I thought that was Kent from Stardew Valley in the back at first

There are plenty of people who I also wish my email finds them in a nettle bush.

I reached out to dozens over lockdown (which probably adds to how successful it was).

Everyone who saw the message replied. All of them were really positive about hearing from me. One had even tried to contact me but only had my deadname to search for. Most of them we chatted for a bit then it naturally tapered off, but we still catch up once in a while. And a few are now good, solid friends.

Definitely recommend.

In the 90s I was a teenager and I took a friend with me visiting family in Japan. I can’t read more than about 100 kanji, probably less now.

We found a vending machine, a small one not the usual fridge size ones, just on the street. I was trying to figure out what it was selling, it didn’t look like anything I recognised. We both smoked so I could just about recognise the words for pregnancy and something negative or anti, like a health warning.

We were there for a good 10 minutes and a few elderly people had taken notice of us and were giving us weird stares, proper WTF faces. My virgin ass finally figures out they’re condoms, the kanji are the equivalent of Contra, Ceptive, and we bolt.