R****t felt like the place for tech savvy people when I first joined a decade and a half ago (I feel old now). It was confusing and I had no idea how to use it but the content was better than 9gag which was hugely popular at the time. Felt the same way about the fediverse half a year ago. Now it's all natural to me.

As an eastern European nearing their 30s in a situation much less extreme than yours - do not fall for "patriotism". I do not mean the "go and fight for your people" type. That takes guts and mentality I do not possess.

I mean the "doing X is unpatriotic" type. Usually comes from "patriotic" formations who follow a certain narrative and work for the interests of other countries. Look for buzzwords like traditional values, us vs them, targeting a group of people as a whole, claiming to get back "what is ours" (territory lost centuries ago, not currently occupied land). Big social media presence coupled with self-produced "reports" and "news articles" (bonus points if they have their own mass media channels) are also a giveaway.

Thank you but I won't let your aggressor, through puppet parties, dictate what about my attitude and views is patriotic and what isn't.

It's been a rather productive year so far:

• I did a lot of cross stitching.
• Went vegan.
• Dabbled into gardening (my partner did most of the work sadly but I'm more interested now than I was before!).
• Got into birdwatching so I started exploring nature with a much more different perspective.
• Set up a bird feeding station that got really popular among the birds AND the neighbours.
• Learned how to crochet.
• A combination of the aforementioned things somehow taught me how to manage my depression and anxiety better. I'm in a much better spot now than when I was mostly playing video games.

Death metal. Death metal while birding (or more like processing footage). Death metal while cross stitching. Death metal while crocheting. It's a weird outlet that I mostly keep to myself.

While it really does feel like it, as a person working in healthcare, I do see some change after the whole shitstorm from recent years.

• There are people who actually wear a mask, few, but they are around.
• A lot more people seem to be conscious of spreading their illness to other people be it a cold or COVID.
• People definitely wash their hands more often. I know we do.
• Some people started getting their annual shots when they didn't intend to before.
• Local businesses open their windows and doors a lot more than they used to.

But also I also see some negative tendencies:

• Interest in flu shots has waned. That might have something to do with the govt introducing a free flu shot programme from your GP if you're above 65 or with specific conditions (which is a great thing) But I definitely see a lot more vaxx-scepticism and fear of combining both shots (infant vaccination plans are a lot more intense and the vast majority are fine).
• People politicising a disease.
• This is country specific but food supplement companies aggressively promoting "immune system stimulants" to the point where in the beginning of The Plague™ they somehow managed to include them in hospital treatment plans.

This came out longer than intended but there were some things that I needed to get out of my system.

That sparkly quartz kitchen top? Yeah...crushed quartz and glitter to make it sparkle. As I said, it's everywhere.

Seeing the comments here and people don't even realise how widespread glitter is. It's in everything and used in a variety of industries. From pharmaceuticals to construction, to transport, vehicles, military... in fact the one of the biggest consumers of glitter is kept secret so who knows, could be the military. It won't surprise me. We really need to find an alternative.

Bulgaria has Pernik. A declining polluted mining town near Sofia which is infamous for people wearing (counterfeit) Adidas tracksuits, driving VW Golf, and settling their scores with long pieces of metal. Think Russian gopniks.

If you were cold then you would catch a cold.

There is a startling amount of people here (most people I know) that believe this. I work in healthcare and we constantly have arguments about the AC in summer for that exact reason. Yeah cold weather can make it easier to catch a cold but it's interesting to see how many people believe that you need to get warm to avoid catching a cold.

Carrots will allow me to see in the dark if I eat enough of them.

Partially true. If you're vitamin A deficient, your night vision worsens and carrots can help with that. But you won't get Minecraft night vision

I actually agree with you but the mental health communities on Lemmy haven't caught up yet, and I figured one could find more people here that could relate.

I'm currently reading Twilight and judging by the tone it's normal for 16-17 year olds to go to school by car (or even truck!) that they drive by themselves? I might be ignorant on the subject so correct me if I'm wrong but car culture in general. We just...took the bus or the lucky ones with a free parent got a lift. I've even walked to school for the fun of it, granted it was 40 minutes by foot.

I'm nearing my 30s. I don't own a car and I don't have a license. I do wish I had one sometimes but once I hop on the bus to the remote place I want to visit, I quickly lose interest once I see the (usually mountainous) road ahead. Driving just scares me.

Might be talking out of my ass here but prog metal artists tend to have high education, usually in music. In fact I saw a bachelor's degree programme for progressive metal in the university of Gothenburg!