Real Life and What's Happening...

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Yep they are on Youtube as well and do the same thing. I think I learned about the whole weird Russia connection from a video on Ann Reardon's "How To Cook That" channel on yt.
That's the one! I was scratching my head trying to figure out where I had heard that.
 
So lately I've noticed my Facebook feed is depressingly full of 'cooking' videos that elicit one of two responses from me: Who is this prancing jackanapes? Or What the actual fuck?! Sometimes, but not always at the same time. There should a test or some shit before people get to post videos about how to do things.
 
Facebook (and probably other companies) has as part of their algorithms that, if you react to something, that shows interest. So, they need to show you more of that. Hundreds of complaints helps make things viral. This is also why it's extra pointless to argue with strangers on facebook - you're just making their viewpoint get seen more.
 
Facebook (and probably other companies) has as part of their algorithms that, if you react to something, that shows interest. So, they need to show you more of that. Hundreds of complaints helps make things viral. This is also why it's extra pointless to argue with strangers on facebook - you're just making their viewpoint get seen more.
We’re never getting off this planet.
 
Work, that's what has consumed my last 5/6 months. Shows no sign abating either.

On the one hand this is good (I'm self employed), on the other it leaves almost no time for anything else once weekly chores and a bit of family time is thrown in.

It of course doesn't help that my mind keeps churning out things I'd love to do, which makes a gaming to do list that has about 30 things on it. That doesn't sound too many, but some of them consist of 're-write pirate hack, write streamlined WFRP retro clone, run a VTT game in own setting (write swashbuckling setting)'. Not to mention the stack of DVDs and books I would love to get to.

It's also why I haven't been around here, trying to manage whatever time I have available so I could get things done (it didn't work). Hopefully I can see the work situation easing, and I might just have to rid myself of some clients, and seriously raise my fees at the same time (a long time coming really).
 
My son stuck his dick in crazy. Now his windows are broken and his flat is covered in blood. He's about 15-20km away, and probably gets a taxi here, if the cops won't help him out.

Damn. Not good. My son had a crazy girl just about drive him to suicide (he has depression issues.) Was not a fun time. Hope your son is ok.
 
My son stuck his dick in crazy. Now his windows are broken and his flat is covered in blood. He's about 15-20km away, and probably gets a taxi here, if the cops won't help him out.
Hope he wrapped it up. I had a friend in the same situation who believed her when she said she was on birth control. She wasn't, and she used that kid to torture him for years. He still doesn't know if it's his...
 
Awareness of cluster-B* traits should probably be part of the educational program in high schools. That shit is wreaking havoc everywhere.

* Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic and Narcissistic Personality Disorder
 
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Awareness of cluster-B* traits should probably be part of the educational program in high schools. That shit is wreaking havoc everywhere.

* Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic and Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Along those lines, I've seen a bit from the guy who wrote The No Asshole Rule. One narcissist or asshole in a group changes the whole dynamic, putting people on the defensive and dampening participation.
 
Along those lines, I've seen a bit from the guy who wrote The No Asshole Rule. One narcissist or asshole in a group changes the whole dynamic, putting people on the defensive and dampening participation.
It is true. I've seen it happen. And it works the same way in families, clubs, church communities, companies, governments, etc.

However, the covert narcissist we used to game with was apparently so covert that we never noticed anything. Our group dynamic and games were perfectly enjoyable. Some of us were also in a band with him, never experiencing anything negative. He was only exposed and diagnosed recently.
It should be noted that narcissists like hanging out with people who they look up to or admire, mirroring their traits hoping that some of their perceived qualities will rub off on them. So, without wanting to toot my own horn, that may also be what was happening and why he wasn't displaying nasty behaviour in our presence.
 
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Hope he wrapped it up. I had a friend in the same situation who believed her when she said she was on birth control. She wasn't, and she used that kid to torture him for years. He still doesn't know if it's his...
He wrapped it up, and the public prosecutor has been notified. Sorry about the situation of your friend. A friend of mine fell into the same trap. It was quite close that it could've been me in his stead, but I managed to dodge that bullet with pure luck.
 
My son stuck his dick in crazy. Now his windows are broken and his flat is covered in blood. He's about 15-20km away, and probably gets a taxi here, if the cops won't help him out.
The cops didn't help him out. The lady in question got a cop car ride home instead of an overnight stay at the hotel called drunk brig, and my son had to pay for a taxi ride here. There's some sort of privilege at work here, I think.
 
Along those lines, I've seen a bit from the guy who wrote The No Asshole Rule. One narcissist or asshole in a group changes the whole dynamic, putting people on the defensive and dampening participation.
Recently one of my bosses told me that they never hire people that wouldn't be a good fit for the job. It's amazing how prioritizing quality over quantity in staff can make an awesome working environment. It's a stressful job with a lot of crazy things that can happen, but because my coworkers back each other up it's manageable.
I love my job because of this.
 
Recently one of my bosses told me that they never hire people that wouldn't be a good fit for the job. It's amazing how prioritizing quality over quantity in staff can make an awesome working environment. It's a stressful job with a lot of crazy things that can happen, but because my coworkers back each other up it's manageable.
I love my job because of this.

That's great that they are actually aware of this when hiring. Where I work, its a bunch of narcissists hiring/promoting sycophants and budding narcissists. Which, as noted by others upthread, creates a rather unhealthy environment where people disengage, rather than rise up to overcome challenges.
 
Moracai Moracai Those cops may well have been manipulated into seeing her as a victim. Cluster B personalities are notoriously skilled at this. They almost can't help doing so, as it is a defence mechanism.

Giganotosaurus Giganotosaurus bleys21 bleys21 Narcissists can thrive in a workplace as long as people buy into their act and provide plenty of admiration and things keep going their way. As soon as something - anything - doesn't, they will start to engage in counter-productive behavior of all sorts, often not immediately obvious, illegal or provable. Their manipulative nature can make it very difficult to weed them out when hiring.

ADDENDUM: Engaging in a relationship or a friendship with them works more or less the same way. Our covert narcissist former friend turned out to be cheating on his partner with multiple women, even during and at work, and being emotionally abusive towards her and his two children. Even the emotional abuse happens kind of covertly, with lots of gaslighting and manipulation, so targets often only become aware of it late in the process, sometimes years.

A narcissist's children mainly serve to uphold a favourable image of him/her. Failing to do so will result in all kinds of abusive behavior towards them. I only became aware of my mother's narcissist traits many years after her death. Though I often felt something wasn't quite right I figured it must just be me.
 
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Oh, where am I? Mom's home. She needs to be anywhere else, and so do I. I'm juggling it for the moment, but my house is a huge mess, and with my bipolar and meds (which I stay on) I feel exhausted all the time, and not up to doing even solid "keep it at this level of mess" levels of functionality. Which is driving me nuts.
 
Damn. Not good. My son had a crazy girl just about drive him to suicide (he has depression issues.) Was not a fun time. Hope your son is ok.

So I feel kinda dumb replying to my own post, but just wanted to clarify a few things: First, my son (thankfully) failed at suicide. The girlfriend is long gone (also thankfully.) And he's doing well now, embracing weightlifting to help him feel better, and he's finally realizing that he is a fantastic musician, and that teaching kids music (and marching band!) is what he's supposed to do.

Just wanted to give a little happier ending to this. He's doing good, and I'm a happy and proud dad :-)
 
Son and I are on vacation in Japan. It’s been sort of intense. Saw the gundam. It was majestic. Went up Tōkyō tower, such a tourist trap. Lots of insane food like grilled intestines with garlic seasoning (good) and dried potatoes with honey butter seasoning (good but not as). This hotel bar just accidentally served my son booze, and then served him ginger ale that is fantastic. Rode the Shinkansen, which I love (high speed rail is hard to do in America, we need to import Mexico).

it’s sort of overwhelming every day. In a good way but everything is new and keeping an eye on my kid (he’s 13 and very mature, I’m just a bit protective) while we go through crowds.

I land Sunday in Portland and leave Monday for Europe. I will be messed right up. Time zones, what are those.

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I need to go back to Tokyo sometime. It's such a wonderful place to visit. The food is amazing, and there are like, 8 hundred little amazing restaurants you can eat at for like 10 bucks. (I will admit that I had the advantage of being there for work as far as finding food, meaning I had all my Tokyo based coworkers to take me to good places)
 
So far, I like Osaka more, but there may be some factors like growing familiarity. It certainly has less people.
 
Son and I are on vacation in Japan. It’s been sort of intense. Saw the gundam. It was majestic. Went up Tōkyō tower, such a tourist trap. Lots of insane food like grilled intestines with garlic seasoning (good) and dried potatoes with honey butter seasoning (good but not as). This hotel bar just accidentally served my son booze, and then served him ginger ale that is fantastic. Rode the Shinkansen, which I love (high speed rail is hard to do in America, we need to import Mexico).

it’s sort of overwhelming every day. In a good way but everything is new and keeping an eye on my kid (he’s 13 and very mature, I’m just a bit protective) while we go through crowds.

I land Sunday in Portland and leave Monday for Europe. I will be messed right up. Time zones, what are those.

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I had a friend recently visit, and that started the gears turning. If I hadn't had to get a new car, i would have gone this year- but have it in the hopper to do next year.
 
I got confirmation today that work will no longer be requiring masks for staff and residents in a couple days.
I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand COVID doesn't seem to be as big a threat as it was a year ago, and most people aren't wearing masks on the outside anyways.
On the other hand, we did have a couple COVID cases a couple months ago and the ensuring quarantine was absolutely devastating for the residents.
 
I got confirmation today that work will no longer be requiring masks for staff and residents in a couple days.
I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand COVID doesn't seem to be as big a threat as it was a year ago, and most people aren't wearing masks on the outside anyways.
On the other hand, we did have a couple COVID cases a couple months ago and the ensuring quarantine was absolutely devastating for the residents.
I'm in that same torn frame of mind. I mean, we're still having what, a couple hundred folks a day dying the last I checked. I keep wondering if I go out and get it I won't be one of those couple hundred or my wife. So I'm more worried that I'll be given a bunch of crap for wearing a mask still, after all I am in the South these days which always had a higher amount of people being douchebags. I just don't want it at all. I don't want long Covid, I don't want secondary or other side effects.
 
I'm in that same torn frame of mind. I mean, we're still having what, a couple hundred folks a day dying the last I checked. I keep wondering if I go out and get it I won't be one of those couple hundred or my wife. So I'm more worried that I'll be given a bunch of crap for wearing a mask still, after all I am in the South these days which always had a higher amount of people being douchebags. I just don't want it at all. I don't want long Covid, I don't want secondary or other side effects.
Yeah, I was in the strict quarantine, then after having it despite that and it not being so much, I relaxed. Then having the after effects of Covid almost a year later has made me more wary again.
 
Although it's not really something I keep track of, it occurs to me that today is the 18-year anniversary of ex-wife #1 walking out on me.

It was a horrible experience, but I'm ultimately better off for it.
 
Whereabout are you guys? I mean, Covid is not considered a threat here at all anymore. It's officially endemic and there's sufficient group immunity. We're not required to test and stay at home anymore and all test facilities are closed.

Vulnerable people are adviced to upgrade to the full four vaccinations that have been made available. Me and my wife - not particularly vulnerable except for being in our early fifties and forties, respectively - only got the first two vaccinations, then got very mild Omicron Covid around the time of the third round and didn't bother getting more.
 
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I'm in Los Angeles County, and they just decided to remove all the pandemic rules yesterday. I think we might have been the last place on Earth to do so...

I'm not sure if medical facilities are still requiring masks...they were the last time I was at the doctor's office a month or so ago.

I managed to avoid Covid up to about 2 months ago. Then it whacked me like a good run of the flu. The stupid thing is the lingering cough...still hasn't gone away. :angry:
 
Giganotosaurus Giganotosaurus and I are in Washington state. Almost all our restrictions ended last Monday. Health care facilities I believe can still require masks etc but it's not mandated by the state.

If you have kids this is nice because functionally we(parents) are living in a post Covid world except some random federal(?) guidelines around testing and returning to class.

Went the tests stop being covered by insurance and not free it becomes a real problem to try to comply even if you want to.

My oldest got Covid about a week or two ago. He just had the sniffles. Meanwhile my youngest had the flu. The one puking was able to go back to school faster than the one with no real symptoms.

Part of the problem for my household is the remnant restrictions were at odds with the general catch-up of various other diseases the kids were catching now that school isn't in masks. Do you have Covid symptoms? Oh you mean those things that match up with 95% of the symptoms of a common cold? Yes I have had those in the household nearly constantly since school started.

Personally once you couldn't get say 70%+ of a region to comply with the masking it felt like the government was burning goodwill on diminishing returns.

I did a sleep study(absolutely horrible name for it. Maybe no sleep study would be more appropriate) for apnea last night. First question is do you have any Covid symptoms. If so your supposed to reschedule. I mean if that's the requirements at this point I can't have medical care. Someone in the house is constantly playing catch up on two years of no colds. I did test but due to shortages I'm about to run out of those. When that happens like it or not I realistically can't comply with any Covid protocols.

I've been a supporter of the precautions that were imposed for most of the pandemic but at this point unless a more lethal variant come along I feel like it's time to move on. Its just the new normal.
 
I did a sleep study(absolutely horrible name for it. Maybe no sleep study would be more appropriate) for apnea last night.
Getting a CPAP machine has been life changing for me. I have super severe sleep apnea. When they did the sleep study they were like. Ok, so 30+ episodes an hour is severe. You are having 100+. Once I got the CPAP machine it was like my life changed. I wasn't tired all the time, I didn't have constant migraines. Etc. etc. etc. I felt like superman.
 
Getting a CPAP machine has been life changing for me. I have super severe sleep apnea. When they did the sleep study they were like. Ok, so 30+ episodes an hour is severe. You are having 100+. Once I got the CPAP machine it was like my life changed. I wasn't tired all the time, I didn't have constant migraines. Etc. etc. etc. I felt like superman.
So don't feel bad. My wife just doesn't like my snoring and has an overdeveloped worry sense. Maybe I have issues but damn the idea I'm supposed to sleep well on my back (when I sleep in my side) with 12 electrodes dandling from my head, neck, chest, legs and a cable on my finger, tubes up my nose just seems daft. It's like the worst setup for me to sleep. I'm 0retty sure I'm tired because I go to sleep too late and little people wake me up all night.

But we'll see.
 
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