mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
That's one thing Reddit doesn't somehow grasp: They outsourced their brand experience a long time ago when they were late to building an app of their own. To me and many others, reddit definitely is reddit is fun. There's no putting that genie back in the bottle.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
I definitely miss Jerboa. But the past month has already brought so much chaos to my internet use. What's a little more?
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 0%
I'm on steroids to treat a gnarly poison ivy rash that spread across my body. The meds have been waking and keeping me up throughout the night. It's a bummer, and I'm tired, but it's also fine. I feel better than I did when I was drinking. I'm still parenting, working, exercising, and reading.
Grateful for life even when it's a little hard.
IWNDWYT.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
Thanks! And that is scary. It's definitely easy to forget how fragile this is if we don't care for it. Glad you're doing great now.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
The early weekend was crazy. It was such an excuse for me to obliterate the majority of my workweek because god knows I was worthless on Monday and part of Tuesday. Did better late Tuesday, crushed Wednesday, and then was down and out for Thursday and Friday.
It didn't always happen like that. And toward the end, that was really rare. But damn do I remember when I was at my worst. The pain in my head as my alarm blared after a couple of hours of strained sleep. The horror of waking up. The immediate regret, the dread, the feeling that I'd trade anything to be anyone else.
No thanks. Life's better on this side. It wasn't easy to get here, and I still face days when I wonder whether this sober person is really me. Did I really make that change? Did I really set those boundaries? Am I really no longer a drinker, something that was core to my friendships, family relationships, and identity?
The answer is yes, so long as I don't take that next drink. IWNDWYT.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
Sure thing. Sounds like you really thought it through. I'm gonna borrow a page from your book during a slippery situation tomorrow. Thanks!
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
Lol it's seriously crazy how much less active this place felt a couple of weeks ago. I can't imagine what it's like to be someone who was here years ago.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
Happy Friday! IWNDWYT. But I will definitely eat pizza with you today.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 0%
Nice job. I know how hard that kind of situation can be.
I'm sorry you felt like an outsider. As someone whose family and friend groups is full of binge drinkers, I know that feeling well.
What works for me has always been leaving when I feel like it. I've also set boundaries with loved ones, which helped me prevent being in many -- but not all -- difficult situations. And my wife, kid, and I do a lot of fun, active stuff -- and more and more, people we know want in on that, which helps a ton.
Anyway, you're a champion. Way to go!
I'm reading a book called *Vacationland,* which tells the story of Colorado's high-country tourism and leisure-focused lifestyle industries. The book is filled with ads and propaganda designed to lure tourists, attract new residents, increase political influence, and ultimately strengthen the state's coffers through its (often manipulated) landscape. I don't always think of ads as propaganda, but *Vacationland* makes it clear that the effort to get people into the Rockies was a coordinated push that went well beyond the commercial hopes of any one person or organization. It was a network of boosters looking to transform the state. One result, according to the author, was a catalog of cliches many of us still use to describe the Colorado high country and many other wild places. Things like: sparkling streams stocked with trout, snow-capped mountains, lush alpine meadows, fragrant pine forests, and so on. Another result: People bought in. Colorado's tourism numbers skyrocketed, and its population growth soon followed. I'm skeptical that the PR and marketing efforts to promote Colorado's natural resources are responsible for most of this change. (The author notes that road building and other development were vital.) It seems kind of cynical, though, to attribute the state's popularity to human actions. It really is beautiful there, and visitors' connection to the land -- our experiences in the wild -- matter, too.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
This brings up a good question: Do we really want everyone we can get?
On one hand, it'd help flesh out fledgling communities and keep threads and feeds more active.
On the other hand, the more people who come here, the more likely we are to see lower-effort, lower-value, and even counterproductive content and comments.
There's probably some magic number, an adoption level where communities thrive but are not watered down. I have no idea what that is, though.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
Don't say, "I can't wait." It's OK to be excited for something but not to wish away all the moments between then and now. Each one is precious.
I picked that up a few years ago from a Buddhist book. It helped me with so many aspects of life.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
Thanks for sharing your experience. It's good to hear there wasn't a lot going on because, honestly, coming here from Reddit feels a bit like participating in some sort of digital gentrification.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
OP could get constipated by doing a bunch of opioids. Obviously not recommended.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
Great story. I relate to a lot of it, especially the realizations that: 1) My relationship with alcohol had taken a lot from me; and 2) Alcohol is incompatible with how I want to live my life.
There just isn't any joy in parenting, hiking, or writing if you're nursing a debilitating hangover.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
You're right. The fediverse is definitely in a better position to ward off the suck.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
Happy birthday!
I totally get what you mean. "Grab a drink" -- yeah right.
Hoping you can find a better and more fulfilling way to treat yourself today.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
Wow! That's awesome. Keep it going! And IWNDWYT.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
By now, we've all been around the internet long enough to know that good things never last. That's really life: Everything's impermanent. Lemmy will probably suck someday, as will much of the fediverse. But I'm grateful it's good right now and for the foreseeable future.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
Never used it, but I could see it being nice. I'll never really get used to carrying out used toilet paper in a Ziploc bag. Just feels kinda gross and weird. But the time in the wilderness is always worth the price of admission.
mcpheeandme 1y ago • 100%
I feel you completely. I spend most of my free time with my family, hiking or paddling, or reading books. It's nice to have places online to burn some time, but I'd sooner give it up than be forced into some corporate playground. The past 15-20 years have shown that it just doesn't work.
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/d6efdd85-0980-468a-a8ba-4ed3e0232a36.jpeg)
Did a couple of days of hiking with my buddy last month. As a flatlander, I was so grateful for the chance to spend some time in the Rockies. ![](https://lemm.ee/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Flemmy.world%2Fpictrs%2Fimage%2Fd3a9a0e7-5204-4a52-8678-7bb95c9b84b5.jpeg)
The post about the melanistic groundhog promoted me to share this photo. I had no idea what piebaldism was or how rare it was to see a deer with it. I'm not sure if the stats online are correct, but they suggest about 2 percent of whitetail deer have it. Again, not sure if this is accurate, but I read somewhere that indigenous groups believed piebald deer were signs that a big change was coming. I just had my first kid before seeing this, so that definitely tracked. Anyway, really cool sighting. My wife spotted the same deer later that summer. We haven't seen any since. ![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/fad77eb0-232e-48de-8465-ce845d2369a9.jpeg)
Did an overnight trip in April, camping at what the state considers a wilderness site on the tea-colored Batsto River. The New Jersey Pine Barrens is the largest wilderness on the East Coast between Boston and D.C. It's a unique environment, with a lot of cool ecosystems. No virgin forest here, as industry had its way with the land and resources for centuries. This trip was something like 20 miles through Atlantic white cedar swamps and pitch pine forests. It might not dazzle like the west at first glance, but it's a place I love more than most. ![](https://lemm.ee/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Flemmy.world%2Fpictrs%2Fimage%2F23aa2e4e-11fe-4fe9-abb6-9c487fd4ad22.jpeg)
For me, it's a few things. 1. A way to burn time that doesn't feel like a digital sugar rush. 2. Support, camaraderie, and kindness, primarily from /r/stopdrinking. 3. Niche stuff, like ideas for local hiking and backpacking trips, propaganda posters, and kayaking info.
I appreciate fiction, but I almost always read nonfiction. It's probably because I typically choose the books on topics I'm interested in, and I want to learn about them. But I also love the way a great nonfiction writer can weave a narrative so strong that it's just as much literature as it is journalism. Some of my favorite examples of nonfiction that do this well: *Soul Full of Coal Dust*, *Toms River*, *Desert Solitaire* (Abbey can be problematic, though, so be warned), *The Pine Barrens,* *This Land,* and on and on. I guess I'm kinda stuck in the environment/nature section these days!
I didn't post much on Reddit over the last few years, but I figure I ought to contribute to the communities I want to see thrive. My friend and I took our kayaks out last week and saw a bunch of beautiful sights, including egrets and great blue herons. Here's a landscape shot. ![](https://lemm.ee/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Flemmy.world%2Fpictrs%2Fimage%2F7bcad4ef-62bd-4907-84c5-5390001cb657.jpeg)