I used to get Taco Bell like twice a month because it was tasty and cheap, even if it was garbage. But when fast food prices exploded the last few years, it really lost its appeal. The quality and variety dropped, too, and it just doesn’t make any goddamn sense to drop $15 to eat at fucking Taco Bell. There are countless better options for that price. I think I maybe ate there once in the last year and nothing about it made me feel like I missed it. A bit sad since I used to enjoy it, but in the end I’m better off.

They’re not hurting animals. Even if you want to focus just on the sex, consider: one has no control over their sexual preference and fetishes. By commissioning artwork and engaging in roleplay with consenting adults, they have a healthy outlet for their desires which harms nobody, nor any animals. You don’t have to understand it or like it. But it’s just nsfw art and adults having sex. It’s nothing to clutch your pearls over.

I’m sorry you had that experience, but glad that you continued trying and had better ones. There are definitely bad therapists, and more often it’s just a bad fit. The same way you’re not going to be friends with everyone, not every therapist can really work for you. It can take a few tries to find one that really clicks. I’ve met too many people who just gave up after one try, some after literally one session. Most were not anywhere near as bad as your experience. So give yourself a lot of credit that you kept trying even after that!

I wrote this out partially for anyone else who may be earlier in their mental health journey. If it’s not a good fit after a few sessions, you can ask for a referral or just stop and find someone else. A professional will not take offense. It’s pretty normal and an expected part of their job.

I describe it as more claustrophilic than agoraphobic. I’ve always enjoyed small, windowless rooms and closets. I’m willing to admit I’ve slept in the closet more than a few times.

And the better it is, the harder the fall. I’m five months into a very long RPG series, but starting to approach the end. The hangover from this one is going to be absolute hell.

He definitely should have left years ago, but I have sympathy for anybody caught in the clutches of an abuser, always catching glimpses of the wonderful person they used to be and hanging on promises that they’ll do better. But that day never comes. Things have been bad for a while and you know it, but they don’t seem that bad because it was always a little at a time and you’d get used to it. All of your other relationships have suffered, so this is all you have left to cling to. You just want to make them happy and have them love you again.

If you don’t understand, I hope you never do.

For what it’s worth, although it seems like a tangent, I do think that’s what was originally meant in the comment that started this chain and I was trying to help. I agree that people are using it with its intended meaning (but could be making an error in judgement).

Since the gendered nature of the term has been brought up, your comment makes me think of the word “bitch” compared to asshole or jerk. All three terms get used entirely subjectively, but I think most reasonable people agree that “bitch” is at least a bit more crass and tasteless due to its more gendered nature. I know we’ll never get rid of ugly words when using words to hurt and offend, but I think it does show that it matters if a term is gendered. So maybe when people are offended by a term being gendered, we should listen no matter their gender. And I think people who like using those terms, especially when told they’re hurtful, should have a long think about what feelings they get from using them.

It just made me think so I wanted to write that out.

The real question isn’t what it means, but whether or not it’s being overused. Even if the person using it knows its meaning and intends to use it that way, I think it’s still reasonable to ask if it’s being overused. Because we’re really asking if the existence and support for the term is creating a social environment where its use does more harm than good. If it’s mostly drawing attention to bad behavior so we can correct it, then it’s doing good. But if it’s causing people to see malice where there isn’t any or being used itself as a weapon, then we can say it’s being overused. I can’t answer that question, but it does seem worth thinking about.

I love this. It’s exactly the kind of thing I would do. I have so many detailed routines that give me the right mix of planned variety, freedom for true novelty, and security from familiarity.

Also diagnosed dual, but still doing a lot of thinking about it.

Ironically, those tools to filter out AI will also be AI. I do believe they’ll be necessary, but also what the fuck. It’s a bit like a bunch of people have decided to just piss all over the place, and rather than cleaning it up and putting an end to the rampant pissing, everybody’s just gonna end up putting on masks so they don’t have to smell it.

How much wiggle room is enough will obviously vary a lot by player, but I do truly find the older Souls games to have much more of it than people realize if you play smart. Even a little too smart in some cases.

But I feel you on the carpal tunnel. There are a few rhythm games I enjoy, but I can no longer play them on a moderate difficulty for more than an hour before the pain starts - and it takes a couple days to settle down again. I basically have to play on the lower difficulties or not at all. It was a sad day when I learned that.

Compared to most action RPGs, they’re notoriously more methodical and slower paced. But, they’re still action RPGs. Elden Ring leans more heavily towards the action where memorization and reaction times have the most influence on success. You have to learn the patterns, but good stats and gear can make it more forgiving when you make a mistake. DS leans more towards RPG, which makes it more flexible. You can play it as a pure action game and rely on good reflexes and pattern memorization, but you can also largely brute force it with a powerful character the same as many RPGs.

If you wanted to just mod Elden Ring into something more casual, the closest thing is the seamless co-op mod. But that would rely on having at least one friend to join you. It does drastically alter the balance, but I don’t think it would help the parts of the game that make it feel inaccessible if it’s a reaction time sort of thing that’s spoiling the game for you.

I myself have played nothing but slower paced and turn based games for the last couple years, so I get it. But I have had the Souls craving creeping up on me again recently.

I find their older titles more accessible because they were a bit lower budget, more experimental, and not trying so hard to cater to players who want the hardcore experience. That means the balance is all over the place, which can make the game stupidly hard if you just dive in unprepared. But it can also make the game fairly easy if you know how to cheese the bosses, where to find the OP gear, and what spots are good to quickly level up and just overpower the game. There’s nothing wrong with reading some wiki pages or watching videos ahead of time so you can play more optimally instead of floundering around and brute forcing your way through with an underpowered character.

Demon’s Souls can have long runs back when you die, but is extremely exploitable. DS1 can still be overleveled and you can sequence break to get OP gear, but there aren’t as many blatant boss exploits.

If you get really into it, you can always do challenge runs with certain restrictions, weapons, or builds. You can always make it harder to get the magic back - if the difficulty is part of the magic for you. If it’s not, then using strategy to make it easier is just improving your enjoyment.

I have never met my limit for how long I can go without human contact (outside of incredibly minimal “contact” such as posting here). I never measured specifically, but I know I’ve gone at least a month without contacting anyone and been perfectly content. When people were going nuts after a week of lockdown, I truly did not get it. I could have done that forever. I’d prefer it.

I might be kinda broken.

Oh please tell me it’s actually in the works. I want to switch to piefed but I’ve been a Boost user for years and every time I try to get used to something else I’m just reminded how much I like Boost.

The mute system is a little confusing. Basically, Twitch auto scans the video for what it thinks might be copyrighted audio, then it mutes that section for you to prevent you from getting a copyright strike. This is all automatic and set to extremely paranoid because when a big wave of copyright enforcement went around a few years ago, that was equally paranoid and ridiculous. People got copyright strikes for 2 second snippets of something you could barely hear in the background. It was bad.

But the auto mute isn’t a strike or even a warning. It’s no authority at all. It’s just a random automated guess at what companies might be looking for when doing their scans. It’s there to protect you in its weird and uncomfortable way.

You can dispute, but that puts the responsibility for any claims on you. You’re waiving the protection. It might be fine, but if it isn’t you suffer the consequences. So generally it’s usually not worth the risk to bother. But a mute is no big deal. It doesn’t hurt you or count against you in any way.

tl;dr: nobody is actually claiming that audio is copyrighted, except some robot scan thought it might be and better safe than sorry.

That AuDHD life

Nah, I’m AuDHD so my memory retains whatever tf random crap it wants and constantly forgets relevant things like my own address and what I was right in the middle of saying. But even if I could convince somebody, in my experience it still makes them uncomfortable. Or, it did enough times that it’s now lodged in my brain as something to put underneath the mask.

I often play dumb about little details I’ve noticed or remembered. I got in the habit when I was a kid and people would react weirdly like, “why do you know that?” So I’d just pretend I didn’t even when I did, and I never really stopped. I might notice what car somebody drives, for example, but if it comes up I just act like I don’t know unless they’ve specifically told me. I barely realize I’m doing it anymore.