I’ve been using MATE since Gnome 3. I really liked the simplicity of Gnome 2 and was unable to adapt to their “new” way so I switched to MATE and it just clicked. I tried Gnome 3 a few times again but I just can’t.

As for why MATE instead of XFCE or others? Because I already used and tried XFCE in the past and prefered Gnome 2’s look and feel. In fact, I have been going out of my way for years to keep every app using GTK2 and my favourite theme because I like how it looks and feel, and Gnome 3 and GTK3 broke this. So MATE it was. They switched to GTK3 too eventually but it gave my time to adjust.

My only “complaints” about it are the file manager Caja, and the way you can list windows, which both feel very basic. I would like those two to get better.

I try and use different DE from time to time, from Fluxbox to E17, but I just go back to MATE. My favorite DE of all time was E16 but it took waaay too long for E17 to be functional and I ended up keeping MATE.

This reminds me of the efforts made against tobacco and for cleaner air in certain areas, but it also reminds me how we do this for other things too.

Radium toothpaste, lead paint and asbestos curtains.

So, as someone that sees cars as a significant source of pollution, from exhausts, brake pads and tires, I find it ironic that some places are banning outdoor smoking in public areas while it’s perfectly acceptable to drive a gas guzzler around and among those places.

Like, I’m so grateful nobody can smoke around me on that restaurant’s terrace, this way I can fully enjoy breathing the pollution from the thousand of cars around.

I can’t tell for BlueSky because I have not joined yet, but I did create a Mastodon account months ago and I’m not sure what to do with it or how to interact with others. I find it confusing.

On Twitter I was mostly following a bunch of like minded people, liking their stuff, and I could see what they liked too. But on Mastodon there’s uuh, boosts and favorites?! I’m not sure of how it works or what I’m doing. I can’t just “like” posts? I have to boost them?! I found the people I liked that were on Twitter, but on Mastodon I feel like there’s nothing I can do aside from seeing posts and it’s just not attractive.

Meanwhile I’ve always been the one that takes the smallest possible meal at McDonald’s, and would think that 5 nuggets with fries and drinks is just enough. In fact I hate going to restaurants in general because portions are always much too big for me. I can’t usually take doggy bags, and I feel like I’m wasting most of what I’m served. I can’t recall even finishing a plate in a (real) restaurant; there’s always too much. I’m always like “oh it was really tasty but I can’t eat much more!”

Fuck off with your assumptions! You seem to think I’m blaming ThE ChiNeSE HaLF a WoRLd AwAy. I mentioned I’m also buying from eBay and the packages are delivered to me, and I can find them! I’m “blaming” AliExpress’ weird delivery system, not a whole country nor ethnicity. Again, if AliExpress sent my orders via normal post, I would be able to find them. But because they send them via multiple weird courrier companies that just end up dumping packages on the floor of a high rise lobby and mark it as delivered, it’s just pointless for me to order from them. If there’s one person to blame, it’s me for ordering from them when I know it’s a huge gamble.

I’m glad if it’s working well for people living in houses and for others, but for me, ordering from AliExpress doesn’t work most of the time. It’s not the fault of people HaLf A WoRlD AwAy, it’s just not working out for me where I live. Stop putting words in my mouth.

Hey, that’s me. More or less.

I have been living paycheck to paycheck for about two decades but things changed during the pandemic. I got a substantial raise, stopped smoking, and kept the same micro apartment in a high rise for years. I also live alone, refuse to pay for a car, and don’t have any children.

So I was able to put some money aside in the last years and now, I take extended vacations (I took 8 weeks this year), I travel, and treat myself with what I want.

My sister wonders how I can afford to take that much time off work to go to different countries and think that I just recently found interest in traveling but really, it’s just because I can afford it now.

Doesn’t really matter. In the end, I should know that ordering from AliExpress where I live just ends up as packages being “delivered” and me not finding most of them.

It’s not their fault per se but more in the way their delivery system is setup. I live in a building with over 300 apartments. A place where ordering anything that will be left on the floor of the lobby for more than a few hours is going to be stolen.

If I order from eBay, they use the local post and my stuff is either left in my mailbox, or I have to go get it at the post office. It’s never left on the floor.

If I order from Amazon, they will usually (not always) put my packages in the secure lockers. And if I’m waiting for something rather pricey, their estimate is good enough that I can stay home that day.

But ordering from AliExpress is a huge gamble for me. I don’t live in a house, don’t have a door giving on the outside, and their courriers are not consistent. Sometimes they call me on my phone and they (apparently) want me to open the downstairs door, but I can’t do it this way because they have to ring my apt # on the doorbell. So they lose patience, hang up and I can’t find where the package was left. I have never had a delivery that went smoothly with them. I tried with cheap items first and delivery was always spotty. That’s why I should have known better. Ordering from them and have packages delivered where I live is a taking a risk. Their delivery estimates is also all over the place. The package was supposed to arrive yesterday but it arrived on a Friday evening while I was out of town for three days. I just can’t stay home for two to three weeks waiting for the AliExpress courrier to leave my package on the floor of my apartment’s lobby.

It would probably be much better if I lived in a house and they simply left the package in front of it. Like, if I ever order from them again, it will be at my parents’ house. But because I live in a tower with a lobby, they just dump the packages on the floor of the entrance, mark it as “delivered”, and I usually never find them. I would really really prefer if they used the local post instead of weird random inconsistent courrier companies.

Not great for money but could be worse.

I should have known better than order from AliExpress, as I’ve had a $200 package probably stolen. It was delivered to the floor of the lobby in a building that has 300+ apartments, a Friday evening, and I couldn’t get home until Monday. There are secure lockers but they were not used. So yeah, no package and AliExpress is like “but it was delivered so it’s your problem”.

Also, winter is coming here and I hate it, so I’m trying to plan a short trip in the Carribean in a few weeks, and maybe a longer one in January. It’s probably going to be St-Martin for now. Hopefully, the planning and the trip itself will help me take my mind off all the recent shitty news.