My favorite thing is the cop cars that have an actual fucking laptop set up next to the driver. Nothing distracting about that, no sir.

For PA, you can get beer and wine in a lot of places

When I first moved here nearly 20 years ago, this was not the case. You could only buy beer at special stores where you could only buy it by the case, or you could buy individual six-packs to take home at bars and taverns. Wine was only available from the state-run stores along with the hard liquor (and this is still the case for the hard stuff). Coming from a state that had fucking drive-thru daiquiri shops, this was hard to accept.

I love children ... in 15 minute doses. That's why being a childless school bus driver is so great.

Yeah, that was only discovered in the 1990s.

My grandmother had her first child out of wedlock at the age of 14, her second child (my mom) out of wedlock with a different father at the age of 16, and her third child out of wedlock with yet another different father at the age of 17. And this was all in the 1930s. I strongly suspect grandma really enjoyed the sex -- otherwise, why go through all the social approbation and abandonment by her family that went along with it?

"Fascistic" means like fascism. This isn't like fascism, it is fascism.

My local Shop-Rite still has cheap-ass chicken, at least. They've always had these packs of chicken (breast, legs or thighs) of about 6 or 7 pounds that cost $10 total. Thank god I like hot dogs, too -- stores still damn near give those away.

there doesnt seem to be that many using ACA marketplace.

I went two years after I got laid off in 2019 having to pay for private health insurance. I got one of those ridiculous catastrophe-only policies with like a $7000 annual deductible and was still paying about $400 a month. I priced policies on the ACA marketplace, with the same shitty deductibles but three times the premium as what I was paying. I just don't get why anyone would buy insurance there. Maybe the ACA policies are more likely to actually pay out in case of illness, I dunno.

One difference I know is the fact is that my private insurance did not allow me to get out of the mandated fine you supposedly had to pay if you didn't have coverage, whereas the ACA policies do get you out of the fine. But for whatever reason, I never had to pay that fine.

beef products very rarely (because it’s fucking expensive now)

I was in Acme a few days ago looking through the steak section. There was a porterhouse close to expiration on sale for ... $54 fucking dollars. It was a little over one pound. I'd be astonished to pay that much for a steak at a fucking steakhouse, cooked and brought to my table with sides and drinks.

If I want the taste of steak these days, I buy bottom round and flatten the shit out of it with a tenderizing mallet.

There's a school near where I live called Williamson College of the Trades which offers three-year courses in Carpentry, Electrical, Landscape Management, Machine Tools, Masonry and Power Plant work. Cost is $140 per year (not a typo) since all students get scholarships to cover the normal tuition. I squandered my youth on a liberal arts education long ago, but if I were starting out today this is the place I would try to get into. Somehow, they still have to recruit to get enough people to fill their available positions.

I'm an avid bicyclist, and I constantly find myself in stores saying "on your left" when I walk past people. I'm sure people are confused, but then it seems like nobody knows what that means on a bike path, either.

I'm a school bus driver now and it's great. I get to drive a big Tonka truck around and gaslight children. Sure, I make about 1/6 of what I used to make as a mobile apps programmer, but at least I get good subsidized health insurance and I only work 5 hours a day.