u/Hefty_Coat_7117

Tonight is my first night camping in FOREVER. I’m at Garner state park in texas and I got back to my tent and the rain fly and exterior was/is COVERED with about a dozen German cockroaches. I was able to get in without letting any inside but fuuuck if I gotta get up to go pee I’m gonna freak.
I don’t have any food in the tent so I have no idea why there all in my tent (maybe the trash can that’s a few sites over?). And, yes, I know it’s outside and that’s where roaches live, but now I’m scared I’m gonna bring a bunch of hitchhikers back into my apartment with me.
I don’t have a garage or anything to keep it in, so its only possible places of eventual return are in the apartment or my car.
How do i make sure the little bastards don’t follow me home?

(Edit: r/pestcontrol made it very clear they almost for sure are Asian or Bilunate roaches which are supposed to be outside and likely won’t follow me home. I’m still gonna be cautious but that’s a huge relief)

Howdy, I'm doing a 3 night car camping trip to Garner State park from the 4th to the 7th. Then I'm going to loop back and visit San Antonio for three days before heading home to the Austin Area.

I'm a reasonably inexperienced camper and have never been on a solo trip before, so Ive been reading up on practically any guides I can get ahold of. I ended up writing out my "To Pack" list and its nearly fifty items long. It feels a bit excessive, but I don't have enough experience to know if I'm overdoing it. The park also has bathrooms and showers within walking distance, as well as a picnic table. Now I'm driving in and I'm not doing anything that needs any ultralight backpacking type stuff, so its not life or death or anything, I just don't want to lug everything out of my apartment if I don't need it.

Is there anything on this list that I can full on take out or something glaring that I'm missing?

Tent	Sunscreen	Plastic Plate	Fan/Lamp
Tarp	Towels for plates	5 gal water	Extra batteries
Extra Tent Stakes	Quick Dry Body Towel	Clothes + Boots	Toothbrush/toothpaste
Duck Tape	Water Bottle	Sleep Clothes	Bar Soap
Sleeping Bag	Camp Stove	Rain Poncho	Biodegradable Dish soap
Sleeping Pad	Propane	Hat	Hot Dogs
Pillow	Lighter	Map (Laminated)	Hot Dog Buns
Backpack	Cooler	Phone	Tortillas
First Aid Kit	Ice	Power Bank/Charger	Hamburger
Citronella Candle	Pan	Headlamp	Hamburger Buns
Insect spray	Cutlery	Utility knife	Swim Suit

I have a whole week off in early October and I really want to see a national or state park. The one I’ve seen the most about in state is Big Bend. Ive been doing a lot of research in what kind of trips to do (horseback riding, hiking, and kayaking are on my wish-list) and where to stay, but somehow neglected to see how far away it is. I'm in Austin TX so its almost an 8 hour drive. 

What I want to know is: Is Big Bend worth that drive? If not, are there any other national or state parks that might be better/less of a drive? I saw there's a few options but I haven’t heard of them before. 

I'm not exactly an experienced camper or hiker, not even fit really, so roughing it outside of standard tent camping is beyond me. 

I’ve been vegan for the last 10 years and have been dealing with anxiety, a mood disorder, and have body issues/binging behaviors. I am currently in the morbidly obese category and it is deeply anxiety inducing for SO many reasons. So a LOT of my therapy has to do with my anxiety around my body issues and my struggles to keep at a healthy weight.

I was complaining that I am constantly frustrated with myself because I can abstain from everything not began but can’t stop myself from overeating. At which point she asked if I gained weight after I went vegan. And, I had. So she said that I might be overeating because I’m deficient in some mineral. Usually, I don’t pay attention to this kind of thing because I supplement B12, Iron, D3, and Omega 3, and my labs never come back deficient in anything aside from vitamin D (which I’m being treated for). But…the fact that I HAD gained weight while vegan made me think.

Essentially, she said that my health was more important than my morals and tried to determine what I could eat without it being overly distressing. And I said I MIGHT be able to justify trying out eating oysters. So we made a plan that I would try for one week and see if there was any change.

Well…I binged on oysters at a restaurant. Which I was surprised by but thought maybe it was because she was right. I went home, slept like 10 hours and went to the grocery store. Well, I ended up staring at the fish and clams in the seafood department for a solid hour and damn near had a panic attack. I just barely managed to keep it together by doing breathing exercises. Breaking my moral code was very VERY distressing for me and I couldn’t really even do day two of our agreed upon week because of it.

Regardless of your opinion of veganism, given how much anxiety following this new diet is giving me, should I just…go back to how I was doing it before? I don’t think I’m feeling any better or worse physically, but mentally it’s messing with me.

TLDR: I made a BIG life change at the behest of my therapist and I think I have myself an anxiety attack. How do I procede? 

I’ve been vegan for the last 10 years and have been dealing with anxiety, a mood disorder, and have body issues/binging and purging behaviors. I have stopped nearly all of the purging behaviors but still struggle with binging, which has led to me being in the morbidly obese category. So a LOT of my therapy has to do with my anxiety around my body issues and my struggles to keep at a healthy weight.

I was complaining that I am constantly frustrated with myself because I can abstain from everything not vegan but can’t stop myself from overeating. At which point she asked if I gained weight after I went vegan. And, I had. So she said that I might be overeating because I’m deficient in some mineral. Usually, I don’t pay attention to this kind of thing because I supplement B12, Iron, D3, and Omega 3, and my labs never come back deficient in anything aside from vitamin D (which I’m being treated for). But…the fact that I HAD gained weight while vegan made me think.

Essentially, she said that my health was more important than my morals and tried to determine what I could eat without it being overly distressing. And I said I MIGHT be able to justify trying out eating oysters. So we made a plan that I would try for one week and see if there was any change.

Well…I binged on oysters at a restaurant. Which I was surprised by but thought maybe it was because she was right. I went home, slept like 10 hours and went to the grocery store. Well, I ended up staring at the fish and clams in the seafood department for a solid hour and damn near had a panic attack. I just barely managed to keep it together by doing breathing exercises. Breaking my moral code was very VERY distressing for me and I couldn’t really even do day two of our agreed upon week because of it.

Regardless of your opinion of veganism, given how much anxiety following this new diet is giving me, should I just…go back to how I was doing it before? I don’t think I’m feeling any better or worse physically, but mentally it’s messing with me.

TLDR: I made a BIG life change at the behest of my therapist and I think I have myself an anxiety attack. How do I procede? 

So, I started low dose T gel this week and I’m already feeling great! My brain is telling me I already am feeling different but I’m pretty sure that’s just placebo and excitement.

Then I feel like I got shot in the foot because my period started today way WAY sooner than it was supposed to. Which is A) making me dysphoric and B) the exact opposite of what I was hoping would happen man!

Is that like…from the hormones? Again, it’s been less than a week, I don’t THINK shit changes internally that fast? I’m just insanely regular so it’s weird for me. And I’m probably way more upset about it than I really should be because I was so thrilled less than a day ago.

After spending years flipping flopping on whether or not I want to be on T, I finally got a prescription. I’m on low dose T gel (20mg at 1.6%). I’m gonna start taking it tomorrow and I’m nervous but excited.

I went to planned parenthood about a month ago and was given a big packet to look over. I’m nervous because I do very much want the muscle growth, deepened voice, and so on, but I’m very concerned about weight gain. I’m already in the obese category and I’ve been trying so damn hard to loose weight as it is, but I know that most people on T gain weight due to puberty part 2.
I’m trying to make an informed decision and I don’t want to make my health even worse by getting on T. I don’t have diabetes or high blood pressure, but I know I’m at a much higher risk than the average person.

I’m also not too crazy about the idea of more hair, but I already deal with that at a smaller scale. I also know I CAN just work out more for muscle growth (weight loss) and do voice training. I haven’t had much luck with it at this point.

But I really really hate how I look now. I’m very curvy, fat, and I don’t like it.

I guess I want to know if my fears on this front are well founded or not? Is it better to just focus on the health stuff and forgo the hrt?