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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 17th, 2023

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  • I quit around 2019 because I just didn’t stand a chance anymore. I’d place 2 walls and a ramp in the time it took most top-25 players to build a small castle with a wine cellar, jacuzzi, and escalator (or so it felt). I can’t keep up with these goddamn Ritalin-riddled kids.

    It always cracks me up when my go-to move (in zero build) is to just stand still when it gets to close quarters. They start jumping like a cracked out kangaroo and miss shot after shot. I only do pitch/yaw and some sideways strafe, no jumping. It lets me use my Ps1/Ps2 era PvE experience.







  • Fortnite. No story to catch up on, no true goals besides winning, no long-term strategizing. I’m sure PUBG is the same/better, but my SO is entertained by the cartoonish nature of FN. It brings us excitement when I’m close to winning. With the introduction of zero build, I fair well. I used to feel more guilt for it being a “bad” game and for not giving time to the betrer story/campaign titles, bur you know what? I’m tired and my time is limited as an actual adult. I’ll take my dopamine where I can get it, thank you.

    I’m replaying Ace Combat 7 right now. I can’t believe how bad the writing is. I played it in 2020 and had a grand time with probably 6 runs for the various achievements. Turns out, I remember basically nothing of the story. It’s definitely amusing to revisit the AI story aspects now that “AI” is in full swing. I guess AC5 set my standard for AC stories, but maybe that doesn’t hold up well either. Regardless, I’m in it for the fun, respectable flight physics. Just don’t ask me where I keep 144 missiles stored.


  • I tried MW3 (I think?) but never figured out ANYTHING. I was young, joystick drivers didn’t work, and I hadn’t the slightest idea how to map out all the functions of a mech suit. Now I have nearly 50 inputs mapped to an Xbox controller for Elite Dangerous fully memorized. What a change in times.

    I liked Cauldron Born. I had that and Mad Cat as K’nex models. Hated Orion. Since I never figure out how to do anything, all I can judge them on is their appearance in the build menu. I was also like… 10?





  • I played AC: Rogue most recently. Its the first time I refused to 100% the missions and, for the most part, skipped collectibles. I started off going for everything and was struggling to enjoy it and didn’t feel motivated to play it. Granted, Rogue is a weak game in the series (alternate dev), but I still wanted the story (even though the script and voice acting was laughable at points).

    I 100%d the missions and got 90%+ collectibles (in this order) in Unity, Syndicate, Origins, Odyssey, and IV prior to that. It was kinda nice to be free and and pin myself in side-quest-purgatory at 90% mission completion to not “end the game too soon”.


  • It’s obviously hard to know how my childhood would have been had my parents divorced, but my main “benefit” from them staying together is that I saw who I didn’t want to be. That’s not much. It soured my views on marriage, which only got worse when my long-term partner’s parents started pushing for it. Both my now-in-laws were remarried, telling me how important marriage was, while also having a relationship with each other as contentious as my own parents. (Eventually, I had 8 friends get married in one year and the whole thing clicked for me with much, much healthier examples)

    Would life have been worse with split parents? Who knows. No way of telling. Lose some negativity, potentially add a ton of instability.

    I can’t recommend one way or the other. I only ask you consider your own mental health and attitude and how it affects your family’s home life. But the one thing I can say pretty confidently (and of course don’t know if you do this): as frustrating as shit gets, do not trash talk your spouse to your kids. And if you’re really trying to explain to them why your spouse is hurting you, you better be as innocent as you portray yourself. I took my dad’s words to heart and despised my mom through my teen years, only to come around in my 20s and realized it was my dad who was the mean one. The stories didn’t add up. I mean, he literally complained to me once (after I saw the truth) that my mom withheld sex for 2 years for some bullshit set of reasons that included everything except himself. It was pretty clear at that point she had no interest in the miserable old man he became, along with him watching political “news” all day, complaining about dinner not being done, not cleaning, etc.

    Kids see everything. They aren’t naive forever.




  • It varies. If you have this all the time, I’d suspect your sleep duration is not aligned with your sleep cycles. I’ll be more confused if I had dreamy sleep, I’ll be more confused if I wake from REM or deep, and I’ll be very confused if I awake from a dreamy sleep during REM or deep. I don’t think I forget I’m human, but it can take a second to adjust to not having a dream reality. I’m definitely, often enough, entirely confused as to where I am for a moment.

    However, this effect is lessened when I awake from light sleep. It feels more natural. There’s a lingering sleepy feeling, but it somehow feels like I’m well rested, even if it’s a short sleep. Sleep cycles are typically 90 minutes (light-rem-deep-rem-light). 6 hours isn’t great, but waking is acceptable. 7.5 is good enough for me. 9 is too much commitment to test.

    Ironically, when I drink until bedtime, I can sometimes wake instantly if the timing is right. However, it’s like a low power mode. I’m alert, but lazy. Like I just blinked away my entire sleep. Alcohol tends to prevent REM and disrupt deep sleep.




  • That was a good time for the story portion of the Ubisoft formula. 360-era and early One-era Assin and Far Cry games did a lot to make you question your own morality while not giving you a clear “good guy” ending. I only played a little of AC3 and I guess AC4 wasn’t that deep on the topic. FC2 had you aiding opposing factions in a foreign conflict and manages to make you, potentially, sympathetic to the Jackal at the end. FC3 kinda saves it for the ending when you realize the fantasy mass-killer hero life is incompatible normal life. FC4 has you actively watching competing revolutionaries advance with different drastic flawsgiving validity to Min’s dictatorship. ACU gives a strong case for the Templars while giving you such a hollow ending. I’d say ACOri also has a hollow ending, though the baddies are shallow along the way. .

    I can’t recall any major moral conflicts in ACOdy (played 2020) and they definitely went light in FC6 (played 2024, dictator makes the country money with drugs but gives nothing back to the people). Haven’t played anything later.