HamCookie's recent activity

  1. Comment on You feel like shit in ~health.mental

    HamCookie
    Link
    Thanks for sharing this -- I appreciate the interactive flowchart-ness of this as well, as sometimes the best I can do is identifying, "I don't feel great but I'm not sure what I need to fix it"....

    Thanks for sharing this -- I appreciate the interactive flowchart-ness of this as well, as sometimes the best I can do is identifying, "I don't feel great but I'm not sure what I need to fix it". I appreciate the non-judgmental suggestions of things to try as well; sometimes when I feel physically "not great" it bleeds over into mentally not feeling great and I have that tendency to be harsh with myself (still a learning process in therapy).

    4 votes

  2. Comment on If you had up to $55k to purchase an electric vehicle (new/used) with a range of a least 250 miles, what would you buy? in ~transport

    HamCookie
    Link
    We are looking at purchasing a used HI5 (2022 or 2023 model). We can't justify the "just drove off the lot and now it's depreciated" factor of a 2024 model purchase. Doing a test drive in the SEL...

    We are looking at purchasing a used HI5 (2022 or 2023 model). We can't justify the "just drove off the lot and now it's depreciated" factor of a 2024 model purchase. Doing a test drive in the SEL was amazing and we're looking at the Limited.

    Originally we were considering Tesla and Kia; however the QC issues as well as Musk's shenanigans (to put it mildly) have turned me completely off from ever owning anything he touches.

  3. Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk

    HamCookie
    Link Parent
    Thank you so much! We have so much to learn, do, and prepare for, but we couldn't be happier. :)

    Thank you so much! We have so much to learn, do, and prepare for, but we couldn't be happier. :)

    1 vote

  4. Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk

    HamCookie
    Link
    My spouse and I found out that we're expecting our first child this week! :') We're so excited (obviously a little bit nervous too haha) but we're thrilled and just hope that Baby knows how much...

    My spouse and I found out that we're expecting our first child this week! :') We're so excited (obviously a little bit nervous too haha) but we're thrilled and just hope that Baby knows how much it's loved and wanted.

    5 votes

  5. Are you currently learning a new language? Are there any languages that are on your wishlist to learn?

    ~humanities.languages Ask (survey)
    I grew up semi-bilingual (English as my native language, Spanish spoken at least once a day at home), and went on to study Spanish as my language of choice in middle and high school. Despite this,...

    I grew up semi-bilingual (English as my native language, Spanish spoken at least once a day at home), and went on to study Spanish as my language of choice in middle and high school. Despite this, I would still like to further my Spanish language skills/knowledge with some self-paced coursework, as the Spanish I grew up hearing in the house was much more colloquial and then the Spanish I studied in school was the "from Spain" Spanish, rather than the Central American Spanish my family spoke. I grew up being better able to understand more than what I could speak or write myself.

    When I moved onto to college, I wanted to try studying a different language, so I chose French (bad idea; I could never really get the hang of it between the spelling challenges and the pronunciation being so different from the written word). I took one semester and passed just enough to get credit for the class but moved onto to German -- which was a little bit easier than French but more difficult than Spanish. Beginner classes in it were easy for me to learn, but I started to struggle when I got to upper-intermediate. Plus, I'm not always great at spelling in English, and French and German are not "speller-friendly" languages haha.

    Now as I approach my midlife, I am thoroughly enjoying my ASL for Beginners course through my local community college. I find it incredibly intuitive whenever I learn new signs ("oh, that makes sense, cool" when I see a new sign). My mother-in-law has known and taught ASL (as well as SEE) for over 20 years so she is very helpful with me practicing and being able to correct any small mistakes I make. I don't know anyone who is Deaf, but have had a few friends growing up who used hearing aids (I don't think they knew ASL).

    So what about you? Are you currently learning a new language? If so, what is it, how do you like it so far, and what led you to want to learn it? If not, are there any languages on your wishlist that you'd like to learn someday?

    For me, I wanted to learn ASL as a way to connect more deeply with my MIL in our relationship, as well as have some level of ability to sign with those who are Deaf/deaf. I also wanted to learn it because I wanted an alternative way to communicate with my spouse if we are at a noisy event/party/etc. without having to shout to be heard.

    41 votes

  6. Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk

    HamCookie
    Link Parent
    That sounds like a great way to capture the look/feel of the house that one last time before making preparations to sell it. I'm sorry to hear that your mother passed suddenly after that talk. I'm...

    That sounds like a great way to capture the look/feel of the house that one last time before making preparations to sell it. I'm sorry to hear that your mother passed suddenly after that talk. I'm wishing brighter days ahead for you through these life changes. <3

  7. Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk

    HamCookie
    Link Parent
    That looks pretty cool! Thank you for sharing the picture of it. What do you like to main as when playing DnD (or what kind of character are you currently playing in your campaign)? I currently...

    That looks pretty cool! Thank you for sharing the picture of it.

    What do you like to main as when playing DnD (or what kind of character are you currently playing in your campaign)? I currently main as a halfling druid, but during this current campaign our group plays, I've also played as minotaur fighter with dual swords for a brief stint (my druid was captured after being knocked unconscious, and another party member managed to escape back to the city and elected to go back to save the captured characters, so another groupmate and I came up with alternate characters to help aid her in the rescue mission). Playing DnD definitely helps/encourages me to be social in person. :)

    I don't really know anything about Warhammer or Battletech, except that I've heard of them before and they also use minis haha. I am exploring other TTRPGs to pick one I might like to try GMing for my first time.

    1 vote

  8. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    HamCookie
    Link Parent
    Thank you for the recommendations! I will check them out.

    Thank you for the recommendations! I will check them out.

  9. Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk

    HamCookie
    Link
    Lots of work stress as it's the end of H1 (first half of the year), so lots of final invoicing on projects and ramping up ordering and logistics for the next phases of projects coming in H2. I...

    Lots of work stress as it's the end of H1 (first half of the year), so lots of final invoicing on projects and ramping up ordering and logistics for the next phases of projects coming in H2. I also took on several projects new to me after a coworker's sudden departure, and it has temporarily pushed me out of my "sweet spot" of beneficial stress into "oh no what have I signed up for" level of stress.

    As one of the nuns said recently at Buddhist meditation, "Everything is impermanent."

    Looking forward to long holiday (USA) weekend of reading, gardening, and general house stuff as we make our (new-ish) home feel more like... well, "home".

  10. Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk

    HamCookie
    Link Parent
    I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your pet bird. :( And the transition of selling the family home I imagine has lots of mixed feelings as you move into the next chapter of that story.

    I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your pet bird. :( And the transition of selling the family home I imagine has lots of mixed feelings as you move into the next chapter of that story.

  11. Comment on What did you do this week (and weekend)? in ~talk

    HamCookie
    Link Parent
    LOL, I am about to embark on this poor financial decision. If my partner and I are not successful at getting pregnant this cycle, getting a custom primed mini from Hero Forge is on my "period...

    so I've made the poor financial decision to get into painting miniatures

    LOL, I am about to embark on this poor financial decision. If my partner and I are not successful at getting pregnant this cycle, getting a custom primed mini from Hero Forge is on my "period prize" list. That way no matter what the result of the pregnancy test is, I will have something exciting to look forward to. :)

    What type of mini did you paint? / Is it going to be used for a campaign?

    I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the process! If you ever feel comfortable sharing, I would love to see a pic of the painted mini.

    1 vote

  12. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    HamCookie
    Link Parent
    Ooh her memoir has been on my to-read list for quite some time. Perhaps once I finish with my current reads, I will pick it up and give it a read. How are you enjoying it thus far?

    Ooh her memoir has been on my to-read list for quite some time. Perhaps once I finish with my current reads, I will pick it up and give it a read. How are you enjoying it thus far?

    1 vote

  13. Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books

    HamCookie
    Link
    I am currently reading "The Politics of Hunger: The Allied Blockade of Germany, 1915 - 1919" by C. Paul Vincent. One of my churchmates lent it to me after we got into a discussion about the World...

    I am currently reading "The Politics of Hunger: The Allied Blockade of Germany, 1915 - 1919" by C. Paul Vincent. One of my churchmates lent it to me after we got into a discussion about the World Wars and military/political history. This book fits a special interest of mine (early to mid-20th century German and American history) so I am excited to read it.

    I also have four magazines in the rotation as well: NatGeo's Memory issue, Psychology Now Vol. 4, Scientific American (cover story about parrots and birds), and Popular Science's Memory issue (the brain seems to be a hot topic lately? I'm down with that).

    1 vote

  14. Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music

    HamCookie
    Link
    Reliving my youth by listening mostly to Evanescence this week, with a little bit of songs from my weekly zumba class thrown in because they've become earworms. "Con Ganas" (bachata fusion) "Mano...

    Reliving my youth by listening mostly to Evanescence this week, with a little bit of songs from my weekly zumba class thrown in because they've become earworms.

    "Con Ganas" (bachata fusion)
    "Mano Clap Clap" (merengue)
    "Bombon" (reggaeton)

    1 vote

  15. Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music

    HamCookie
    Link Parent
    I used to listen to her songs often when I was taking French in college (only one semester; I wasn't very good at French haha). I still have a couple of her CDs in my big black zippered binder.

    I used to listen to her songs often when I was taking French in college (only one semester; I wasn't very good at French haha). I still have a couple of her CDs in my big black zippered binder.

  16. Comment on This feels dumb to ask, but how do you get your news? in ~news

    HamCookie
    Link Parent
    THANK YOU. This is what I want in information-based websites. Don't track me, analyze me, whatnot, just give me the info and don't be a nuisance. I miss coming across weird HTML-focused websites...

    The sites have no trackers, no cookies, and a single Javascript for changing the colors.

    THANK YOU. This is what I want in information-based websites. Don't track me, analyze me, whatnot, just give me the info and don't be a nuisance. I miss coming across weird HTML-focused websites in Ye Old Web hosted on Angelfire or Geocities. Thank you so much for putting this together and sharing it with us.

    5 votes

  17. Comment on My mother-in-law wrote a book, and it's pretty good IMO in ~books

    HamCookie
    Link Parent
    Congratulations on your mother for publishing her book! I'm sure it took a lot of time and effort to craft, and you are lovely to proof it for her and pass it along to your connections to help...

    Congratulations on your mother for publishing her book! I'm sure it took a lot of time and effort to craft, and you are lovely to proof it for her and pass it along to your connections to help make this happen. :)

    Cowboys/Westerns and country is not really my cup of tea with genres (I'm a nonfiction primarily type of reader), but I will squirrel this away for any of my friends or anyone I come across who I think might fancy reading this.

    Wishing your mother all the best with her writing endeavors! :)

    5 votes

  18. Comment on It's July 1st, my third party app still works to visit Reddit? in ~tech

    HamCookie
    Link
    I use the Slide app, which technically was marked abandonware last year I believe, but as of this morning it still worked for me. Granted, since mid-June I've scrolled Reddit (via Slide) WAY less...

    I use the Slide app, which technically was marked abandonware last year I believe, but as of this morning it still worked for me.

    Granted, since mid-June I've scrolled Reddit (via Slide) WAY less than I used to, as my frontpage is just filled with "AITA" styles of posts and that's not what I used to use Reddit for (primarily my local city's subreddit, trying to conceive/parenting/pregnancy subs, news & politics, and the random "did you know" fun fact type of posts I used to see on my frontpage).

    I will probably only use it on the computer going forward -- but I saved a LOT of old threads to my guest account on Slide that I would like to sort through before I delete it.

    4 votes

  19. Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music

  20. Comment on GMs: What do you do when a player doesn't show up? in ~games.tabletop

    HamCookie
    Link Parent
    This is what we do as well (also not the GM, but married to the GM haha). We are a group of 4 who sometimes meet once a week and do the campaign, to meeting once a month just because adults have...

    This is what we do as well (also not the GM, but married to the GM haha). We are a group of 4 who sometimes meet once a week and do the campaign, to meeting once a month just because adults have lots of things going on in their lives sometimes. If someone last-minute can't or doesn't make it, we just hang out with the other player who did show up. Sometimes we will play a board game (even if all 4 of us are there, we will do a board game since my spouse will sometimes get GM burnout and playing a completely different game that they don't have to prepare for helps). It's been working well in the year+ we've been doing our (long!) campaign. :)