and strengthening Russia.

  If we give them everything they need to raze Gaza to the ground, no strings attached, they’ll… raze Gaza to the ground, and probably try to destroy all of Palestine in a grotesque act of true genocide. This will also result in their neighbors attacking them, and likely cause an even more horrific war. Biden is currently trying to thread a very difficult needle between these extreme outcomes.

  I genuinely don’t know if he will succeed and ultimately convince Israel to stop the horrific destruction, but at least he’s trying. If Trump wins the next election, we - and Palestine, and Israel, and everyone who isn’t Russia or Iran - are fucked.

• We have a serious long-term problem that threatens the stability of the entire country, which I will sum up in two words: Fox News. This misnamed infotainment channel is almost single-handedly responsible for a decades-long - and horrifyingly successful - campaign to make an entire half of the country stupid, misinformed, bigoted, and angry all the time about utter nonsense.

  Have you heard about how trans people are beating all the “real” women in sports? Or raping them in public bathrooms? Have you heard about how DEI is flooding every business everywhere with unqualified employees, because white people are superior reasons that will remain carefully unspecified? Is Disney trying to turn little Timmy gay? Is the “woke mind virus” something you’re familiar with?

  Then you’ve probably either seen Fox News, or interacted with its victims. And I mean that: victims. These are people who have been intentionally targeted for, quite literally, brainwashing. If you’ve ever found yourself in an argument with a Fox News victim, you’ll have discovered that they’re remarkably impervious to facts, fully capable of believing complete balderdash without a single scrap of evidence, and are prone to become angry - sometimes violently so - in defense of their worldview and in response to anything that causes the discomfort of cognitive dissonance.

• We haven’t yet figured out how to really counter bad actors, both foreign and domestic, who take advantage of all of the above to try to destroy the United States as it is right now.

  Domestically, actual white supremacists and Neo-Nazis are absolutely thrilled with the current state of affairs in Israel and Palestine, because 1) they hate absolutely everyone involved anyway, and 2) they see it as an opportunity to try to recruit new white supremacists from college students who are angry about the genocide. Does that make any sense? Of course not; if they’re upset about the horrific slayings of thousands of Muslims in a majority non-white country, it’s absurd to believe that they’re likely to be turned by white nationalism. But it’s not like Neo-Nazis are known for their critical thinking skills, and they still might succeed in dividing enough of the electorate to help Trump get back into office. They certainly want to.

  On the foreign front, there’s Russia, of course. Russia still wants to do everything it can to destroy the United States. Putin and his ilk have long since concluded that the easiest way to become a mover and shaker on the world stage isn’t to make a strong Russia, it’s to make everyone else weak. They’ve utterly squandered the opportunities of perestroika. And they are hell-bent on making the world suffer for it.

Pretty depressing, huh. But it’s not all bad:

• We seem to be taking genuine, if tentative, steps towards actually forcing Donald Trump to experience the consequences of his actions. This will destroy him. He’s a corrupt narcissist, and even being forced to be in court is absolute torture for him. And if he’s found guilty and becomes a felon, it’s a near-certainty that he will lose the upcoming election. There’s some evidence that while it would invigorate some of his base (comprised of Fox News victims), it would also partially divide them. He would, at last, look weak to some of them.
• Our economy is actually doing quite well. Jobs are up, inflation is down, GDP is up, and overall things are actually going fairly well. You don’t hear about it much, because “Everything is going well” doesn’t make for an exciting news headline, but it appears to be true.
• Biden has made remarkable strides, all things considered, on multiple issues, from the environment to student loans. This, even with a House controlled by the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene and a corrupt Supreme Court.
• The pandemic isn’t over - it probably never will be - but with actual grown-ups at the wheel, we’re doing much better on that front, too.

So… yeah. Good. But fragile.

If you count light outside of the human visible spectrum, it’s bright pretty much everywhere. Like, getting away from light requires specially constructed facilities.

The vaccines actually did do a good job of preventing infection and spread initially. But thanks to anti-vaxxers, it had ample opportunity to mutate. So it did.

I’ll try it!

Gonna try really fucking hard for that.

I have what can only be described as a “flagon” of water next to my bed. I’ve emptied it like five times today.

Oh, you better fucking believe I’m resting. As much as I humanly can. I’ve spent just about the entire day in my bedroom, switching between bed (when I can breathe through the mucus) and supremely comfy chair (when I can’t). There will be no “push” in this house.

What precise instructions should I follow to be able to time-travel like you?

One of my kids is trans and pan. The other is lesbian. My niece is trans and lesbian. My other nibling (look it up) is gender-fluid. My sister is bisexual. My aunt was lesbian. I have multiple gay uncles and grand-uncles.

There are a lot of LGBTQ+ people in my extended family, on both sides, and it’s not a small family. So if either came out as gay, I wouldn’t be particularly surprised.

Especially if it’s my mother, who is already out as bisexual.

As for how I’d react? Mostly by saying, “Thank you for telling me, that must have been very hard for you.” No recrimination or anger, of course. I love my parents, and either of them coming out wouldn’t affect that in the slightest.

I’ve seen enough NileRed videos to assert this with 100% confidence: That guy will not die of old age. And however he goes, the cleanup will almost certainly require bio-hazard suits.

One of my kids shuffling around in the kitchen.

They wouldn’t have had to act. Danny DeVito is already a perfect specimen of a man.

So now I’m picturing a scene with Gollum kissing Aragorn, and I really wish I wasn’t.

Yes, absolutely. And when I get kudos for accomplishing something like that, I always have to fight myself to allow myself to feel like I’ve earned them and not go, “If I were smarter and not a complete fraud, I’d have solved it sooner.”

What I’ve learned is that if I solve it in a day, my brain will try to make me think half a day would have been better, and if I solve it in half a day, my brain will try to make me think four hours would have been better. Rinse and repeat.

Sometimes my brain will do everything it can to sabotage any feeling of accomplishment I might have. And I’ve had to learn how to say, “No, fuck you, brain… I did this, and I deserve to feel good about it.”

Imposter syndrome sucks, doesn’t it. I’ve been a professional software developer and engineer for more than two decades, and I still find myself worrying people will realize I have no idea what I’m talking about, even on topics where I absolutely know what I’m talking about.

Especially on topics where I absolutely know what I’m talking about.

The “make it” step is already happening. It just doesn’t feel like it, because there is no single moment the switch occurs, no time you can point to and say, “before that I was putting all my effort into presenting as a competent person, and after that I just was a competent person.” The mental effort to see yourself that way will always be there.

What changes is the degree of effort it takes, and that change is gradual.

Yes, without a doubt.

A few months ago, a new gym set up near where I live - like, five minutes walking distance away.

We took a tour of it, and saw that it’s a really nice facility. The ventilation and spacing of equipment is good (for avoiding disease), the variety of equipment is good, and it just seems like the ideal gym.

So my family and I thought, “Why not? Let’s get a family membership.” Now I head down there most mornings, spend an hour or so exercising, and then walk back, sometimes with coffee from a nice nearby cafe in hand.

I hadn’t noticed the slow decline in how I felt about my body and my life. I’ve always been a pretty fit guy, but the pandemic made me more sedentary than usual, and it was slowly affecting my self-esteem and mental health.

And I didn’t realize that until the effects of working out regularly showed up and I started looking and feeling better again. It was a “boiled frog” situation.

That gym moving nearby might have saved my life long-term, because I don’t know how I would have gotten the impetus to go to a more distant one otherwise.

It’s just been a few months, but I’ve already put on visible muscle and lowered noticeable belly fat substantially. And more importantly, I feel stronger than I have for several years. Like, lifting things is easier, carrying furniture is easier, just… moving is easier. I probably weigh more, because muscle is denser than fat, but I feel lighter.

It’s a good feeling. It’s clearing away a brain fog I didn’t know I had. My software work is improving, I’m writing again, and I’m re-engaging with hobbies and interests that had fallen by the wayside.

If you can’t or don’t want to get a gym membership, learn some body weight exercises, find a park you can jog at… Do something physical every day. Your brain and body are one system, and keeping all of it tuned and maintained is important for mental health.

Weird. I’m on Arch as well, and seeing nothing remotely like what you’re experiencing. It’s been buttery-smooth for me.