I always used to enjoy staying up late too, but the older I get, the more tired I become around my regular bedtime.

It’s not just sleepiness, but genuine exhaustion that I cannot ignore that leads to awful symptoms like paranoia, eye strain, derealisation or anxiety. I just physically can’t stay awake longer.

My father is declining, my father’s declining, my fathers are declining, my fathers’ declining.

Aye, 'tis my father’s declension.

I would also want to add that many of these terms are regional and subculture-specific.

In the specific part of Germany I grew up in, a ‘joint’ was any smokable rolled cigarette-like object with cannabis in it. Nobody used any more specific words like ‘blunt’.

Then talking to people one town over, they looked at you as if you were from the moon if you called anything a ‘joint’ that didn’t have tobacco in it. To them, a ‘joint’ was exclusively a mix of cannabis and tobacco, and a ‘blunt’ was cannabis-only.

Then there’s people who add weed to pre-bought cigarettes, people who insist on using leaves, filters and no filters, tobacco or no tobacco, and so on. Most of these terms are really regional.

I understand where this is coming from, I think. Both are distinctly different and bittersweet in their own way.

I just don’t think having experienced unrequited love from both sides fully encompasses knowing the full spectrum of love.

I have had about ten relationships in my life, and every single one of them was different in a meaningful way. Every person in your life is a wholly unique experience, whether it’s unrequited love, a short-lived relationship or a deep friendship. I am an amalgamation of everyone I’ve ever known and loved, and I appreciate that this is what life gives me.