I feel so bad because I ACNH is the reason I finally bought a switch 2 years ago. However, I've never been able to commit to building my island after finishing the main story/tasks. I've been playing just enough to keep the bugs out of my house. It might be slightly dramatic, but I feel like a failure at the game. I've wanted to completely start over because I feel like it would save me more time than trying to finish flattening my island and getting rid of so many weeds and crazy amounts of flowers. Aside from that, it just doesn't keep my attention the way that I thought it would. It feels like chores more than anything.
Does anyone have advice? Should I sell the game and cut my losses, or start over? I enjoy Ooblets, Pokemon cafe, and even Mario Kart. For some reason though, I can't stick with ACNH ☹️

I’m sure everyone’s sick of the stick drift topic, but here goes:-
Question explains it- guess is pressing the buttons causes accelerated load on the potentiometers could case stick drift to happen sooner, anyone have more into on this?
What I do to prevent drift:-

• I want to preface this by saying my TOTK Switch OLED is barely a month old but I do want to avoid drift at all costs hearing all the info on the internet.

1. Simple enough, I will just consciously keep it in the case to prevent dirt getting in the switch, I used to keep it on the dock to charge and then just let it sit there for a bit until I was using it or keep it cased when it wasn’t in use for long periods, but I’ll just keep it in the case going forward.
   
2. Not particularly a heavy user or anything who slams sticks, touchwood I’ve not struggled with drift a lot in the past except DS4 that too on the dead zone set to completely 0, I can take it up to 0.1 and experience no drift and it’s better to have some dead zone in your controller.
   

Just my problem is- I am a little fidgety and see myself casually pressing the L and R sticks when they’re not even needed.

Hey! Hope you're doing well. It seemed like a good idea posting here and my gut is mostly right!
I'm a 23 y/o guy from Ontario, Canada. Currently, I am working at an office here doing some more basic legal work. On the side, I am trying to start my own practice, as I am licensed to practice law here. So I am very passionate about that and the law in general. Particularly with Human Rights and the many issues that renting tenants deal with here. (In fact, I was actually at a hearing representing a client just a few days ago).
For reference, I am 6'0", white, wear glasses, 230lbs, shorter-medium jet-black hair, and have brown eyes. Have photos available as well!
Recently, I've been keeping pretty active. Been losing weight like crazy and I have a simple diet that I stick to. So a decent amount of time is spent being active and working.
Besides that, I love to cook. I cook almost every day and I would like to think that I'm pretty good at it. I just BBQ'd some ribs on the weekend that I would love to show you 😩
I am also really into video games. Mostly whatever I can get into after work. Recently its been a lot of Balatro and WoW. I would also love to try other games with someone else. I love most types of games.
Also completely obsessed with music. I play guitar and have been trying to teach myself piano. Love most types of music and recently I have been listening to a lot of MF DOOM and Madlib beat tapes, along with Kate Bush, Leonard Cohen, and more. Could go on forever about most music haha.
Also enjoy reading pretty often, baking, and currently growing basil and chili peppers. I am also studying/learning Korean if that's at all relevant.
There's a lot more but ideally I am looking for this person: Someone fun and educated, enjoys a longer conversation and just wants to get to know someone. No real physical preferences!

(continuation of part 3)
Since Fatal Calling is all about Cloud facing his past and his origins, Tifa’s musical theme is most appropriate for the ending cutscene. For all of these reasons, Tifa’s theme is absolutely appropriate for the conclusion of Fatal Calling. It makes a lot of sense then that once Cloud has finished revisiting the past and vanishes with the crystal to find his Promised Land, Tifa’s theme stops and Aerith’s theme begins.
There’s a lot to be said about Sephiroth in Fatal Calling. Sephiroth feeds off of despair, and deems Palamecia’s suffering inadequate: he seeks a much greater source of power than this realm. He states that Palamecia isn’t “the world that was promised to [him]”, referencing his desire to become the god of his core world of FFVII:

“Sephiroth: Melding with the planet, I will cease to exist as I am now only to be reborn as a ‘god’ to rule over every soul” (FFVII OG, disk 1, chapter 25).

Sephiroth’s line “Now, let us return [Cloud]. Back to the Promised Land” reveals he wants to return to their shared core world of FFVII, like we established in our review of the Remake timelines theory (see section “I. a) vii.”). Sephiroth wants to go back to FFVII and modify the OG timeline to achieve his evil goals. This is his ideal scenario, his place of complete happiness: his desired Promised Land. Fatal Calling is setting up Sephiroth’s plans for Remake. In fact, the after-credits scene wherein Sephiroth stands in Nibelheim as it burns confirms his return to the FFVII OG timeline.
However, he isn’t the only one returning. Now that Cloud has revisited his past in Fatal Calling, he’s ready to reach his Promised Land. After Sephiroth’s after-credits scene, the OG FFVII title and logo turn into the FFVII Remake title and logo, indicating a shift: we are now officially in the Remakeera or world. Cloud and Sephiroth disappeared at the end of Fatal Calling, and now the game is telling us where they’ve gone. Combined with Hamaguchi’s recommendation that players complete the collaboration event before playing Remake, I think this is a solid indication that the Cloud and Sephiroth we see in this collaboration event are those we encounter in the Remake world. Once the switch to Remake occurs, Aerith’s theme returns. This communicates that she is indeed —as we’ve proven countless times already— Cloud’s Promised Land. But it also conveys her importance to the story of Remake. Scenario writer Nojima confirmed this:

“Aerith's the most important character in the remake so we paid special attention to her lines” (FFVII Remake Ultimania, section 08 “Secrets”, “Development Staff Interviews, Part 2: Tetsuya Nomura, Yoshinori Kitase, Kazushige Nojima”, page 744).

Aerith was already important to OG, so what could’ve motivated Nojima to state her importance to Remake? Could it be that she’s even more important in the latter than she was in the former? In what way?
That was the collaboration! Before we move on from MFF x FFVII Remake entirely though, let’s glean some more relevant information from some of the collaboration’s promotional material and special features.
~III. e) iii. Promotional Material and Special Features~
Two particular pieces of promotional material for this collaboration stick out to me as extremely relevant. The first is a promotion for a new summons batch in the Mobius FF game, created in honor of the collaboration.
MFF x FFVII Remake Summons Batch Cloud Promo
The summons batch contains three FFVII Remake-themed cards, including a Cloud card. As you can see, this promo reads “Who awaits in the Promised Land?” under Cloud’s picture.
The second is a promotion of an Aerith and summons and an Aerith Job Card (in MFF, Job Cards allow a character to embody an archetype or another character, giving them certain physical traits, clothing, weapons and abilities):
MFF x FFVII Remake Aerith Summons and Job Card Promo
I couldn’t find this picture in English, but the text relevant to us translates to:

“Midgar's Flower Vendor Summons
‘I'm searching for you. I want to meet… you.’
The witch protects the planet, imbues it with power, and leads to the Promised Land.”

A few things here. First, Aerith is referenced by name, and we see a picture of her in her famous praying pose. Secondly, both Cloud and Aerith’s images are attached to the notion of the Promised Land. Cloud’s card asks who awaits there, and Aerith’s evokes a guiding role, as though in response. Thirdly, both Cloud and Aerith are attached to the notion of searching: Cloud searches for the Promised Land and whomever awaits there, and Aerith searches for Cloud’s true self. Speaking of which, the promo also includes parts of Aerith’s famous gondola date quote from OG:

“Aeris: I'm searching for you.
Cloud: …?
Aeris: I want to meet you.
Cloud: But I'm right here.
Aeris: I know, I know... what I mean is... I want to meet... you” (disk 1 chapter 24).

In case you’re wondering about the lady in Aerith’s clothes on the left-hand side, that’s Meia, a character in MFF. She is the “witch” being referred to in the promotional material. She’s often called the Azure Witch. Meia is wearing Aerith’s clothes because a Meia-type Job Card called “Flower Girl of Midgar” was created in honor of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration:
MFF x FFVII Remake \"Flower Girl of Midgar\" Job Card
There’s even an Aerith outfit you can have Echo wear, and it appears with Wol’s Cloud outfit in the promotional picture:
MFF x FFVII Remake Echo's Aerith Outfit and Wol's Cloud Outfit
To be fair, Tifa also appears in one of these summons promos. However, unlike Aerith’s, her appearance doesn’t reference the Promised Land or her version of the gondola date. She is not presented in connection to Cloud at all. On top of that, while the Aerith and Cloud outfits are promoted together, Tifa is paired with Vincent in the promotional image:
MFF x FFVII Remake Summons Promo Tifa and Vincent
This is hardly indicative of Cloti content in the event collaboration or in Remake.
~III. e) iv. Cloud’s Promised Land~
All in all, the collaboration tells the story of Cloud searching for his Promised Land, just as post-OG Cloud has been shown doing for years and years of canon SE content. Cloud is searching for Aerith in the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration, just like he was in FFT and DFF, and just like he was shown doing in the 30th FF Anniversary Exposition. This is nothing new. However, the collaboration informs us that this mission to be reunited with Aerith is what leads Cloud to enter the world of Remake.
Echo noted that people obtain the Promised Land they deserve rather than the one they want. What does Cloud deserve? I believe the answer is: another chance at saving Aerith.
Cloud needs to start over, from the top. He needs to go back to the very moment he and Avalanche arrived at mako reactor 1 to bomb it. He needs to return to the beginning of the OG game. He needs a redo, a fix-it, another shot at happiness; a remake.

IV. The Hidden Plot Point: Mission Theory

~a) Thesis~
Here lies the heart of my theory. My dear Cleriths, Sephiroth isn’t the only one who travelled back in time to undo destiny and create a reality where things go his way: Remake is also —I would even say primarily— Cloud’s chance to free Aerith from her fate, save her life and secure his shot at happiness with her. That’s why he experiences MOTFs in Remake: he’s done FFVII before and now he’s back, although with only fragments of his memories from OG, to save Aerith. That’s why his triggers all involve Aerith: he doesn’t consciously remember anything from OG, but his grief over Aerith is so strong that it rises from his subconsciousness at the slightest trigger.
In Remake, Cloud remembers some but not all elements of the OG timeline (MOTFs), and it appears he only remembers the most important things: all his MOTFs revolve around Aerith and her fate. Our theory explains why Aerith triggers Cloud’s MOTFs in Remake quite perfectly: he traveled back in time to prevent Aerith’s death from happening. Remake Cloud remembers Aerith because, well, he knows her from OG. Post-OG Cloud has returned to the past to save Aerith, resulting in Remake. This is why seeing her in Remake triggers visions and memories of things that haven’t happened yet in Remake, but have already happened to post-OG Cloud. He recognizes her face on Loveless in Remake because seeing her face again is the whole reason he entered Remake in the first place. His visions of her death when they meet once more at the church, the spike of anxiety and grief as he watches her walk away from him, the constriction in his chest when she talks about doing everything in her power to help the planet… all of it, it’s all his memories of OG being jogged by things related to her death. What he’s forgotten from the OG timeline emerges in flashes of pain, images, memory and emotion. Remember that the language the devs used to describe these instances where Cloud reacts to Aerith in this way is always about “remembering” or “recognizing”; Cloud has to have seen Aerith, known Aerith, loved Aerith, lost Aerith and felt the pain of living without Aerith before in order to recognize and remember these feelings. Think about it: this is the only thing that can explain Cloud’s extremely selective MOTFs and the fact that he has MOTFs at all.
The Remake trilogy is all about Cloud and Sephiroth stepping into the ring one more time, both ready to risk it all to get what they lost in the OG timeline. Sephiroth is hungry for destruction and godhood, while Cloud stands determined to save the love of his life. Fighting for their respective goals, the fated enemies enter a new battle in Remake, one to end the war, both needing to win this time after losing so horribly in OG. Now, it’s all or nothing. Sephiroth vying for the planet, and Cloud reaching out for Aerith.
Cloud’s back with a quest, one he can’t fail— it’s the most secret and important plot point of all. I call this the “Mission Theory”.
~IV. b) Mission Theory Logistics~
There are a few things that remain vague, so I’m going to use this section of the analysis to speculate on the logistics of my theory. We know very little about the hows of the timeline and multiverse shenanigans, so I’m going to hypothesize. However, this analysis is about the whys: so if you’re not interested in mechanical speculation on the logistics of time travel and multiverses, you can totally disregard this section and skip to section “V.”.
~IV. b) i. Cloud the Time-Traveler?~
It’s unclear whether Remake is the result of post-OG Cloud going back in time to try his hand at the OG timeline again, or the result of post-OG Cloud somehow informing OG Cloud that he must save Aerith this time around. It’s vague in the same way that we aren’t sure if Remake Aerith is post-OG Aerith or if she’s been informed by post-OG Aerith via her connection to the Lifestream as a Cetra. Though it doesn’t much matter how Cloud has memories of Aerith’s death in Remake, I personally think that Remake Cloud is a time-traveling post-OG Cloud. My explanation as to why might be a little confusing, so again, feel free to skip to section “V.”.
One must be able to communicate with the Lifestream in order to obtain knowledge of the future. This access can only be granted to the Cetra or to the souls of the deceased that compose the Lifestream itself. Since Cloud is not a Cetra, he cannot commune with the Lifestream while he is alive, meaning a deceased post-OG Cloud would not have been able to communicate his memories of the OG plot-line with a living OG Cloud. Therefore, the only way Remake Cloud could have knowledge of the future (manifested as MOTFs) would be that Remake Cloud is inhabited by his post-OG consciousness. Effectively, this is time-traveling.
Then comes the question of how Cloud was able to time-travel at all. I have what I consider a pretty solid hypothesis. The most interesting thing about the realm of Palamecia is that every FF character that’s ever appeared in the realm for a cameo died in their core world beforehand (spoilers for FFI, FFV, FFVI, FFX, FFXII, FFXIII, FFXV incoming). These characters include Tidus (FFX), Lightning (FFXIII), Garland (FFI), Sephiroth (FFVII), Gilgamesh (FFV), Vargas (FFVI), Gabranth (FFXII) and Ultros (FFXV). My interpretation of Palamecia serves at least partly as a directory for deceased souls that can’t simply fade. For instance, FFX’s Tidus actually came back to life to be with his love>! Yuna !! FFX!<. Of course, MFF x>! FFX !!FFX!< and FFX-2, just like MFF x FFVII Remake came out between FFVII OG and FFVII. And similarly to Fatal Calling, the ending cutscene of MFF x>! FFX !!Next thing you know, FFX-2 comes out and shows Tidus returning to Yuna and their core world in an optional cutscene.!< The MFF x>! FFX !! Tidus !Remake.
~IV. b) ii. Post-OG Cloud’s Amnesia~
If we consider that Remake Cloud is a time-travelling post-OG Cloud who’s returned to the start of the OG timeline, we encounter another logistical problem: why doesn’t Cloud remember everything or most things from the OG plot-line in Remake, like Sephiroth and Remake Aerith do? After all, aren’t the three of them in the same time-travelling boat? Why isn’t Cloud as lucid on the matter as the two others? Didn’t the post-OG Cloud in Fatal Calling face his past and origins? Shouldn’t that mean Cloud would remember all that stuff in Remake from the start?
In OG, the true Cloud’s memories are repressed by both his false persona and Jenova. The latter’s memetic abilities are able to block Cloud’s memories of the past from emerging and conflicting with his SOLDIER persona. For instance, in both OG and Remake, Cloud is unable to hear Aerith tell him Zack’s name in Evergreen Park: Jenova blocks it out. I think this is a similar situation: post-OG Cloud’s consciousness carries memories things that Jenova doesn’t want Cloud to know, so she pushes down on them. On top of that, after travelling through different worlds and back through the Lifestream for who knows how long, post-OG Cloud’s consciousness must be quite weak. We know how good Cloud is at repressing, so it makes total sense to me that post-OG Cloud’s consciousness would be trapped or suppressed somewhere deep in Remake Cloud’s subconsciousness. After all, it’s not like this whole time-travelling-consciousness thing is normal for a mind to experience. It’s no wonder Remake Cloud doesn’t consciously remember how things go in OG. However, post-OG Cloud’s love and grief for Aerith are so strong that memories related to her can occasionally pierce through to his Remake consciousness and Jenova’s barriers, resulting in his MOTFs. His pain and love for her are definitely permanent and strong enough:

“A young woman descended from the Ancients who will forever be engraved in [Cloud’s] heart” (Dirge of Cerberus, Japanese manual, Aerith’s character description).
“I believe for those who formerly traveled with her as comrades and for the viewers, each carries their own feelings and love for Aerith. In this story, Cloud also carries his own undying feelings for Aerith, even to this very day… Its relation with the church scene is… Yup. I’ll leave this part to your imagination. (laughs)” (Nomura interview on Advent Children “Designer’s Note” in Famitsu PS2!magazine, October 24th issue).

So you see, Remake Cloud’s mind is a little more complicated than OG Cloud’s mind. Everything is still the same in Remake as in OG, but with the added complication that his future self is hidden in his subconscious mind, probably trying to get out.
There is actually pretty good evidence of this. I’m sure you’re aware that whenever Jenova is trying to hide something from Cloud or altering his memory and/or perception, the screen glitches green with an audio cue (34:15-34:29, 1:15:30-1:15:41 and 1:17:14-1:17:29). Guess what? These Jenova audiovisual cues also occur during the MOTFs (ie: MOTF 3 2:58-3:07 and MOTF 4 0:29-0:42). Whenever post-OG Cloud’s consciousness encounters anything that reminds it of losing Aerith, the strength of its pain helps it push memories of Aerith to the surface so that RemakeCloud can consciously see them. Remake Cloud then experiences sensations and/or visions, all from his future self’s memories as they rise to the surface, propelled by grief. Jenova can’t allow Remake Cloud to fully recover his post-OG memory, so in order to shut down the process, its cells jump in to repress the MOTFs: this results in the classic Jenova audiovisual cues. The only time Jenova doesn’t bother to fight against a MOTF is the sixth, as it is quite weak: no visions occur, only a tight sensation in his chest.
~IV. b) iii.~ ~Eclipse Contact~ ~and Cloud’s Memories of Reactor 1~
There is one problem I have trouble decoding. In Eclipse Contact, Cloud tells Wol and Echo that the last thing he remembers is the run-up to his arrival at mako reactor 1 (FFVII OG, disk 1, chapter 1). Recall that usually, people summoned to Palamecia have no memories of their world of origin and lives before that point at all. So then why is it that upon being summoned to Palamecia, Cloud recalls the events that took place right before the start of the OG game? This strikes me as highly relevant since this is the exact point in time where post-OG Cloud’s consciousness needs to be transported to in order for Remake to begin, but I haven’t been able to figure out a solid hypothesis on what it could mean. My best guess is that this is the devs’ way of signalling to us that the events of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration occur before the very beginning of post-OG Cloud’s second try at the OG timeline (Remake).
Now that I’ve shown you how I’ve come to form my Mission Theory and we’ve done some pesky housekeeping, let’s connect some dots, shall we? It’s time to really get into it and see if any of my wild speculation tracks with content from the Remake trilogy so far.
~V. Musical Evidence~
What about the music of the game? Any hints there? Let’s try to see if we can find support for the Mission Theory in the music made for the Remake trilogy thus far!
As a preface to my musical evidence analysis, I want to insist on something: the story guys tell the soundtrack guys everything. In a high-quality production such as Remake, people who make music for audiovisual media are told everything in advance. They need to know the secrets of every little scene, because their job is to depict whatever is happening through music.
Therefore, if the Mission Theory is true, then there has to be musical evidence for it.
~V. a) Preface: The Basics of the~ ~FFVII~ ~OST~
There’s a lot of evidence in the music of the Remake trilogy that we have to address, but before we get into it, I do have to give you the basics of the FFVII soundscape! For the easiest experience, I suggest you keep a tab open for every link I provide for you until the music analysis is over, because we will be hopping from one musical theme to another and then back again.
~V. a) i. The World Theme: Cloud’s Troubled Identity~
The world theme of FFVII is a perfect example of how musicians working on an OST have to know the secrets of a story as they compose for it. On top of representing the FFVII world as a whole, it doubles as Cloud’s character theme… except that isn’t exactly right. You see, this piece does indeed contain Cloud’s true theme, but Sephiroth and Jenova’s musical motifs also contaminate it. This, of course, symbolizes how Cloud experiences identity sabotage because of these two antagonists. The result is that globally, the world theme does indeed represent Cloud’s character, but it isn’t exclusively Cloud’s in the same way that Cloud’s mind isn’t exclusively his. It’s brilliant storytelling through musical motifs, and evidently requires Uematsu to know in advance that Sephiroth manipulates Cloud’s identity in the story.
For future reference, let’s isolate Cloud’s true theme from Jenova and Sephiroth’s influence.
~V. a) i. 1) Sephiroth: Dissonance and Semi-Tone Motif~
I’m sure you know Sephiroth’s infamous theme: “One-Winged Angel”. The first motif we need to know is Sephiroth’s threatening, repetitive dissonance motif, which plays all throughout the piece (plays solo at 0:00 to 0:04). The second motif is what I call the semi-tone motif. “One-Winged Angel” has a ton of minor 2nd intervals, which is what we call the relationship between two notes that are only a semi-tone apart. You might recognize the minor 2nd interval in the foreboding Jaws theme. Just like in Jaws, the minor 2nd interval or semi-tone is commonly used to indicate an impending, life-threatening danger, a monster, predator, evil, or insanity; suits Sephiroth quite nicely!
~V. a) i. 2) Jenova: Parasite Motif~
The track “J-E-N-O-V-A” contains many competing melodies and has generated many variations of those melodies —almost like clones— that all represent aspects of the alien’s character. The main Jenova motif is simply a descending, two-octaves-long, arpeggiated mb6 chord (eight notes total). I’ve played it for you here. Sometimes, this motif is altered to form variations. For instance, in “Listen to the Cries of the Planet”, a variation of Jenova’s main motif is created by changing the order of the notes and reducing the number of notes to only six (0:00-0:03), however, it remains an arpeggiated mb6 chord. Regardless of the alteration, if you hear an arpeggiated mb6 chord, it means Jenova is creeping close by or that its influence is at work.
The variation of the mb6 arpeggiated chord that concerns us alters Jenova’s main theme so it ascends from the tonic to the b6 note and descends back to the tonic, then ending on the lower dominant for a total of eight notes. I’ve played it for you here. I call this variation the “parasite motif”, because it is often heard when Cloud is being controlled by Jenova. For instance, it plays when Cloud loses himself and becomes unusually violent in Rebirth’s chapter 13 (17:25-18:34), signalling to us that Jenova is in control. It is also the main motif of the track “Who… Am I?”, which evidently symbolizes Jenova’s fuelling of Cloud’s identity crisis— though here, the parasite motif is shortened to its six first notes.
~V. a) i. 3) Cloud’s True Self~
Now that we can recognize Sephiroth and Jenova’s motifs, let’s return to the world theme to isolate Cloud’s true self. Cloud’s true theme can be heard from 0:51 to 3:48. It consists of a section A (0:51-1:54), followed by a section B (1:54-2:41), and then returns to section A (2:41-3:48).
After Cloud’s true theme concludes however, it seems he experiences a psychic interference: doubt and confusion weave through the world theme (3:48-4:09), representing an instability in his identity. I call this interruption of Cloud’s true theme the “interference section”. It symbolizes a moment of psychic interference or weakness within Cloud that Sephiroth and Jenova take advantage of to take control of Cloud.
The end of the interference section introduces Jenova’s parasite motif. It slithers in (4:09), later joined by Sephiroth’s dissonance motif (4:16): Cloud’s mind and identity are being hijacked by the two antagonists in service of their evil plans.
They torment Cloud, dominating his mind until he manages to free himself: section A of Cloud’s true theme begins playing again (6:06), closing the loop of the theme.
Based on this musical storytelling, if you already knew the character motifs going into OG, you might’ve suspected something odd was going on with Cloud’s identity, and that Jenova and Sephiroth were involved. All this to say that whatever music is playing at any given time can give us hints as to what is going on. That’s the power and significance of a good soundtrack. Trust me when I say that with Uematsu and his team, we’re in excellent hands. And remember: the story guys tell the soundtrack guys everything.
~V. a) ii. Aerith’s Theme~
Another base we have to cover before checking out the Remake soundtrack is Aerith’s theme. I’m sure everyone here is familiar with it, but I insist that you refresh your memory. It consists of a section A (0:00-0:34), a section B (0:34-1:13) and a section C (1:13-2:00), concluding with a repeat of section A.
~V. a) iii. Motifs and Timing in~ ~FFVII~ ~OSTs~
I’m going to analyze pieces in great detail, which people who haven’t studied or paid attention to soundtracks may find strange. To prevent anyone from making the mistake of thinking that I’m reading too much into things, I want to emphasize that the music that plays during the Remaketrilogy’s cutscenes is carefully timed, composed and arranged to match the events in the cutscenes, as they are provided in advance to the musicians. Composers pay lots of attention to whatever is going on onscreen so they can include the corresponding musical motifs as accompaniment at the exact right moments, always striving to get the timing perfect. I’m not exaggerating the effort and minutia involved in soundtrack composition and arrangement. Here are just a few sound staff comments from the “Material 4: Soundtrack” section of the FFVII Remake Material Ultimania to prove it:

“[To] make sure players really feel the weight of the moment, we worked hard on getting the tempo and the entry timing of each instrument exactly right. In particular, that big ‘boom’ that sounds almost like a meteor crashing down was fine-tuned to match the timing of the logo's appearance. I remember this was a real sticking point for us, because if the boom's timing was even slightly off, the effect would be completely different. We […] had to sequence [each and every sound] to play at exactly the right moment” (Shotaro Shima on track “Midgar, City of Mako”, page 229).

&

“I was originally told to keep this piece to under two minutes, but it ended up being over six minutes long, in order to match the flow of the cutscene. I arranged the track while watching the latest CG visuals that had been rendered for the scene” (Naoyuki Honzawa on track “Smash ‘Em, Rip ‘Em”, page 309).

&

“This is the track that plays during the tour of Shinra’s different divisions. The movie shown in the Visual Entertainment Hall describes the history of the Ancients (0:25 onward in the soundtrack version), and I wanted to create a musical link to them as well, so I made use of the chord progression from ‘Aerith’s Theme’ [D(I)-Am(Vm)-D(I).] [This simple sequence of moving from major to minor and back again creates a really mysterious air. Then, during the section where the movie recounts the history of the construction of the Shinra Building (1:47 onward in the soundtrack version), I quoted a section of the Shinra theme” (Yasunori Nishiki on track “Stewards of the Planet”, page 313).

~V. b) The~ ~Remake~ ~OST~
Now that you’re ready, it’s time to verify the Mission Theory’s validity with Remake’s music.
~V. b) i. MOTF 6 Music~
We were able to explain Remake Cloud’s MOTFs with the Mission Theory, and it just so happens that the music that plays during the scene of MOTF 6 is unique to Remake. This gives us the perfect opportunity: we should analyze the piece that plays as it occurs to evaluate the legitimacy of our theory on the Remake trilogy, using all the motifs we uncovered in section “V. a)”.
First, a refresher on the scene and on our theory’s interpretation of it. The party is gathered in Aerith and Ifalna’s old room at Shinra HQ. Here is how the scene is described by the VA script notes:

“The Whispers once again close in [on Aerith], but Aerith refuses to stop speaking this time.
Aerith: Listen to me. […] Shinra isn’t the enemy. They were the ones who set things in motion, but our true foe is someone else.
At that moment, the spectacle of Meteor they saw in the Visual Entertainment Hall comes into Cloud and the others’ heads.
Aerith: Somehow, some way, I want to help— all of you… the planet…
For some reason, Cloud feels his chest constrict tightly” (FFVII Remake Material Ultimania Plus, VA script notes, “Aerith Speaks”).

Indeed, right after Aerith says she wants to help the planet any way she can, Cloud looks down at his chest with a frown and a quiet grunt (7:46-7:54). According to the Mission Theory, this tightness in Cloud’s chest can be explained as an emergence of post-OG Cloud’s grief, triggered by the slightest allusion to Aerith’s sacrifice.
The piece that plays during this scene is called “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra”. It is one of many variations of Aerith’s iconic theme arranged for Remake. However, Cloud’s theme is just as prominent in the piece— if not, more.
~V. b) i. 1) The Fate Motif~
Before we interpret “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra”, I need to introduce you to one more motif that crops up in the piece. There is a windy motif that appears (from 1:45 onwards) and it is unaccounted for, despite how it’s clearly meant to represent something. I’ve become certain that this wind noise symbolizes fate, and I’ll tell you why.
In the MOTF 6 scene, just after Nanaki explains how he gained knowledge of the Whispers via contact with Aerith (7:23), they emerge and begin swirling aggressively around Aerith (7:26). Her hair and dress blow and ripple in the resulting wind. From this very moment onward “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” (3:00), a string section (bowed instruments in the violin family) that deliberately emphasizes the airy sound of the bow crossing the strings enters, creating a windy effect that adds to the already present wind noise (that started at 1:45). As the Whispers progressively become even more aggressive onscreen, both the wind SFX of the cutscene and the wind noise in the piece get louder and louder. Because of the timing of its appearance and crescendo in the cutscene, I’m certain the wind noise is meant to represent the restrictive flow of fate; it only makes sense, given that destiny is a current —or a wind— that cannot be broken, and Aerith is like a helpless petal in fate’s carefully planned storm. Of course, it’s also quite significant that the Whispers make a windy noise as they fly. You can hear it every time they’re onscreen, like when they first appear to Cloud in chapter 2 of Remake (17:45-18:20), or when the White Whispers hold Cloud back from chasing after Aerith during Rebirth’s Sleeping Forest scene in chapter 14 (28:43-29:45). You can also hear the wind sounds in other Whisper-related tracks, such as “Whorl of Whispers” (clearly audible at 2:50-3:05), as well as “A Death Not Ordained by Fate” (clearly audible at 2:56-3:18). Therefore, I’ll call these wind noises the “fate motif”.
~V. b) ii. 2) Interpreting “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra”~
In part 1 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” (0:00-1:45), Aerith’s theme and Cloud’s true theme play simultaneously, their respective phrases fitting perfectly together, interweaving peacefully and softly. It sounds like the two of them are chatting, dancing bashfully yet contently and in perfect sync, glad to be exactly where they’re meant to be as their themes sing together in harmony (soft piano). Part 1 of this piece is about Cloud and Aerith becoming important to one another as they discover their soulmate bond.
Unfortunately that contentment doesn’t last. In part 2 (1:45-3:00), Cloud experiences a moment of psychic vulnerability (world theme’s interference section). Fate lurks (fate motif enters quietly). His instability forces our couple’s sweet dance to a halt, and Aerith’s theme must retreat as Cloud’s confusion takes center stage. Sephiroth torments and taunts him (semi-tone played by strings, 2:03-2:10), taking advantage of Cloud’s psychic interference to plunge him into darkness (world theme’s interference section ends, low cello enters, 2:18): Cloud temporarily becomes a darker version of himself as evil corrupts him (piano plays section A phrases 1 and 2 of Cloud’s true theme in minor, 2:18-2:53). Jenova finally reveals itself and promptly exits, releasing Cloud’s mind from its grasp (seven first notes of parasite motif played twice on piano 2:53-3:00). Cloud is free, but the damage has been done: his dance with Aerith has long been interrupted, and she is gone. Part 2 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” is about Cloud being manipulated in service of Sephiroth and Jenova’s evil plan, interrupting his interaction with Aerith.
Part 3 (3:00-3:33) kicks off the mechanisms of a tragic fate (strings section joins fate motif, 3:00). Both anxious that she’s disappeared from his side and terrified of the darkness he just discovered inside him (in part 2), Cloud fearfully calls out for Aerith (phrase 1 of Cloud’s true theme’s section A, timid and hesitant piano, 3:04-3:15). Before his psychic interference began (start of part 2), Cloud’s voice was accompanied by Aerith’s as they grew closer and closer (their character themes mingling in part 1)… but now, Aerith isn’t answering his call, and he cannot find her (Aerith’s theme doesn’t to join Cloud’s anymore).
Anxious, Cloud tries calling out for Aerith a second time (section A phrase 2 of Cloud’s true theme’s, 3:19-3:31), searching for her in the hopes that they can continue their dance, but even now, Aerith does not respond. She’s gone (Aerith’s theme remains absent). Destiny keeps Aerith away from Cloud (fate motif gently crescendos). Part 3 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” is about Cloud’s separation from Aerith, his search for her, and the fear and anxiousness he feels when he realizes he cannot find her.
And then, part 4 begins with a sweet, gentle voice, calling out from the blackened horizon: it’s Aerith (section B phrase 1 of Aerith’s theme, soft piano, 3:33-3:45). Cloud finally hears her respond to his pleas: he’s found her. Fate begins howling in protest, doubling its efforts to keep Cloud and Aerith apart (fate motif crescendos noticeably in reaction to Aerith’s theme, 3:45). You can just picture Cloud running toward Aerith, struggling against the current of destiny to try and close the distance between them. Aerith tries calling out for Cloud a second time, (section B phrase 2 of Aerith’s theme, 3:40-3:43), but the Whispers only swirl around her more ferociously, taking her away in the uncompromising current of fate (fate motif continues to crescendo). Aerith tries again (section B phrase 1 of Aerith’s theme, 3:47-3:49). It sounds like she’s saying “Cloud, I’m over here, come find me!”
Fate doesn’t take too kindly to her defying it. Cloud and Aerith are not supposed to be together; it can’t be, it won’t. She’s destined to die to save the planet, and he’s destined to remain hollow forevermore. I can picture Cloud breaking into a sprint at the sound of her voice, running countercurrent to the flow of destiny— but the winds are so loud, fate’s demands are so strong, and the Whispers are shrieking in defense of destiny now. Aerith’s voice emerges for the fourth time (first three notes of section B phrase 3 of Aerith’s theme, 3:54 to 3:56). Fate screams louder, louder (steep crescendo of fate motif, 3:59-4:02). In a desperate hail Mary, Aerith shouts out one more time, as though throwing her hand out toward Cloud’s extended fingers (section C phrase 1 of Aerith’s theme, louder and more insistent, cutting through the fate motif as it crescendos sharply, 4:00-4:06). Part 4 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” is about Cloud and Aerith desperately trying to defy fate in order to be together. And then, it all stops: fate has seemingly quieted Aerith (4:04-4:08)…
Part 5 (4:08-4:27) begins with Cloud jumping, launching himself off the ground with all his strength (Cloud’s true theme section A phrase 2, first 5 notes, melody starting on the note E5 and ascending) as Aerith plummets toward the ground in a fatal fall (Aerith’s theme section C phrase 1, melody starting on the note E6 and descending, the last note altered)— he successfully catches her in mid-air (both Cloud’s ascending melody and Aerith’s descending melody meet in the middle of the octave, first uniting on B5, and then ending on A5). I’ve recreated the melodies for you here so you can hear this reunion more clearly. If you consider that the airy strings in this piece represent fate, which I do, the fact that they follow Cloud and Aerith’s themes in part 5 signifies that they are now in control of their own destinies, and successfully making it their fate to reunite.
To be completely frank, I did not realize until right now writing this that Cloud unites with Aerith in part 5, even though his theme is right there. I’m so excited to share this part with you.
We hear Aerith once more, her voice quietly trailing off into the silence (phrase 4 of section C of Aerith’s theme) with no conclusion (phrase 5 normally follows phrase 4 to conclude Aerith’s theme, but is absent here). Part 5 of “Aerith’s Theme - The Cetra” suggests that Cloud will save Aerith and that the couple will change their fate, but also conveys an uncertain and open-ended quality.

now, as being a barista for 2 1/2 years, i know we need to stir the shots into the syrup/sugar, properly shake drinks (like pink drinks) so they mix and dont separate, and all and what not. however, if you were put in the situation where someone ordered a caramel macchiato or some drink where there is a little bit of separation (i.e. iced coffee topped with some cream) , you hand out the drink to them, and then they hand it back asking if you can stir it for them, would any of you just get a little irked by the fact that the custie can stir the drink up themselves or be okay with breaking your wrist trying to stir it up or completely remake the drink? i have plenty of customers who ask for a stir stick or a straw and have the ability to mix in their shots from their macchiato or whatever milk, and i usually try to swirl around any drinks before handing them out. i know it’s not a big deal to stir up drinks, but i also don’t think it’s a big deal or that the customers are incapable of mixing in their macchiato themselves.

Heads up - I wrote a longer than anticipated into to this topic...if you want to skip the background and get to the meat, you can skip to the list toward the bottom!
Background:
My childhood was a pretty typical middle-class, suburban existence.
I went to public schools growing up. I went to an average state university. My dad passed while I was in college and my mom was a public school teacher so I was more or less on my own to figure life out after my dad passed.
I share that because cruising often and being able to afford to stay in suites is relatively new for us.
I'm an entrepreneur and when COVID started we were on the verge of bankruptcy, not just my business, but my personal finances as well.
I had quit my last corporate job in the tech industry 4 years earlier and hadn't taken a paycheck since. We were surviving on my wife's teacher's salary and the savings and retirement I'd built after a decade in the soulless troughs of corporate BS.
After 4 years of not paying myself while trying to raise two kids, a mortgage, and living the American dream we were at the end of our ropes financially.
I'd drained my retirement (I never touched my wife's incase something ever happened to me), drained our savings, and racked up $250k in credit card debt.
Just as COVID was beginning, I came home from the office one day, handed my wife a credit card, and looked her in the eyes holding back tears and told her, "there's $400 in this account before it's maxed out - buy all the groceries you can because I don't know when I'll have anymore money for us."
Faced with $250k in CC debt, if I couldn't turn things around we were going to going to have to claim bankruptcy so with nothing to lose, I cashed out our home equity as one final cash infusion into the business before closing shop and starting over financially.
With the money from that loan, I resolved to do three things:

1. I hired a business coach to figure out why despite growing revenue, we couldn't make consistent profits.
2. We're located in a rural community so we expanded into a much larger city 90 minutes from us...my hope here was that I didn't know how long the shutdown was going to last (it definitely hit us hard early in the pandemic), but by marketing to a larger area we'd hopefully be able to make enough money to survive.
3. I was going to finally begin paying myself after 4 years of not taking a paycheck and reinvesting everything into the business.

I've been extremely fortunate that this was a turning point in my business. In the 4 years since then we've grown by nearly 1,000% and we're now making a very healthy profit and I've built the business to where it runs without me (I work 8-12 hours/week on the business on high-level activities, primarily guiding my leadership team and handling the financials + some tech innovations periodically as I identify them). I've repaid all of our debt and I'm working on rebuilding our retirement while investing a percentage of the profits into building a new business (one that will be less employee intensive).
This is all relevant because this has put me in a place where we can afford to cruise often (6-8 weeks/year) + I have the luxury (privilege honestly) of not having to worry about PTO.
Side Note: For those of you who hate capitalists like me - my lowest paid employee last year made $50k (+ full benefits) in an area where the median income is only $33k...half of my team made $100k+. We're quite possibly the highest paying company in our region (definitely in our industry) and as a result have extremely low turnover and I'm able to hire the best of the best so we have an excellent culture.
So back to the main reason for this post - having the opportunity to cruise often, about 75% of the time in suites, I've noticed the folks we meet and interact with in the suites tend to fall in one of six categories:

1. The Status Cruiser: These are the folks we all see on social media and unfortunately on cruise ships whose entire identity is wrapped up in their loyalty status and their suite class. They are absolutely the main character and its of absolute importance to them that everybody know this. You can typically spot them from across the room before you even talk to them because they're dressed to the 9s and carry themselves in a way completely stereotypical of what you'd expect from somebody who truly believes their farts smell like roses.
2. The Retirees: There's a good amount of overlap between this persona and the Status Cruisers mentioned above, but they're not all like this. The ones who don't overlap with the previous group tend to be extremely friendly and I've had many great conversations with them learning about their life experiences as they share the wisdom they've picked up over the years to help me along on my own journey. They tend to stick to the recommended dress codes and are sometimes put off by people who don't share the same motivations for structure and etiquette.
3. The Bucket List Cruisers: These folks often save money for years, pinching pennies so they can afford what may very well be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them sailing in a suite. They often want to squeeze as much value out of the suites as they can since they may never be in one again (I don't fault them for that...make the most of it!). They're often dressed to the 9s as well but sometimes appear less comfortable in the various social situations you find in the suite areas (i.e. grabbing a drink in a lounge, having a nice dinner in the suite restaurant, etc).
4. The YOLO Cruisers: I don't encounter these cruisers on every sailing, they're definitely more common during holiday sailings (i.e. Spring Break, Christmas, etc). These folks are living their best lives. The fellas are often wearing flip flops and neon tank tops and their wives/girlfriends in cut off jean shorts and a see-through cover-ups over their bikini tops. Fortunately they typically aren't over the top obnoxious, but they couldn't care less about any recommended dress codes or societal queues. They're there to have the time of their lives, everybody else be damned.
5. The DINKs: These couples are often from the LGBTQ+ community (not hating, just the reality), but not exclusively. They have good paying jobs and often are able to work remotely from the ship so they don't even need to use PTO. They typically keep to themselves and associate mostly with other DINKs. You can usually find them enjoying a drink in the suite lounges later in the evenings after a fun night out partying. One evening you may see them dressed to the 9s and the next they may be in beach attire - they march to the beat of their own drum but also don't really interrupt anybody's vacation (aside from maybe the folks in the first two categories who care more than they probably should about dress codes).
6. The Family Cruisers: There aren't many sailing in suites with kids, but the ones who do tend to have well-paying corporate jobs that they're not able to fully disconnect from (even on a cruise ship). They have good to great paying jobs but have limited vacation time so they prefer to pay a premium to make the most of their time off when they're able to get away. Often you'll see these parents responding to emails in-between parenting. You can sometimes catch them in the lounge grabbing a drink in the evenings after their kids have gone to bed for the evening. We fall into this category with two kids under the age of 10.

I don't know if this is interesting to you guys but I was randomly thinking about it earlier and thought some of you may find it of interest.
What do you think? Did I leave any categories out? Do you disagree?
Random food for thought! Whatever category you fall into, and whatever type of cabin you happen to cruise in, happy sails everybody!

Hello my prints lately are not sticking to the plate, I was having no issues and suddenly prints started failing, it started with supports breaking mid print, then gaps, to now getting completely nothing.
I have a Creality halot mage
Things I’ve tried -re leveling multiple times -re installing chitubox -using different slicer-halot slicer -using different resins -changing slicer settings -replacing plastic bed

Are you a gamer? Want to take out on normies, sexhavers, and foids that infest what used to be OUR hobby? Those of us born in the 80's will remember a time when being a gamer was scorned. We were bullied, chastised, and shunned from our peer groups for enjoying video games. This would last up until the mid to late 90's when the media finally started pushing games to "dudebros" and eventually women in the early to mid 2000's. Finally in the past 10 years we've seen an infestation of shitskins and third worlders completely flooding everything. I refuse to lay down and die. I will stand and fight till the bitter end.
It's time to turn the tables and make them suffer as they made us suffer, both in life and the virtual world. (Legally and within the confines of the game, this is NOT a guide to IRL ruinate or anything of the sort.) Some of this stuff isn't allowed if you're an EU gamer.
First off, you're going to have to let go of playing video games to "win" or acquire virtual greed. You're going to need a new mindset. The mindset of a sadistic psychopath hellbent on extracting keks from anyone and everyone deemed not one of us. No more giving a fuck about your KDA, w/l ratio, or "following the rules" or the "meta" of what other players expect you to do. You are a gamer going your own way, regardless of what the groupthink expects or wants. If the game is F2P or you're a richfag or jewtuber who can get free games from devs then being banned is part of the fun, and is expected of you. If you cannot afford to buy back into games or are too technologically retarded to change your IP and spoof your hardware to get around bans in F2P games then you'll have to tread carefully.
Here's the part where I instruct you on how to fuck over these sexhavers for your own sadistic pleasure. After all they've denied us a life worth living in the real world and treat us like lepers. It's time they feel uncomfortable in OUR space. Feel free to add to any of these methods or pitch in ideas.
Foid infested "cozy" games
Shit like "Animal Crossing" or "Palia." Anything that lets you decorate and grow shit is a "cozy" game and women infest these games more than any other. It's literally a containment game of sorts to keep them out of other shit. To fuck with women in these games all you have to do is steal resources, build ugly and annoying things within the game world, be rude via emotes and text chat, and use emotes to make it look like your character is grabbing their tits or eating them out. I once did /eat to some slag girl gamer in WoW Vanilla 20 years ago and when I reverse searched my name she was bitching about it on reddit and remembered my characters exact name 4-5 years ago. She's STILL SEETHING about it 15 years later. This is what you want. Virtual RAPE. Many foids stream these types of games, and it's incredibly easy to get under their skin. Make the ugliest characters you possibly can and always stand in their camera. Stalk them in-game. Uglify the world around them. Spam emotes. The world is your oyster.
MMORPG's
World of Warcraft, or anything else really. Gank them. Corpse camp them. Dispel their world buffs. Emote spam sexually assault them. Use a high level or highly geared character to camp low level quest zones and steal mobs, resources, and kill low level players. Stream snipe them till they hide their screen with nothingness. Join their guilds and steal their resources after faking being a Chad. Get the entire guild wiped, blame it on the women healers. Play a vital role and underperform / disconnect at pivotal moments and blame a thunderstorm. Make everyone wait on your actions, but not enough to get gkicked. Openly challenge sex havers lifestyles in discord voice calls and call them out on their privileged bullshit. (Genetics, riches, went to a nice school, raised by good parents, etc.) Use every underbelly evil shithead tactic that these fuckers used towards us during our childhoods and young adult lives. Roleplay it up and lie about your IRL self to make them feel inferior. Exploit early and often, and cash out via RMT before you get banned or when you quit for some NEET bucks. If the game has a "random queue" system you can wipe endless groups or refuse to participate and hold entire game lobbies hostage.
FPS
Overwatch, Counter Strike, etc. Simply play terribly in ranked matches. Don't assist the team. Mic spam. Play vital roles like tank or healer then simply don't heal and tell them openly on the mic to beg if they want heals. Refuse to play at all if a woman is in voice chat. Verbally accost every white knight that defends her. Remember, they're most likely wagies who have to go to work tomorrow and you're most likely a NEET who has infinite free time. Remind them of this. (Even if it's not true.) In FPS with one life, openly tell the enemy team where your team mates are camping. Use aimbots, wall hacks, and other cheats to make both sides pissed off. If you're doing well gloat. If you're playing shittily, then call them a loser or a nerd. Flashbang your own team. Drop objective items as far as possible. Die with expensive guns (Auto sniper in CS triggers normies.) and make sure the enemy acquires them. Acquire or goad team mates into team killing you to 2 week ban them.
MOBA / RTS
League, Dota 2, Age of Empires, and other slop. Never go to the "meta" lane. (AD carry / support normally go bottom lane, but you're gonna always go middle, and steal your own teams jungle.) Never build the right items. Feed the enemy team, kill steal your own. Never push lanes or objectives. Ping spam. Keep text chats very "safe" to avoid bans. When a team mate dies, some ping spam and a "?" goes a long way. Never agree to surrender, unless your team is winning. Always report everyone who rages on you. Play characters that have statistically low win rates or are extra annoying. Use a lag switch to delay and hold entire lobbies hostage (RTS). Wall in your own team. Use retarded high risk low reward build orders. Be completely useless all of the time and never join team fights except after everyone's dead then schizo gaslight them that they were the ones not helping.
Survival, Crafting / Building Games
Minecraft, and shit like it. Become insanely super godlike good at the game. Learn all the metas, muscle memory, speed run tech, and master PvP. Join reddit servers and ruinate months of "cozy crafting" with max enchanted equipment and masterful grief tactics. Construct server destroying redstone machines. Completely ruin spawn and active players bases while they're offline. Destroy their VIP / pay 2 win "donation" special items. Join their discords and spam anti-vax, anti-pitbull, and black people violence webms from rekt threads on 4chan to get their servers shut down. Literally use modded hacked clients to ESP radar hack and dupe your way to victory, kicking down reddit twerps virtual sand castles and record the seethe in their discord voice chats while pretending you don't know what's going on. Abuse and exploit anything you can to the detriment of other players (Shittily coded cash shops and stores. RPG elements that are 100% broken, like a "health swap" spell that you can use on any god-geared player to swap your 1/2 heart health with their full HP then 1 shot them naked kinda shit.)
Indie slop
None of these games have any cheat protection. Cheat Engine even the most basic shit. I once played some slop card game and was able to set my opponents HP at the start of the game to 0 and win immediately. You can pretty much speed hack on all of this shit and most hack sites will have a few dedicated cheat bros that can do the wildest shit like gain access to admin panels and other destructive things. Even without cheats most basic exploits can really break these games. If a dupe method worked on one shitty survival Unreal 5 sloppa game, chances are it works on the other 7,000.
VR / Roleplay shit
Fondle titties. When the white knights run up and shout "back off" loudly point and laugh at them. Force feed slags coconut drinks. Put your arm around everyone and get really up close in their face. Make fun of their furfag outfits. Call them trannies. Take a right wing stance on everything. Use cheats to spam gore and porn everywhere. Use mod menus (Cheats) to force other players to emote or spawn giant laggy objects and explosions. Always talk shit in VOIP and spam soundboards. Be as annoying and as insufferable as possible.
Single Player Games
Okay, so this one's hard to "troll" but there's still ways to do it. You gotta share stuff in normie spaces that will offend and upset them. There was a guy that played Red Dead 2 and brutually murdered and tortured the "women have a right to vote" NPC to the point where he got banned off jewtube for it cause it pissed off so many redditors. You're gonna have to be real creative with this one. If you're a jewtuber you can intentionally kill off all the gay NPC's in Baldurs Gate 3 or something during your streams or playthroughs and watch the seethe roll in. Or make misleading and untrue guides or push a narrative you'd prefer to see and post them to normie sites to really stick it to 'em.
Please, feel free to share your ways of griefing and trolling foids and sexhavers within the confines of the video game. Since we can't be happy in real life, the least we can do is make their virtual lives closer to ours. Give them a taste of their own medicine. The only joy I have left in life is making others seethe in video games, because what the fuck else is there to do?

every time i try to make chocolate coated frozen raspberries with peanut butter, the chocolate doesnt stick! it'll solidify almost straight away as soon as i put it on but then it unsticks from the raspberry "patty" and even the peanut butter. i figured the peanut butter was because it wasn't 100% frozen yet, so the 2nd time i made them i left them in the freezer overnight and they were completely frozen. the first couple stuck to the peanut butter ok, until it was out at room temp for a couple mins (not even 5) and then the backs that have no peanut butter would just come off!!!! i tried drizzling on top, setting that and then doing the backs but i still have challenges, like it just unsticks as im spreading it!
what am i doing wrong?
i use a mix of cadbury baking blocks at 45% and 70% and also some dark melts and melting them on the stove. i also did it in the microwave once and had the same issues
im also using frozen raspberries

*WARNING: I am extremely clingy, and I want other extremely clingy people, no snowflakes, no politically charged people, no drama queens*
Hello fellow redditors ^(\tips fedora*)* I have come looking for company ^(\sheaths my katana*)* and i'm sure there is one among you who will gladly fill that role ^(\swings my trenchcoat around*)* or so I have been told. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Jokes aside I have tried posting on reddit before, and it has worked for me in the past, although it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. Most people tend to just randomly add me or completely ignore things I have said so it never really goes anywhere.

BASICS

• I am above 18
• I have schizoaffective including chronic depression
• I am technically doing "rehabilitation" right now focusing on being happy and calm
• I am a very slow paced & easily stressed person
• I am 24/7 on my computer more or less
• I don't do well with questions about me or what things I like, etc ^{(because some people got mean about this, i have to clarify it just means i am not good at knowing what to say, i'm not prepared with all kind of information with myself i just try to go through my life as it comes, it doesn't mean i can't talk about it})
• I am not good at picking things, being decisive or leading
• I am not good with small talk
• I adapt my timezone to the person I am playing with
• I feel like a baby looking for a parent
• I get overwhelmed a lot
• I have very low drive and motivation right now
• I stress myself out a lot

GAMES

• Steam 2023 Game Summary LINK
• Quick Graph IMAGE

check my post history for more info & contact
At the end of the day i'm just a babu looking for attention and care, to feel cozy and not alone, please take it easy and understand life is not that easy for me right now, I need a lot of carrots on a stick to get myself moving even on my own. I get overwhelmed very easily.
I don't really look at reddit chat, or at reddit in general that much, so please try not to contact me here, I wouldn't see it for a long time. Add my steam!
I've never made such a complete post before so if I have overdone it, missed something or been a bit silly please let me know :(
thanks for reading

Or, at least provide some extra tools that would make it easy for modders to do so. Not sure how that would work exactly, but I know Bethsoft devs don't have infinite time and money.
Disclaimer: I don't think most missions in Starfield need substantive revision—linearity isn't really the issue in my view, because Bethesda has never made it a point of giving every mission more than one outcome (or different flavors of the same ultimate outcome). But, quite often, how exactly you do things, what you say about what you're doing/have done, how you express yourself through dialogue, etc. provides a simulacrum of the choice that would exist if the quest simply had branching paths. Perhaps an ideal version of this game would go further and embrace the reactivity of your average Obsidian entry, but I don't expect that (and neither should you). Just some simple revisions (which I know design-wise are never really that simple) would do some wonders.
Viz., Bethsoft should make "small" edits to some specific missions that really interfere with the ability to feel immersed in the setting. I'll mention two of the worst offenders (in my limited view of having played the game one and a half times), but I know there are others that could benefit from similar (and likely even smaller) revisions.
The Hammer Falls (the last mission in the Freestar Rangers questline) was the first mission I did where I hated even bothering with the questline because of it. Learning from Paxton Hull (who I wish you could join or otherwise not be forced to kill, but that's not that big of a deal) that Ron Hope was behind everything should open up options to at least talk with others about what to actually do before being sent to your ultimate goal.
The fact that the game railroads you into immediate confrontation without, like, checking with anyone feels like an oversight. I know sheriffs are supposed to be kind of independent, but this guy (Hope) is like one of the twelve or so most powerful people in the Collective. I can't even talk with Marshal Blake or whomever about him before confronting him in a deadly shootoff? I can't even ask for backup? Where's the sheriff-fantasy where I call up my buddies to take down a crook?
I imagine a better designed version of this quest might involve first returning to Akila City and having a tense conversation with Blake (or some other Freestar representative) where you argue the apparent conflict of interest (the Collective's ruling body funds/supercedes the Rangers) and what that compels you to do, if anything. It could really help thematically resolve the underlying themes of the questline as a whole (the law as a just ideal/the law as an instrument of powecontrol). Not that this needs to have two wildly different paths where you confront Hope versus explicitly cover up his crimes, but it could at least affect your status as a ranger if you deliberately decided to confront Hope without convincing Blake. (Just an imperfect idea demonstrating the limitations of the current quest.)
The fact that you can't say anything about Hope before confronting him would be something I would've made a note on in QA. It's such a basic point of interrogation for ensuring that a quest in an open-world RPG fits seamlessly and immersively into the world. There are plenty of missions/quests in other Bethsoft games that don't do this, usually because the impact is really minor. But as the final mission of one of the two major factions' questlines, predicated on a reveal that recontextualizes all past missions in the questline, it works really poorly in my view to railroad you directly into confronting Ron Hope with no consultation with Marshal Blake or anyone else. Just the addition of a simple conversation would make this problem so much less glaring. Give the player an option of expressing their discomfort or anger at what's going on, or extend the final conversation with Marshal Blake. Or, ideally, give good reason mechanically (in the very quest's context) as to why things are as linear as they are.
When you trap Odahviing during The Fallen, he approaches you to talk, then you set him free after a conversation, then you ride atop him to Skuldafn, thus starting The World-Eater's Eyrie. But accounting for the eventuality of you leaving the courtyard before he reaches you to talk (or you exit conversation) is unreasonable, because a dangerous dragon, Odahviing, is right there, the way to Skuldafn is right there, and the end of the quest is right there. There's no design incentive to return to the open world if you're doing this quest at this exact moment, and I'm willing to bet exactly one person has ever done that (me, once, to deliberately see if it messed up the script). And once you fly to Skuldafn, the next couple hours are entirely linear (which is good!). It makes the end-game work really well because it feels and is seamless.
Confronting Hope doesn't have the same sense of urgency not because it isn't important but because the various design elements that encourage urgency in a mechanical sense aren't there. Imagine confronting Paxton (or whoever) in the reception area of the Hope factory (or somewhere equally close). There'd be basically nothing incentivizing you to not go confront Hope right then, for the same reasons as with Odahviing in Dragonreach's courtyard. Not accounting for leaving the reception area becomes just as reasonable of a design decision as not accounting for leaving Odahviing trapped without talking to him. When you leave Arcturus II, though, it doesn't really feel at all dissimilar from leaving a planet after clearing a random POI. Imagine if, after trapping Odahviing, he only gave you directions to Skuldafn which you had to travel yourself. This would have a similar effect, I feel, to what we experience at the end of First to Fight, First to Die and the beginning of The Hammer Falls. I imagine plenty of people would take detours to do x or y before finally going to Skuldafn, despite the quest's written urgency. If you want urgency in a practical sense, make the progression from objective-to-objective urgent by design. Reflect the urgency in the very way the game is played (i.e., make it weird to even consider leaving the Dragonsreach Courtyard while Odahviing is there and ready to take you to Skuldafn).
First Contact (the Paradiso mission with the colony ship) is honestly the single worst mission in the game for how little ability you have to do anything other than what the game explicitly tells you are your only options, often against the intuition of the writing. I think Bethsoft wanted to give a potentially intriguing moral dilemma that ends up being needlessly forced and ultimately not intriguing because of how poorly forced it is. The result is a quest that, while potentially interesting, is completely ruined by its implementation. Even creating a fail-state where you kill the executives (which the ECS Constant's crew could react to) could be an option which would involve considerably less scripting than creating entire new paths from scratch.
Because, again, the problem with these quests isn't necessarily that they're linear. It's that they're linear in such a way that makes it impossible for it to feel organic or emergent in the setting. Could you imagine a Season Unending type quest in the Paradiso boardroom where instead of the two options we have now, you would instead have to use specific dialogue choices to ensure a particular deal could be reached between both parties (with you as the Constant's (possibly ostensible) advocate? Maybe allow for some backgrounds or skill checks to automatically succeed some particularly challenging persuasion/intimidation checks for either the ECS crew or the Executives. It's a lot more work, but it's the ideal version of this particular mission, in my view, and it could happen without the other two options even existing. You could make the quest more linear and have it be more engaging for the player.
I've seen this articulated before but not in quite these terms: it is better to allow a player options in how they experience a single choice then to give them two forced bad choices.
The version we're left with feels like the type of Bethsoft quest that has a faster, dummy way to do a mission that people would only really choose if they were roleplaying a specific way, or just wanted to get an achievement (e.g., Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!). It's like there's two clearly worse/less developed options that are available for specific types of players, yet are ultimately meant to highlight the ultimately superior and lengthier third option, which in this case doesn't exist. I hate to say that it's just lazy (as designing any quest is a large undertaking), but it certainly feels really lazy the way that this quest forces these two options onto you with especially poor justification. And even then, there being only two options isn't that big of a deal—implement a fail-state where you kill the executives (or something equally unhinged), which I could see plenty of players doing, including me. Or maybe convince them to stand down by strapping grenades to your spacesuit, I don't know! Something that plays more to the player's ability to impose their will on NPCs rather than being powerless.
As for said powerlessness, being powerless isn't bad, but in this case it isn't really justified. There's no obstacle in terms of difficulty when it comes to this quest, it's just a barrier to choice that feels extremely artificial. At least in High Price to Pay, you can't be in two places at once and you know that there's danger in two places that you can't control for. Your powerlessness is earned by the game at this point, because you actually feel, given the context of the plot to this point, that you're up against something that you can't defend everyone else against at all times. It still feels a bit forced, perhaps, but it isn't nearly as egregious.
I honestly dread doing First Contact again because it frustrates me far more than any other mission, because of how it forces frustratingly restrictive options upon you. But it doesn't require huge overhauls to fix, even if an overhaul would make it a lot better.

*WARNING: I am extremely clingy, and I want other extremely clingy people, no snowflakes, no politically charged people, no drama queens*
Hello fellow redditors ^(\tips fedora*)* I have come looking for company ^(\sheaths my katana*)* and i'm sure there is one among you who will gladly fill that role ^(\swings my trenchcoat around*)* or so I have been told. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Jokes aside I have tried posting on reddit before, and it has worked for me in the past, although it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. Most people tend to just randomly add me or completely ignore things I have said so it never really goes anywhere.

BASICS

• I am above 18
• I have schizoaffective including chronic depression
• I am technically doing "rehabilitation" right now focusing on being happy and calm
• I am a very slow paced & easily stressed person
• I am 24/7 on my computer more or less
• I don't do well with questions about me or what things I like, etc ^{(because some people got mean about this, i have to clarify it just means i am not good at knowing what to say, i'm not prepared with all kind of information with myself i just try to go through my life as it comes, it doesn't mean i can't talk about it})
• I am not good at picking things, being decisive or leading
• I am not good with small talk
• I adapt my timezone to the person I am playing with
• I feel like a baby looking for a parent
• I get overwhelmed a lot
• I have very low drive and motivation right now
• I stress myself out a lot
• Me: IMAGE

GAMES

• Steam 2023 Game Summary LINK
• Quick Graph IMAGE

check my post history for more info & contact
At the end of the day i'm just a babu looking for attention and care, to feel cozy and not alone, please take it easy and understand life is not that easy for me right now, I need a lot of carrots on a stick to get myself moving even on my own. I get overwhelmed very easily.
I don't really look at reddit chat, or at reddit in general that much, so please try not to contact me here, I wouldn't see it for a long time. Add my steam!
I've never made such a complete post before so if I have overdone it, missed something or been a bit silly please let me know :(
thanks for reading

I graduated high school in 2021 and started a double degree in psychology and criminology as i was always facinated by the way the body works, I quickly realised I had no interest in any possible job post grad so dropped out real quick. Thank god for that.
After that I continued working a retail job while I tried to figure out what I wanted to do with myself. During that process I took a slight leap and started a new job in a workshop for an engineering company. I was told about it through a family friend and was under the impression it was a labour type job so I was a hesitant at first but the pay looked nice so I went for it.
Got to the place for an inteview and discovered I would be welding by using/controlling fanuc robots(!😳!). I was completely blown away by the place, it was the first time I had actually seen robots in full use. The job was more than I ever though it would be, I was learning so much every day about how the 'real world' oporated, I was taught how to MIG and TIG weld, how to write programs for the robot (fanuc not python) and a whole bunch of awesome skills. I was going in every day with this new excitement to learn, and knowing my resume was getting better and better felt pretty darn good.
I had started to truly appriciate how fcn cool and insane todays world is and how much goes into all the simple stuff, I describe it as just being in pure awe. With this new found passion, came this drive drive to actually succeed in life, It was the moment I knew what i wanted to do for the rest of my life. Mechatronic engineering baby.
I applied for the course and am now a semester in, the content is manageable but still intimidating. I feel very strongly about sticking to this and genuinely giving it all I've got, I ordered an arduino and set up python on my computer to try get ahead and understand more about how it all functions.
I’m reaching out because I want to keep this momentum going. If you’ve got any tips, resources, or advice on what I can do to really succeed in this field, I’d love to hear it. I’m all in on this path and want to make sure I’m doing everything I can to excel. For anyone working as an engineer what would you do in my position right now?
Officially locked in, this will be my origin story 😂

it was a long time ago before i did any cosmetics… Before lip lift and they looked completely different.. I didn’t stick with it.. trying something once is not indicating “for totality” thats is the truth just like the beast system in•grid w h o r e s of babylons tap in they have zerooooooooooo clue to what it means .. all a usurper wants to do is be you and take credit for what they have not paid for with their Life! time ! money ! blood sweat! effort ! equity.. to me this is a trash person.. thats not gonna fly..

when i was younger my family was happy, i guess. I was adopted by my grandparents officially when i was younger and i had been living with them my entire life. I grew up with sensory disorder and ADHD. My real mother wasn't really in my life until about 4 years ago. I never knew my real dad and i have never met him but i always knew my real mom. She used to live with me and my grandparents who i call 'mom and dad' because they took care of me most of my life. She always lived outside in an apartment my dad made for her. She then moved away. She moved a lot and never was really in my life completely. By the time I was adopted by my grandparents she was legally my sibling. She always was having boyfriends and brought some of them over for family holidays. I was bullied growing up since I was in first grade for no reason i knew about. All i knew was i was the school freak. When i was little i hardly ate much as well but i was still called 'fat'. Whenever i sung i was laughed at. I was actually good at singing and i loved to sing when I was little as well as dance. My legally sister (aka real mother) tells me now and days i was the bully growing up and i was sexual as a little kid when i wasn't. growing up i also had anger issues and nobody knew why. My mom (aka grandmother who adopted me) told me it because i was mad at my sister. my mental health started going downhill quickly when i was about starting middle the next year. i was getting bullied a lot more and my 'friend' was mean to me for no reason at all.i was at a christian private school at that time. I got blamed for put stick notes on other sticky notes in a prize container when i didn't. i was friends with everyone in that class. only one of them believed me. but when the others were told that i didnt do it they were acting sorry. one my best friend's at that time little brother had a crush on me. when i went to her house to hang out her brother was acting like a perve a little bit and was asking sexual stuff.i never liked school at all because the city and town i lived in didnt do crap when i was bullied and the principles were told. And around this time my sister came to live in the town i live right now.she gotten married. But she was toxic to everyone. Her husband's friends lived with them as roommates and my sister was abusive to them. when she was babysitting me during that time she would stab one of them in the arm with a medicine syringe you take medicine from.this kept going till that roommate left and then the next one was gone. my sister's husband had passed away when i was in middle school starting the first year of it. my sister was then toxic to me a lot. and since she was my real mom at one point i called her 'mom' all the time till she was toxic to me.she also always told me she couldnt have children. apparently, there was another before me and it was a miscarriage. i will mention this, my sister is known in my family to be a liar about everything from getting gifts for us, receiving it, not stealing, and most of the time children. About every 2 years she claims to be 'pregnant' with a kid but apparently, they all end up dying after they are born or are miscarriages. i was the only kid she had ever.and plus she always blamed me for stealing her stuff even her gun and hiding it under my bed at my mom's when i cant even put a phone under there cause the bed is really low to the ground. now onto my dad (my grandpa who adopted me with my grandma).me and my dad were really close when i was growing up.i was his little princess. That stopped happening after i came out as bisexual and genderfluid 4 years ago. And let me tell you my dad was born in the 50's so he grew up being raciest and homophobic. I was the only child he raised as his own. my sister was his stepdaughter and during that time her real dad never let my dad adopt her as his own.i kept telling my dad about things i liked that we loved together growing up. my dad was toxic to me in my middle school years up until now. He would verbally abuse me and threaten me. he even hit me before in front of my mom and she told the police that he never did. The police were called a lot cause of my anger and yelling. The police where i live never believe the kids about anything saying they dont have any rights like to clothes, a bed, sometimes to speak, to things they buy with their own money, and one even told me i didn't have a right to my own body.i was being bullied every more in school so i was getting depressed and mentally unstable. And my dad was always getting up in my face and i pushed him back sometimes to make sure he didn't hurt me and he just told me i 'assaulted' him and he was going to get me put in jail for defending myself as well a lot of the time. I had been to a mental hospital where i live 8 times. Some of them because i was mentally unstable, and 2 because i was forced for no reason. For my 3 or 5 time there my dad took me to the hospital to get 'diagnosed' but he lied.i had just gotten out of another mental hospital 2 days before for being depressed and i was there for 2 weeks so i needed to get adjusted to being out of there.and when we were at the hospital the doctor came in after talking to my dad and told me 'your being sent to *name of mental hospital i was at 8 times* for sewerslidal (not gonna say the actual word) thoughts'. and i was confused at first and i told him i was having those thoughts at all. and then he told me i was being sent there anyways and then left the room. Then my dad came in and said this directly at me, 'this is what happens when you dont go to school'. i was shocked and upset about this.he lied to the doctor and i was sent to that mental hospital again for it.i never forgave him for that.i was also sent to a behavior facility twice before. one for anger and the other for SH. neither times did it work.i was an SHing person a lot so i had different ways to hide it. like hoodies, long sleeve tee shirts finally, longer shorts, gloves, and short sleeved shirts that covered my shoulders. right now im in high school and i guess my dad is trying to rekindle our relationship because he is that old already. He is nicer now but about 2 months ago he was a jerk. my mom didnt listen to my feelings during these times so i never talked to her about feelings but when she wanted to and i tried to tell her she always interuppeted me and never let me talk and told me to shut up. my sister had moved in my dad's house recently because she bought it because he retired. my dad is planning on moving to my mom's place with me.and now here is an old relationship i need to talk about badly because my sister says i agreed to most of it when i didnt. it was my last year of middle school when it happened. i was already at a different school. I was still bullied but i could handled it a bit better there. my first boyfriend broke up with me 2 months after we got together and i was in 7th grade at that point when we broke up.i had just moved to that school about 2 months before we started dating.the reason he broke up with me was because 'he didnt feel love'.love is an emotion. you cant just not feel it right.i was touch starved and loved starved during that time so the summer after the broke up i was really mentally unstable and SH.i was taken to the mental hospital again. And when i came back to school after 2 months of being in the behavior facility for the second time so it was novemeber of my last year of middle school.about the end of November i was dating my guy best friend at that time.i didnt except what would happen after.he neglected me a lot when we saw each other at school during lunch even if we sat next to each other, was toxic and mad at me where i cried during that and wanted to feel pain, never stood up for me, never cared about how i felt or when i SH but pretended he did, and lastly he was obsessed with me during this time.threatening to hurt people. The first time i went to his house he got really touchy and then the second time he took that one thing a girl will never get back in her life no matter what.i was really desperate for love during that time but i didnt want to do that..he convinced me though. And then at school during lunch in the cafeteria while we were sitting with our friends at lunch he would touch me badly and threaten to do it more if i didnt eat or would do it anyway.i didnt eat much back then cause i was trying to lose weight, was having an eating disorder where i got sick every time i even at at least 2/4 of my meal. I didnt tell anyone this until last summer.i was still with him at the beginning of summer till my current boyfriend started talking to me on roblox after years of not talking because he moved while i was in 4th grade.he was a good friend. my current boyfriend told me what my ex was doing wrong at that time so i did the right thing and broke up with my ex.but my ex did scare me badly. He threatened to kill someone for me. i was terrified at that. He also had a spilt personality he would talk to me with a lot of the time. Then after a month of me breaking up with him my current boyfriend and me got together. He was a little toxic at first but he got better and was really nice to me. but we are in a long distance relationship. We talk a lot on discord and do video calls when we can.i was at 2 different public school this year.neither of them cared about what was happening to me so i started online school.i didnt go to either of them cause i was still bullied i couldnt handle it.and then when i started online school the teachers for that school accused me of not doing my work when i did them days in advance.i was doing really good but if i got most of the questions right on the quiz i still failed it.i would get 90% out of the question right and still get an f on the quiz.i started failing those classes and i was stressed with the video meetings cause there would be one right after another.i didnt get to pick my electives at all because the day i got the papers to see which ones i wanted they already picked them for me.and my dad was being a jerk the entire time as well as my sister so i was getting to a point of relaspe but didnt. im still kinda on that point but not that much.i dont go to therapy or a medication doctor anymore because the medication doctor kept telling me to lose weight when i was trying to, told my parents to send me to a children's home because i was not going to school because of the bullying and my regular doctor i had been seeing since i was a baby said the same because i was 'fakeing' being sick.i wasnt sick though but i was having an eating disorder still during that time to the point i was throwing up everything in my body every time i ate more than 6 bites of food.even the foods that were easy to eat i couldnt eat.and the reason i dont go to therapy is because all the ones i went to as a kid fired us for no reason and then a family counselor did the same thing because i was being rude.i was rude at all but i was pissed during that time cause i never got to talk and tell my side of the story and my family kept saying that raising my voice volume just a small bit was yelling and they still say that and my sister does the same with the voice volume but they dont say she is yelling when she is.if you guys have any of advice to help with any of this thank you.i have been wanting to vent for a long time but i didnt have a way to until now.

Heya-new here, but been out as pan for several years (& just didn't know the term before that).
This is long. If someone baring their life for context to their question is not for you, feel free to skip to the end(ish), or skip it altogether. For those of you who stick around, I appreciate your forbearance, as well as your help/advice/support/whathaveyou.
With how things are generally running in the world these days, I have no idea how to meet & connect w/people, let alone start dating, but I feel like that's where I'm headed. I'm also trying to continue to make friends & build a more comprehensive & cohesive chosen family.
To say I feel stymied is an understatement.
I've been told by fiends who no longer live here, as well as a few transplants from other places, that living in Seattle doesn't exactly help. The feedback I've had from most of these people is that the social scene here, regardless of the group &/or their focus-be it music, gardening, gaming, or anything else-is pretty much surface-fake & very toxic.
Having lived nowhere else, I have no real/other perspective with this, but the sentiments regarding all of it are both clear and consistent. Frankly, some of the things they've described as "normal" frienships/interactions elsewhere sound both completely foreign to me/my experience, & absolutely lovely. These people span not only this country, but a few are on different continents altogether-which makes that consistency significant.
I realize there's no such thing as a fantasy-perfect place, & that wherever you go, there you are is definitely true, but the social culture out here is pretty damn difficult.
To be honest, I'm not really all that surprised by these evaluations. I've considered moving for various reasons, but I'd be lying if I said this wasn't one of them.
However, for me, that's not as straightforward as it might be for most people.
For starters, I'm disabled & immunocompromised, which, as you might (correctly) excpect, complicates everything in my life. Ableism is also a constant challenge, & that absolutely includes social interactions.
I am also neurodivergent, which I say with pride, but can also cause issues with the wrong neurotypical people. I've experienced this in all aspects of my life, including a few disasterous relationships (or "learning experiences", ha ha, no).
There's additional, relevant background stuff (well, relevant to me, anyway) that provides some context for how I've arrived at this point.
Here's my (recentish) story:
My spouse left me in 2012, essentially because I became disabled during the relationship (very, very common, unfortunately).
Like many, I became very isolated while I was learning how to live w/my disability. When my marriage (suddenly, unexpectedly, & without a sandgrain of warning) abruptly ended I was alone in a boat in the middle of an empty sea.
Disabled people do not have marriage equality (yep, really.), so we were married in name only-legal marriage wasn't an option. At all. What that meant for me in practical terms (not to mention with regards to my survival) was that I had zero legal recourse for financial help-or anything else, for that matter.
It did not help that my family shocked me with their complete lack of support (devestating & baffling), & I was looking at the reality of needing to shop around for the least awful shelter, because I was for sure going to become unhoused.
My now ex stepped in, said they wouldn't be the one to make me unhoused, & said they would continue to live w/me until I found stable housing I could afford. I had no one to go to & nowhere else to go, so while my ex is trash in most other ways, I am very grateful to them for doing so, if not for much else.
Finding available housing I could afford took 3½ years.
(SSDI is incredibly fucked, & if you have no idea what I'm talking about, please educate yourself. The creator 'crutches & spice' is a great place to start, but please-people need to know how bad it really is, & recognise that even you could become disabled-today even! But I digress in a way only an audhd person can).
3½ years of living in nearly complete isolation, while also having to watch my ex go on w/their life (including dating & new relationships) was traumatic & incredibly painful. When I finally moved into my own place & was finally living alone, I was fully aware I had a lot to work through, work on, & figure out. Dating would have been the worst decision I could have made, & I knew it.
I spent a good chunk of time figuring my shit out, realizing I was nonbinary (really, just another term I had not yet encountered) & mostly focusing on building friendships (especially building my chosen family) .
I have not dated/hooked up/whatever since. This was completely by my own choice, & I stand by that decision as being the healthiest & most loving thing I have done for myself in a long time-maybe ever. I love living alone, & for the most part have learned to enjoy being solitary, experiencing no more loneliness than the average person seems to encounter along the way.
This has been somewhat compromised of late, as I had to euthanize my emotional support animal just under a year ago, followed by going low-contact with my parents shortly after. However, I have also worked very, very hard with my therapist regarding this, & we both agree I've made significant progress. In other words, I'm pretty certain at this point that I'm not trying to find someone to compensate for those losses.
I decided I was ready to do the scary thing & at least start dipping my toes (or maybe my foot...up to the knee?) into the dating pool, & began to feel that out...in late 2019.
Well, it doesn't take much of anything to know what came next: c19 hit & I was back to just staying home all the time (something I already had a lot of experience with, obviously, so during lockdown, much comfort & advice was given to those who did not-lucky bastards).
Since folks have now decided the pandemic is over (don't even get me started on that, except to say that most people see my safety needs as a huge inconvenience), I've gone back to attempting in-person interactions.
For example, I joined an lgbtqia+ (& allies) choir, & participte with a nonprofit that focuses on trauma-based teaching, providing free art classes to a highly varied student body.
But while I have made a (very) few friends along the way, dating seems to have been shoved off the table (again).
I had to leave the choir about a year ago (mainly for issues regarding their c19 policy changes that completely disregarded the several immunocompromised members of the choir-one of whom is now permanently disabled w/long covid-& the shitty way the choir leadership responded to those of us who voiced concerns/dissent).
The nonprofit is cool, but given the general population they serve, not exactly a mecca of dating options. Even friendships must be considered very carefully & evaluated often, though I very much believe in the value of the work they do, & have met some really lovely people.
I'm in an odd place of integration (ie letting shit settle), so I'm not even sure I want a relationship (yeah, yeah, I know-do not name the cup from which you will not drink). A friends-with-benfits type situation would be welcome, however, & I'm not opposed to being part of a polycule, either.
So I'm back to square one, and apps seem as good an idea as any...save for the horror stories I hear from others, especially people who are afab (like me).
If I had a name tag & was asked to label myself, "Disabled, nonbinary (afab), neurodivergent, immunocompromised, pansexual person" probably wouldn't fit.
I checked out a post in one of the bisexual-focused reddit groups, regarding dating apps (& experiences therein), but much of the discussion didn't fully apply (or apply at all) to pansexual-identifying people. That wasn't a huge surprise, of course, but it was frustrating & and disappointing, for sure.
If you've made it this far, you get a Big Gold Star Thank You (!) & a request for thoughts, advice, suggestions, stories (I could use some funny &/or encouraging ones, to be honest), & any other relevant comments, especially with regards to dating apps. Even though I feel age is generally & often irrelevant, I suppose I should mention I turned 48 this last January.
I'm open to in-person interaction, but if it's indoors, I have to mask up, & prefer masked events at venues with decent air circulation. This winter, I missed several shows because I knew they'd be packed with unmasked people in a small space with abominable ventilation & air circulation. It sucks.
Online interaction is absolutely welcome, as it's the most likely to be accessible to me. Plus, with the summer weather already kicking in (thanks climate change!), the possibilities for &/or opportunities to actually meet in person are greatly increased.
*Please be kind (yeah, I know that's a tall order for the internet, but honestly, so far all y'all seem like pretty decent people).
I'm not generally very good at asking for help, & always worry that my story will just be seen as a sob story (or incredibly boring). This post is part of my efforts to put all the work I've done in being accountable, taking real actions, & continuing to grow past that into practice. Scary as hell, but here we are.
Go Me.
That said, I'll most likely look at this tomorrow with embarrassment, thinking it is probably too much information-but even if I feel that way, I can ignore that & choose to believe otherwise. (Feel free to voice support to that effect, should you be so inclined).
OK. Thanks for reading, & thanks in advance for any help you may have to offer.
Cheers

I'm sure it's been discussed before, but is there still no "you must be this tall to ride this ride" measuring stick for levels in the Trials? Mostly it's fine, but sometimes I'll get more than 1 player who can't complete day one or 2 on Exalted Legend and it's pretty much always a failure at that point.
I haven't examined the payouts for failure at a high level vs success at a much lower level, so is it even incentivized to pike like that or are there just honest mistakes on what's going on with the Trials?