Hrmf, figures.

The ability of some people to ironically self-label will always astound me.

they would rather have it occupied and being paid than the tenants leave and the place sit empty.|

Small-time landlords (maybe what’s going on here) are also more sensitive to disruptions in cash-flow. That is, a tenant that can’t pay rent or is just tearing up the place. So it’s more desirable to retain a tenant that can keep paying, even if they’re not worth top-dollar to you.

I also just threw up in my mouth a bit while typing that out.

Once you get up to corporate scale however, I’m guessing that you just have a certain percentage of bad tenants no matter what you do. So part of your overhead is processing evictions and refurbishing units for new renters. As a result, it is less risky to squeeze everyone a little harder.

I got a lot of professional advice and guidance in the moment to kick the door to mindfulness wide open. I wish I could share any one thing specific to help anyone replicate the experience. I honestly think this kind of Gnostic awakening has to be tailored to the individual. Also, I was told I was a quick study at this - so sadly, it may take a long time to get there (months to years even).

One exercise we did that helped a lot was to have a discussion with your younger self, and explore what you would say knowing what you know now. Like with a lot of this stuff, the key is to verbalize - it’s fundamentally different than talking to yourself with your inner monologue. So you’re gonna need a close friend that you can share a LOT of deeply traumatic experiences. Pulling punches and censoring your own speech is just going to get in the way. Fundamentally, this is what we pay counselors for: privacy, not judging, and helping to take out the trash. Group therapy may help here too - I have yet to try this, so YMMV.

On a more specific note, I used to be obsessed with root-cause-analysis for my own psychological problems. I almost got into an argument with my counselor over it, until he was able to help me see the light. You can absolutely figure out why and even how you got this way, but that information will absolutely not help you if you’re already in a safe space. It can help you break free of someone or a bad situation, but stuff that happened 30 years ago? Not so much. When you get down to it, there’s no “undo” button for trauma, no matter how much you know. Instead, one must look to the present, exercise mindfulness in the moment of anxiety and triggers, and practice walking your headspace back to a more rational place.

Edit: this was all during the pandemic, BTW. I can’t say that compares to what we have going on today, but I can confidently say that it’s possible to focus on self-help despite all that. It’s really possible to separate “things that are going on in the world” and “things that are just me” in your own head, and work on the latter.

Those things were marvelous. You could hear each keystroke slam into the platen two houses down.

Buy a Model-M and don’t look back. Things are built tough.

Plus vintage models were designed for folks that coded in C/C++. So you know they’re up to the task. ;)

Bias. Good 'ol plain bias.

Unless you’re very self-aware, one requires actual training and practiced mindfulness to break free from that in all endeavors. There’s also some lack-of-the-outside-world going on too - one would need to have at least thought about world experiences apart from one’s own, to consider alternative possibilities.

They hesitated, so there’s a chance.

I’d ask to have a conversation since I’m dead anyway - what do they have to lose? May as well go out amused.

Yikes.

For the uninitiated, that’s like having your life flash before your eyes but all you remember is every vivid detail from Evangelion.

That reminds me of a dirty joke.

Tourist: So, which would you recommend for self-defense against a grizzly: a hunting rifle, or a large-caliber pistol?

Ranger: The pistol.

Tourist: Really? Why’s that?

Ranger: Because it’ll hurt less when the bear shoves it up your ass.

Where’s that “imma fight a gorilla” guy when you need him?

Life’s a bitch. Especially in Shinji’s case. Get in the robot existential world-ending crisis, Shinji!

Not exactly - it’s way more simple than that:

Adults in this kid’s life (parents) hand them a phone as a toy/treat/distraction (usually the last one). Or maybe they have something similar at home for themselves. So, a bored kid sees adult using a phone, so kid asks adult for phone.

I used to do this way before cellphones. When at a house where there was a personal computer sitting around, I was usually very disappointed at being told “no” after asking to play games on it. But I always asked. To a little five-year-old-warp-core, that’s just what those were for.

Edit: ubiquitous portable computing (modern phones) would have probably rendered me inconsolable after a while.

That’s… actually not too far from the mark. Ribs were on the menu for the Cardinal College, once upon a time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZCs9aMkzBQ

What concerns me the most is what happens when you heap climate refugees on top of this mess. The forecast doesn’t look so great.

Gotta go harder to get that deep clean.

Sauce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eX3IGPq8AQ

Yeah, just install bidet hoses next to all the toilets.

“Job’s done, boss.”

Don’t feel stupid. It’s bad enough that all of IT is one giant impostor-syndrome support group. There’s literally too much for any one person to know, and it’s been that way for a very long time. Just give it your all, and memorize how to reliably search and look things up; take notes for the really important stuff. The rest will filter into your memory with practice.

Also: anyone that holds this kind of thing over your head is attempting to distract from how much they don’t know. Most people in this industry understand and don’t judge.

As for the ^ thing, I recall seeing that as far back as the 1990’s. I want to say Microsoft actually popularized it, but it could easily be OS2 (IBM) or Apple. In hindsight, it’s kind of wild to have a TUI (terminal user interface) hold your hand like this. Nano (and Pico) are kind of in a special category like that.

Scene: on the far wall of the room is a small intercom. It is connected to a hospital wide-AI, that is tasked to converse with patients, especially when the noise threshold exceeds 66Db. The intercom springs to life after hearing these very loud complaints, and begins to speak in a soothing, if not slightly robotic, voice.

AI health assistant: Sarah, remember what we talked about? That was 30 years ago. Silberman died 15 years ago. Please stop disturbing the other patients and eat your pudding.