Universities have fight songs, colors, turf, hierarchical structures. They call their grunts students. They call the leader the president. The head honchos who report to the leader are the vice presidents and deans. Members can be in their own subsections they call Greek, and many of them have historically had initiation rituals.

In conclusion, universities are just state-sponsored, state-sanctioned gangs.

What’s your alma mater, cuh?

/s. Obviously.

I used to have Dawn of Souls long ago. I figured out early on that four unarmed monks was the way to go. If you need a little support, maybe a white mage. But for the most part, you’ll breeze through it just punching everything til it dies to death.

I did once. The quarter fell onto some solder points and short circuited a bunch of stuff. Fried the whole machine. This was back in the early 90s, of course, when a typical computer cost as much as a nice used car and maybe four people in the county had one, much less knew how to fix one. Some original joke about getting beaten with jumper cables. Sometimes the hard lessons are the ones that stick with you most because as I got older, I learned how to solder and perform board level repairs. It’s an insanely useful skill.

Oh, and don’t forget. It didn’t snow anywhere this year, and the coastal cities are beginning to flood. Not that it’s something you have to worry about since you live inland, but it would sure be nice if it wasn’t 127°F outside or if it’d just rain a little for the first time since maybe February.

Mom I got a hair in my mouth.

Yeah, that’s kinda the point.

I had boots, random, fork, pangs, pulse, and sax

Thank you for the extra bits. I might have been bored if there was only just a meme here, but because of the game footage, body cam video, and Family Guy clip, I was thoroughly entertained the whole time.

I might also have missed the punchline, but you highlighted it in such a way as to be compatible with my rotted brain.

Excellent shitpost.

Dolly’s version is a bunch of strong emotions you’re just barely managing to hold back.

Whitney’s version is a bunch of strong emotions you’re absolutely letting out.

Both are incredible and deserved their spots at the top of the charts.

I don’t have a Thinkpad myself. I do have a 10 year old Acer Aspire V3-372T. It’s a perfectly cromulent laptop. I use it to listen to podcasts and YouTube. I check my emails sometimes. I check weather.gov. I have a copy of my music library. I write my personal budgets. It has a touchscreen that I never use. I get around just fine.

One day, I’ll either get a Thinkpad or a Framework.

I’ve got nothing but love for the Mazda NB Miata and the MX-6. The Subaru SVX was also dope.

Nissan is easy to glaze because the S13 is probably the most sought out neoclassic car that isn’t the GT-R or Supra, but so much of their other stuff from the time gets overlooked. Like the Sentra SE-R or the Pulsar. The S-Cargo is my favorite because the joke is so layered. It’s a cargo van that looks like a snail, and its name is pronounced escargot.

It’s so cute, and I love it.

I went straight from Ubuntu to Debian. It still took me a little bit to go from GNOME to KDE. I would not recommend new Linux users go straight to Debian from their first distro, but I’d been using Ubuntu on and off again since 2012 so when I decided to leave Windows in 2024, I also decided to leave Ubuntu for good and went straight to Debian. The idea that I set it and forget it and never have to worry about it was (and is) so appealing to me.

I’ve considered running Slack on my laptop, though.

My man.

Most of my listening is also done over headphones, and I admit that my library is all in mp3 format. As much as I love optical media, it’s because I can rip my discs to my machine in whatever quality and format I want, then never have to handle them again unless all my copies are deleted. This preserves the discs.

I have a portable CD player from, and I use the term portalble liberally because while it can accept six AA batteries for a power source, it also has no anti-skip because it was made in 1991.

But what I love about this thing is how much of an occasion it makes the listening experience. Handling the discs carefully so as not to smudge or scratch them. Waiting for it to spin up and start playing. And just sitting there and intentionally listening to it. It’s kind of magical. Even more so with a decent set of cans and a dark room.

Mazda3 is an excellent car to have. My brother used to have an '08 Mazda3 hatch until it was totaled by a drunk driver. He wasn’t in the car. It was parked on the side of the road. Really cool car, and the 2.3 is probably one of the most underrated engines out there. They really pack a punch.

I don’t necessarily have a thing against automatics. My beef is more with the fact that manuals aren’t really an option anymore. I said in another comment that my real cars are a '97 Honda Prelude and a '12 Civic. I did daily the Prelude for six months when the starter died in my Civic, but the Prelude is really only a weekend car because it does maybe 25 mpg and takes premium fuel. My Civic does 40 without trying and E10 costs about $1.40 less per gallon where I am. My Civic is an auto, and I’m fine with it. Automatic just feels boring to me. I really enjoy having something to do with all four limbs at once.

If I ever feel like dropping money on a newer car, I’ve always loved the idea of a manual midsize sedan. I know the Accord could be had with a six speed manual all the way until like 2021, which is bonkers to me since Toyota stopped making the manual Camry in 2006. I think my only other option in this very specific segment is a BMW 3-series, and I just can’t picture myself in a Bimmer.

Anything brakes is always so stressful. If anything else fails, you can probably still get the 3,000 pound metal death box to stop. But if your BRAKES fail? Yeah, just pull the hand brake and try not to cry too much. I basically rebuilt the rear brakes on my Civic last month. It has 147,000 miles on it and was running on original brake shoes. And because I’d waited until they started grinding, the drums couldn’t be resurfaced, either. So I went all in and got new hardware and cylinders, too. I’d so much rather do disc brakes than drum brakes. Those springs are such a pain, and Honda made them really weird. Not to mention my hammer was entirely too small for the job of literally beating the brakes off the thing lol 2012 was the last year the Civic LX had drum brakes of any kind. I’m fine with drums. They really do last forever if you’re not a monster on the brake pedal. I’m just glad I won’t be doing brake shoes again for at least another 7-10 years.

My wife points out every new gray hair in my beard. One day, there will be so many new ones at once that she’ll have to stop counting. For now, it’s really cute. I love it.

Me too, friend. Generational leaps were so cool when I was a kid. Now that I’m in my thirties, I just see it all as a rent-a-spy.

At this point, even my printer is suspect. It stays unplugged until it’s needed.

But the phone? It’s a shame the telephone is always listening.

Carbon dioxide, how about that stuff? Man, I just can’t get enough of it!

My real car is a 97 Honda Prelude, and yes, it is a manual. When my 2012 Civic had a dead starter motor, that Prelude was my daily driver for six months until the weather cooled off enough to actually do the job.

The Prelude is definitely more of a project/weekend car. Every car guy knows you never project your daily, but I feel pretty comfy dailying my project lol

Fuck yeah, I do. Body wash comes in plastic bottles, and I love to reduce the plastic waste I make when I can. I also buy powdered laundry detergent.

I do have a mechanical Hamilton Khaki field watch. I love it. They’re not cheap, but it’s such a nice watch. My wife bought it for my for my 30th birthday because I’d been telling her for years that I’d wanted one. Given the expense, I only wear it for occasions like family get-togethers or dinner dates.

So this is my daily driver.

Been ticking for over 10 years without issue now. I just replaced the band because the old leather band did finally give up the ghost. Other than that, this has also been a great watch.

Gonna have to check these out. Unfortunately for my wife, now I have a reason to go to the hardware store lol

I’ve also got a PSP. Those things will never not be cool.

Here’s my actual wallet.

I bought it for $25 in 2009 and have carried it every day since. The fabric in the cash pocket has separated from the leather and the plastic window for my photo ID is missing. My wife told me I should buy a new one since this one’s so worn. I said, “Why? It still works perfectly.” Not a knock against her. We just have different ideas about the meaning of durability.