I’ve never pursued any formal diagnosis and just have the observations of my own mind to go on, but I have a lot of common ADHD symptoms and I do sometimes have the kinds of manic phases you’re describing but not to a debilitating severity. It’s just this state of high energy, usually for me involves creative output, and yeah other previously important goals wind up feeling secondary.

Happy to sacrifice sleep, etc., but I don’t usually make damaging decisions, I’m able to keep my broader priorities in mind at least. Better today than I used to be at that but it never really caused me big problems.

But it feels a lot like a mild version of the comic - my last one was a big, kind of involved Halloween build. Wooden construction that included lights, a fog machine, and a 3’x3’ sheet of plexiglass with a big printed decal. I’ve never designed/built a Halloween decoration in my life, or much that’s very similar. Other times it’s a software project, or something musical. Kinda thing that pulls me outta bed in the middle of the night for no real reason, just (almost annoyingly) stoked. Until it passes.

No idea what that says about ADHD and the broader “symptom creep” you’re describing (imo, accurately).

Yeah this sounds REAL off.

😔

Cool! Who pays for that? Game developers / publishers or more like game focused media outlets?

I refer to it in my head as “vocational privilege”. I’ve never once heard it discussed (not just the term I made up, the idea). And frankly we’re not exactly at a societal moment when many of us are eager to bring new forms of privilege into discussions, I think it’ll be quite some time before we’re ready to grapple with this, but it’s a huge problem.

Both in terms of human suffering but also just in terms of humanity’s “efficiency”. There’s so much more good that could be done if we were able to harness people’s born talents better, rather than the square peg round hole nonsense we do with so many folks today.

It’s pretty chilling to think about. The number of things that had to line up just right for you and I and others like us to have decent lives. And the extreme luck that they did. Realizing this, and how hopeless it is for so many others, basically radicalized me. We must find a better way to organize our society, this is an insane way to do things.

I think about this a lot. There’s an extreme luck or privilege that comes from happening to be born kind of “into” or good at the things society happens to find valuable at the current moment (and in the region of one’s birth). I benefit massively from that today, and even just a hundred years ago I think my life would have probably gone very differently (worse). Meanwhile folks I know without those aptitudes but with tons of sincere effort just continue to struggle. It feels really cruel and unfair.

ETA: even worse, we never talk about this. I think you’re the first person I’ve ever seen mention it. So most folks who lost that lottery walk around thinking it’s their fault somehow. Such a sad thing to me.

You’re right, but I will say the federal govt has a sometimes magic way of greasing certain wheels and getting things done in a hurry, if the right person is pushing on it.

Lol ah yes, the “fork me daddy!” camp weighing in

When did they add blackjack and hookers?! That’s a hell of a feature update

We’ll also assume that destroying the universe takes constant time.

Well yeah just delete the pointer to it!

That’s definitely part of the problem. I had an incident recently where an older family member had a minor panic. Because I left my (mfg in 2006!!) vehicle running in the driveway while I ran inside. During the day. In a very safe suburban neighborhood. Just a flat out absurd concern and she leapt right to it, instantly. She’s always been concerned, she’s a grandma, but she wasn’t pointlessly terrified like this years ago.

I think many of us don’t realize how badly this irrational fear has taken hold, or maybe I should say how effectively this irrational fear has been deployed. Otherwise ~reasonable people are walking around thinking the worst is going to happen everywhere at all times, based on absolutely nothing - worse than nothing, it’s based on weaponized deception.

So the police downplayed a dangerous situation, allowing it to fester and escalate until someone was predictably hurt? Weird!

Got anything to recommend? I’m a dude with butt and thighs that cause me to size up in the waist routinely, else I get the “pocket handles” thing, or just rip stuff lol.

Edit to add, by way of skin in the game: I used to shop for denim with a “tapered” cut (Levis had / has one, for example). If anything I now think they made the problem visually worse, drawing attention to the situation. I now prefer a pretty traditional straight cut, BUT when I’m overweight enough those may as well feel like JNCOs lol. I’m just barely trim enough at the moment to where a typical straight cut doesn’t feel like my ankles are swimming in fabric. Guess it’s Ankle Tents or Apple Bottom Jeans for the Lads, lol. Or be less chubby, in my case.

I’m becoming more aware of this lately too. Just realizing that Amazon for example has almost negative quality control, in the sense that a counterfeit product from one supplier just gets lumped in with the real ones from other suppliers, and then they sell them having lost the knowledge of who supplied the counterfeit.

And I know no one is checking for flammability of kids’ clothing / items. So I mean, who’s to say stuff made with lead or whatever the fuck else isn’t just getting hucked on down the line too?

Got any rules of thumb or heuristics you’re using? So far all I’ve really got is “nothing for kids from a store without a physical location in my country”. Just basing that on the fact there will at least be someone to sue, which usually encourages better behavior. I also generally avoid the “I can’t believe this is so cheap” products (outside legit sales) because usually something important is getting squeezed somewhere, given the already generally oversquoze situation that is “the market”.

Hmm, yes, you’re onto something. I think we’ve sniffed out a very elaborate DnD campaign…in progress!

Exciting times.

For real. This is my basic approach to parenting too and I feel the same way about both substances (while also enjoying both), but I’ve never seen it expressed in just the right way like this. It’s perfect. Another one I’ve found useful is “drinking is borrowing happiness from tomorrow”. Applies to certain other substances to a degree but damn if it isn’t exactly right for alcohol. A loan is not always a bad idea, to be clear, but it’s good to be clear on the terms of any loan, lol.

Okay thank you! Fully understand the subtle difference you described, and it’s interesting. If you feel like saying more, what led you to use these characters? Are there spaces where they’re used more commonly that I’m just ignorant about? I personally found it harder to read, but I’m probably just old lol and would need a bit longer, I do basically like the idea though.

Okay, I’ve seen you in two comment chains now and I can’t help but ask what is going on with your “th” characters? At one point you described the US as “we” so I’m extra puzzled.

But the straw that broke the camel’s back was:

monþ long

I understand having two different characters for lower and upper case, but what the fresh fuck is this one for lol?!

Yeah that was really some trash and made me furious. The one guy just directly stating all the ways we need to help the working class and also saying basically fuck the rich, with the career-long credentials to back it up, and instead we got force-fed Hillary. She was so unlikeable and entitled, it set the Dems (and shit, maybe even women in leadership as a whole) back by like 10 years. Cuz she acted like a shitty stereotype about women that fed right into the misogynists. Such a colossal fuck up, and that really is putting it mildly. I deleted a whole screed of even more forceful complaining, lol.