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Life Experiences

What’s It Like To Be Anorexic

anorexia

I remember the simultaneous high and pain of being hungry and light-headed. One can of diet Pepsi, one loaf of bread on my better days.  Peruse obsessively through foodie magazines, as if looking was eating—without the calories.  Whenever my mother left the house to go shop or run an errand, I ran to my closet, dug out my backpack, filled it with gallons of spring water, and—when the pack was full—grasped the handle of a gallon in each hand and ran or lifted.  I biked. I took 2 hour aerobic classes and returned home for 2 more hours of surreptitious stair-climbing as my parents watched television downstairs.  I got up in the middle of the night to pace the bedroom or stand on tiptoe. I sat on the edge of the seat—determined not to relax and let my fat recline and absorb into my body.  Before I knew it, the only thing I was doing in my life was starving and exercising.  

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Life Experiences

Confessions of a Mass Shooting Survivor

This happened to me four years ago. It’s by far the most extreme and life threatening situation I’ve been in. The eyewitness account you are about to read is 100% true, and is mine.

For some understanding, this happened in the United States. It was the summer of 2012. My longtime boyfriend and I had recently gotten married. Even though we were dirt poor college students and lived in a dinky apartment, we were having a blast. That particular summer we gathered with our friends at the local movie theater almost every weekend. There was one just down the street from our apartment that had really cheap movie tickets. A night out that was under $10 was certainly within our budget!

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Life Experiences

What It’s Like To Lose Your Child Unexpectedly?

(photo: @samuelmartins7)

My 18-year-old daughter died in a car accident on her way to school a few weeks ago. I’m going to try to convey what it’s like.

Police officer shows up at the door: This will haunt me for the rest of my life. My fiancee and I were sleeping, as we work 3rd shift. The beating on the door was loud… I’m not sure how long he was there before it woke me up. It did not wake my fiance up. I looked out the window and saw an unmarked SUV but I could tell it was the police. I answered the door and he said my name. I answered “yes”. He said my daughter’s name and I said “yes”. He said that she was in an accident (I knew what was coming next) and that she had expired. I went to my knees and made noises I’ve never heard myself make before. He got me inside to the couch and asked if anyone else was there. I told him my fiance’s name as I was crying uncontrollably. He yelled her name a number of times and she came out. He started talking to her and she started yelling “Oh my God” and came to hold me. She and my daughter were very close.

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Life Experiences

Confessions of a Former QAnon Conspiracy Theorist

How did you get in to Q in the first place?

I had been DEEP into conspiracy for about 8 years. Had very recently been down the ufo paranormal rabbit hole so when Q really took off midterm for trump I “did my research” and fell right into it.

Do you mind describing what you thought research was and how you’d go about doing it?

Oh research is just going down rabbit hole links and back alley corners of the net. Let’s not kid ourselves and think it’s anything fancy. Unfortunately an ignorance of the world and overconfidence in one’s own critical thinking leads to believing in stupid shit

Read the rest: Confessions of a Former QAnon Conspiracy Theorist
TRUTH

What Was It Like In The Trenches Of World War 1?

trench warfare world war 1

It’s not nearly as dramatic as you may think. The unfortunate truth for Hollywood is that most of WWI was sitting around improving defenses and doing basically nothing.

The conditions were horrific the entire time for most parts but you were not constantly getting out of trenches and charging enemies most of the time.

One of the biggest jobs of men on the front is to constantly check, repair and lay down barbed wire outside of their trenches. This was generally done at night for obvious reasons and generally required hundreds of men to cover the workers doing this.

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Life Experiences

What’s It Like To Have To Put Your Dog Down

The single hardest thing I have done in my life at the age of 31 was put down my dog, Angel, who had heart disease. I remember getting the call from my mom while I was at work and using the drive over the to vet to get all my crying out. This was my pup growing up and was the sweetest dog I’ve ever owned. Not a mean bone in her body and would absolutely light up the moment she saw me. Every time.

I remember pulling up to the vet and thinking I had everything under control but the moment I went into the room where she was laying on the table I lost it. Here is my pup breathing what seemed like slow determined breaths, dealing with pain in a foreign room without family around. My Mom walks in first and Angel immediately recognizes her and you can sense the relief.

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Life Experiences

What Does It Feel Like To Be Stupid?

what does it feel like to be stupid

I had an arterial problem for a couple of years, which reduced blood supply to my heart and brain and depleted B vitamins from my nerves (to keep the heart in good repair). Although there is some vagueness as to the mechanisms, this made me forgetful, slow, and easily overwhelmed. In short, I felt like I was stupid compared to what I was used to, and I was.

It was frightening at first because I knew something wasn’t right but didn’t know what, and very worrying for my career because I was simply not very good any more.

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Life Experiences

Confessions Of A Retired Bank Robber

What made you get into bank robbery?

Bank robbery is the real American Dream. We make movies about it, and as long as innocent people aren’t hurt or killed, our society loves bank robbers.

Also, it seemed like a worthy challenge. I thought it would be quite an accomplishment if I could solve the puzzle and figure out how to get away with it.

Did you have a mentor of sorts that you learned from or did you have a community of bank robbers that you would talk to?

Only the Internet. I studied countless reports of other robberies that had gone wrong and people who were caught. I never told anyone what I was doing. One of the main things I learned from research was that an overwhelming number of people are caught because they didn’t do it solo. So I never let anyone (not even my wife or best friend) know what I was doing.

Read the rest: Confessions Of A Retired Bank Robber