I'd count that as a big win. There are not many things that get my goat as much as supposed adults who are not capable of basic hygiene. As a man, taking a shower, brushing your teeth and putting on deodorant takes 10-15 minutes tops, zero excuses for not doing that bare minimum before you go out and be around other people. Had a co-worker once who had halitosis so bad that i could tell if he was in on or not on any given day by just walking through the front door of my then-work place, zero exaggeration.
Far from being the only smelly bastard i've ever had the displeasure of working with. Long, dirty finger nails is another thing i find absolutely disgusting, i called out and embarrassed other dudes over this before.
One could argue that that's another type of parental neglect, and I would agree with you, but I am not a parent and never will be a parent, so I stay out of my sister's way of raising her children.
Completely agree to both the neglect part and the i am not a parent part, it is exactly how i handle it with my nieces and nephews. My (half) sister, who i did not grow up with, has a very, uh, "laissez faire" attitude, to put it mildly, when it comes to handling her two kids and as much as i sometimes (not even gonna lie, more often than not when i am around them) want to shout at them to get their shit together and behave i mostly keep my composure. Same with my cousin's kids, we are Italian/Sardinian so his kids are my niece and nephew as well despite us not being siblings, cultural thing. They call me uncle, i call them nipote (Italian word for nephew/niece, as well as for grandchild of any gender).
Regarding the rest of your post, i still hope you get/got some quality time out of your sister's visit.
I currently live walking distance from my job; and for reasons I can't disclose on this site, I can't easily find another one. Salary/benefits is one factor, the nature of my work is another.
Plus, I live in a blue city almost the *entirety* of which is a dangerous shithole. Believe me, I've been looking to leave town for *years*, I just haven't been able to find another decent job elsewhere yet. I can't just walk away from my health plan etc. I need at least a lateral move, if not a step up.
Anyway, I'm not exactly defenseless. I'm legally armed at all times, and I'm pretty street smart. There's just always the possibility I might catch a stray bullet, or lose a run-in with some crazy person with a large knife (have already had several such encounters; managed to dodge my way out of them).
Police around here have been doing a much better job the past 18 months, but they're woefully understaffed. They *do* pay extra attention to the area my business is in, because they know us and like us, so thank God for that. It's no coincidence that even in Leftist American shithole cities, most cops are Republicans. I look forward to the day when cops are allowed to dispense a little street justice again; it would cut way down on violent crime if the criminals knew the cops might bring them a well deserved ass-kicking along with an arrest.
And here i thought my city/hood is a shithole. Damn. I concur with the "cops being allowed to be cops again" part, back in the 90s we got our asses beat or at the very least got man-handled in the paddy wagon if we got caught doing the shit we did. Today it's all mediation this conflict solution that instead, which gets absolute zero respect from the hood boys and our "new arrivals" and does nothing to deter crime.
sucks being closer to 40 than 30
Is it that bad, though? Even despite having virtually no prospects for the future and long ago realizing i will be dying in a pauper's grave down the line i still feel much better now (especially mentally) closer to the big four oh than i ever felt in my twenties. Also, and as much as i hate being told this by people older than me constantly, late 30s is still quite young in the grand scheme of things, there's still so much shit waiting for us, why complain now when we got so many years ahead of us where we can do that?
Edit:
@PetiteFeet read your follow-up post, what you did with your nieces does sound like a nice time.
