Super General Advice (the thread for advice without making a thread)

i’d say B sounds good, depending on what time of day you’re talking about here? tho as chel points out, you could use different methods for there and back

 

The bus is a short walk, but it runs hourly.

The walking issues aren’t extremely bad but they’re annoying enough that I’m not a big fan of walking anymore. My ankles are pretty consistently weak

It’s 5:30pm and this is my first summer in California after living in New Hampshire my whole life

 

I'd still say mix the transport. If you catch a bus there, that's cheaper than an Uber; if you get an Uber back, that's less time waiting to get home than a bus. I walk to places and bus/taxi back a lot.

 

How can you tell if a lump in a spider web is dindins or eggs? I am Very arachnophobic but have been letting a spood live just inside my front door bc there are Many Skeeter (I live just off a pond). But if this is a momma I need to evict them ASAP for my own sanity.

I'm pretty sure this is a cellar spider? Super long legs, brown. I'm in New England. I can try to take a pic tomorrow when the light is better.

(And I realize I am being super dumb but spiders cost me a big anxiety tax. I know folks love them and they are good and useful I just need to love them from afar.)

Edit: one more thought, I also realize I could Google cellar spider eggs but I just do not have the emotional fortitude at this moment for those GIS results

 

in my experience eggs are round and dindins are oblongs, but i am not an arachnid expert so ymmv

 

@Gee late because this thread stopped giving me notifs, but try Animorphs! short books with relatively simple language, EXTREMELY engaging content.

@Astrodynamicist my advice would be to err on the safe side and throw it out if you’re not sure. you don’t want an infestation of cellar spiders, those leggy motherfuckers will haunt your ceilings. chances are one will recolonize the area soon enough.

 

Spood successfully evicted!

I think the suspicious package was dindins after all. Whatever, I've been wanting to evict for a while anyway.

 

Evicted from house or evicted from this mortal plane?

 

From house. I scooped it up in a Tupperware and let it go outside.

 

So T has given me acne, an issue I have not had before, any ideas on what products actually fix this? I have seen so many acne creams and like, do they work? is it ok to pick a random one or does a specific brand work better (I have not been in the feminine hygiene products section basically ever, why are there ten thousand different versions)

 

My experience with acne is that different things work for different people. The most common OTC treatments are salicylic acid and uh benzoyl peroxide, both of which I believe you can get in washes and also spot treatments. (Benzoyl can kind of bleach fabrics so be careful if you choose that route.) I've read it's best to start with one of those and then see if it helps (giving it some time, of course), then trying the other one. I've had some luck using a non-medicated gentle skin cleanser and face moisturizer, so you may want to look into some Cetaphil or Lubriderm face wash (or a store brand that's copying one of those). There are also prescrip treatments with antibiotics and probably others as well if it's persistent and bothering you, but obviously that would entail a visit to a GP or PCP.

I don't know if there are specific brands that work better than another in terms of salicylic acid/benzoyl products.

 

thank you! I was just like.... wow. there are so many, I do not know which is one is good.

 

Salycilic acid tends to be milder, so start with a product containing that one. You will need a moisturizer to prevent rebound acne from skin dryness with a product like that. Start with a medicated face wash or face wipes twice a week, then move up to three times and then every day in progression (usually over the course of a week per step) if you don't see improvement. If the salycilic acid product still isn't doing it for you after using every week (usually I recommend right before you go to bed), switch to something with benzoyl peroxide, but do the same thing - twice a week up to every day until it becomes effective.

If, on the other hand, the SA product is too strong for you at 2x a week, you can drop to once a week or use it only on the areas with acne. Signs that an acne product is too strong include increased redness, a feeling of tightness or a burning sensation, and increased skin sensitivity.

A lot of people have good luck with putting a clean towel on their pillowcase every night, so you don't have last night's face grease to lay in.

Edit: also if SA is too much for your skin, you can use a face scrub once a week! I have mega sensitive skin so I mostly just wash it every day with sensitive skin products and do a face scrub once a week or once every two weeks. For some people just regular washing is enough.

Edit x2, apparently I can't keep a thought in my head today: non sensitive skin friends have reported success with Neutrogena's pink grapefruit acne wash and I like Neutrogena products as a whole, so if you're overwhelmed by choice that's where I would start

 

My experience with moisturizers has varied, but Clinique’s “dramatically different” line has been good to me. If you’re gonna be putting something on your face after you’ve applied acne treatment, which may make your skin a bit more sensitive even if it’s not sensitive enough to be a problem, you do not want moisturizer with isopropyl alcohol in it. It will hurt.

If the problem persists even with otc treatments, there is nothing frivolous about going to the doctor if that’s possible. A lot of people seem to be ashamed, as if it were contemptible vanity to care. It’s not, it’s a persistent issue with infection of the largest organ in your body. The next step may be something like clindamycin topical gel, unless the acne is affecting too much of the body to make that reasonable, in which case you may end up with something like tetracycline until shit calms down a little.

 

My T challenge has been body acne. I've been fairly able to deal with facial acne for the years I've had it but T has given me acne on my shoulders and chest that is much less responsive to my benzoyl-peroxide-and-moisturizer routine. pls assist?

 

Ime body acne responds best to two things: letting the areas in question breathe as much as possible so your natural skin oils aren't trapped, and exfoliation! Also, try to wash the areas in question every day, since they're covered by clothes, unlike your face.

Edit: source - when I worked at a spa I had to take skincare education courses

 

I'm about to turn thirty and feeling weird about it. I've felt weird about birthdays ever since I turned twenty, but I'm feeling particularly off about this one because in one of the View Askewniverse comics one character addressed his thirty-year-old friend as a "nearly middle-aged man". Is he/am I? I wouldn't think of another thirty-year-old as "middle-aged" but my own grasp on time is fuzzy and obviously I'm always older than I was shortly before the time I'm at, so my own age feels weird.

 

Fwiw I (27) would not consider 30 middle aged either, and I can't imagine the other adults in my life considering it that. Like I can't imagine that being said as anything other than a joke?

Dunno if that helps any, but you aren't alone in finding that weird.

 

Thanks. I know it's irrational but it does kinda get to me. This comic also did. Very familiar feeling.