Oh yeah. You could hear trees absolutely exploding everywhere. It was crazy! We had the National Guard out here helping with the aftermath. I lived right down the street from the water tower in my town, so we got our power back on in a few days, but my mom's house is a mile away and without electricity for a couple weeks. We had a run of wild weather and some insane storms for a few years after that, but that's the only one I remember as being totally catastrophic. Even Snowtober wasn't as bad.

Lili's. They're the only one I found in the area that has a selection from local artists. Everything else seems to be mostly factory glass. I got a piece from them made by Martha Proctor and I've been extremely satisfied with my purchase. You're gonna pay out the nose for a hand blown bong though.

Right, just making sure. In my opinion, it's all overpriced. No harm in trying it if that's what you want to do, and potency is different for everyone, but it's never been more than a novelty for me.

You're 19? Unless you have a medical card, then you can't legally buy cannabis. And every sub on Reddit will ban you for asking for black market plugs.

Try r/bostontrees. Most of the edibles I've tried from dispensaries are overpriced and made from distillate though.

Great recs! I'd just like to add that Boston, Providence, and Pioneer Valley all have some great options and aren't a bad drive for a show. Although I haven't really kept up with live music since Covid, so I'm not entirely sure what's still good these days.

I personally use Bandsintown to find my shows. It's great, lets you import all your followed artists on your other apps and makes recommendations based on them. Or you can search everything within your set radius.

Edit: The Jesus Christ Superstar revival is coming to the Hanover at the end of April. You did say all types of music, u/dandylion1313.

Oh, ok. That makes sense then. Thanks!

I just don't understand why it would count as income again. The state tax doesn't get deducted on federal taxes, so you already paid federal taxes on it when you earned the money in 2021. Is it just because it could impact how your itemized deductions were calculated? Is that why it's not applicable for the standardized deduction?

Yup. City has an average income of like $28k individual and under $60k family at the last cencus. Average rent is now creeping up towards $2k.

Tell me about it! People getting priced out of Boston have spiked the housing costs in central Mass beyond what the average income here can support. Meanwhile our government continues to only take token actions to address these issues. Relying on the private sector to work itself out is never going to work.

Worcester Art Museum is great! You could definitely spend 5-7 between there and a tour of the local breweries.

Parking sucks in Worcester.

Worcester is affordable compared to most places east of Worcester, which is one of the worst housing markets in the country. It's about on par with the more bougie places in Western Mass, but still much more expensive than anywhere that hasn't been gentrified to shit already.

You don't want a Wegmans in the city? A Hannaford? Or another Market Basket?

You don't want to upgrade the fast food scene to something better than Popeye's?

You don't think we need a Costco? We need a Costco, damnit!

An outdoor music venue. This was one of the things I was excited for Polar Park, but from what I heard they can't fit the equipment through the entrance thanks to some shitty aesthetic design choice. But an amphitheater or an open air stage would be great too. Even just somewhere in the county.

Affordable housing is obvious. Rental prices have shot well beyond the median income. I've been looking at condos lately and ones that were well under $100k a few years ago are now going for $200k+. I saw a single room, 300 sq ft efficiency marked for $130k, and it sold.

Better chain stores. Worcester never seems to be up to date on any of the best big box stores, restaurants, or grocery stores. It's like they're all stuck in the 90s here.

I think it was 2004. This is the coldest temp since then.

Yup. Either way, the market isn't going back down, so the only 2 realistic options for those getting priced out in Worcester would be to continue raising minimum wage and to directly invest in low income housing. We're never going to catch up to demand enough to stop the market from going up here, and we need housing for low income workers now.

Too little, too late. Rents have already spiked beyond what the labor class can afford, and they're not going back down without more radical action. I believe building out public housing would be the only way to truly get things back under control. Of course, I also don't trust our government to build anything decent nor keep it funded enough for it to not turn into a nightmare eventually.

I'm intrigued. Who the hell made this and why?

Or there's an intro in Texas.

It starts in Texas.

Yeah, no Dunks!

And Bill lives in the rolling countryside of Framingham.

The pond in my hometown is low key infamous for this. It's got cold springs, so even strong swimmers can get in trouble. You can get cramped up when you get a cold shock like that.

Even though it is on the rise again, gun violence actually peaked in the 90s and has dropped since then. There's always been shootings which you don't hear anything about, the only reason this one is making it further than local news is because it happened in a mall.