Yep, I do have a business out of my hobbies, but I definitely have lost some fire for a couple of those hobbies I now depend on for income.

During the last few years and specifically during 2020 covid the majority of people moving out of my blue state went to Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, or Texas. Everyone that I knew of that leaned that way basically moved to a swing state.

It kills me …I got into it with a colleague this morning while discussing this very topic. When I brought up that whatever the current trending “bad guy” is, we will always see an increase in hate crimes against that demographic in our own country. When I used the increased attacks on anyone appearing to be slightly middle eastern after 9/11 as an example she angrily spat out that “they’ve killed thousands of us.” And I had to remind her that she was literally giving an example of what we were discussing.

I know you’re probably joking buttttt, I know a ton and can say it’s a mixed bag … Many clowns are like Santa’s and magicians…they’re not the most forward thinking and take themselves waaaay too seriously. Most new age and haunt clowns are cool peeps. It’s the old school “clowning art” gate keepers and the evangelical clowns that tend to be insufferable. Heavy mean girl vibes.

Thank you so much for voting. I’m still hopeful as well but don’t see myself sleeping anytime soon. As you said…I’m just so tired of it all but know it’s just the beginning. Thanks for being my virtual anxiety buddy!

My ultimate fear is we’re too late and this is a global trend, but hopefully we can break through it. (We as in humanity, my team kinda dropped the ball on this one it’s looking) We need to get people educated and working towards change instead of casting blame on the “other guys” like you said. Right now though it’s hard not to feel lost knowing my loved ones and my rights and safety is at stake. I hope things look up for you and your loved ones.

I’m in one of the bluest cities in one of the bluest states…I’ve voted in every major and local election since I was old enough, I’ve protested, I’ve tried to get people to vote, I’ve marched, I’ve tried to kindly change minds through patience…I’ve been doing it since high school and I don’t know what else I can personally do. If people hit the streets, I’ll be there. But I’m with you, it’s like no matter what I personally do things are burning around me and this election proves there’s much more hate in this world than I’d hoped. I still think there’s light in everyone, but I can understand why people are angry with us… we’re dropping the ball hard as a country. meanwhile I’ll just be sitting here in the middle of the night, wide awake but exhausted, hugging my dog because we have no control and I know half the voters are okay with taking away my rights. Sending hopeful feelings for you to wherever else in the country you are.

I’m someone smack in the middle of a liberal city in an always blue state, I don’t know what else there is for me to do. I’ve attempted helping educate and getting people to vote in other states who normally choose not to, I’ve voted in every election down to local boards and try to know who I’m voting for. Locally, we had a lot of successes so far this election in our state…but that won’t help much if, y’know, fascism.

I promise I’m not a doomsday prepper or anything, just a person in my 30s who grew up in poverty and has only recently gotten to a point of being slightly above water. We are aware that having a child would immediately bring us back to scraping by, which means that we may not be able to afford any extras for said child. No dance classes, no preschool, no crayons with the sharpener on the back. Just stressed out parents who won’t be able to give as much attention and care due to burnout and survival mode. That doesn’t sound nice for anyone involved… The kinder thing for me to do is either wait till we’re in a better financial state(where aging and inflation works against us) or just accept we won’t have them. Our plan, as I said, is to eventually foster and hopefully adopt from there, because by the time we feel financially stable enough to support another human in our world, I’ll probably be too old for a safe pregnancy.(Which I’m disgusted by as well, but that’s a whole different issue)

This isn’t a situation where I’m worried about the world blowing up, it’s accepting that we’ll either be trapping ourselves and a child in poverty and continuing that cycle we both came from or dealing with a high risk geriatric pregnancy and a baby in our 40s.

You’re getting downvoted, but I kinda agree with you. I think if someone is ready and has hope for the future, sure, it makes sense for them to have a kid. I think a lot of people are aware the world sucks and the future of that child may be uncertain/bleak, many people have kids cause it’s “the next step” in adulting, sometimes always wanted to be a parent. The obvious hope is that the future will figure it out. I would like to think most aren’t being overly selfish, just following the flow.

My husband and I want kids, but the thought of bringing someone into our current world, and with our financial restraints, it seems cruel from my perspective… Like, the kindest thing I could do for a future child of my own womb would be to just not have them currently. (Plus, ew pregnancy) We’ve been looking into adoption from foster care once we feel financially ready because those kiddos are already here and need a supportive home.

Followed!

Same. I’m one of the few people that prefers self checkout. Covid was a magical time for me while grocery shopping. No one awkwardly had to smile after eye contact, everyone gave space and avoided each other, just get in and get out without ever taking out my headphones. Self check out is always faster where I’m from too.

That’s all so awesome. Have you always been doing it for work or did you get into it later? Sorry for all the questions and no need to answer obviously, just fascinated by everyone’s story in the industry. I’m too much of a chicken for much of your skills, but I love admiring it from the other side of the field. Hopefully one day our paths will cross in the performance world!

That one never caught my interest. It makes me so nervous. I’ve gotten into stilts and jumping stilts over the past couple years. I’d love to get back into juggling and unicycling but that will have to wait for a bit. I also really wanna try German wheel and aerial hoop!

Also editing to add: what made you wanna do fire and what’s your favorite way to use fire? I have a friend who just got a sword, another who favors fans, and most men I know use staff or poi. I personally have never spun or played with fire, but it fascinates me. Many of my friends will eat but not breathe it.

My husband wants kids, I’m okay without for the same reasons as you and a big disgust of pregnancy. I have a lot of experience with kids in my career and we love kids, but it just seems the kindest thing to do for them is to not bring them into this world. We’re planning on fostering once we’re in a better financial position and hopefully adopting from there. I’d rather grow our family with a kid or toddler that already got the shit luck of being here.

I’m an entertainer as well and thought about fire breathing. I spoke with a couple friends who do it and them all casually talking about collapsing a lung a few times turned me off that idea.

My local store flagged me cause I had my coffee cup in the cart. It said, “you only scanned 5 items” and it thought I had 6 in the cart. I was a bit surprised cause I didn’t know it was that far of a view.

There’s a flag going around of something like, “she’s as open as our borders” with a drawn picture of Harris with her legs spread open suggestively.

Uncle Sam’s red white and blue top hat.

Isn’t that one of the main jokes in the Borat movies? When the characters are yelling at each other in Kazakh it’s all a mixture of Hebrew, Bulgarian, polish, Armenian, Romanian, and a ton of other phrases and sayings?