Bulgarian Folk Song - Ergen Deda metal version

Been stuck in my head all day.

Thanks, it was meant to be a birthday present for my partner and I did it in secret. Really fun project!

It’s been a rather productive year so far:

• I did a lot of cross stitching.
• Went vegan.
• Dabbled into gardening (my partner did most of the work sadly but I’m more interested now than I was before!).
• Got into birdwatching so I started exploring nature with a much more different perspective.
• Set up a bird feeding station that got really popular among the birds AND the neighbours.
• Learned how to crochet.
• A combination of the aforementioned things somehow taught me how to manage my depression and anxiety better. I’m in a much better spot now than when I was mostly playing video games.

Lately I find myself listening to The Ocean Collective, Mors Principium est, Be’lakor, Soilwork, Between the Buried and Me. Generally more melodic and progressive stuff. Sometimes I put on metalcore which can also be a banger like Monuments (saw them live earlier this year, they were amazing), Periphery, Bleed From Within.

I know some purists would jump on my classification but it’s hard for me to put labels on music these days with bands having a much more unique style, rather than fixing themselves into a specific genre.

Death metal. Death metal while birding (or more like processing footage). Death metal while cross stitching. Death metal while crocheting. It’s a weird outlet that I mostly keep to myself.

I use streaming services these days but my next phone will definitely still have a 3.5mm. I’m not an audiophile but my 10€ Phillips wired earbuds audio quality would be matched by bluetooths at 5-10x of their pricetag. The wireless buds I have are only 4 imes as expensive as the wired and audio quality is worse, they often lose signal and they tend to fall out of my ear regardless of which rubber plug I use.

Vegan for 7 months now. Not planning on ever going back. My staple breakfast is hummus toast or overnight oats with whatever fruit I get plus peanut butter and banana or carob molasses for sweetness.

Often we cook different curries at home. Oven baked vegetables like Brussels sprouts, broccoli, potatoes (sweet or otherwise) with spices also work really well. I don’t make it that often but misir wat (Ethiopian lentil stew) is out of this world, you can easily make it vegan. Legume stews are on the menu at all times, and soy sauce peanut butter pasta is a guilty pleasure.

What if I sell my milk to a body builder just so I have a little pocket money?

As long as you’re doing it of your own free will without taking it away from your child, yes, probably. There is consent involved.

But if your breast milk gets mixed into a batch that was produced from selected specimens who produce extraordinarily high volume of milk, impregnated with their babies taken away, tied to machines and milked in filthy conditions, kept alive by being fed antibiotics every day… Yeah you get me.

deleted by creator

Cleaning chemicals have labels that require reading. Janitors tend to use those often.

My personal belief system is that no animal, regardless of how simple of a nervous system it possesses, deserves exploitation and suffering. It’s not so much about the animal’s feelings, which definitely also plays a role when we talk about the more “sentient” beings, but the effect that has on the rock we live on.

Keeping animals in captivity because “it’s cool” or for public amusement is not something I agree with. Keeping them in a sanctuary is one thing, capturing them from the wild, breeding them, and displaying them in enclosures far smaller than their natural territory is another thing. Animal breeding for profit is also something I have a problem with. Keeping them in cages is not ok. You do not have a reason to keep a living being enclosed because “it’s cool”. Invasive animal species often came to be because the said species are “cool”, not to mention the way they got into the breeding system in the first place.

The problem with consuming less sentient animals isn’t about the kill count or the pain they suffer. It’s about the way they’re “harvested” and the effects on the environment. A much larger portion of our agricultural output goes for the tier 2 animals than for feeding humans. (using your tier system for simplicity, I don’t want to lump animals into tiers myself). The emissions coming out of these animals amounts to at least 25% of our greenhouse gas output.

Farming insects is part of the above problem. You use more plant food for less calories. It’s much more efficient than beef, yes, but correct me if I’m wrong, I might be talking out of my ass here, escaped population can wreak absolute havoc on the local ecosystems.

And for clams and mussels, they might only be able to react to stimuli but trawling for them is an absurdly destructive practice that also needs to stop.

Discworld is my go-to these days. Goes well with cross stitching

In contrast I would never want to listen to a Terry Pratchett book while doing something else

Ah well. Sarah J. Maas was also a fun experience. It’s so bad it’s good. I went with A court of thorns and roses but I hear her other series follow a similar vein. It’s hard to miss the important details. Look for the Graphic Audio releases.

If you move a bit east of Italy, to that peninsula that should not be named, Viber gets real popular.

A cashier because people throw money at me all day. Also a scientist because science is cool. Now I spent 5+ years studying my favourite sciences only to realise the job I’ve been studying for is a cashier… Yeah I should probably go for a PhD

Because it has the same root. In Bulgaria we also call them Немци, pronounced the same way as in Romanian. Ням (nyam), means mute, plural is неми(nemi), Nemți sounds more like people from a land where people are mute (speak gibberish )

As others noted, lettuce is not that good bang for the buck, and bread keeps reasonably well in the fridge. Oatmeal is great and can be left overnight in the fridge and be ready for the morning. I do mine with a tablespoon of flax seeds, freshly ground, whatever nuts I have lying around or peanut butter, frozen berries (a lot cheaper than fresh ones, our Kaufland has the ones I like, Lidl tends to add cherries but YMMV in Germany) and plant milk of course. Any seasonal fruit goes well in oatmeal otherwise.

If you don’t mind spending 20 minutes on a stove you can also make a salty version with some soy sauce, paprika, onions and a little bit of (rice) vinegar.

Not sure how much it costs in Germany but a small block of tofu, imported from Germany, in the Bulgarian Lidl costs 1€. There are multiple varieties. Basil tofu goes well in salads to add some extra protein.

Again it involves a bit of cooking but lentils are cheap fast cooking protein. Red lentils with bulgur Turkish style are love.

Turkish stores probably have Cig Köfte in the fridge. It’s made of bulgur wheat, spiced, very nutritious, and relatively cheap. Goes well in wraps with hummus and tomatoes/cucumbers. Falafel is great too but it might cost more.

Explore the cuisine of other countries, especially Middle Eastern, Indian, and ones that are serious about Christian fasts (Ethiopia, Georgia, Armenia). They use ingredients that don’t cost much, the meals are delicious, and oftentimes it’s easy to prepare.

As for boxes, I use old brine cheese boxes (don’t judge, leftover from my vegetarian years) in a plastic bag to prevent leakage. Otherwise make sure it makes a tight seal.

Shop smart, in the veganDE lemmy community there is a weekly post about vegan discounts in Germany. I would kill to have that here, might as well do it myself someday.

Not sure if I am of any help but best of luck. Cycling to work builds up muscle. Your endurance can only get better with time. I’m seriously considering cycling rather than walking too.

I share a name with a famous Russian scientist that has some principles named after him. People from my country don’t make the association, it seems like a common enough name. Other people instantly recognise it and can’t believe that’s my real name.

That sparkly quartz kitchen top? Yeah…crushed quartz and glitter to make it sparkle. As I said, it’s everywhere.

Seeing the comments here and people don’t even realise how widespread glitter is. It’s in everything and used in a variety of industries. From pharmaceuticals to construction, to transport, vehicles, military… in fact the one of the biggest consumers of glitter is kept secret so who knows, could be the military. It won’t surprise me. We really need to find an alternative.

While I agree, I live in an area where the tech I can afford is similar to what seems popular in India and SEA. I’m a visual learner and often times I end up on that part of YouTube when I need to repair something, and the best I’ve got is an Indonesian dude breathing solder fumes in the backyard of his makeshift shed at night. And you know what?

That was the most useful repair video I found and it helped a lot. And I found it because the title was in English.