u/kgaviation

I should start with the fact that I don’t think this is solely my issue because I’m a huge introvert so don’t prefer to socialize much or have many friends in the first place. However, having IBS has really made it hard for me to want to have a social life. I always get nervous just going anywhere out in public for fear that I might get hit with a sudden urge to use the restroom. Whenever I know I have to go anywhere away from home, I always make sure to not eat less than 2 hours before going out usually. That’s issue number one. Number two is the fact that I hate how so many social gatherings and events all revolve around food and eating. In my experience having friends, the most common and number one thing to do when hanging out is meeting up to eat or at least eating a meal during some point of the hangout. I wish eating wasn’t such a common social gathering activity. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve flaked on friends or straight up said no to hanging out with people because they either offer to meet up for a meal or because I know it will turn into that.

This leads into dating as well. I’m nearly 30 years old and single with hardly any relationship experience. But something that always makes me anxious is the thought of going on a date with a girl I really like and then having to spend the whole date in the restroom because of my IBS. And of course dates usually include eating a meal at some point. It’s just frustrating.

And the fact that it’s so hit or miss like roulette makes it that much more annoying. Like I could eat the same exact thing twice and be fine one time and living in the restroom the next. It’s just the fear of never knowing how my stomach will react to food.

Thoughts?

I’m sure that I’m not the only one here, but curious to hear your perspective. I’m only 29, but I never eat any meal at work. My coworkers think I’m kind of crazy, but I just tell them that I’m doing intermittent fasting. Thankfully it’s not too big of an issue since I do shift work and we don’t technically get a dedicated lunch break, although there’s always downtime during our shift. I also work overnights which I don’t mind and to be honest, I don’t have much of an appetite in the middle of the night. However, I’ll eat breakfast first thing when I get home from work in the morning.

But I’m always afraid that if I eat at work that I’ll get an upset stomach and be in the restroom for a while. So the easiest solution is just to not eat at work. Plus, I also don’t want to have a lot of gas which is another issue I have. While it’s not common, whenever there’s times where our work provides a meal or food, I’ll eat, but not much and just play it off as I don’t have much of an appetite.

But anyways, I’m just curious how many of you don’t eat at work because of your IBS and is this common?

Came across “Movin’ Out” two days ago after recently starting to dive into Billy Joel’s songs (see my post from yesterday). Anyways, Movin’ Out has been on repeat since the other day. While I love the studio version, i cant quit listening to this live version from Long Island. To me, it’s almost better than the original studio version.

Anyone else agree?

I’m a 29 year old guy and I’m a little embarrassed to say that I’ve just recently started listening to Billy Joel’s music. Not embarrassed in a bad way, but that it’s taken me this long especially since I’m from the USA. Now, before I say more, I should mention that yes, I’ve heard Billy Joel’s songs before, but mainly just his more popular hits like Piano Man, New York State of Mind, We Didn’t Start the Fire, and Uptown Girl. While those are all great (and catchy) songs, I never actually dove more into his albums and other songs.

Now you might ask what made me just start diving into his music finally? It’s actually not what you think. My supervisor is actually a HUGE Elton John fan. Like HUGE. Has been to tons of his concerts and knows like all of his songs. What’s even more ironic, is that he’s from Long Island, NY. The catch… he hates Billy Joel. Always talks bad about him and his music. Him and another coworker of mine butt heads a lot comparing the two as the other one loves Billy Joel. While I’ve heard lots of Elton John songs and enjoy them, I just had to listen to Billy Joel of course fully expecting his music to be garbage. Well, not the case at all.

The other famous Billy Joel song I always hear people refer to is Scenes From an Italian Restaurant. So that’s where I started. Instantly, it got stuck in my head and I started playing it on repeat. Next I found Zanzibar. Once again, hooked and started paying it on repeat. Tbh, I was jamming to that one. Next up, Stiletto. Also Hooked. Then Vienna, The Stranger, and She’s Always a Woman. She’s Always a Woman is definitely more on the slower side, but still imo a beautiful song.

So then I saw everybody saying how great of an album “The Stranger” is so I decided to just play through the album from the beginning. Holy cow, Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song) is my new favorite! I’ve been jamming to that on repeat for 24 hours straight now! Where has this music been all of my life?! I know Elton John is an icon, but man Billy Joel’s got some real hits and bangers!

I know I’ve only scratched the surface of his music, but I’m really enjoying finding hit after hit of his. Just thought I’d share this! Let me know some of your other favorites of his that I haven’t listed here if you want!

I’ve tried many different methods for making my house smell good like a hotel lobby. I’ve tried candles, wax melts, essential oil diffusers, room sprays, reed diffusers, and wallflowers. Personally, I find that wallflowers are one of my favorite methods. The scents last a while and the scent throw is consistent, much like you’d find in a hotel lobby. I know that B&BW has many scents to choose from, but I want to know which scents are most similar to something that you’d find in a hotel. The only one that I can really find is White Tea & Sage and I know that white tea is a common scent used in hotel chains, most notably Westin. Of course B&BW’s version is not quite the same.

Are there any other good scents that would be similar to what a hotel uses or similar to White Tea & Sage?

To begin, I love going to hotels and resorts and walking through the lobby doors to get hit with whatever amazing signature scent they’re pumping in. I go to Disney World often and their resorts all have signature scents that are pumped into the lobby space and they all smell so good. I always wish my house could smell similar. Of course, I’ve stayed at other hotels where this is also the case and Las Vegas is also known for this in their hotel casinos.

The issue is that for the past few years I’ve really struggled with settling on a method to make my house smell good consistently. I know that there are HVAC diffusers that can automatically program your house to have a constant scent pumped in. However, those are not cheap and I’m in a rental right now so I don’t own my house.

I’ve tried candles, wax warmers, wallflowers, essential oil diffusers, and my Scent Air diffuser. I’d say they’re all good and have pros and cons, but nothing seems to replicate how hotels and resorts manage to keep their lobbies smelling good.

Candles are the obvious choice here, but I find that a lot of candles I buy (single wick) don’t have a strong throw of scent. Three work ones seem to be the best at having the most throw. However, I dislike candles due to their fire hazard and they aren’t really supposed to be lit all day continuously.

Wax warmers are also good, but I often find some scents to now be strong or last very long. You can obviously keep a wax warmers going all day, but the scents I find that I have to buy new wax melts very often. Wallflowers to me seem the best because you can adjust the scent intensity and they last typically for at least a month depending. The problem is that most wallflower scents I find smell very artificial like Febreze, Glade, or Air Wick and even B&BW. Oil diffusers are also good I find, but can’t really run all day and night.

My Scent Air Whisper diffuser has been good, but the scent cartridges don’t last very long. Maybe a month at best and they’re not cheap. $60 for one cartridge. That’s a lot for a scent that lasts MAYBE a month at best.

So I come here to ask, in your opinion what’s the best method to keeping your house smell just like a hotel or resort?

Does anyone else feel the same way? I’m 29 now and just left Christianity and quit going to church a few years ago. I’m pretty much the only one in my family who has left church and Christianity. While my family knows I’ve quit attending church, I haven’t explicitly told them that I’m no longer a Christian.

Anyways, with that said, my whole like since I was a kid involved me attending church and always trying to do the right thing and obey God. I was always afraid of sinning and doing anything that wasn’t “Christian-like.” Now that I’m an adult who has left Christianity and works around so many people, I’ve really come to realize how much on life I missed out growing up. All of my coworkers have tons of crazy stories from when they grew up and how they had gotten into trouble, hooked up, gotten drunk, all of that. It always makes me realize how I had such a boring childhood and adolescent years. I’d just always go to church and school and never would go to any parties or hang out with people from school on the weekends and such. I never had a girlfriend and have always been way way behind on dating and relationships because I virtually have ZERO experience, which I believe stems completely from being a Christian. Yes, I know that as a Christian you could date in the realms of keeping the relationship “godly,” but I was always afraid of disobeying God and purity culture was such a huge topic in church in my youth years. I never had many friends in school because most of the people I knew at school didn’t go to church and I didn’t want to hang out with them because I thought they were all bad kids and sinners. I never cursed and never drank any alcohol because I knew it wouldn’t please God. And of course I never hooked up with any girls or had sex.

Now as a nearly 30-year old guy, I just feel so behind. I have no friends, still haven’t been in a relationship, still a virgin, don’t drink, anything. I just feel like I’ve missed out on so much in life growing up. They all say you find yourself in your teen years and in high school and college, but I was never able to because of being Christian and going to church. Looking back makes me so angry now because I feel like I was robbed from all of that fun.

Does anyone else feel exactly the same as I do here?

Does anyone know what scent is used at these resorts currently? Their lobbies definitely have a different smell than they used to. Each of these resorts previously used the famous Green Clover and Aloe scent, but I can tell you that they don’t use it anymore. Beach Club still uses Green Clover and Aloe and it’s a very unique and distinct scent. I currently use it for my home diffuser and it matches Beach Club perfectly. But I’ve noticed that the three resorts I’ve listed all smell different now and each seem to use their own distinct scent now.

Problem is that whenever I ask a cast member they either don’t know, can’t tell, or just direct me to Bowes at Disney Springs. And now even the people at Bowes won’t tell me what resorts are which scent. It’s honestly kind of frustrating because I know a lot of people love the resort scents and it feels like some great mystery now to know which scents are being used. At most other resort hotels I’ve stayed at (Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Las Vegas), they’re more than happy to tell me what scent they use in each hotel and they’re easy to find online. Just thought maybe someone here might have the answer.

And before any of you direct me to Magic Candle Company, their resort scents aren’t accurate anymore.