Here we go again--gpt4 is a cheater..............

[floppers]

The numbering of the Offspring has provided an advantage at work (bearing in mind the only places I ever lose my phone are: in my car, at home, once on the top of my car but not very functional after I found it in the gutter, and in the creek (only twice, both times rescuing other peoples dogs from it), because we leave our phones in the office and workmates will advise me if one of my children has called, then based on the number Offspring and my knowledge of where they might be at that time, I can fairly reliably know if I need to call them back/check my messages, and the urgency of that. The Offspring are now 19, 21, 24, and 25...but still contact me for their personal details (what's my tax file number, medicare, unique student identifier, etc, etc...) , we are all weirdly incompetently competent!

As for the pollen!! We have an ad running at the moment where a young lady departs her partner, and seems to be crying, another lady sympathises, saying there are "plenty more fish in the sea". The young lady explains that her partner has gone to purchase anti-histamines....

Wattle is our national floral emblem, in Spring the surrounding trees are vibrant yellow, as is the windscreen on Offspring 2's (Sweetpea's) car. Our national floral emblem...makes me tear up everytime, but not because of patriotism. My students think that I'm allergic to "Bush Kinder" (because of the sneezing) and that it makes me cry...I long for Summer, when the 40 degrees C (104F) scorches the histamines in the pollen to ineffectiveness, and only the incessant sound of the cicadas rubbing their legs together interrupts my sleep. My part time job when I was in secondary school was at a florist..that made me cry too.

[floppers]

Oh, and because every time I am due for an upgrade, one of the Offspring breaks their own phones so I give the upgrade to them, the thieves have more self respect than to steal mine....it won't even upgrade to the latest IOS

[bwt1213]

Oh, and because every time I am due for an upgrade, one of the Offspring breaks their own phones so I give the upgrade to them, the thieves have more self respect than to steal mine....it won't even upgrade to the latest IOS

I don't have a smartphone. I have a flip phone. I've had it since 2003 and in the last few months I've finally learned how to send a text on it. But I still don't know how to send digits, so if someone says "this is a survey -- how do you feel about frammistans? Enter a number from 1 to 10", all I can text back is "Five". They want a digit. I can't do that. Give me another 18 years and maybe I'll have figured that out. I don't break phones, and I've never dropped mine. I do have to admit that I rarely use it, though.

As far as allergies are concerned, I have an observation and it's not good. I have determined that the longer you live, the more things you become allergic to and the more things you can't eat/drink/wear/smell/breathe/apply to your skin. My wife, for example, has reached her maximum lifetime allowance of shrimp. She once loved them, but now they make her deathly ill. I have become sensitive to modified food starch, but only SOME kinds. Sunny D has the wrong kind in it. So does Miracle Whip. Used to love Miracle Whip in potato salad. I have passed my lifetime allowance. She can't wear eyeliner, not that she ever liked it, but now it's out of the question. This might sound flippant, but I'm being really serious: you will become either allergic to, or sensitive to, things you really love and use a lot. Your body doesn't become "used to" them. It tires of them and rejects them. Your body determines what "a lot" means. Sometimes, it's "once".

If you find yourself becoming ill and don't know why, the first thing you ought to consider is food allergies. If you've never had one before, perhaps you have one now. They do appear suddenly and without warning. It's almost never "food poisoning". It's almost always something you ate, and it never bothered you before but it's sure bothering you now. The best way to determine the cause is with an elimination diet. Look it up on line.

If I can spare any of you the pain, embarrassment, and angst caused by food allergies, I will feel happy. I had several for more than ten years until they were tracked down.

[Chop Chop]

I looked into the "chop chop" illegal tobacco. Looks like this is lingo in Australia so shout out to my Australian word Brothers and Sisters!!!!

[floppers]

Yes, Chop Chop! G'day (which I never say, but my Dad does). The rock that I referred to earlier is Uluru, therefore if North is up, I live below it.

bwt, I'm sadly familiar with your "maximum allowance" theory...I have recently passed my maximum allowance of garlic...it used to just give me nightmares, but now I am anaphylactic to itIt was a gradual creep, of increasing symptoms, which I didn't recognise until I had to pull over and stay on the side of the road for over an hour before I could drive again, was sick to the stomach, had my first migraine in 20 years, for the next 24 hours. Confirmed this with a visit to the GP, and a referral to an allergy specialist...so, good advice to all, and the earlier you have them recognised the less you have to suffer.

Also, I had to dig through an old chest, to show the Offspring what a flip phone is...they were amazed that anyone could make a phone last that long!! Offspring 3 and 4, are jealous, because it's soooo retro, and retro is cool.

[Chop Chop]

That's unfortunate about the garlic. Makes me feel old explaining to youngsters about pagers and flip phones lol. I remember we used pager code to communicate in high school.

[2cute]

I don't have a smartphone. I have a flip phone. I've had it since 2003 and in the last few months I've finally learned how to send a text on it. But I still don't know how to send digits, so if someone says "this is a survey -- how do you feel about frammistans? Enter a number from 1 to 10", all I can text back is "Five". They want a digit. I can't do that. Give me another 18 years and maybe I'll have figured that out. I don't break phones, and I've never dropped mine. I do have to admit that I rarely use it, though.

As far as allergies are concerned, I have an observation and it's not good. I have determined that the longer you live, the more things you become allergic to and the more things you can't eat/drink/wear/smell/breathe/apply to your skin. My wife, for example, has reached her maximum lifetime allowance of shrimp. She once loved them, but now they make her deathly ill. I have become sensitive to modified food starch, but only SOME kinds. Sunny D has the wrong kind in it. So does Miracle Whip. Used to love Miracle Whip in potato salad. I have passed my lifetime allowance. She can't wear eyeliner, not that she ever liked it, but now it's out of the question. This might sound flippant, but I'm being really serious: you will become either allergic to, or sensitive to, things you really love and use a lot. Your body doesn't become "used to" them. It tires of them and rejects them. Your body determines what "a lot" means. Sometimes, it's "once".

If you find yourself becoming ill and don't know why, the first thing you ought to consider is food allergies. If you've never had one before, perhaps you have one now. They do appear suddenly and without warning. It's almost never "food poisoning". It's almost always something you ate, and it never bothered you before but it's sure bothering you now. The best way to determine the cause is with an elimination diet. Look it up on line.

If I can spare any of you the pain, embarrassment, and angst caused by food allergies, I will feel happy. I had several for more than ten years until they were tracked down.

I absolutely agree w/you. I used to LOVE turkey. I ate it all the time. Now I'm allergic to all poultry. I used to LOVE French Vanilla ice cream. Now I'm allergic to vanilla and eggs (unless they're baked into something). Course now I've been allergic to something my entire life. I did take allergy shots for 2 years and that's the ONLY TIME I wasn't allergic to anything. As soon as I stopped, yep, became allergic to new things again. That's right, the older you get, the more allergic you become. Absolutely.

I know the elimination diet is VERY DIFFICULT for lots of people. So how I learned was trial and error. First you need to keep track of everything you eat all the time (keep a journal). When you have a bad reaction, make a note of it. After many bad reactions, you'll find a pattern when you go back to your food journal. True this way you're more sick, yet then you won't have to starve yourself or deprive yourself either. Once you determine the item that may be making you sick. Just avoid it & see if you feel better. Then the trick is, you'll have to try to consume it again (not w/anything else you're not sure about), if you become ill, yep that's the one.


And, I too don't own a smart phone. On purpose. I don't like the way they spy on me. I did try it for a little while and wow, talk about expensive. I currently pay about $40 a month for my current phone. When I tried the smart phone $400 a month. Wow! Really? No. no. no. I don't need to carry around the internet with me everywhere and pay others to spy on me. I'll pass.

[2cute]

The numbering of the Offspring has provided an advantage at work (bearing in mind the only places I ever lose my phone are: in my car, at home, once on the top of my car but not very functional after I found it in the gutter, and in the creek (only twice, both times rescuing other peoples dogs from it), because we leave our phones in the office and workmates will advise me if one of my children has called, then based on the number Offspring and my knowledge of where they might be at that time, I can fairly reliably know if I need to call them back/check my messages, and the urgency of that. The Offspring are now 19, 21, 24, and 25...but still contact me for their personal details (what's my tax file number, medicare, unique student identifier, etc, etc...) , we are all weirdly incompetently competent!

As for the pollen!! We have an ad running at the moment where a young lady departs her partner, and seems to be crying, another lady sympathises, saying there are "plenty more fish in the sea". The young lady explains that her partner has gone to purchase anti-histamines....

Wattle is our national floral emblem, in Spring the surrounding trees are vibrant yellow, as is the windscreen on Offspring 2's (Sweetpea's) car. Our national floral emblem...makes me tear up everytime, but not because of patriotism. My students think that I'm allergic to "Bush Kinder" (because of the sneezing) and that it makes me cry...I long for Summer, when the 40 degrees C (104F) scorches the histamines in the pollen to ineffectiveness, and only the incessant sound of the cicadas rubbing their legs together interrupts my sleep. My part time job when I was in secondary school was at a florist..that made me cry too.

So you'd be a prime target for an identity thief as you can't remember these personal details & if they pretend to be anyone of your offspring, you'll gladly hand it over and not realizing you've just gave away your identity. If these thieves weren't successful, we wouldn't know anything about it, would we.

Ahh, I too cry and sneeze, except for me its from the trees, grass and dust. So by 3 months in (doesn't matter the temperature), the trees have bloomed & now its the grass. Dust effects me year around. If its really humid in the winter, the dust really effects me then too. Unfortunately I'm never free from it.

Thanks for letting me know. I like first hand experience.