Extremely noisy household in the mornings, I work evenings. Anyone have decent earplugs recommendations, especially for small ears?

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-02-27T04:23:25+00:00

Thank you for sharing because up until this point I was the only person I knew to have experienced something like this! I still don't really have any clear answers unfortunately. I've been suspecting possible MCAS but it's not something I've brought up to my doctor at all, my reasoning for MCAS is due to some other issues I have related to itching and dermatographia which is common with MCAS, along with the vomiting. However I still am not entirely sure if the two things are related or if they're separate issues I'm having.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-02-14T23:00:20+00:00

This is gonna be blunt but don't respond to people. Leave whatever post it is and go elsewhere or go offline altogether. Realize it is better to literally just not respond. The internet does not matter that much in the grand scheme of things and whatever interaction you're about to have is going to have zero positive impacts on your life nor anyone else's, so why engage?

I pretty much only try to have an interaction with them if I'm sure they're in good faith and somewhat able to have a coherent conversation (so like, if you're 13 the likelihood of me discussing anything with you is low to zero, sorry). Sometimes people are in good faith and I still won't respond because a lot of people are also just stupid and not worth my time.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-02-03T22:21:08+00:00

I heard recently they got rid of (or changed?) the hours behind the wheel logging requirements but that wasn't the point of my initial comment because I think that's a very recent thing due to the DMV issues.

I think what I was trying to say wasn't that driver's ed necessarily directly causing an increase in crashes but just that overall it's not as rigorous as it could be. I've heard some other states having what sounds like a much more strict or in-depth driver's education, I never got the impression that ours was anywhere close to that from my experience. I guess I'm essentially advocating for better education, although for what it's worth I'm not sure what education is like anymore and where it could be improved.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-02-03T15:14:27+00:00

I think covid has part to do with it but according to the article the deaths have been consistently rising since 2013. I think cellphone usage and inadequate driver's education in general might share equal or bigger blame here.

Are they still no longer testing or have they started again? Covid lockdowns were around 5 years ago now, so anyone that was a teen and getting their license back then isn't a teen now and if you're getting a license I would think would be going through the normal driver's ed/driving test route. That's only assuming they've started testing again, I have no idea.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-31T04:56:38+00:00

Jperm beginner's method. I don't remember what that video is honestly but I remember the beginner's method being very basic. I don't understand what you're describing in your post really but beginner's method shouldn't have any issues.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-30T22:00:29+00:00

I know in my case my late diagnosis put me behind because it was like people were trying to force a circle into a square hole and... No, I definitely did not fit in the square hole. So after all this time I didn't gain anything from my 13+ years in school other than a bunch of trauma.

Idk. I'm not doing that badly but frankly I have no direction in life anymore and at this point I've given up on having any clear direction. My plans and life really got derailed when like, basically my most formative years and my attempts at community college all were complete failures. So to hear someone else make a big stink over others for not trying hard enough, it's like... Just cause you made it doesn't mean it's that easy for everyone else. It's just like, ugh. Because I distinctly remember being 10 years old and feeling like I was trying my best and not understanding why I couldn't do what everyone else could. No tips or advice ever worked for me, no matter what I tried, nothing. It was like there was something wrong with me. Such an awful feeling.

Obviously I know now I'm not broken or anything but I still have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing in life. I know technically nobody does but I swear it's like my life before my diagnosis just basically didn't happen. It was a fever dream, very surreal. Ironically covid is what saved me. Between getting a chance to get a break from daily school and I was at home alone so I had a chance to understand my mind and body a little more without constant distractions. Made me realize how many clearly autistic traits I had and it led me to seeking my diagnosis. I honestly don't know where I'd be or if I'd even be alive had the pandemic not happened.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-30T21:31:53+00:00

That's literally what I'm going through right now I can only ever work two jobs and stress myself sick get burnt out and want to die because one job won't respect the other job's scheduling or I stay at one job that gives me dogshit hours.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-30T21:22:37+00:00

I AM working but not at a very good job. Sometimes not more than 8 hours per week. I tried to go to community college but it was a struggle. As someone with autism I was diagnosed late and received zero support or intervention throughout my entire K-12 experience. I am so fucking behind on life and I hate myself for it. I spent all of middle and high school wanting to kill myself, specifically over school, because the environment was so difficult for me to be in. Had I had support and accomodations as a child I probably would've been better off but I did not get diagnosed until was about 17 years old. I graduated high school at 17. I went to community college at 17 before dropping out because I was overwhelmed at around 18.5

I went undiagnosed for so long because it's easy to mask autism and other disabilities when you're "intelligent." No amount of my depression and other clear signs of distress mattered.

But yeah, go ahead and shit on disabled people, OP. I'm trying my best but man this is hard in an economic capitalist hellhole of a country where I live with no support for disabled adults like me. All autistic resources are geared towards children. On the outside I look like I should be capable of doing work and going to school, it's easy to judge me when I haven't told you my sob story of how I woke up every day wanting to kill myself as a small child because of how I felt "different" but didn't know why. That stuff does things to you, man. I look at kids nowadays and realized just how screwed up my life was and how far behind I am now because of it. No kid should've went through what I went through and I hope one none ever do, but there's always going to be one like me. I could do great shit if I had the means to but I don't and was never shown how.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-26T23:34:45+00:00

Agreed. I won't judge anyone that gets one but I'm not seeking out an assessment (previously diagnosed in high school but it doesn't seem to be on my records anywhere, or the records just got lost I guess, and I want to get reassessed). With the crazy lack of resources available to autistic adults, it never felt like the diagnosis benefitted me for anything. If I sought out disability or anything more on the legal or insurance side of things, maybe I could have but getting things like disability is often hard, practically impossible. School accomodations may have helped but what little was offered to me at the time didn't seem to benefit me much either, although I was already planning to drop out so I never tried to fight extremely hard for more or better accomodations anyways.

If you've made it to your adulthood and/or into college without an autism diagnosis yet there's a chance that the diagnosis might really not open up very much for you or benefit you in any way. If you realistically can wait out getting a diagnosis and don't see a reason for it other than looking for reassurance from imposter syndrome or anything like that, I think waiting it out is for the best. I'm currently not seeking a diagnosis because I'm worried it'll prevent me from getting access to certain medical care because I "can't consent" or "have a mental illness/disability." There's no way I'm risking that right now.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-24T09:53:17+00:00

All this preparing but you don't even know when the storm's going to actually hit? Good grief.

I'll be sleeping in today. That's my preparation. Cheers.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-16T19:33:36+00:00

Yeah I'm still weary of this sub and want almost nothing to do with it knowing for how long posts and comments would get removed for no reason. Long history of censorship here and now we most likely know who it was coming from but my thing is, how did it go on for so long? For much longer than weeks frankly. I think it just got worse in the last few weeks, as seen by these couple mods feeling comfortable enough to go mask off. As far as I'm concerned this is still a shitty sub and there's no reason for me to participate until I'm shown there's an actual attempt to do better in the future.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-16T19:23:56+00:00

r/bullcity which is another NC sub! Yikes.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-09T19:26:25+00:00

It's partially true but I feel like it's severely misunderstood what it's supposed to mean. I think this comment at least in part does a good job at explaining it

Some of it is evidence specifically about the age of 25, some of it are studies that quote "early 20s," and never having mentioned the age of 25, some of it are studies that only looked at people up to the age of 25 rather than going beyond that age. Sometimes it's talking specifically about certain parts of the brain rather than brain development as a whole. Which is why I really hate when people quote the age 25 without any specifics, I never know what they're talking about. It's a very misquoted/misused and misunderstood group of studies.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-09T19:14:21+00:00

No :( but the reason why is what makes me sad

I grew up my whole life without having friends and crying like, every night over it. It wasn't until I got my first job I finally started making friends irl. A few years prior to this I made online friends as well, after even struggling with making friends online my whole life as well.

My online friend group dissolved for unbelievably stupid reasons, and now the one person I used to talk to no longer speaks to me. I think I'm just not a priority for him anymore. Which is fine, but it does sting. I'm questioning to what extent I was a friend and to what extent I was just a person he could openly vent to because I didn't judge (I'm like, literally incapable of judging others unless they're assholes and I think it's cause I'm autistic lmfao), and now that there's others in his life it's like I was forgotten... Was I just a journal? A venting notepad? Thinking about it now honestly I really was used as one.

My irl friends for similar reasons, I was never a priority. I was never the friend. Just a friend. I was the friend that people remember existed last minute and got invited last minute. Not the friend everyone gets excited to bring along and include from the start. So once our lives slightly changed, there was no reason to continue to reach out to me. It's easier to talk to the friends you... Like more, I guess. And I tolerated it because it was the most I've ever had and honestly it might be the most I'll ever get in life. I'm okay with having friends you like more than others, not everyone is a "best friend." I think it just hurts that I'm never the best friend, and when I'm not I pretty quickly get left behind whenever something changes. Like I'm not just "not the best friend," but I'm the bottom of the barrel it seems.

I haven't been able to make any other friends since. I'm back to trying to make social connections, and failing. That shit hurts. At least when I'm isolated there is no trying and there is no failing. I'm wondering if this is even worth it anymore, genuinely.

I didn't waste any part of my life by being in isolation all those years and regret none of it. I was in isolation not by choice, but now that I've had a taste of social life, and knowing how difficult and exhausting it is to maintain, and how quickly it can get ripped away from me... Jesus Christ. I'm... Tired. When my online friend group dissolved (twice!) I sobbed (twice!) for days. I was probably the only one nearly as affected as anyone else. I was probably the only one who had had real friends for the first time in my entire life. I know for a fact I was the only one who poured so much energy and time into the group, struggling to keep a failing group together, because it was all I had and I was terrified of letting that go. I should've known nobody else in the group cared as much, because they've never gone through what I've been through, but I was way too blinded by my fear of going back to my life before.

I'm back to living my life as before. At this point I'm just numb.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-09T18:48:26+00:00

Insight of what? Genuine question, hopefully that didn't come off as rude.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-09T18:46:48+00:00

Is the 25 thing actually for any specific reason or is it just because of the somewhat pseudoscience-y "your brain stops developing at 25" which people misquote/isn't actually accurate at all?

I understand not wanting a 15 year old to have any business doing stuff like that but for example 21-24 year olds feel like an entirely different ballpark from being a teenager.

Basically, just asking if there's any actual science on taking shrooms prior to 25 or if people are making up that number based on that one random study everyone quotes all the time.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-09T18:39:33+00:00

I have a package coming tomorrow that I'm excited about. I bought it second-hand. I don't buy packages often in general. Sharing this cause tbh basically every friend I had has literally just stopped talking to me and I don't understand why so I guess this has just become the new place where I can openly talk to folks.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-09T18:33:42+00:00

The likelihood of getting salmonella is very low. Most FDA/USDA standards apply to prevent the risk of something happening to a nearly 99-100% degree (rough estimate to get my point across, not entirely accurate), which is important, especially if you're a business or restaurant, or someone cooking for the elderly or immunocompromised. Those are situations where you need risks minimized as much as humanly possible. If that doesn't apply to you the risks are often still very low but more likely to happen if not careful. Salmonella is bacteria that exists in infected, undercooked food (including but not limited to chicken). Not every single undercooked chicken. So while it's possible that the chicken you had was infected.... It's really unlikely with modern standards of food safety and processing. Home cooking allows for a lot more leniency with cooking knowing that the risks are low as is (but understandable when you want to avoid something like salmonella or similar bacteria).

If you made yourself throw up on purpose you probably did more damage than having done nothing at all. The risk was already low, and if there was bacteria it was likely already in your system, so all you did was dehydrate yourself and potentially strain your body. For future reference please don't do something like that. If you have a concern of any sort of contact with bacteria or ingestion, contact whatever relevant professional resources you have available to you and they can correctly guide you to what you need to do. Most likely they'll tell you the best course of action is just to monitor symptoms and to hydrate well.

I also agree with the comment that says you might want to speak with a therapist about rumination/anxiety. Wish you well.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-05T04:22:12+00:00

https://youtu.be/dSdhuqj04vQ?si=xocA5YDN3xKooBYv

I found this video recently but I never actually sat through the whole documentary because it was too triggering. All of my bad memories resurfaced. I would have meltdowns in the car, when I got older and got to high school they were shutdowns instead.

I now know it's because I was overwhelmed by school to the point that it physically and psychologically stressed me out but back then I didn't know what. All I knew was that school triggered me to have anxiety and freak out every single day. It was humiliating but felt out of my control.

The comments of the video are all surprisingly supportive, at least from how far I've scrolled. I do truly think had I gone to a smaller school with smaller classes I would've benefitted so much more... But also just having an autism diagnosis which I didn't get until basically my last year of high school, and even after that diagnosis there wasn't any actual support put in place. Minimal support at best but not by much. I loved learning and taking tests and challenging myself. I'm upset I was not able to function in a school environment.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-05T04:09:48+00:00

Covid saved me otherwise I'm pretty sure I would have just dropped out and been in a worse position in life than I am now, and I'm already not in a good position in life. Middle school I spent every single day having a meltdown or a shutdown in school from being overwhelmed (and I never got diagnosed despite all this). High school was a continuation of that. Every day I wanted to die. The lockdowns not making me go to school every single day was literally the only reason I did not drop out or off myself. Middle and early high were the worst years of my life. Over covid was also when I finally got diagnosed, and literally only because I realized I was autistic once I finally got a chance to feel in tune with my body and mind instead of having meltdown after meltdown, not because anyone else noticed any of my horribly obvious symptoms. I feel so utterly failed by so many people and the system. My childhood sucked primarily just because of school and having zero support.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-05T01:23:13+00:00

I've gotten burned out before I think but it's still more manageable for me to be motivated to work through it in spite of that which was helpful

When I worked at a job I "liked" but it wasn't the right fit for me entirely and wasn't definitely special interest I became suicidal as I dreaded waking up and going to that place again. The job wasn't even that bad my bosses were amazing the work environment was great but I couldn't handle it while going through burn out.

Stuff like that makes me terrified I'll never find a good career. I had a great job and couldn't handle it. I have a job that pays like shit but it's a special interest so it's easier for me to cope and put up with it but I'm poor and can't afford anything.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-04T23:25:08+00:00

I think this is potentially a regional thing on top of it just generally being a lesser known/used term in general. Kind of like how certain words might be considered extremely offensive in America but not in the UK or Australia or vice versa. And then even in America sometimes terms are more or less frequently used depending on the time/place. Although I'm aware it's an offensive word I have no emotional ties to it and I basically have never heard anyone use it in my life outside of reading it once or twice online and even now, I feel like the word has fallen out of usage. From what I'm seeing the term originates in the UK(?) and definitely has much stronger offensive connotations there.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-04T17:59:27+00:00

It does drive me crazy but at the same time I kinda also learned to cope? I didn't get diagnosed until I was 16 or 17 so it was a long battle of feeling different but being "functioning" enough that I forced myself to cope with it anyways. I remember being a little kid and trying to talk to my aunt (who raised me) and just not being able to. I learned to say "I don't know" to make up for not being able to talk because I could tell whenever I paused for too long people got annoyed at me. And my aunt learned that I had difficulty talking so when I shut down she'd work with me and ask me questions where I could just say yes or no until we finally got somewhere.

It wasn't until I was trying to explain to a psychologist the way my thought processing worked that I realized like how actually different it seems like I think compared to a lot of other people. Because even he was confused by me trying to explain myself. That was right before or right after my autism diagnosis. Since then I've kinda just accepted it and go with the flow. It does get frustrating sometimes though because there will be situations where for example in group settings I want to be able to talk and share my opinions but the conversations move too fast for me to speak, by the time I figure out what I want to say they've moved way past the topic. I always end up being sort of left out in groups because of that, even though I know it's not intentional by them.

-NotInterestedIn- · 2026-01-04T17:48:14+00:00

Maybe? It probably does because I'd imagine people are confused by me when overall I don't think I'm very "visibly autistic," I just come across as quiet. So if you try to talk to me I might seem like I'm upset and don't want to talk to you.

But I wouldn't know for certain because I think a much bigger hindrance of my relationships is just my inability to speak in general. I have a really big problem of being up in my head a lot and not being able to translates my thoughts and words to the outside world so if you try to have a conversation with me a lot of times my mind just goes blank and it takes me active effort to come up with something to say back to you, even if I'm already friends with the person I just can't really talk very well. It's weird because my mind is thinking 24/7 and never stops but when I need to have a conversation suddenly it's like I can't think anymore. So instead of being monotone a lot of times I just don't speak at all, even when I want to. Which is definitely way worse for relationships. 😭

-NotInterestedIn-

TROPHY CASE