1

Man climbs a 1,999-foot tower to change a light bulb. It looks just as wild as you’d think.

You know those big giant antennas that look like they reach just below the wing of an airplane at cruising height? Well, someone has to climb them every so often to inspect them or change the flashing bulb. You’d think it would be easier to have a helicopter or something drop them off, but there’s probably a really compelling reason someone has to physically climb the antenna. If nothing else, it’s a good workout.

For Nick Wagner, climbing these huge antennas is just another Tuesday at the office. Wagner works for a company called National Tower Controls, LLC, and apparently, they do maintenance on these towers annually. I’m not sure if there’s some sort of process to decide who gets to be the one to climb the beast or if everyone that works there is expected to climb. But Wagner took everyone on his climb to change out the light bulb and inspect KDLT-TV’s antenna in 2015, and while the view is beautiful, I imagine it could also give you heart palpitations.

2

60 years after breaking off their engagement in 1963, couple find each other and tie the knot

Many of us dealt with annoying ex-partners reaching out after a long time. So, it isn’t surprising when Priscilla Matheny deleted the friend request of her former fiance Ed Sneckenberger last year. The 83-year-old told Washington Post that at the time, she thought, “Who does he think he is? I don’t want anything to do with him.” Ed had called off their engagement in a letter to her sixty years before. She hadn’t spoken to him in a long time. She said, “He broke my heart.”

Matheny met Ed in 1959 at a local church in Hagerstown and they grew up together. Ed, now 85, proposed to Matheny three years after they met and she happily accepted the proposal. He proposed to her while he was a student at West Virginia University, a few hours away from where she worked as a secretary in Hagerstown. They decided to pursue a long-distance relationship, but he eventually withdrew his proposal. Despite visiting each other often, Ed realized that he was not prepared for marriage due to financial struggles. He had worked hard to save money for college tuition and did not feel ready to begin a new life with someone else. Matheny was devastated when she received the letter and sold the engagement ring, deciding to move on.

3

BeReal app’s meteoric rise signals a sea change in what people want from social media

My friend and I were hiking along a beautiful coastal trail when her phone chimed. “Oh, time for my BeReal!” she exclaimed. She pulled her phone from her fanny pack, snapped a photo of our ocean view, then beckoned me for a quick selfie with her. A few seconds later, she put her phone away.

I had no idea what had just happened.

As she explained what BeReal was, my first reaction was, “Great. Another social media app. Just what the world needs.” She described it as being a more genuine version of Instagram, but I didn’t get the appeal.

Then I saw my teen and young adult kids using it. Then I downloaded it myself. Then I got it.

4

Hairstylist shares difference between Gen Z and Millennial salon goers with hilarious accuracy

While millennials and Gen Zer’s often get lumped together as the “young group,” they are certainly not the same. (Although, it is kind of hard to tell with all the Y2K fashion floating around.)

But speaking as a millennial, we definitely have different approaches to life, a lot of which seems to come down to a sense of self-assuredness. That goes for shopping, socializing, self expression…and even going to the hair salon, apparently.

Alexis Rex (@rex.artistry), hairstylist and owner of Rex Artistry Salon in Maryland, gave a brilliant (and hilarious) demonstration of some key personality differences between her millennial clients and her Gen Z clients in a now viral TikTok video.

5

American family in Japan gets the sweetest note from their new non-English-speaking neighbor

The way we come across long-lasting friendships is often unexpected. But when you’re part of a military family. You learn to grab hold of the good people you meet and carry those friendships across states and oceans. You mark your friendships based off of what base you were stationed at when you met them and know those friendships can withstand just about anything because they’ve been tried.

So for an American family stationed in Japan, there was no doubt at least one lifelong friendship would be made. It just may have been surprising that the friend wasn’t affiliated with the military. Instead, the friend was an older Japanese man who didn’t speak English and lived next door to the young family in Yokosuka, Japan.

But this isn’t the first time this unique story went viral. In 2013, Reddit user Theresa52 posted a picture of a note that she received from her neighbor-turned-friend. People loved the letter and sweet story attached. Theresa explained that after moving to their new neighborhood in Japan, she and her husband passed out beer and chocolate to their neighbors. A few hours later, they met, Hiroshi Yamashita, their new neighbor and one of the recipients of their gift.