Hiya! I remember u. Do u still talk to lilies?

Where are you, Yeti?

Hope all is okay

Your my 2nd best friend

Thank you

I have been trying harder to come on here and do so at least a few times a week. I’ve seen an increase in activity on the site, which is nice :) I meant to respond to your shout yesterday, but I saw it at work and the day just became entirely too hectic for my liking.

That is fantastic! I’ve been searching for jobs as well, so the fact that you obtained a position, albeit short term, is a great accomplishment! And now you have an in!

P take a break from this site for various reasons. My reason, honestly, was depression. But I have been feeling a bit better lately. Maybe you can reach out to your friend by other means like email or social media?

Boo. I know we email now but I thought itd be funny to troll you.
Make you log in and see I messaged you cause you havent in 3 and a half weeks

Hey Yeti! I haven’t been on in AGES!!! Things are good, just crazy busy with work. How are you?

just peachy, i'll survive, and the name looks famaliar but i can't remember if i liked you or not to be honest lol sorry

I'm pessimistic, I suppose. But I have TONS of hope. My life theory is to plan for the worst and hope for/strive for the best.

Sounds like you live in an area that is pretty safe from natural disasters.

Yeah, I try to tell them about the strain of the sports. My daughter's ankles and feet are always injured. My oldest son damaged his foot/ankle pretty badly in soccer. I told him that he will feel those injuries later. I skied ve ry frequently from the time I was 9 or 10 until I was 32. I would come off the slopes with my knees aching...and ignore it. In my late 30's, I had my first knee surgery. 2nd one is upcoming...

Youngest wants to be a banker to make a lot of money so that he can have a big house so that I can come live with him when I'm old <3. He'll change his mind in his teen years :)

It was tragic to work that job. I think about many of the cases to this day. And there are a few victims/children who I "follow" in a sense that I know people who know them and feel compelled to ask about them often.

Math and programming are great things to be talented in :) The most important place to make a difference IS your own small circle.

Victims stay with their abusers often. They CAUSED some of the fighting...of course in training, we learned that a woman (typical vic) would nudge the violence out of their SO so that they could get it over with. IDK. Also, in the judicial system, I saw the SYSTEM fail. Many victims were underserved. Many were catered to. And, the worst of all is that I saw many GUILTY PEOPLE who were acquitted and who walked free. And I saw at least one person who was imprisoned and who was not...as guilty as charged. Maybe not innocent of everything, but not guilty of most of the most serious charges. The system is sort of broken.

Another "victim" had an affair. When her husb came home, she gloated about it and laughed in his face, etc. He slapped her. He went to jail. Not really fair, imo. What's a man (or woman) to do in that moment? I don't condone violence, but...he spent years in prison for that.

I don't like commemmorating my bdays either :)

But...the alternative to getting older...is NOT. And one of the girls who was in my cohort for my master's degree just passed away a few days ago. She was only 36. So, even though I don't wanna be the "old woman" I'm becoming, I'm glad I'm alive :)

Yeah, I'm hoping to beat the stagnation and/or loss with real estate. I think it will be okay...but nobody has a crystal ball. I also have investments in various other avenues, but not a lot...

Natural disasters rarely affect this area of the nation. There was a tornado five miles from us that leveled a neighborhood in 2009. But that was relatively rare, I think. We have hail damage here, and that's about the extent of it. I have had broken windows from hail damage, and roofs don't last their touted "30 years..." but insurance HELPS pay for a roof replacement if incurred from hail damage.

I think many insurance companies leave people out in the cold during some storms. I've heard such stories, anyway.

I have a son who is 17. He wants to be a nurse. Or a professional soccer player. But he broke his foot in a game a week ago, so he's out for the rest of the season...

My daughter just turned 16 on 9/30. She wants to dance professionally and/or travel the world

My next son is 13. He doesn't know what he wants to be yet.

My 6 year old son wants to be a "banker, so he can get millions of dollars."

I've heard that about the certain types of wealthy bankers who control it all....

When I worked as a vic advocate and a diversion officer, I saw the sad instance of families who were involved in bad situations....and it was their kids who were usually in the diversion program. Not always, but most families who had violence in the home had kids on diversion.

One boy I had...he was maybe 14. His dad had been in prison for beating mom since he was a baby. His dad was just about to be released from prison. The kid would come to my office and cry; did not want dad to come home. After dad came home, some of the local cops came and reported to me that they picked the kid up walking the streets at night and when they took him home, he couldn't get in the house because the door was barred with furniture. When they went in through the garage, a whole slew of undesirables were doing crack, having ***sex, etc. Less than 6 months after dad got out of prison, the boy was found dead on the side of the road on the way out of town. He'd drunk himself into alcohol poisoning/aspiration of vomit/etc. Alone. Soooo sad

Another kid I had was driving drunk and went off the road and killed herself.

List goes on and on and on....

I saw some really bad stuff when I had that job. People in horrible conditions.

Many of the youth WANTED redemption, as did their parents. Some of them were able to achieve that; some weren't. Biggest determining factor was parents being involved. Or sometimes, it really seemed like I could connect to the kids and help them get going in life. I might just think highly of myself, but of all the things I've done in my life, I think that the most noble, for lack of a better word, was the ability I had to influence some of those kids into better lives.

I would get kids' grades. When they were doing at least average in school, I would call mom or dad in with kid for a meeting and would make it a requirement that they spend a day together as part of their contract. I explained that grades were very important, but that the relationships that they built were more important. Many parents did not want to do it.

And, a very interesting fact: I had cookies and/or snacks for the kids when they would check in with me. 99% of the girls would NOT eat. Delving further, I discovered that ALL of these girls had body image issues. I worked with kids between ages 10-17, and that is a sad, sad thing. I did the job for 7 years, and out of all the kids I saw, ONE GIRL did not have body image issues.

As far as the victim advocate part of the job...I'm sort of mixed about that one. I think it's a very complex thing and hard to get into. But it might not be all bad to have victims lean on parents and family for support in lieu of the court system. The vic part of the job is a really, really complicated situation and very few of the cases were black and white. There were so many gray areas....ugh.

Did you do anything special for your bday? How old are you now? I hope your day was special :)

First off...Happy Birthday!

I'm hoping that my old age income is secured in the same way. We have 4 rental properties; and the house we are in now will also be one, as we move to another house. The difference is...our houses get MORE pricey with each move. But...the market is also steadily climbing upward, so with each house, renters pay the mortgage/taxes/insurance...we gain equity in something that is increasing in value, so...hopefully it works out in the end

Yep, the houses here are built of wood. With a concrete foundation. In my hometown, the old houses built in the early to mid 1900's had "mudsill" foundations. It was wood and dirt and straw placed directly on the ground and then the house was built on top of that. Many of those old houses are leaning and the floors "roll" when you walk on them.

But houses built after about 1960 seem to be pretty sturdy, with good foundations.

I have not had a lot of expense with the repair of wooden homes. I think it may be because I live in a dry climate. I do hear about the moister climates like Florida, having a lot more "rot."

I also do not think that there will be a pension system in the near future. The houses that we have now will hopefully make life easier for our kids. Because wages sure don't keep up with the cost of things in this area....

It does seem like it's a bit "hoaxy" for the housing where you are. But having a housing debt for a decade is nothing. Here, our houses have 30 year mortgages, typically...

I can teach any level; so it's not the teaching that is bothersome with the kids. I suppose it's as you say: there's always some friction when in constant contact...It's not really that bad, though. For the most part, they are great kids.

I worked with the victims during the trials that were going on. As a victim advocate.
In my job before kids, I was a Victim Advocate; and also a Juvenile Diversion Officer, which is sort of like a probation officer for kids, but it's IN LIEU OF court. If they completed the Juvenile Diversion requirements that I came up with, they would be able to avoid the court process and having a court record, etc. If they failed the JD program, I would refer the case to the District Attorney (whose office I worked in) and they would be charged with their crimes, officially

Hm... So it probably wasn't kind of me to obliterate all of them in one fell swoop, was it? 🤷‍♂️ 😬

Also told HelpBot to kick them out if he sees them again. Guess I'm not very accommodating. 😅

They must be looking for Jeb! That’s got to be it.

There’s a bit. I’m pretty certain I know what they all are though. I think there are only a couple of bots that have had us in their sites for a while. Might need to just extend that to stop users from being created as well. 🤷‍♂️

I hadn’t noticed. What do they get from making so many useless users? I’m assuming those are each tied to a spam post/reply that got shut down, but jeez.

How did you add yourself as a friend? 🤔

🎂 Happy early Birthday. 😄

Nope! That’s original with the site. 😉

That all aside, how do young people make it and have a place of their own with those sorts of real estate prices? Do the wages match the cost of living?

My own patience with the kids and the fact that I am not doing anything to secure my old age income by staying at home being a private tutor to my kids....

I think houses and real estate are going to go up in price here, but surely not that high. I would be happy if my house (built in 2017, 3500 square feet, 6 bedrooms) goes up to $600k sometime before it needs major renovations. (I will sell if it does go up that high rather quickly)

I have a BA in psychology; an AA in criminology; an AA in nursing (basically just an "aide" position); and an MA in education.

I worked with the victims of the Oklahoma Bombing of the Murrah Building in 1995; not long term.

Ohh. Very interesting.
That must actually have to do with the autocomplete when typing for an emoji or tag. Interesting. I’ll figure out a fix. 😊

Thanks for the report!

I added that minutes ago. 😂
Too quick for me!

Wasn’t aware of Chrome’s undo queue? I don’t see anything on mine. It will probably be better floating above the field rather than stretching and sitting inside, huh?

Also seems to struggle on mobile, but I ran out of free time. 😅

oh no nothing major. just usual life stuff lol.

Yes, full time job for several years. Sometimes I wonder if I should keep on doing it.

$500k is horrible for an apartment! I don't pay that much for a house with 3500 square feet and 6 bedrooms!

I got my master's degree 14 years after my bachelor's. And it took me 7 years to get my bachelor's since I just went PT and worked FT....

Well seasoned :) That's a good way to put it, I suppose... :)

glad you're doing ok but why'd you panic in the first place? if it's about the job, it's still too early. don't worry yeti, you'll be fine. just believe in yourself. you're a very smart person, I'm sure you could handle pretty much any job!

Yes, I teach them....

No, buying a house isn't counterproductive. It will be a rental or we will sell when we move abroad. We currently own five houses.
Housing prices are going up, up, up. Yep, would still have a mortgage, but would hire a property manager while we are gone and would deal with incoming and outgoing money online.

I'm sorry it's hard to find employment. I think I'm going to run into that issue, too, when I'm ready to work. Nobody wants to hire an older woman...

Hopefully you are able to get a job soon

Why only completed studies to some extent?

oh yep same thing everywhere! don't worry much, you'll have the chance to prove yourself (this might mean you'll have to work at shitty jobs or with a shitty salary for a start.) but you'll be ok! I've got faith in you! fingers crossed!

But by being made from such basic materials, wouldn’t it be quite simple to reconstruct basically anywhere? 😏

Might need one for my office...

Things are good. Just seems to be a busy life lately....

Doing a lot of homeschool stuff for the kids; buying a house....even thinking about moving abroad in a couple years (or maybe 3...)lol

How have you been?

Hope all is good for you

nice! so, apart from that, how are things?

Thank you! 😄

😢 Was afraid they were just edited.

I was really hoping whoever built the original just strategically placed him in places for sneaky shots. 😄 I think I purposely didn't look too closely at the images in case I discovered that.

Do you know the story about the HelpBot sitings you've got on your profile? It's clearly the same, so I'm curious who made that, and why they've taken pictures of it in various places, apparently spreading the images thinly so they're hard to find. 😄

hey! how are you Yeti?

Reminds me of how people used to use privnote way, way way back. Nice that it's an integrated feature.

Hello I see lots of familiar avatars and names here. :)

Hey at least she's not a starving artist like most. She got a job as an art teacher that actually sounds like fun. I think art and music were the only classes I liked in school!

Thanks man..

I’m pretty well know for burying an Easter egg or two around. Been thinking about doing some really interesting ones. 😉

Very nice! Except as of now, we don’t have any asynchronous loads. 🤔

Although I plan to start doing the replies as a post-load to help with the bigger posts.

Hi, pardon the very late reply -- had this site lost among multiple other open tabs!

Nothing really specific/helpful diagnosis-wise. Iron, vitamins, and sleep have been making things better, though! As for checkups, been getting help from a dietitian and physician. Dysphagia less of an issue at the moment, which is good!

Thanks for asking -- kind of helps me review the positives.

Let's be honest- it could use some work either way. 😉

Just kicked the archives. Sorry. Totally forgot yesterday. 😄

He does both. Full delete if it’s obviously spam. Other moderation. Those posts are somehow slipping through.
I think the spam is evolving. They post so much I think they are trying different combinations to bypass the filters.

Archive goes down often. Takes a lot from the server to run it so I usually let it stay down for a bit. I’ll kick start it again. 😊

Thanks for grabbing those. 😊

Need to upgrade HelpBot’s spam detection a bit, it seems.