NevelioKrejall

I went to my boss to ask for some time off and she reminded me that I had already requested the same days off weeks ago, been approved, talked about plans, then forgotten all of it.

Has nobody ever talked dirty to you? Words can be very powerful, even recorded ones.

I think I may be an outlier here. I really don't want to die in a sudden 'didn't-see-it-coming' kind of way, like getting hit by a semi or a freak accident with heavy machinery kind of way. The idea of going from living, thinking, feeling, person to chunk(s) of meat in an instant terrifies the shit out of me. Especially if it's caught on video and people watch it for laughs or whatever possesses them to watch that kind of thing.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to die in some slow, painful way either, but something I had some agency in would be worlds better. Like taking a bullet to save a loved one, or punching my own ticket after getting a terminal diagnosis, or even just taking a deliberate, calculated risk.

Absolutely not. Discomfort isn't a thing to be avoided, and contentment too easily becomes complacency. Everything I've ever done that materially improved my life was motivated by not being content with the status quo. Each positive change was (physically or emotionally) difficult, unpleasant, or even painful to make, but it always made life better afterward. Pain is a fantastic teacher. I would rather struggle than sleep, and I don't want rich assholes doing my thinking for me.

I don't think anybody really sees themselves as a simple 'A' or 'B' in this way. Maybe I'm wrong. It just seems impossible to simplify an entire life and experience of the world as either 'blessed' or 'cursed'.

Which isn't to say I think models of human capability can't be fun.

I like to imagine it more like ability scores in D&D. Someone might have low Wisdom, but training and proficiency can still make them extremely perceptive. And in some cases, you can find ways to leverage an unusual ability when you're trying to do something, like making an intimidation check using Strength instead of Charisma. What is a weakness in one scenario can be a strength in the next.

This model is still simple enough to visualize easily, but has enough moving parts to allow for lots of different ways of being without any one way being 'good' or 'bad'. Neurodivergence might be part of the stats you roll up, but your circumstances and your choices combine to build a life experience around them that can be completely different from another person who rolled the same numbers. Likewise, different rolled stats can affect how well you handle certain situations and adventures, but this is neither a curse nor a superpower, and is true for everyone.

Models only get you so far, but humans are a social species. We need each other by our very nature. Teamwork is in our DNA. And, like DNA, teams are more adaptable when they are diverse. Everyone has something to bring to the table, neurodivergent or otherwise.

Two approaches. Mixed success with both.

1. Choose games that don't make you feel bad. This can mean playing more cooperative games, or it can mean offering to referee or sit out games you know will just piss you off. For me, the chance of winning isn't appealing enough to outweigh the chance of ruining the game for someone else. It helps to identify what exactly it is about losing that makes you so sour. I have a hard time with games like Cards Against Humanity because the card combinations that are funny to me usually aren't funny to anyone else because they didn't go on the ADHD field trip with me to make those connections. It starts to feel like a popularity contest that I'm losing because my brain is wired wrong, and it's hard not to take that personally.

2. Set different goals in the games you're playing, and define 'winning' for yourself based on those goals. I used to get annoyed every time my friends pulled out settlers of Catan. I would do what made sense to me each turn, but I'd always lose anyway either to random chance or just not having enough RAM in my brain. Even on the rare occasions I won I often wouldn't have fun with it because I spent so much of the game being frustrated. So I decided the only thing I cared about in the game was getting one of the bonus goals, usually 'longest road'. That was much easier to focus on, and it took all the pressure off me to win. After a while it became kind of a running joke.

It's not perfect, and it doesn't happen in a vacuum either. Sore losers often have anger issues they're not dealing with (I know I did!) and figuring that stuff out will help in more areas of your life than just board games.

Your mileage may vary.

Good luck!

Oh, that's why I like "dipshit" so much. Now I understand myself better, thanks!

I think that varies wildly from one person to another. For me, housework is emotionally exhausting. So is making decisions that affect other people, like where to go for dinner. These are examples where it feels like a bad kind of exhausting. On the other hand, running a D&D game is a thing that's emotionally exhausting but that I still enjoy doing.

If you liked this game, you might be interested to learn that Pistol Shrimp games, an independent game dev company started by Paul Rieche III and Fred Ford (the original creators of Star Control and Star Control 2), are making a sequel, with story written by Paul Rieche III.

The re-release on steam is partly to get the word out about it. Join our discord to learn more!

Even if you didn't like their coffee, they sell like candy and sandwiches and mugs and stuff? That's not a useless gift card and I'm sorry you lost it!

The sound of Agatha Trunchbull's angry grunt as she throws the shot put in her office to intimidate Ms. Honey in Matilda (1996).

Or really, any of the noises she makes throughout that entire movie.

Disgusting things, children. Glad I never was one.

My strategy for these days is to let myself off the hook for finishing anything. "Just put three dishes in the dishwasher, then you can go back to the project your brain will let you think about." Sometimes that's enough to break the spell and load the whole dishwasher.

Looking back, I understand it. At the time, it was devastating. I was depressed, had lost my job, and hadn't learned to enjoy my own company yet, so I hung around constantly needing his attention. He didn't sign up to be a therapist. He was as gentle as he could be about it, but it still hurt to be abandoned at my lowest point. I needed the wake up call though. I'm doing much better now.

This post has a weird energy. I can't decide if it reads more phobia or more fetish. Maybe both XD

Assuming you are genuinely asking, "ugly" is entirely subjective. Someone might be unattractive to you for any number complex reasons, including the possibility that you are simply not who they are trying to appeal to (or they don't make appealing to other people a priority at all, for political reasons, personal reasons, or just convenience), but there is no objective standard of ugliness, despite what mainstream media and beauty standards may want you to think. Everyone is beautiful to someone.

There is a shocking lack of Star Control 2 in here. Easily the best game I have ever played, period. It frequently gets name dropped in lists of game developers' favorite games of all time. Later space epics like Mass Effect stood on Star Control 2's shoulders to reach the heights they did.

Good news! The devs released it to the open source community under the name The Ur-Quan Masters. You can play it now for free! And they're developing a sequel as we speak over at Pistol Shrimp Games

The best horror film for Halloween isn't a horror film, exactly. It's a cartoon miniseries called Over the Garden Wall. We put it on for the Halloween party every year.

Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters has an excellent story and wordbuilding, and you can talk to all kinds of weird aliens. If you don't like the ship combat, you can set up the game's AI to fight for you.

This isn't stupid, it is righteous

Disgusting things, children. Glad I never was one!

A psychopath wouldn't be worried about whether they're a psychopath.

Two approaches. Mixed success with both.

1. Choose games that don't make you feel bad. This can mean playing more cooperative games, or it can mean offering to referee or sit out games you know will just piss you off. For me, the chance of winning isn't appealing enough to outweigh the chance of ruining the game for someone else. It helps to identify what exactly it is about losing that makes you so sour. I have a hard time with games like Cards Against Humanity because the card combinations that are funny to me usually aren't funny to anyone else because they didn't go on the ADHD field trip with to make those connections. It starts to feel like a popularity contest that I'm losing because my brain is wired wrong, and it's hard not to take that personally.

2. Set different goals in the games you're playing, and define 'winning' for yourself based on those goals. I used to get annoyed every time my friends pulled out settlers of Catan. I would do what made sense to me each turn, but I'd always lose anyway either to random chance or just not having enough RAM in my brain. Even on the rare occasions I won I often wouldn't have fun with it because I spent so much of the game being frustrated. So I decided the only thing I cared about in the game was getting one of the bonus goals, usually 'longest road'. That was much easier to focus on, and it took all the pressure off me to win. After a while it became kind of a running joke.

It's not perfect, and it doesn't happen in a vacuum either. Sore losers often have anger issues they're not dealing with (I know I did!) and figuring that stuff out will help in more areas of your life than just board games.

Your mileage may vary.

Good luck!

This also happened to me. I dropped out of game art & design school. Now I'm doing art and animation for a game dev company. I took the scenic route, but I got here eventually!

Hey, this is my exact story, including the undiagnosed ADHD, dropping out of college, the dead-end wage slavery for way too long, and now having a decent paying job that isn't what I went to school for, but that also doesn't kill my soul.

Except: I have an epilogue!

I still don't have a degree, but I never stopped practicing my art because I am simply incapable of stopping. It's what I do. I recently got a side gig that was my absolute unrealistic pie-in-the-sky dream job when I was in college, working for the very creators that inspired me to choose my major in the first place. College wasn't what got me there. It was passion for the artform, introspection/therapy to develop a more forgiving and accepting attitude toward myself, and sheer perseverance. I spent the first 18 years of my adult life thinking failure and dead ends were all the universe had to offer, but I kept trying anyway (mostly to spite that hostile universe in a 'fuck you, kill me yourself' kind of way).

It's not over until it's over. You don't know how your story ends. Keep trying. If someone says you missed your chance, fuck 'em. They can't see the future any more clearly than you.