This year has been without a doubt one of the most difficult years for me. My relationship is not going great, we may be headed towards a divorce. I’m also no longer talking to my best friend of 18 years. She was someone who had been in my life since I was a kid and I feel so lonely without her.

I’m trying to get my routines in check but just going through the day without having a breakdown seems like a Herculean effort.

One of the things I hate the most is when people say, "You gotta be X hours in and then it is really great!" If you have to wait for a game to get good then, in my opinion, it is not a very good game. I want to have fun right from the beginning.

Reddits content has gone downhill since the big migration. Even smaller communities are restricted to mostly shitposts, memes , drama or a mix of those. I tried checking it a while back and it’s incredibly bad. If we vote yes for Lexit I’d probably go to whatever platform the admins pick.

Well, it has just started, but I cannot complain. I think my depression and my anxiety both seem to be somewhat stable; it feels like my nervous system is finally getting used to my new circumstances. I also haven't had any thoughts about self-harm in 3-4 days, which I think is a major accomplishment, so I'm proud of myself.

I had two parties to attend this weekend, but ended up getting a flu. It’ll be chicken soup and crappy reality TV for me.

My mental health has also started to decline again since last week. I’m not sure if it’s the deadly winter of the Nordics or just depression slowly creeping back in. In any case, I feel really scared. The world feels overwhelming and it seems, at times, that my efforts to come to grips with the new circumstances surrounding my life are futile.

I try to convince myself that I did the best I could, that the alternative solution would’ve most likely brought my early demise.

Still, it feels I did everything wrong. I feel I closed some doors that I did not mean to close. I reached the conclusion that the events that took place this year will most likely haunt me to my deathbed. I hope some day it stops hurting so much, though.

I look around and see some friends who have gone through similar situations and it all seems so easy to them. “Don’t compare yourself with others”, my therapist says incessantly every week. Sadly, I can’t help feeling weak in this situation. It’s been over 9 months, but still find myself crying every now and then before bed. I still find myself wishing I just wouldn’t wake up the next morning.

It’s not all bad though. I’m still being very consistent with the gym and I’m now doing pull ups like they were never a problem. I have also learned a few new songs in my acoustic guitar and it finally doesn’t sound like I’m killing a cat whenever I strum it.

Oh, I’ve also been reading The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin and I think that’s the first book that completely transports me to another world since the first Harry Potter. 😄

Take care everyone and sorry for the wall of text. o/

It’s been going. I think my nervous system is finally getting used to the absence of the one person who’s been here for half of my life. I’m trying to shift my outlook on life and trying to convince myself that I can pull this off on my own. I think there’s been a bit of progress because not every breath feels like torture and I’m no longer thinking of doing anything stupid. There’s a life ahead and I can sort of see it now. It may even be good :)

Things have been somewhat more stable. My anxiety and depression seem to be somewhat under control although there are still the really bad days here and there. I’m slowly getting over severing ties with my best friend of 18 years and am slowly coming to the realisation that maybe it was all for the best. Otherwise, all is the same, gym, work, therapy, some light gaming and reading. Things will be okay.

It has not been a bad week. It has been over two weeks with no self-harm thoughts and I can’t express how happy I am about it. Of course, my brain still insists on waking me up in the middle of the night to give me a highlight reel of my past fuckups, but I’m coping.

I’ve also been learning to accept that one of the most important persons in my life is now gone and that’s it. It’s okay, though, I’ve been doing fine enough without her and the thought of not talking to her ever again doesn’t terrify anymore.

My deload week at gym has been ok. It’s easy and light, which I’m slowly learning to appreciate. My body feels great when it’s not so fatigued by constantly lifting heavy weights. Keeping tabs on my diet has been paying its dividends as I see my BMI going down week after week. I’m a few pounds away from no longer being considered overweight. Oh yeah, I also managed to do my first pull up!

All in all, it’s been a positive week. I’m hoping that the horrible events that took place earlier this year are now firmly behind me and won’t come back to haunt me. God, I really fucking hope so. It was hard, folks, it was really fucking hard.

It's been mostly good. Sadly, my parents could not come because the consulate could not issue their visas on time, but we made the best out of what we had. I've now been resting at my sister's place, and it's been such a pleasant surprise. We had not lived together since she was 8(she's 20 now), so it has been quite the experience for both of us. I'm flying back home tomorrow, and I'm already planning a return trip. I needed this break. I feel I could finally stop and take a breath of confidence and self-control. I haven't had any depressing thoughts, and, more importantly, I feel like I was finally able to let go of some of the ghosts that have been haunting me this year. It was excruciating, but I'm happy I did it. I feel confident they won't be coming back anymore to torture and taunt me. So, I feel I can finally start a new era in my life and move forward, one step at a time. Let's hope I can keep the positivity. At least, for now, I think I got this and 2024 can bring it. :)

Thanks. I have a therapist who's been helping me to make sense of it all. Otherwise, I've just been trying to keep myself busy, going to the gym, trying new hobbies and so on. Hopefully, things will get easier as time goes on.

It's been a very long week. I'm glad it's almost over, and I'll have two rest days until next week starts. My depression got slightly worse due to someone unexpected coming back into my life, someone I thought I'd never talk to or hear from again. I was getting accustomed to no longer having this person around, and I realised I was doing much better without them. My anxiety was under control; I was making more gains in the gym than ever, girls(and guys!) started paying more attention to me whenever I went out, and I was finally trying out new hobbies!

Then, out of nowhere, four weeks ago or so, I got a message on my WhatsApp. Despite being in a much better place now, I engaged with them. I knew it was a bad idea from the get-go, but part of me was still clinging to the past, I suppose. Finally, I did what I should've done aeons ago: I closed our communication channels yesterday when they inevitably brought more drama into my life that I didn't need. We've known each other for 22 years, and part of me will sorely miss them, but I think I'm much better off without them.

I've been training a lot and got into natural bodybuilding over the past few months. I finally found a coach that seems pretty good, and I'm hoping we can start training after the summer once I'm back from my parents' place. Sadly, all of this has messed up my recovery as it has substantially increased my stress levels. Hopefully, it'll all be back on track soon. Being an HSP makes this situation harder, but I think I'm better equipped now than ever. It's only up from here! (I hope!)

Sorry for the wall of text. It's been a very long week, and I suppose I needed to vent somewhere.

I had a co-worker who was super into sim racing. He had this insane setup in his living room with a chair, pedals and so on. What wheels and pedals do you recommend to get started? 🤔

Thank you! That really means a lot and I appreciate your encouragement!

I don’t know if that’s a controversial opinion and I know DC doesn’t usually mix the tv show universes and the cinematic universe, but I really wish they would’ve cast Melissa Benoist as Supergirl. She’s just so charismatic that I just cannot see anyone else playing the role…

Too bad weed is not legal here. I reckon that'd help with the anxiety.

Kagi is the only one that consistently gives me much better results than google. The fact that it's not riddled with ads on the first page was a big incentive for me to give them some cash. It actually improved my productivity at work a whole lot. This actually made me think how shitty google has become when I was preferring results given by an error prone AI compared to just searching for it. Now with Kagi, I can actually find the stuff I'm looking for and only use AI in case I can't find it there for some reason. Totally worth the monthly subscription for me.

Thank you for your comment! I've been on the fence about buying a weighted blanket for a while, but I'll most definitely get one now! I've gotten used to ignoring my body cues and just staying in a situation even though it feels extremely uncomfortable. This is definitely something I need to work on. I also need to move to another house, I think. I currently don't feel safe or comfortable where I live and it's taking a bigger toll on my mental health than I was willing to admit.

I once witnessed a German person explaining the holocaust to an Israeli person. The world is collectively getting more stupid.

Edit: maybe it isn’t, but social media is definitely helping us reach our stupidity potential.

Thank you for your words, I really appreciate it. ❤️

I managed to convince myself, with the help of my therapist and trainer, that exercising is a habit that is essential for my wellbeing. I’ve lost 15kg and am quite proud of my progress. It’s the first time in a long time that I can look myself in the mirror and feel comfortable in my body. Mind you, I’m not thin by any means and don’t feel like I need to be, but I do feel and look much healthier. :)

I cannot recommend Ursula’s books enough. Her writing style is so fluid and satisfying. The way she crafts her sentences is stunning. She’s a very good storyteller. Reading her book has been the highlight of my day.

Ah man, dealing with depression can be really hard. I hope things are getting better for you and you’re happily trying out your new clothes.

What are your plans for your new homelab, if I may ask?

Hang in there, sir.

Joyce Carol Oates is there; She counts for hundreds of cool people; I think some other writers make use of it too. I hope they voice their discontent.

Nazis find a way to ruin every fucking thing. I really believe certain groups of people should not have right to free speech. In 2024, we should be well-aware that tolerating intolerance does not work. Just fucking look around and take a look at what these people are doing with their free speech. I am not the gatekeeper or good morals and the bastion of good values. Some ideologies are objectively bad, though.

Ohh I just looked up Astro and it looks really cool. I’ll give it a go tomorrow!

I actually also enjoy programming quite a bit, but it can be quite daunting at times. Now when I'm a bit more aware of my mind, I think I can approach programming in a way that's more productive and not as overwhelming. :)

Unfortunately, it is not. At some point CBD oils were allowed, but they had no THC in them, so it was not super helpful. :(

I did the same. My story had a really dark twist though…. Luckily things are somewhat better these days, but it’ll be one of those things that I’ll remember in my deathbed…

Something about pushing my body to its limits just makes me feel very good. I can't really explain it. I don't like the pain or the effort, but doing one more bench press always makes me feel so good about myself. I suppose it's the sense of accomplishment. The first few months were very hard since I was 30kg overweight and hadn't done any kind of sports in a long time, so just the thought of exercising made me anxious. Nowadays, I'm much more accustomed to it. I've lost a bit over 10kg, and the challenge has become somewhat addictive.

Welp, you missed the whole shitstorm of him masturbating on video for a teenage girl. The videos leaked and were all over the internet. It was not Mustaine this time around.

I started taking notes on a app called Craft. It kind of takes a page from notion, but it is not nearly as bloated. I use it for everything, notes on books, journaling, keep tabs on my exercises and so on.

I was considering this. How much does it set you back? Do you just use the £5 servers?

I’m 34 and can’t say I’ve ever had this problem. All the people I’ve gone out with just see it as a hobby I have and nothing else. I think the may problem is when people assume you don’t have any other hobbies or don’t do anything else because you like video games. I find that as I get older I’m gravitating towards vastly different hobbies so when the topic of video games comes up their reaction is usually what you describe: “Ah my kids love them!” then we move on to the next topic. That has never been a deal breaker though, which I assume is what you’re somewhat implying in your post.

I have the same problem; my flat is only about 50sqm. Judging by the way things are going, I think there’s a chance Nvidia will release some consumer-grade hardware meant for LLMs in the near-ish future. Until they reveal their next lineup, although it may seem like a poor financial decision, I’m just sticking to using the cloud for running llms.

I’m also hoping to get my hands on some raspberry pis too. I would like to build a toy k3s cluster at some point and maybe run my own mastodon instance. :)

There's a Korean reality TV/game show that I really enjoy, called "The Genius". Sadly, it's no longer airing, but I think it's one of my favorite shows that has ever aired. I used to be into Chinese dramas back when I was living there, but nowadays my Chinese is very rusty, and I don't get the same satisfaction from watching them.

Unfortunately, there's no correlation between game quality and its price. The standard now is 70 euros.

I understand healing is not a linear process, but some days just feel so hard. I’ve been exercising very regularly(dropped 15kg), going to therapy, engaging with other people, but any amount of effort still feels Herculean. It was pointed out to me that low testosterone levels could cause some of these symptoms so I guess I’ll get that checked next. But yeah, my week has been difficult…too many losses in a very short time span…

That sounds really cool. I think I'd never be able to do it with my clumsy hands. How did you get into it?

Link (SFW), if you’re curious.

So what's Noita's appeal? I've tried getting into it several times, but it never clicked. It feels overly difficult, but not in a fun way. I'm sure I'm missing something, as this kind of game would be up my alley otherwise.

That sounds incredibly cool. Knowing myself I'd probably cut a finger off, but that's definitely something I'd like to try at some point!

It's been a good week except for the whole covid thing. It lasted only 2 days, but left me with a nasty cough. I'm gonna go visit my sister down south next tuesday; I'm really looking forward to that. I'm hoping this will give me ample opportunity to think, breathe and decide on the next steps of my life. I also tried out a new gym, which is closer to my house, last thursday. Going to a new gym is always a stress for me cause I never really know if it's just going to be a bunch of "bros", if you get my gist. Nothing ever happened, but loud people can make me anxious. To my surprise, it was mostly empty with the exception of some dudes here and there. I've also started listening to all the albums, I've been ignoring this year to compile my best of 2023 list.

I've been a bit depressed, as usual, but it was mostly manageable. It seems that my overall mood is a little bit more stable even though I have pretty harsh weeks at times such as last week...

You're so vain by Faster Pussycat turned out to be a cover

Cross-Eyed Mary

I also thought Man on the Silver Mountain was by Mago de OZ