• Activity
  • Votes
  • Comments
  • New
  • All activity

    1. What would your past self say about your current self?

      ~life Ask
      What would your past self(intentionally vague) say about your current self(also intentionally vague)? my own answer My past self would be surprised by the following: I am both less black and white...

      What would your past self(intentionally vague) say about your current self(also intentionally vague)?

      my own answer

      My past self would be surprised by the following:

      I am both less black and white and more black and white thinking than I used to be.
      I no longer put as heavy of an emphasis on Science being the only way to explain things.
      I have chosen to have less reliance on external validation.
      I burned out and hit at least two rock bottoms, and still have not fully recovered from them.
      I am pansexual and have at least grey thoughts about monogamy.
      I am more spiritual.
      I struggle socially (not in making friends, but how much anxiety or exhaustion I have around it)
      I am disabled.
      I can no longer travel or do physical activities that were a large part of my life.
      Experiencing pain that is constant and chronic.
      I would mourn so many things at such young an age.
      My family would become disconnected.
      I would have a much better relationship with my dad, but not my mom.
      I would live in a non-high density or HCOL area.
      I would consider a career outside of lawyer, psychiatrist, or scientist.
      Difficulty reading or learning.
      Commitment issues.
      Losing some of my best friends or other partners.
      I am neurodivergent (though that is only because the terminology did not exist at the time).
      Not being able to solve all problems or get myself out of everything, a drop in self-reliance, see burnout.
      Liking children and desiring to be a mentor or some sort of male au-pair.
      No longer like drinking, but do enjoy cannabis, ketamine, and LSD.

      My past self would not be surprised by:
      Still a perfectionist
      Still argumentative
      Still a clown and silly
      Enjoyment of philosophy and law
      Holding out to not have a car for decades only to be saddled with a lemon.
      Constant boredom and a need to know "why" or learn something new or otherwise seek out novelty and stimulation.
      Don't know what to do in life. Want to be a constant traveler and learner.
      Still hate cars.
      Still have a pretension and elitist problem.
      Struggle with self-love and self-worth, probably self-compassion too.
      Overly generous.
      Overly forgiving.
      Lover of showers and baths.
      Foodie despite hating the word and being anosmic. Becoming anosmic for two years and counting should be on the surprised list.
      I learn best by visual instruction as well as hands on.

      My current self, for the most part, likes itself in a way that I hadn't experienced for a long time. It's like my body took a break for ten years, deciding it hated itself and wanted constant improvement, all the while being its own worst critic and never really cheering it on. My current self is turning away from this mindset, and it feels great to have a more optimistic and self-satisfying life, but I just wish my physical body had not taken such a toll over the last few years.

      Look forward to hearing others' thoughts.

      28 votes

    5. What have you been listening to this week?

      ~music Ask (survey)
      What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! If you've just picked up some music, please update on that as...

      What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! If you've just picked up some music, please update on that as well, we'd love to see your hauls :)

      Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.

      You can make a chart if you use last.fm:

      http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/

      Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.

      8 votes

    15. What have you been listening to this week?

      ~music Ask (survey)
      What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! If you've just picked up some music, please update on that as...

      What have you been listening to this week? You don't need to do a 6000 word review if you don't want to, but please write something! If you've just picked up some music, please update on that as well, we'd love to see your hauls :)

      Feel free to give recs or discuss anything about each others' listening habits.

      You can make a chart if you use last.fm:

      http://www.tapmusic.net/lastfm/

      Remember that linking directly to your image will update with your future listening, make sure to reupload to somewhere like imgur if you'd like it to remain what you have at the time of posting.

      10 votes

    30. When is it okay to give up?

      ~life Ask (advice)
      When is is okay to give up on making a situation work? I legitimately ask, as I’ve pretty much given up on most “immediate” family in recent months. As an American federal civilian employee, I...

      When is is okay to give up on making a situation work?

      I legitimately ask, as I’ve pretty much given up on most “immediate” family in recent months. As an American federal civilian employee, I found the rhetoric of my immediate family crazy enough to warrant cutting them out of my life. I can’t get beyond their clear contempt for my livelihood. Despite conversations regarding how a certain admin’s policies are making my life worse, I have been told constantly not to complain because it could be worse. So I have “given up” and no longer interact with them. There have been further conversations prior to this, but I don’t think it’s necessarily important to the conversation.

      I ask this legitimately, as I am feeling guilt over it, despite the fact that I no longer feel dread or anxiety about it. I haven’t visited immediate family in over 2 months now, despite living within walking distance.

      At what point should one continue making attempts to repair to maintain relationships, even familial, and when is it okay to end them?

      34 votes

    42. Is there any source for news that hits the editing floor? That is, doesn't make the published edition?

      ~news Ask (recommendations)
      I figure that for each new story that hits a site like Reuters, theres at least a few that don't get chosen, hitting the editing floor so to speak (like scenes of a film falling to the editing...

      I figure that for each new story that hits a site like Reuters, theres at least a few that don't get chosen, hitting the editing floor so to speak (like scenes of a film falling to the editing room floor). Doe anyone know where these might be reported?

      Like, an rss feed of some editor somewhere that lists the stories they passed over.

      7 votes

    47. Are any of you fans of the older Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons games?

      ~games Ask (survey)
      I've been a fan of the farming/life sim/role playing/cozy games or however you want to label these games since I was a kid and my older brother brought home a new game for the Nintendo 64: Harvest...

      I've been a fan of the farming/life sim/role playing/cozy games or however you want to label these games since I was a kid and my older brother brought home a new game for the Nintendo 64: Harvest Moon 64. Over the years, I played several titles in the series through the Wii/NDS era, before my tastes changed, and I found myself playing more online games with my friends and just less gaming overall.

      Stardew Valley releasing was a huge event for the genre and I do greatly enjoy the game (even though I've yet to finish a play through as I keep restarting after taking a break from playing) as it captured the feeling of the early Harvest Moon games really well. It also got me to start the habit of having an N64 emulator and a copy of Harvest Moon 64 on practically every device I own.

      There have been some recent remakes of older games, specifically Friends of Mineral Town and A Wonderful life, but I didn't enjoy the art style and some of the changes made to the games, which ended up with me not picking them up.

      I was curious if anyone else was a fan of the series (or one particular game in the series), or if there are any recent games that you felt are great in this genre.

      9 votes

    49. Is it possible to completely hide one’s activity on the Internet from one’s ISP?

      ~tech Ask (advice)
      As the years go by, I’ve become increasingly annoyed (I choose that word intentionally) at the thought that there’s some “record” of my activity on the Internet somewhere, which was probably put...

      As the years go by, I’ve become increasingly annoyed (I choose that word intentionally) at the thought that there’s some “record” of my activity on the Internet somewhere, which was probably put together by my ISP. I “don’t have anything to hide” (other than perhaps the one or other ROM or movie that I download), but I also don’t want to randomly get fined or put in prison if, in a few years, our governments decide to retroactively criminalize certain activities (I’m thinking mostly about piracy).

      I’m not tech savvy though. That’s not because I haven’t tried. I have. I spent countless hours reading about how one can keep one’s activity on the Internet “private”. To my knowledge, it isn’t actually possible. I mean, even if I didn’t use my real name anywhere, or didn’t have any social media accounts (thankfully, I don’t), just the fact that I have to use an ISP to surf the web means that at least they are “spying” on me.

      So, I’m approaching all of you wonderful, tech savvy people (rather than ChatGPT or a search engine) to ask you if there’s something that I’m missing, and if there is a way (preferably a fool-proof one) to stop my ISP (or “anyone” for that matter) from collecting data on my activity on the Internet (particularly when I download ROMs or movies, which is the only “illegal” thing that I ever do).

      24 votes