What new activities have you all been meaning to start?

@BearListens  😂 I do use power tools but for the most part, yeah...my canes are built by hand. The only power tools I use are a portable table saw (for ripping boards & small logs lengthwise. It's not precise but it works) & a cordless drill.

I've never made anything with a shepherd's crook ("candy cane handle"). That would require steam bending the wood, which I'm not set up to do. The other thing is shepherd's crook-type handles are not the best option for one's hand, especially if you're putting any weight on it. The only thing you can say for 'em is they make the cane easy to hang from a coat rack. I usually make my handles rounded but not that sharply, so they're still supportive. Ergonomics is a thing.

@BearListens

Thank you! wow idk you know spanish lol😆

@BearListens  I think I know that one!  Does it say:  "Good luck in learning Spanish!" ?  -iendo is the ending for "ing" or for future tense?? 

We could have a learning another language club here at 7cups! :)  I would SO be there.  hehe :) Platy 

@BearListens, thanks for the kind words, it sounds like you deal with a but if the same, Im sorry. As far as work goes, Im working a job that I worked in the summers while I was a student. I got it during COVID, it was difficult to find work then, I was scouring the internet like a madman and couldn’t find anything, but I needed to pay tuition, my dad got me this job at the company he works for, I never wanted it, but it was either take it or make pennies on the dime mowing lawns for the summer, Ive always felt like crap about it, but Ive never been able to find anything else. I do believe by now that I am there because of my performance, that they wouldn't have offered me a full time role for no reason, but it still bothers me, I hat this connection culture, I hate more how I perpetuate it, and god am I underutilized. Ive been searching all of 2023, Ive sent out in excess of 500 applications, I have had 3 interviews, no offers, I haven't got half a jack *** of a clue as to whether or not this’ll change in the short or long term, the odds aren't with me, but at least I am working and can afford to live, maybe I should stop complaining about it. I largely have, Ive taken a step back the last few months, realizing the market is a joke, and I have kind of a dream opportunity in the works right now, which is exciting, I am hopeful but not optimistic, 0/500+. Romantically its been a long story of exclusively rejection, nothing especially jaw dropping, just repetitive, and the more it happens, god what Id give to have someone under my arm. Ive put a lot of work into myself this past year, really focusing, not on changing, put better projecting the things that I love about myself, being more outgoing, and Ive felt the results of it, Im getting more laughs than ever with friends, women, but still the results aren't there. Theres a girl that Ive become close friends with that, god, the crush I have on her is borderline debilitating, the way I feel around her is just unlike anything Ive ever felt before, not that Ive had a lot of feelings in my life, and she just brings out the best in me, Ive never felt so enjoyed like that, so enjoyed for my genuine person, and by someone I so respect and enjoy. I know for a fact she has at least at one point had similar feelings towards me, I confessed my feelings, she just has a lot on her plate, which is true, almost a nuts amount of things, and doesnt have time to “give me what I deserve.” Jesus, how much closer can you get, eh? I know shes right, things wouldn't work out, Id get frustrated, *** Im frustrated now with the amount of contact I have with her, but it wouldn't take much to improve on how things are now, and Im always of the mind “why not at least try?” but shes under a lot of stress, I love that shes willing to tell me about it, its not a cut and dry thing. Ive really struggled to set that aside, Ive been hitting the dating apps again, but no one is willing to give you half a jack *** of effort on those things, I got frustrated with that, again, and stopped for a bit, I dont see a reason anything would change in the near term, Im not in the right headspace, but maybe she frees up, maybe I meet someone in one of these activities I want to do, that has substance, that gives a ***, theres things to be optimistic about, Im just stuck now. As far as socially, Ive got right now the best set of friends Ive ever had. High school I had no friends, people avoided me like a plague, still dont know why, but through university I managed to cobble together a small group of good friends, and they are good friends, Im just depending on them for an unrealistic amount of emotional support/connection, when really, your good dude friends from university are really only good for a laugh and a little bit of “shes the problem dude, keep at it bro.” Thats not gonna change, thats about as good as its gonna get, and as good as most would reasonably expect it to be, the problem is trying to prop yourself up on it entirely when the reality is you just *** need a girlfriend. Thanks for reading that if you did, if you liked my last dump, this is quite a bit more than a dump and a half.

@BearListens sure, that sounds good. thanks so much.