Honestly, as a former line cook, I would LOVE to have a steady salary job for two years without having to work in a hot and sweaty kitchen all day for 8-12+ hours. A job like this would be gravy for any chefs not too pretentious to "sell out."

Fair point. But I think this book is kinda tricky in that regard, since pretty much every big reveal is given away but with its importance downplayed. Strictly speaking, there aren't any huge twists in the style of Fight Club or The Prestige, but nevertheless the book manages a couple really good surprise kicks in the teeth.

It gets mentioned when they meet up with the people from the school. They mention that Hailsham was an experiment to try a gentler way but that the country had moved on and went with a “different approach.” I don’t think they came right out and described the horrors of it (because like everything in that book it was just alluded to in gentle language), but my imagination had no trouble putting a disturbing picture together.

First off, it was all a slow burn. It was all implied, but with that British "Stiff upper lip" where they never acknowledged how fucked their situation was. It was all right there from the start, but easy to forget during all their chats about art and pencil cases and boys.

But to me the real twist was that these kids were the exceptions, ones allowed to lead idyllic if short lives up to the point where they went in for donations. Maybe 10% of all clones were like the and the rest were in factory farm conditions closer to the horror of cloned organ "donations" that would be the "norm." For everyone who had a chance to be a model for a gentler way of getting cloned organs, there were hundreds in unspeakable conditions, harvested at the first point where they would be viable doners. That was the part that kicked my ass emotionally.

That's not an issue of speed, but of FOMO. Spend less time looking for new books to read and it'll die down a little (but never fully go away)

Is that on android? I’m looking for it on iPhone and I don’t see it

I've been working on my PC too much. I was trying to think about why platinum was good for hard drives and that 1 TB isn't all that impressive storage anymore.

Congratulations! You have successfully unraveled the metaphor. You may now return to your unexamined life and change nothing!

We are always changing. You can definitely be in a place where you're worse than you were before. And that realization can hit like a ton of bricks. But that realization is also the first step to improving yourself. So my answer would be to take a look at your life, figure out how to improve it, and then start doing it

Love Bob's Burgers and The Simpsons. I've also been watching a lot of older kids' animation like She-Ra and Kipo and loving those as well. I'll have to check out Close Enough. Thanks!

Yeah, I get that for sure. But I will say, they at least built up to that moment. Some of the shows I tried watching would be happy just chanting peepee poopoo for no reason. It's not a definitive recommendation, but it least has one foot in the "adult animation shows for actual grown ups," which is more than what I can say for a lot of the others I've tried.

Pretty much anything in the Family Guy umbrella, Paradise PD, Rick and Morty, and Solar Opposites

Thank you for sharing. I’ve been sober for over 10 years. Looking back, I’m not tempted even a little to backslide. Once I got used to sobriety and found better hobbies than the same books, tv shows and video games I’ve watched a hundred times before, it truly was a positive change with zero downsides.

Let me ask, are you doing anything now to make your future self proud? I was pretty miserable for a long time too, and it wasn't until I got out of that particular dark chapter and did some good for myself that I was able to be compassionate towards past me. I know it is a bit of a chicken and an egg problem, but if you can start working on your future self, it becomes easier to forgive your past self. At least that's how it worked for me.

Peace, friend

You too

Yes and no. I did have to delete the part of my personality that thought drinking a pint of whiskey every night was a good way to cope with reality, but I am able to do all the adult things while still loving cartoons and video games.

She looks like the reporter who shows up 15 minutes before the Men in Black and gives you a head start to keep your memories from getting erased

I wish I had a better answer for you. There’s no magic words or techniques that will somehow add an extra five hours to the day. If you’re stuck in a situation like you say, you can either do nothing and survive the best you can, or take that 5% you have left and make something with it. You don’t have as many choices as someone born rich does, but you still have choices. Look at the people working for peanuts at Starbucks but who are fighting to unionize. That’s a huge risk taken by people who need every Penny, but they’re still doing it. If they can fight for a better life, so can you.

Zen Pencils does a lot of comics based on famous quotes. I really like their take on that one Ira Glass quote

I don’t know if I have a great answer for you, but I like this comic adaptation of a Bill Watterson quote

Because Calvin is not on a path to success and the logical fallacy is obvious to the reader. They can point and laugh and then recognize a similar fallacy in their life and address it.

Trust is as only as good as the person who holds it. Your friends and family? They should trust you and you should do things to keep their trust. But your shitty boss who trusts you’ll show up to work every day even though your pay is shit? Who cares if they lose their trust in you?

What kind of glue would you use for this?