The First World Problem Thread...Voice Your Struggle

[SalsaWood]

In my experience avoiding the Sun does indeed slow the effects of aging. Mostly the character building ones.

 

[nightflameauto]

In my experience avoiding the Sun does indeed slow the effects of aging. Mostly the character building ones.

Who needs character? You never hear, "That guy's a character," and think positively of it. Fuck character. Be Hollywood. *DROPS MIC*

 

[MFB]

I was in Greece whole last week and my pale ass nordic skin burned even with 50 spf sunscreen on

Yup, I'm primarily Swede, and then German, and I won't bother buying anything less than 75 or maybe even 100SPF; I don't fuck around trying to get a tan, I'd just straight be protected and stay pale.

 

[thebeesknees22]

i'm currently recovering from yet another round of cryotherapy from having to get a precancer spot removed last friday. there's a low chance it could become cancerous, but gotta take care of it just in case. It sucks. It sucks big time, but at least I work from home so I can look like a meth addict in solitude for a couple of weeks. When I worked in the office and had to do this stuff it reaaaallly sucked.

I sometimes do photodynamic therapy but I had an area that it just wasn't working on so cryotherapy it was. PDT isn't bad for recovery time. It's actually pretty nice compared to the other treatments that leave you looking like a meth addict or a zombie. It's expensive though if you don't have good insurance, but it generally helps a lot overall.

anywho, for you super pale people like me, when the precancers come knocking.... there ya go ^^

I keep hoping that one day there'll be some in and out treatment that'll be like going to get a haircut or something lol ...someday...someday.

 

[Seabeast2000]

Spf10000

 

[Edika]

Bought some IRN BRU out of curiosity and I hate it. It's like really fake bubblegum flavor+ orange. Maybe I can pawn the rest of the 12 pack on people at work.

The only positive aspect of IRN BRU are the commercials. Nothing else!

 

[TheDandy]

The author of the book I'm reading doesn't use Oxford commas and it makes it spectacularly clunky to read for some reason.

 

[BlackMastodon]

The author of the book I'm reading doesn't use Oxford commas and it makes it spectacularly clunky to read for some reason.

Barbaric!

 

[p0ke]

Yup, I'm primarily Swede, and then German, and I won't bother buying anything less than 75 or maybe even 100SPF; I don't fuck around trying to get a tan, I'd just straight be protected and stay pale.

We don't even have anything beyond SPF50 here, and even the 50 ones are mostly for kids. I guess you'd have to buy it from a pharmacy for higher SPF's. I'm personally too lazy to even care what SPF mine is... The one I pack into my festival backpack is probably even expired like 2-3 years ago I guess that's better than nothing, I haven't burned recently. I'm also definitely not pale on a Finnish scale.

 

[p0ke]

I've had a set of (slightly more premium but still Chinese) TWS headphones since maybe 2020, and now the charging case seems to not charge properly anymore. And since the only way to turn the headphones on is to put them in the case and take them out, they just won't start unless the case is plugged in or has been charged very recently. The case also takes micro-USB, which I generally don't carry anymore, so if it's out of power I'm basically stranded.

So I ordered 3 different sets of super cheap TWS plugs And I was hoping that at least one of them would have USB-C, but no, they're all micro. One of the sets looks like airpods and sit pretty nicely in the ear, but they lack any kind of oomph. Probably OK for calls, but I wouldn't listen to music on them. The two others are typical headphones with the rubber things going deeper into the ear, so they sound better, but I don't like how they feel in the ear...

So now I guess my situation didn't really change Yeah, the charging cases for the headphones are now all brand new and should work better, but they don't solve the usb problem and they either don't sound good or feel good. So I guess I've just gotta go to my local hypermarket and buy the same JBL plugs my wife and stepson use... They're at least very happy with them. And they cost something like 39€, which is almost 10x more than these cheapo's, but not bad if they last for a while.

Update: I found a huge discount on some Marshall TWS headphones, so I ordered those. Let's see if they're the real deal and if they're any good...

 

[Moongrum]

very spoiled first world rant, idk where I want to live and my lease ends this month. I'd sign a lease for less than 6 months, but 6 months and 1 year are the only options. I definitely don't want to sign a 6 month lease now because moving during xmas/new years is balls.
I'm not sure if it's a policy of the complex, or state law, but since I'm not signing any contract and didn't say I'm moving out, it switches to a month to month lease, and I pay $200 more a month. That's not going to break the bank, but fuck man, it sucks paying so much rent in a place you don't really like. I guess the next step is to buy a house? Average house price here is $750k, and I only have like 13% in savings for a down payment, interest rates are high, too. Then owning a house when not owning a car sounds stupid. Plus buying a house is kind of like resigning to "guess I'm living here for good" which when I think about living anywhere it sounds unappealing (except uber rich places). If I think everywhere blows, then it's most likely me that's the problem

*phew* all that bitching aside, house owners, what made you decide on the house you bought? Curious to know what decision making goes into that.

 

[nightflameauto]

Ideas everywhere, and not anywhere near enough time to complete even one of them.

Dunno, man. Reality is feeling plenty plastic to me the last few weeks. Like, everything we do means absolutely nothing. But we gotta ride that treadmill to the grave, ya know. Because "that's what you do."

 

[crushingpetal]

Ideas everywhere, and not anywhere near enough time to complete even one of them.

Dunno, man. Reality is feeling plenty plastic to me the last few weeks. Like, everything we do means absolutely nothing. But we gotta ride that treadmill to the grave, ya know. Because "that's what you do."

I'd say, "everything we do means almost absolutely nothing". And that's the difference that makes all the difference. Look how sappy I am.

 

[BlackMastodon]

*phew* all that bitching aside, house owners, what made you decide on the house you bought? Curious to know what decision making goes into that.

I wanted my own space that I can renovate and improve at will, as well as a garage for a workshop. And I also have never had to share laundry facilities with anyone but my partner or family when I was younger, luckily, but you couldn't pay me to do that now. I disagree with you slightly that buying a house means that you're gonna live there forever; people buy and sell and move homes all the time, but I know that's a pretty privileged thing to say, especially with how the housing market is for the last 5 or so years. It's about building equity and having your money pay for something that you'll see returns on rather then signing cheques to landlords or holding companies.

 

[Moongrum]

I wanted my own space that I can renovate and improve at will, as well as a garage for a workshop. And I also have never had to share laundry facilities with anyone but my partner or family when I was younger, luckily, but you couldn't pay me to do that now. I disagree with you slightly that buying a house means that you're gonna live there forever; people buy and sell and move homes all the time, but I know that's a pretty privileged thing to say, especially with how the housing market is for the last 5 or so years. It's about building equity and having your money pay for something that you'll see returns on rather then signing cheques to landlords or holding companies.

I totally understand the benefits of owning a home, I'm interested in hearing how people ended up in the house they have now, since it's usually a balance of what one can afford/what one wants. Like money aside, do you choose a place close to work or a place that's rural, do you have to consider if the location is good for your industry's profession if you lose your job, etc. Sounds like your criteria was a workshop, fixer upper, and a laundry room? Or were you just comparing house vs apartment?
And you're right, a house isn't a death sentence. As someone who has no debt and likes the security of a large savings, the idea of getting a mortgage is a mental adjustment. Living in the USA, though, I'm not sure there's any greater investment/security for one's future than home ownership (maybe a fat 401k).

 

[thebeesknees22]

I want to own a house for one reason and one reason only. So I can belt out vocals like chris cornell and not have neighbors call the cops on me lol

If it weren't for that, I probably wouldn't care if I were in a house or in an apartment (so long as the sound isolation was relatively ok).

I need another year... maybe 2 if the CAD exchange rate doesn't come up to something more reasonable soon, before I can start seriously looking. But my career is also a nomadic one so buying a house or anything for that matter has a bit of risk to it.

Depending on what the word is come July, I may look at renting a house to test that out if my pay returns to normal.

 

[Demiurge]

Buying a house, my wife & I basically identified the "spec sheet" for what we wanted and then prioritized those specs.

For example, we had been living in my bachelor pad condo forever, which was ~900sqft, 2BR/1BA, and no yard in the middle of our city. We wanted to stay in the same region given proximity to family, friends, work, etc. but wanted to be in a suburban/semi-rural area. No more sharing walls. We wanted more space, more rooms, and we wanted a yard. We wanted a bone-dry basement. We established our price range and basically all of the above features were required.

Then, we identified the 'wants' that were heavily preferred but somewhat negotiable like central air, a garage, a walkout basement, 3 season room, deck/patio, and hardwood or tiled floors. We didn't really want a fixer-upper unless we really loved the house and the problems weren't too dire.

Then we went to as many open houses as we could and scheduled viewings in addition. My condo sold the first weekend on the market, so we had to move quickly. The house we ended up buying wasn't our first choice; it had most of what we wanted, but we had to replace the flooring in all of the bedrooms as the sellers had the worst taste in carpeting.

It was a stressful time, but it was all for the best. Months after we moved in, COVID hit and we probably would have killed each other if we were still in that 900sqft.

 

[NickS]

I totally understand the benefits of owning a home, I'm interested in hearing how people ended up in the house they have now, since it's usually a balance of what one can afford/what one wants. Like money aside, do you choose a place close to work or a place that's rural, do you have to consider if the location is good for your industry's profession if you lose your job, etc. Sounds like your criteria was a workshop, fixer upper, and a laundry room? Or were you just comparing house vs apartment?
And you're right, a house isn't a death sentence. As someone who has no debt and likes the security of a large savings, the idea of getting a mortgage is a mental adjustment. Living in the USA, though, I'm not sure there's any greater investment/security for one's future than home ownership (maybe a fat 401k).

Looks like I'm in your area (Seattle). My wife and I bought our place in 2018, and the place ended up in was a combination of location and yard/lot size. We basically tried to get as close in to downtown Seattle as we could WITHOUT having no yard or space to ourselves. My wife has a good short commute and we still have a 1/3 acre lot to ourselves. I kinda wish we'd gone a little further out/more rural, but we had family and friend proximity to keep in mind too.

You should buy as soon as you can, though. Just make sure to refinance when the rates come down, even if that's not for years. Mortgage rates are not kinda gross right now. Our place is now worth more than twice what we payed for it and we refi-ed during the pandemic so our rate will probably never get any lower.

 

[NickS]

Buying a house, my wife & I basically identified the "spec sheet" for what we wanted and then prioritized those specs.

For example, we had been living in my bachelor pad condo forever, which was ~900sqft, 2BR/1BA, and no yard in the middle of our city. We wanted to stay in the same region given proximity to family, friends, work, etc. but wanted to be in a suburban/semi-rural area. No more sharing walls. We wanted more space, more rooms, and we wanted a yard. We wanted a bone-dry basement. We established our price range and basically all of the above features were required.

Then, we identified the 'wants' that were heavily preferred but somewhat negotiable like central air, a garage, a walkout basement, 3 season room, deck/patio, and hardwood or tiled floors. We didn't really want a fixer-upper unless we really loved the house and the problems weren't too dire.

Then we went to as many open houses as we could and scheduled viewings in addition. My condo sold the first weekend on the market, so we had to move quickly. The house we ended up buying wasn't our first choice; it had most of what we wanted, but we had to replace the flooring in all of the bedrooms as the sellers had the worst taste in carpeting.

It was a stressful time, but it was all for the best. Months after we moved in, COVID hit and we probably would have killed each other if we were still in that 900sqft.

That's almost exactly how ours went, except we ended up buying the one of the very first places we looked at. Still pretty stressful though, oddly enough.

 

[soldierkahn]

The author of the book I'm reading doesn't use Oxford commas and it makes it spectacularly clunky to read for some reason.

what a knuckle-dragger