Brrrrr!! 😱 Where are you, if you don't mind me asking?
@see_the_sus I truly don't think I've EVER known it to be this cold here.
I wondered as I don't think I've ever heard it getting that cold in the UK.
Are you letting your faucets trickle water so they don't freeze?
@see_the_sus Plus, my other half comes from Chicago so he thinks I'm a weakling for complaining about it!
@Florence @see_the_sus Ha. I went to HS in Minneapolis before climate change. Snow would forgo MN and drop in IL where it was warmer. Every year Chicago had to borrow snow removal equipment from Mpls, like it was some big surprise. (But I admit that UK cold is very damp, so it has a different feel.)
@Notokay @see_the_sus It really IS a different 'cold', you're absolutely right.
@see_the_sus @Notokay I can imagine. I feel ya though as I've spent most of my life switching between one country or continent after another! My childhood was very peripatetic and so I think it's in my genes now!
@see_the_sus @Florence Faculty brat here, then a dual-career academic. 10 states, three other countries.
@Notokay @see_the_sus I had a guardian who was a musician, with whom I went to live when I was six. Spent the nexgt 10/15 years going around the world on tour etc. Then went to Uni, then worked with a job I could move countries a lot (requirement) and so I think I was lucky really, it gave me flexibility and also a famiiarity with 'the different'.
@Notokay @see_the_sus I think people fear what they're unfamiliar with. I was home-schooled because of the traveling. By someone who left school at 15 but had intelligence, an inquiring mind and a freedom of spirit and soul. I always think my education, such as it was, was broader than conventional schooling. It gave me an openness to other cultures and ways of life I doubt I'd otherwise have. For which I'm truly grateful.
@Florence @see_the_sus Oh, indubitably. I homeschooled my kids at various points and it was a fabulous adventure.
@Notokay @see_the_sus That's EXACTLY the way I'd describe it. I totally agree.
@Florence @see_the_sus Of course, one of them is now in London doing research for her PhD dissertation, so I don't know if that's exactly a win (given the state of academia right now)!
@Notokay @see_the_sus I'd call it a win!
@Florence @see_the_sus Heh--thanks. I'll keep it in the category of 'education is never wasted' (except in cases like Josh Hawley).
@Notokay @see_the_sus Hah! I think Hawley knows exactly what he's doing which makes it much worse. To me anyway.
@Florence @see_the_sus Oh I agree 100%.
@see_the_sus @Florence Well, I understand being called brave for traveling around the world by oneself (which I also have done), but for moving across the state to take a job? That's just a head-scratcher.
@see_the_sus @Florence Ha. It seems endemic in this country, TBH. I've seen the same in people from CA to IA to MA.
True. I think what it startled me so much about NYC was that A) it's an island and yeah sure it's got a shit ton of things to do but it's the East Coast and you can visit several states in one day! And B) I naively assumed (I was a mere 27) that people there were more cultured and adventurous. Silly me.
@Florence @see_the_sus Not just familiarity with 'the different', but flexibility of thinking and understanding. And something monocultural (and sometimes provincial) people call "bravery." I moved from one side of the state to another to take a new job and one of my colleagues called me very brave?