MetaFilter

What's the deal with your nickname? How did you get it? If your nickname is self-explanatory, then tell everyone when you first started using the internet, and what was the first thing that made you say "wow, this isn't just a place for freaks after all?" Was it a website? Was it an email from a long-lost friend? Go on, spill it.

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I’m going away for a bit but I’ll be back.

This is the best representation of me I can leave.
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I’ve had the same cell number for 24 years. I think that’s weird but I don’t know for sure. The longest I’ve had a particular street address was just over six years but it only happened once.
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some vocabulary i've learned on Metafilter:

ad infinitum: a European modern symphonic metal band

limns: a pretty whiny group of dudes that I'm almost positive are from northern California.

ostensible : Ostensible Waltz (recorded at Krampnitz)
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Stachybotrys
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This is the best interpretation of American Pie I've found.

I've added to my TODO list updating that site.
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RE: ideas for supporting a friend who has just lost a parent.

Tips on what to do when a friend's loved one dies:

Take the time to call or Zoom your friend and ask them to tell you stories about their parent. My dad died when I was 24 and all the "I'm here when you need me," and "let me know what I can do," wasn't helpful (neither was getting fired the day I came back to work after his funeral). Sentiments like that felt like a way to brush off my grief, which, of course, is totally understandable. Attitudes about death are so weird and it feels like people want to avoid pain and emotional intimacy. If that's your level of engagement it is what it is.

But I had a BFF who spent time with me every single day in the year that my dad was sick and when he died and I was on the other side of the state I only wanted to talk to her and called her late at night and she just listened and sympathized as I cried. She never said, "oh when MY loved one died I did...." .

I don't memorialize March 8th anymore. It's been 29 years since he died and it's not as important as it was. I spent 24 years observing his birthday and only one observing his death day.

Even if talking to your friend about their parents' death makes you uncomfortable, the best thing you can do, IMHO, is stay in touch and listen. You can always ask stuff as simple as "what was your parents' favorite joke?" "what did they like to do for their birthday?" Chances are your friend will want to talk about their parent.
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apropos of nothing, Chocolate City.
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a high point - I was walking down a one-way street near my house (a couple of weeks after the 2016 election) and there was a guy I thought might be homeless pulling a granny cart up the middle of the street. As he approached me he said, "do you need a hug?" I wavered for a second but yeah I really did need a fucking hug. He came over to the sidewalk and gave me the most fantastic hug I've ever had. He smelled a little like pee but I was happy for the rest of that day.
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Voting is not "an honor" as the Mango Mussolini asserted, it's a goddam right that every US citizen is entitled to exercise from where ever they want to. Under no circumstance is it wrong to bring food or water to any creature on this Earth.