'all age gaps problematic' people are so wild. "what can a 19 year old and a 28 year even have in common??? what do they talk about??" BITCH THEIR HOBBIES???????

Do You Not Have Hobbies Or Interests

being age appropriate??? to a NINETEEN YEAR OLD?????????

like yeah i do personally think it's weird to date a 19yr old as a 28yr old but let's not act like that 9 year age difference makes them different species that can't even interact even as friends. like can we be normal. i promise you can talk to younger people.

I think their point is, though, that the lives of a 19 year old and a 28 to 30 year old are way different, because one could be in college and is fresh out of highschool, lending to their naivety, while the 30 year old (I like round numbers better) has a lot more experience in life, so it's hard to relate insofar as events happening to them.

i don't like generalizing like that, because people's lives can all take very different paths. not everyone goes to college. a 19 year old could be in the army. they could be getting married, they could be getting divorced, they could be doing anything. a 28 year old could be in college and living with their parents, while a 19 year old could at the same time be struggling to pay rent and being the legal guardian to a child. they could be in the same college class, even. life experience isn't linear, and it does the human experience a disservice to pretend everyone walks the same paths.

and relating is not all there is to human connection! i can't relate to the experiences and life of an olympic sports player, but that doesn't mean we can't connect on any level.

Over half of college students in the U.S. are older than 25. I don't know about other countries, but, like. The notion that "college" means "A life stage that happens at ages 18-23, which is basically an extended form of childhood, during which a person has no meaningful adult responsibilities, does not do their own self-care tasks, has never had a job (or at least not a 'real,' 'serious,' 'adult' job), and certainly would not ever even think about anything like having serious relationships or children of their own" is such an incredibly... astonishingly... narrow view.

Besides hobbies, some things that a 28 year old and a 19 year old might have in common to talk about include:

• Their babies. I've mentioned before that my mom's longtime best friend is someone she met when they were 44 and 18, respectively, and mothers of kids aged 3 and 1, respectively.
• The college class that they're both taking together.
• Their job that they both do. (So many people in the notes are talking about the older person being "more advanced in their career" and, uhhh, are you not only upper-middle-class, but also a time traveler from the '90s? What is this strange "People get regular promotions based on seniority and can reasonably be assumed to be in a higher professional position than they were 10 years ago" alchemy you reference?

I'm 40; my closest friends are 19 and 52. In both cases we have very strong commonalities despite being from different generations, and our points of differing life experience (whether related to our ages or not) simply bring enrichment to each other.

Edit: and if the "oh this is ok for friendship but not dating" crowd could grow up, that'd be fabulous.

I've had a fling with someone twice my age (I was 25) and it was pleasant, safe, and not remotely an issue.

My late girlfriend was half my age and we bonded over shared experiences that my closer-in-age exes couldn't even process, much less relate to.

Most age gap discourse is just ageism, infantilizing the younger party and painting the older party as a predator, and somehow at the same time immature; but this is not the innocent immaturity of a child in their early 20s (sic), and is instead the wicked, not-right-in-the-head immaturity of someone in their late 20s or older. It's nothing but just pasting ageist tropes onto people.

Aside from the moralizing pearl-clutching...

I think a lot of people in the notes are just keen to shout from the rooftops about how much more mature they are than people a mere few years younger than them.

Tones of:

ALT

Love the quote from @hyperlexichypatia “…an incredibly, astonishingly narrow view.”

Thanks for bringing this back to my attention so I can add on, to all the people in the notes saying things like:
"Casual friendship/fandom between a 19 year old and a 28 year old is fine, it's not like the Bad Kind of relationship where they share emotional intimacy and talk about their problems!"
and
"It can be okay because maybe the 19 year old is working and paying rent and living independently; you can't just assume they're sheltered and live with their parents"--

Let me just say from the bottom of my heart: a 28 year old (or older! a 50 year old! a 90 year old!) sharing close, emotional intimacy including sharing their deepest feelings and problems, with a 19 year old who lives with their parents, has lived a relatively tame and sheltered life, and seems "young for their age" is still absolutely fucking okay.

🐁⚡🥞🍰🍓😋

shamisen and reed flute

so, that new trailer, huh? i can't wait to go to mipha court and open my phone to hear a 2-hour-long recording of Sidon ugly crying, dated on a random Tuesday at 2:50 am

Astarion drank the blood of some people, but the people were on drugs, and now he's a wizard

ok some more before I go to bed

I need need him looking at me like this

had the camera clip through him a little to see some hair and the full eyeliner

I'd just like to clarify some things about Senator Cory Booker's marathon Senate speech in protest of the present administration and everything they are doing to the American people.

Senator Booker was NOT allowed to sit down, eat, or use the bathroom during his speech. Sitting or leaving the room to use the bathroom would be considered yielding the floor. Eating would have interfered with his speaking and the person who has the senate floor must continue to speak, except when listening to questions that they will then answer.

He only took occasional sips of water.

The person who previously held the record for longest speech on the Senate floor did have bathroom breaks and also did things like read from the encyclopedia.

Senator Booker did not do that. His speech was to point out the damage that this administration is doing and he stayed on that subject.

Senator Booker's speech did reach many people. It wasn't a silly stunt that was done so that he could take the record for longest speech. He wanted to show the country that democrats will do something to bring attention to the problems we are facing. That democrats are listening to them.

Senator Cory Booker spoke for 25 hours and 4 minutes to "make good trouble."

also like, a Black man breaking Strom Thurmond's record is absolutely *chef's kiss*

for those who are too young to know about Strom, he was literally a white supremacist

He trained himself to give this speech by practicing and then implementing limits on food and water intake leading up to this. He cut out food for days, then cut out water the day before.

He then went to do an appearance on Maddow after yielding.

Quick! The first OC you think of is dropped in the world of the last movie/show you watched. How are they faring?

Today NJ Transit did better than the actual US federal government:

ALT

This is their new autism acceptance locomotive wrap, with the rainbow infinity symbol and the word 'acceptance' instead of 'awareness.' NJT literally outdid the federal government, which has gone back to 'awareness' because they don't want us to exist.

I got this photo from NJ Transit's Facebook page, which is here. There are buses, too! Check 'em out! I'll definitely be on the hunt for this locomotive; it's been a while since I've done some proper trainspotting but I'm going to stake her out and get some good photos. I'm looking forward to the hunt!

Anyway, just thought you all should know that a commuter railroad is better at this than a lot of major corporations and the actual American government, so there you go.

it's called the Switch 2 because you Switch 2 a cheaper hobby

wow that is a super fair price damn