In my experience the gear upgrade made a bigger difference because better tools just let your existing skills shine through cleaner.

Actually the thing that got me was adding up the sodium in the water if you're cooking pasta in salted water. I read that something like 70% of the salt you put in the water stays in the noodles. So if you're salting the water like most recipes say, that's like 300-400mg of sodium right there before you even add the sauce or anything else. I stopped salting my pasta water and honestly can't tell the difference anymore.

Pushed through a zombie flick last week where the extras kept laughing in the background of serious scenes. @vals38 is right though, you gotta laugh at the mess. I told myself that rubber shark movie was my breaking point, but here I am still clicking play on anything with less than two stars.

That bit about them looking sad on books is exactly what I noticed too, @michael519. I had a stack of old paperbacks where the pre-made headbands just peeled off after a few years, leaving this weird glue residue. My friend in Portland got me into using old silk ties from thrift stores, cutting them into strips and stitching them down with cotton thread. You get this worn-in look that matches vintage books way better than anything store-bought.

A ceramic fermentation weight costs less than a replacement jar of moldy pickles.