If they all used it at the same time, there’s a possibility that it would result in 5 different alternate realities, one where each of those countries has achieved their goals. Maybe 6 different alternate realities, including the original.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3. I wish I could say Sonic 3 & Knuckles but we weren’t swimming in money so I very rarely got a new game (and just to add, I never threw controllers or punched TVs either because mommy wouldn’t just buy me a new one if I did that).

I did rent out Sonic & Knuckles occasionally though. But I can practically picture the early level layouts of Sonic 3 in my mind like they’re familiar streets that I grew up in.

When I was a kid, for a while my mother, one of my sisters and I lived with my grandpa. Grandpa loved his caine and other white spirits and would drink until he went and passed out in his room. Then he would start shouting in his sleep and have big fights and arguments with someone. Usually when this started, someone would go to wake him up and tell him to shut up (as suggested by him).

Anyway, one day the three of us excluding grandpa were sitting around in the lounge doing whatever, when next thing we heard grandpa shouting in his sleep from his room. So both me and my sister go to tell him to sit up. And we both saw the shape of a person in his bed and heard him sort of mumble “ah, fine, ok, sorry.” And that was the end of the shouting and we went back to the lounge to carry on watching TV or whatever we were doing.

Next thing, a car pulls up outside and out gets grandpa and his friend. They had both been out the whole day and grandpa wasn’t actually home that whole time.

That’s easily the biggest unexplained experience I’ve had in my life. The fact that all 3 of us heard him shouting and that both my sister and I saw him in his bed still freaks me out today.

This whole year so far, it’s been The Gathering - Shot to Pieces for me. It’s not even a new song I discovered, I first heard it when it was new on a Metal Hammer compilation CD. But it’s just been speaking to me this year. The lyrics, the vibe, the sound, everything. It’s the song in my soul currently.

I didn’t even know that “non-binary” was a thing until later in life. I knew that I wasn’t like the boys but we wore uniforms and had to have gender specific haircuts and were all seperated and categorised, so it’s not like I was spending all my time with the girls either. I just thought I was a weirdo that hated sports and stupid immature behaviour, who preferred reading fantasy and sci-fi books alone.

And I still didn’t even know that it was a thing for years after school. We’re kinda progressive in my country but probably still at least 10 years behind the first world in that regard. So it’s something that I was just never exposed to. When I finally did sit down and do some homework about it, it felt like I had finally found the picture to use as reference to put the puzzle of my life together, if that makes sense. Before that, I was just building the puzzle blind and not doing a very good job at it. So many things in my life would’ve made more sense or been easier (and I would’ve made better decisions along the way too) if I had only known who I was.

This meme might’ve done the trick for me lol. Still gonna go with 16 though because that’s the age I started sneaking out on weekends to go to the alternative club. I think that if I had a clue back then and wasn’t still in denial, I would’ve done everything better, especially relationships with people.

Either an egg meme or a neurodivergence meme. Or both in one. Preferably with the word ‘non-binary’ in it so that I’m exposed to that concept young. Then hopefully I’d get a clue and live my best life before that life turns into a dark tunnel where the only light ahead is an oncoming train.

Tempted to send it to my 5 year old self before starting primary school. But I mean, 5 year old me wouldn’t get it. I could send it to 12 year old me before high school but then I’d still get sent to boarding school in a religious conservative shit hole town and probably feel even more trapped there armed with knowledge of who I really am.

So I’m gonna send to my 16 year old self. Second to last year of school when I was already done with this shit and just before starting my adult life.

Reddit. First strike was an anti religion comment. Got back after my 3 days and the first thread I saw was something in one of the popular subs where everyone was shitting on religion. Second strike was cheering on the bear in a clip where a bear turned on a circus trainer for “wishing harm”. Third and final strike was for shitting on the manosphere for, and I quote, “hatred towards vulnerable and marginalized groups.”

All three came in the last two or three years, after being on the platform for more than a decade and never being suspended before that.

I know that ‘Christians’ exist. Not sure I’ve ever met any Christians though.

Puzzle Box

Just to be sure to avoid any puzzle box that looks like this:

Yeah I think nowhere will be 100% free of bigots that think the world revolves around them. But the way I see it, it’s just easier to disappear into the crowd in cities. You’re going to be seeing and walking past a hundred different faces in a day.

Whereas in a small town or village, you’re going to be seeing the same people over and over. And those same people you’ll be seeing over and over usually consist of pearl clutching retirees and people that barely ever left their home town in their lives and who live in a small world (but of course still think they know everything about everything). And to your point, those kinds of people tend to think that their specific culture is the default and ‘normal’ and that everyone else in the world is wrong and a heretic.

As someone that is dying to be more GNC on a daily basis, I know that I’m not comfortable in this small town where even the hobos down the road know me personally by now.

Trans men are foolish women who were tricked

A couple of months ago I was trying something with a second account on Facebook. Gave myself a gender neutral name, used a profile picture where it’s hard to tell, and set the non-binary flag as my banner.

Ended up in an argument with a TERF at one point. She was so convinced that I was a biological woman falling prey to “trans ideology” that she even showed up on my profile the next day, commenting on something and trying to convince me to change the path that I’m on. And just because it’s relevant to this story, I feel like I should mention that I was shipped with male factory parts.

So yeah, I experienced that first hand with a TERF who can “always tell”, who was convinced that I was one of these foolish women being tricked.

It was pretty affirming at first but as time went on it felt less like a win and made me feel awful and deceptive. Because I didn’t once mention anything about my sex but didn’t correct her either and just let her keep making assumptions. Deleted that account not long after that.

Edit: fun fact, not long after that on my main Facebook account that uses my very gendered real name, in another argument with a bigot, I was accused of being a woman pretending to be a man online.

Lol so is this just a thing with Facebook advertising these days? Last time I went on a couple of months ago, it kept advertising the exact same cardigans to me over and over but from different ‘shops’. There were even two with completely different shop names that had the same sob story about a “going out of business sale”, complete with crying face reactions as if life long fans of this shop were sad about the news.

I find it kinda funny in a way. Here’s the social media powerhouse Meta making advertising central to their business but they can’t even bother doing a little quality checking and not letting it be flooded with obvious fake shops that can’t even do deception and trickery right.

Amelie

Watched that a couple of months ago, had a good time. Was pretty surprised to find the origin of FitGirl’s profile pic.

The main one that comes to mind isn’t a song but a band. I LOVED In Flames. Now it just reminds me of a really shitty time in my life involving heartbreak and the end of my first band.

I feel awful for the genuinely good people living there. But to all of the people that either voted for this or sat back and did nothing to prevent this: I genuinely, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart hope that you fucking suffer like never before.

Thank you very much! That looks like a great place to get ideas indeed.

Oh cool, that’s definitely encouraging, thanks.

Haha yeah I hadn’t considered that. I guess there’s always the various lines of work that involve doing something in front of the camera, if you’re that kind of person for that job (I have actually honestly considered trying something like onlyfans in the past lol, but lurking in certain creator spaces on Reddit definitely dispelled the myth of easy money in that for me, seems like giving a lot of yourself for not a lot of reward unless you’re one of the lucky few that blow up in popularity).

I had thought of this area of work. Not averse to learning something tech related (although you wouldn’t be able to tell going by the 3 times I’ve started and abandoned a programming course in my life), I just worry that being both a noob and almost 40 would count against me finding actual work. Plus, going by the other commenter, seems like a tough market right now.

On a side note, programming is something I would love to do in my downtime, to be able to finally make my game(s) lol.

Yeah, I’ve started switching between Active and Top 6 hours myself. Sometimes might use Top 12 hours instead. It’s still lacking in enough content to satisfy absolutely everyone’s niches or tastes all the time, and it’s not loaded with new posts every time you refresh but there’s enough to at least keep entertained through the day.

Although I hope it doesn’t stay like this forever, I want to see it grow. I feel like it’s already a little busier since I first signed up here, so hopefully it’s getting there.