I take off my clothes and all these ties

[sovay]

The physical therapist I am seeing for my back has now referred to me clinically as tall and middle-aged. I have no issue with my age, but I have always thought of myself as on the shorter side of medium height and anything else an illusion of the way I carry myself. My family made me look up the average AFAB height in the U.S. My mother has offered to get me a cardigan for being tall and middle-aged in. In high school she was devastated when she grew that quarter-inch taller than Mickey Rooney, because now he would never ask her to dance. She is not very sympathetic.

Comments

[sovay]

You're absolutely a tall person, I confirm without remembering the number of feet and inches in height you are. It's more of a vibe, or mood, if you will, than anything else.

Thank you. I trust your eye.

One of the voice teachers I worked with when I was into acting was a kindly British woman who must have been 6'1" at least, but you wouldn't have noticed it because she had Short Person Energy.

I am familiar with actors whose height I have no actual idea of, because it varies so casually and impressively from role to role.

Mickey Rooney didn't deserve your mother anyway.

Aw. I will tell her!

Will report back.

Please do! In the meantime, I would unironically like to hear your opinions on oatmeal.

[teenybuffalo]

Thank you.

To begin with, rolled oats are where it's at, and steel-cut oats have an unpleasant texture that one is not obliged to like. I like oatmeal mixed with three times its volume of water (so, half a cup of oats to one and a half cups water) and a pinch of salt, the more so if it's been put in a covered saucepan and left to soak on the top of the stove overnight before cooking it in the morning. A two-to-one ratio of water to oats is best if you like it thicc, which I used to, but am now more into slightly liquid oatmeal. No need to use milk at the cooking stage: it'll just make it burn more easily. Make the basic oatmeal of oats and water plus a little salt, then, if you want milk or cream, add it later as a topping after the oatmeal portion is done cooking. To my mind, though, it's best with just jam or cut-up fruit, plus a little butter.

Savory oatmeal is legit. One or more mix-ins from this list will produce exciting results: shredded cheese, black pepper, garlic chili sauce, nutritional yeast flakes, Marmite, relish, pickle (as in "mango pickle" or other fruit or vegetable preserves with spice and vinegar). One of the above, plus chopped apple, makes a good sweet-and-salty experience.

Oatmeal is the perfect meal for when you're hangry and have zero energy to put into thinking about what to eat. It may be eaten for lunch or dinner if necessary. It's also good for dealing with (some kinds of) disordered eating, as it's so simple that it can often bypass food-related anxiety. It has decent amounts of fiber, calcium, and B vitamins, which I for one can always use. If one is concerned about meal moths or about food going bad, rolled oats can be kept in the freezer and stay good almost indefinitely. I've also heard that people who experience a sugar-crash feeling after eating cold cereal find that oatmeal doesn't provoke that.

The one thing to avoid is eating it so often you get sick of it, but that's the case with any food. In conclusion, rolled oats are helpful in life.