Another trick that COMPLETELY changed my workflow was using the smudge tool on a really low opacity with a textured brush instead of a soft round one. It picks up the colors in a way that feels way more natural, like you're actually mixing paint on a canvas instead of just smearing slush.

HOLD UP. That small clipper guard trick in the reverse direction just BROKE my brain. I have been fighting with the parietal ridge for like six years now, doing the same damn thing over and over and wondering why it never looked clean. All that time and it was just a simple direction change and a different guard size? Man I'm gonna try this on my next cut and if it works I'm buying you a drink. That's one of those secrets that should be taught in barber school but nobody ever talks about.

Is it really worth getting worked up over something that probably won't matter in a week? Idk, sometimes letting it go feels like the smarter play.

You know what nobody talks about with this? There's a weird social pressure thing going on too. @drew_thomas9 your dad's situation is a perfect example of how taste literally changes, but there's also this unspoken rule that you're supposed to pretend to enjoy fancy coffee once you hit a certain age or income bracket. Some of these Folgers drinkers probably remember the days when coffee was just a hot brown liquid you drank while smoking a cigarette and arguing about lawn care. They never wanted the whole single-origin Ethiopian pour-over thing, they just got pushed into it by culture and now they're quietly rebelling by going back to what they actually like. That generational shift might be less about losing taste and more about being tired of pretending.

Read somewhere that 6am kitchen noise is a top reason for household arguments.