Where I grew up wasn't the city, but neither was it very rural. Still, during the summers I could look at my neighbor's yard and see what seemed like a field of blinking fireflies. We went out and caught some of them a few times, and with no major difficulties because they were so multitudinous.
Admittedly I haven't been to that house in years, but still - other than the one in my story above, I don't remember the last time I saw one in person.
I have to keep my window a little bit open because I use a window AC unit. Unfortunately, the build quality isn't great and the unit is old, so there are small gaps around it. Unsurprisingly, bugs get in and, I guess because I live in a fairly rural area, the diversity is kind of impressive. I would be very surprised if nothing had climbed on me in my sleep. Just a few days ago I was laying in bed reading and a moth tried to fly straight up my nose, then into my eye. I don't think either of us enjoyed the experience.
A week or two ago, I got an irritated spot on one of my eyes. I don't know what caused it; maybe it was another moth. Anyway, I kept track of it but didn't worry too much because there were no other symptoms. Then, one late night or early morning, I was trying to sleep but having no luck. As I laid with my eyes closed, I kept seeing flashes, but when I'd open my eyes there would be nothing flashing.
I was worried that my eye irritation had finally come to fruition and my retinas were detaching or something. That didn't help with the insomnia ... Eventually, though, I happened to open my eyes just as a lightning bug (or firefly or whatever your region calls them) flew right past my nose, blinking merrily.
I don't make a habit of lying. In fact, I avoid it where possible; I have for most of my life and was honest to a fault as a kid. I can remember two times I lied to my parents: once I took a dollar off the top of my brother's allowance. The other time I was speeding and crashed through a fence, then told my parents I swerved to avoid a deer.
I told both of those to my dad one year and he said "I don't think I want to hear any more confessions." Which is good, because I had none.
Apparently they were originally supposed to be compute, but someone didn't think the general audience would understand that, so they changed it to batteries.
A long time ago, I was trying to figure out why I had so much trouble making friends. I talked to the few connections I had and did some online searches. Paraphrasing, I found an analysis similar to the following:
Friendship is like two people holding containers of water. In this metaphor, one person is holding a drinking glass, one is holding a bucket. If the person with the drinking glass offers ever bit of water they have, the person with the bucket feels it's inadequate. If the person with the bucket offers all of their water, the other person feels overwhelmed.
When I read that, I was quite a bit younger and found it fairly profound. I shared it publicly in several places. Every person who saw it - including those I considered to be the metaphorical drinking glass people - declared themselves the bucket person. I did the same of myself so, whether I was right or wrong, I can't blame any of those people.
In conclusion, I try to be a good person and I think I largely succeed, but experience has taught me that I shouldn't trust people's judgment of themselves. I'd like to think I'm an exception, but I'm no more exempt from this than anyone else I've observed, just - predictably - less able to see it in myself.
Reader mode is amazing. I don't recall whether I've ever used it for bypassing paywalls, but I used to read Rock, Paper, Shotgun a lot and, when they started getting disgustingly cluttered, reader mode made it a lot easier.
It also helps with navigating tech blogs when troubleshooting something and, on the rare occasion when I search for recipes, finding the only part that matters.
Before I was old enough to drive, I once was riding with a friend who'd recently gotten food poisoning and who really needed a restroom. He was speeding to get there and, when he got pulled over, told the officer so.
I don't remember the exact words, but after issuing the ticket, the policeman basically said "just pull over and shit on the side of the road if you need to."
I'm certainly not a fan of roaches, agreed there.
Where I grew up wasn't the city, but neither was it very rural. Still, during the summers I could look at my neighbor's yard and see what seemed like a field of blinking fireflies. We went out and caught some of them a few times, and with no major difficulties because they were so multitudinous.
Admittedly I haven't been to that house in years, but still - other than the one in my story above, I don't remember the last time I saw one in person.