Update for Everyone VIII: He who laughs have the last laugh

[Alcibiades]

Worse ways to spend a Saturday



And according to Strava I did one of the black slopes at 80km/h. Which is fast enough to start thinking "hmm, this could go quite badly if I fall over here"

Beautiful! Where is that, if you don’t mind my asking?

[Mr. Smith]

Honestly, after going on an emo binge for 3 days, it's hard to go back to other music.

Are you trying to desperately BRTD-ify yourself?

I am not even close to that level of forum institution yet.

You have already made more than 20,000 posts, which puts you in a pretty good position.

...Not really.

[parochial boy]

Worse ways to spend a Saturday



And according to Strava I did one of the black slopes at 80km/h. Which is fast enough to start thinking "hmm, this could go quite badly if I fall over here"

Beautiful! Where is that, if you don’t mind my asking?

Top of the Titlis in Engelberg.

First time I’ve ever been there, and it was actually fantastic 😁 

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Some of you know I make extra cash taking online surveys.



It's always fun when one of these comes up.

(yes, smartasses, I dragged far-right for all the groups)

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

Today I went on a hike in the Cinque Terre with a couple friends of mine. That was so refreshing, I had not made any such thing in more than a year. It was also the first time I have taken a train since March 2020 - and I am a train lover.
To be more precise, we made the pathway from Monterosso al Mare to Levanto, which is approximately 7 km.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

>Get scam phone call (non-robo)
>Instructed to attend a 90-minute conference/presentation in Virginia Beach for a free vacation program
>dis gon be good
>Imply I would like to use the conference to promote a suicide cult
>Woman starts talking about the vacation package, which I'm less interested in
>"What is your nationality?"
>"I am a proud white American."
>"Are there going to be any blacks or Jews at this event?"
>"...No."
>"Okay, that's good to know. I'll be attending."
>"Are you married or living with a partner?"
>"Married."
>"How old are you?"
>"18."
>"You're only 18? You sound..."
>"I'm 23."
>"23."
>"Yes."
>"And how old is your spouse?"
>"Twelve."
>"Okay, unfortunately sir we can only offer this package to individuals age 25 and up."
>"You know I've been f#cking with you for the last seven minutes, right?"
>*beep*

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

I was up for 24 hours straight for the first time yesterday in an attempt to fix my sleep schedule. Looks like it worked.

It didn't work.

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

lowkey sad about somethin rn, it’s almost the birthday for one of the only ppl I ever liked, and like it was kinda special to me because they were one of the few ppl that I knew who were also half indian and half white like me, but they died a little over a couple years ago when a tree fell on them and snapped their neck instantly. I soon found out that they liked me, idk why my life has to be so emotionally challenging but it is what it is.

[HillGoose]

it really sucks that things will never be okay

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

it really sucks that things will never be okay

Not in this universe, no. That's why I find it worthwhile to live for something better or at least meaningful.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I'm leaving the church I have been going to for the last few years.  I'm pretty involved in the church, so I am going to be having a bunch of difficult conversations starting tonight and going through the next few days before I go for the final time this Sunday.

I'm really excited to be a part of my new church, though!  I've been going there for a young adults ministry since last summer and recently visited there on a couple Sunday mornings.

[Santander]

Omg I need these so badly.

[If my soul was made of stone]

Earlier today I received communication that a piece that I had submitted in December to an electroacoustic music conference of note has been accepted and will be premiered there (virtually) next month. I wanted to attend the conference last year, which would've been held quite close by in Charlottesville, but it was cancelled at the last minute due to the rapid encroachment of the obvious. Hopefully I will be put in contact with my performers and the director of the ensemble soon and we can start working on putting everything together. I've never had a work of my own played by fellow musicians and I am quite excited.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Earlier today I received communication that a piece that I had submitted in December to an electroacoustic music conference of note has been accepted and will be premiered there (virtually) next month. I wanted to attend the conference last year, which would've been held quite close by in Charlottesville, but it was cancelled at the last minute due to the rapid encroachment of the obvious. Hopefully I will be put in contact with my performers and the director of the ensemble soon and we can start working on putting everything together. I've never had a work of my own played by fellow musicians and I am quite excited.

Congrats!

Omg I need these so badly.

You deserve it, king.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Omg I need these so badly.

$600 for sneakers? What's so magic about them?

[Del Tachi]

Omg I need these so badly.

Why would you pay that for dirty converse?  lol

[Del Tachi]

I'm leaving the church I have been going to for the last few years.  I'm pretty involved in the church, so I am going to be having a bunch of difficult conversations starting tonight and going through the next few days before I go for the final time this Sunday.

I'm really excited to be a part of my new church, though!  I've been going there for a young adults ministry since last summer and recently visited there on a couple Sunday mornings.

Just out of curiosity, what's made you want to leave your current congregation?

[Santander]

$600 for sneakers? What's so magic about them?

I have to stay fashionable. I'm not a monster.

Why would you pay that for dirty converse?  lol

They're hand-distressed. The philosophy is not so much about mocking poverty as people think it is but that a) each shoe is unique, and b) they aren't so precious that you're afraid to step in a puddle or get them scuffed.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I'm leaving the church I have been going to for the last few years.  I'm pretty involved in the church, so I am going to be having a bunch of difficult conversations starting tonight and going through the next few days before I go for the final time this Sunday.

I'm really excited to be a part of my new church, though!  I've been going there for a young adults ministry since last summer and recently visited there on a couple Sunday mornings.

Just out of curiosity, what's made you want to leave your current congregation?

I think it's more about my new church than my current one, but I'll explain as best as I can.  When I started going to my new church two and a half years ago, I got plugged into an amazing small group of 15-20 people in our 20s.  God used that community to help me grow in ways I could not have expected.  Over time however, the small group began to get less regular, and people began to leave (mostly without friction, but with a couple notable exceptions).  That started pre-covid, but was certainly sped up when covid hit last March.

In August, one of my closest friends from the small group told me that he was starting a Bible study with a friend of his from a different church and asked if I would come.  The church that it was affiliated with has a huge young adults ministry that meets every Friday night at their church, for a church service with social time afterwards.  I started going to that in August.  At first, I very much viewed that as only for the young adults ministry and never considered it my actual church.  But, by October, I was beginning to serve there on Friday nights, either through greeting or helping with tear down.  By the end of the year, I kind of viewed them both as my church, even if I was not yet actively considering leaving the other church.

Come December, I did have a point of frustration with my current church, around how they were handling covid.  While they have never re-closed and never required masks in the main worship center, they did suspend all small groups from officially meeting during our December surge.  That both meant that my regular small group was no longer meeting (after kind of hitting a roll in the fall) and that I could no longer serve in student ministry, where I had helped lead a cohort of students who are now seniors in high school for a couple years.  Finally, my church allowed these to start back in mid-January (albeit, to my frustration, required masks in group meetings).

Around this time, I began to pray about whether I should look to move to the other church.  At the time, I felt like God gave me an answer of "not now" for a few reasons.  The students I have been teaching were about to graduate in May, and I felt I should finish strong.  The student pastor actually approached me to see if I would be interested in doing a something a little bit different for the seniors, since they were struggling in attendance, which I thought was a good idea.  Secondly, I felt that I should not be making a decision as permanent as leaving a church over very temporary covid protocol that frustrated me.  I also was approached about taking on a leadership role in my adult small group around this time.  I felt that, had I left in January, it would have been a selfish decision out of a desire for my own comfort and to be around more friends, rather than a spirit-led one.

A few weeks later, we had a big ice and snow storm.  By the Sunday following the storm, the temperatures had warmed, the sun had come out, and the roads were clear.  However, my church had not cleared the parking lot, so they had to cancel service.  I went to the other church on a Sunday for the first time that day.  I felt really at home at the service.  I started to pray about whether it was time for me to move on, but I still felt like I should probably finish out the school year (even though I'd never again heard mention about doing something different for the seniors) and had just agreed to help in leadership in my small group.

But, over the next week, a few more things happened that I believe were God telling me that it was OK to leave.  First, on Thursday 2/25, a couple announced that they were leaving our small group to go to the engaged/newlyweds group ahead of their wedding.  The guy in that couple was the leader of our group and one of my closer friends in the group.  Most of the other people I'm super close to in the group had either already moved on or are also going to the young adults thing at the other church.  Let me also note that the mask protocol had stopped by this point, which gave me comfort in knowing that any decision I would make would not be rash because of masks.  Then, on Sunday 2/28, not one of the kids I had been teaching showed up to Sunday School (after it had only been 1-2 for weeks).  I kind of just hovered around the room, facilitating discussion at other high school tables.  Finally, the following Thursday (3/4), the only six of us who showed up to small group were the six of us who had to be there because we held leadership positions*.

I felt like all of this was God alleviating my concerns about leaving my church and telling me that it is OK to go to where I am growing more now.  Following those events, I went to my new church on Sunday, talked it through with some close friends, prayed, and fasted to make sure that I was making the decision that God wanted me to make.  I now have peace that I am, even if it is very bittersweet because I will miss some things about that church and will always look back fondly on my time there, particularly on the year 2019.

*Plus, following a different married couple in their 20s who had led our group moving on from this group around the time covid hit, the church put a woman in her mid-60s in the same role.  That created some tension between the guys and girls in the small group because a lot of the girls kind of viewed her as a motherly figure, while a lot of the guys thought she was in the wrong role by being the loudest participant in our weekly Bible study.  At times, I even felt like she acted like we were all kids, even though we're in our mid and late 20s.  Probably 90% of the activity in our Facebook group from recent weeks is her posting things, for instance.  None of this is a knock on her.  I actually do like her, but I just think she's in the wrong role for our group right now.  She and her husband hosted us for a Friendsgiving in November and a cookout last June.  I thought that was a better role for an older couple to pour into us without it feeling like it was their Bible study.

P.S. Truthfully, though, these issues are minor enough that I don't think I would ever have thought to switch churches if I had not started going to the other church for young adults ministry in August.  The biggest thing is that I just feel like God is using that church to help me grow in my walk with Him more than he is using my old church for that at this point.

[Santander]

Withdrawal is horrible.

[Thunder98 🇮🇱 🤝 🇵🇸]

I stopped by Pismo Beach a few hours ago to check out some shops and soon after I took these pics, I got pelted by small hail and heavy rain. Bought some of the insect lolly pops from Hotlix candy store.

[Santander]

Wtf, these are even better. 😍

[Santander]

Google is so evil but they make this...

[OSR stands with Israel]

Gonna have some great pancakes for my birthday tommorow

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Gonna have some great pancakes for my birthday tommorow

Pancakes are great!