Someone even told me they liked it. [:)]

Although... part of the way through my "set," there was a tornado warning and we all had to move down to the basement. Nature was not a fan, apparently.

Well, warnings aren't "just a warning." That's what a watch is. "Warning" means "there is tornadic activity." That doesn't always mean touchdown, and it doesn't mean it's confirmed, but it means some serious shit is going down. But yeah, there was no touchdown, so everything was fine.

I'm not huge on public speaking, but I took drama for four years, so I'm alright at it. Got an A in my oral comm class. It's honestly easier for me than talking to someone directly, sometimes.

I can make some eye contact when I'm listening, but I hardly make any at all when I'm talking. I don't even notice I'm doing it while it's happening, generally. I just finish a sentence and realize I've been staring at a wall to my right for the duration of my speaking time. [lol] It just helps me think better, staring at something unmoving that gives off no social cues.

Eye contact is hard to maintain, isn't it? Being on the autism spectrum myself (plus both kids) it's like too much sensory input. I spent a good portion of my adult life trying to work past it, and public speaking plus minor roles on stage helped. But I often find myself looking more at an ear or the top of someone's head still.

Phaena ~ I think in social situations, most people understand avoiding eye contact is just a way to gather one's thoughts. And hooray for being close to your 21st birthday!! Do you have plans?

I have that happen a great deal because I tend to forget words (it's an annoying autism plus age thing). However, I've also started interjecting "I'm not finished with what I'm saying" when people interrupt. They either give me time or they stop talking! I think it's rude when people do that and I'm of an age and ornery enough to say something. BUT it's taken time to get to this point.

I hope you are able to get together with friends! That sounds fun!

Alcohol is a toss up, but if you have people there to keep an eye on you... gah - pay no attention to me because I am an enabler of shenanigans [ninja]

I have rather significant hearing loss after spending four years in the Navy near loud engines and clubbing. Somehow I managed to be near speakers constantly. Not a good thing most of the time, but it comes in handy with the kids: Wut? Were you talking to me?

Oh, hon. I hate to say this, but our parents continue doing that indefinitely. I am blessed and cursed with living far enough away so I can avoid their crazy meddlesome selves, but they do like talking about their perceptions of me, mostly drawn from the very distant past (I moved away in 1995), what they see me posting on Facebook, or phone conversations. It's absolutely bizarre. So, I focus on my household and friends here. The rest can comfortably stress far away from me! Hopefully, it won't come down to you moving that far from home. They bring things up that happened over 30 years ago. That is just craziness to me. "Welllll, back when you were 14, you decided to become friends with someone we didn't like and you know how that turned out. Obviously, your ability to make decisions is faulty".

Go with what your gut tells you about smoking/drinking/etc. There are some theories about why we engage in activities like that, but they are boring and I think you know the answers already.

Oh my goodness, my grandma does that to my mother. She's constantly bringing up things my mom did she was a teenager and using them to judge her now. One time she was saying something like that and I was a little annoyed by it so I said, "and when did you say this was? How old was she?" and my grandma said, "I don't know, probably about 16?" so I said, "you know she's in her 40's now... she's not still like that," and my grandma got this look like that had literally never occurred to her before... [lol] But luckily for me, my grandma does that so bad that my mom would never, ever do it to me. [lol]

I have to say now that I'm raising a teenager I know better than to do that to her. There is a huge difference between pointing out a consequence of a decision and rehashing something from the Dark Ages.

I also do not throw that mess at my sister. What's hilarious is if I remind my parents about some of the stuff they pulled - because it DOES relate to something in the present - they will interrupt me and say "well, that was in the past" because it relates to something they did 15 minutes ago or 30 years ago [lmao].

We really do learn from our parents and I think, for myself, it's a lesson in how to communicate more effectively and offer support to my kids. I like my kids' friends. My daughter isn't dating, but my hope is I can offer her support regardless of how much her decisions may make me squirm.

Phaena ~ They knew my late husband fairly well but don't know my current husband at all, just snippets of things that go on. I kind of like it that way. AND they had a weird tendency to pass off my contact information to a guy I liked when I was, maybe 16-17. After I we were both married to other people. Just wut?

Oh man, gotta love it when hypocrisy comes into play. [lol]

I'd like to hope that I've learned from my parents mistakes and will do better than they did. Not at parenting, though; couldn't pay me to have kids! [lol] But maybe that in itself is learning from their mistakes... my mom never wanted kids, but had me anyway. She loves me, of course, but it kind of showed at times that this isn't what she wanted.

Hello, little bird! That's adorable emoticon!

Funny you should show up now, I've got a song stuck in my head that has the phrase "little bird" in it.

I'm sorry, Cherry. I do know how that is because my situation with my mom is similar. I've learned to accept it, but it took therapy - LOL!- and having a solid base of friends who showed up and continue to do so today.

My daughter was expected, but my son was the greatest shock of my life and that is saying something! The bonus of being considerably older now with younger kids is I do not feel "old". Definitely challenging, yet if you know that is something you don't want to pursue, I hope you never feel the pressure to have them.

The bonus is I have a captive audience for weird Godzilla movies and cheesy 80s music [ninja] once in a while!

Elmira - Oh, the pressure's there. It's really hard to find a guy who doesn't want kids. [gonk] Yet I keep ending up dating guys who do anyway... so then I always get myself stuck in this situation of "I really like this guy, I'd like to think we have a future together, but this relationship is doomed unless one of us changes our minds about this." And, yeah, I should never, ever change my mind about kids for any reason outside of myself.

Little bird - Good Morning Magpie. Has the line "don't be afraid, little bird."

I'm.... ehhhh, could be better, could be worse. How about you?