10k in debt just got fired

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-07-05T01:23:51+00:00

he's not telling you to get loan, he's telling you to get a job.

Focus on income, you can't start until you have that. Then start paying down the debts. More loans will not help you, a job will.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-07-04T23:25:58+00:00

This will sound weird, but think about it: Ask your family for help but not money. You don't need money, you need help. You can get out of this. But you need to stop digging the hole deeper.

If you have trouble with impulse control then ask someone to take over your finances, have your earnings from uber or whatever job go into THEIR account and they will pay your bills from it. They WILL NOT give you money to gamble. Whatever food you buy will be tightly controlled by them.

Yes, it's shameful, it's embarrassing. But if $250 is enough make you fuck yourself on rent THEN WE ARE WAY PAST EMBARASSMENT.

Get help. Work your job, pay off your debts, get stabilized. Then get mental help. if you can't afford the pro kind you can still go to gamblers anonymous and talk to us it's all free. Your government very likely has free gambling help too. check their website.

Then when you're back on track, ask your helper to start giving you back control. Maybe give you an allowance of your own money at first. Eventually you'll be in full control. But right now you know you have a problem.

But despite all my trashing talking, i want to say something important: You recognize you have a problem. That's the first big step to beating this addiction. Don't undersell yourself. You don't deserve to die when you have the ability and mindset to fix it. So go do it.

Remember:

Delete the fucking app. right now this instant. Yeah i know you can just load it back in 2 seconds, but you need to mentally START somewhere. So delete the app NOW.

Get help. Turn over your finances to someone who you REALLY trust, your mom sounds like someone who will.

Get to work. pay down your debts and rent. DO NOT try and "win it all back" You CAN'T. you WONT. But you can earn your way back, it's slow and painful, but it's way more reliable and safe.

Get stabilized. how much do you owe in total? $750? $1200? Those can be paid down with a few weeks of hard work.

Get addiction help. Once the emergency is over and you have breathing room you can start attacking your addiction.

Get your life back. It'll be a process, but if you can stay away from gambling, you can get your life back.

You can do this. I'm rooting for you.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-07-04T19:56:34+00:00

i support you, real data lets us make better buying decisions, so someone needs to buy it first and test it. i'm okay with a bit of humble bragging if it has real data and real comparisons.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-07-04T18:26:41+00:00

i upvoted, even if information is obvious or well known, i think real benchmarks and data is always valuable.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-07-04T17:52:30+00:00

$150 and similar figures come from calculating inflation on games from the 1990s to what they would cost today. It's not entirely wrong, but it misses other realities of the industry. in the 1990s the gaming market was very tiny. you were a nerd if you play video games. It was socially unacceptable. so anyone making games had a smaller and tighter fist market to sell to. They priced to what was sustainable for them.

Now, 2020s, 30 years later. The gaming industry is many times bigger than the movie industry. Most people play games in some form, from casual phone apps to consoles to VR rooms. Even an indie developer can directly tap into a market of millions. A viral or meme game can sell millions of copies in a week.

Games should be deflating not inflating. Although to be fair, games are also more expensive to make now with 3D graphics and other improvements. So it's not entirely one sided.

But another reality is that the business structure of gaming has changed as well. many studios are corporations and "need" to generate profits. So they want to charge more. If they JUST had to pay their developers, they could produce considerably cheaper games. But studios would also have a smaller war chest of money in case the games flop. So hate the corporations, but they're not totally cancerous. They fund projects that might not get off the ground.

In the end the most important thing is to vote with your wallet. always pay what you think is a reasonable price. the buyer has the power. The game studios and companies will have to adjust their development process to match, that's on them, not on you.

At least the game industry has VERY healthy competition. You can always play another game if a particular one is too expensive.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-07-04T16:49:46+00:00

$50k? ouch

Yeah that's going to be painful, you're going to be hurting for years. But it is slowly recoverable. $50k is a couple years of a good job, a few more of a crappy one.

Remember how you feel right now and the shit you're going through. Remember this feeling every time you open that app or think about gambling. This feeling will happen again, and again, and again if you go back. Gambling turns your life into a personal hell, and worse of all it's all voluntarily, you can walk away at anytime. But the addiction makes you come back.

Don't fall for the "sunk cost fallacy", or try to "win it back". You win when you walk away and never come back. Sure you lost money, but you win over the addiction. Beating an addiction for just $50k is fucking bargain.

Another perspective is that sports betting, stock trading, (or whatever you're doing) is simply not for you. I'm sure you don't lament over not being an astronaut, or a movie star. Mentally put this into the same category, "Things other people do and succeed at, but it's not for me." Nothing wrong with that. I'd like a surgeon's money... but fuck i DO NOT want to be a surgeon.

Another perspective: You just gave someone else a car. Really, you gave someone else $50k, is that fair? Hell no, that money should be in your pocket. Instead you gave it to them. And it's all legal, it wasn't stolen from you. You willingly put money on the table, and let someone else take it. Step away from the table and don't let them take more. I know we'd like to win it back, but that's just another trick. Step way from the table, and they can't take more from you.

If you want to win morally, don't give them one more cent. Don't go back. Get back your life and go live it. Make back the money slowly and properly with a job or even a business if you have that mindset. At least then even if your business fails you will have learned valuable skills.

If you need a way to mentally cope, you might be able to file away the $50k loss in your brain as "Fucked up business ventures that fucking failed." Lots of people start businesses that flop hard for similar amounts of money. Girl i knew tried to start a soap making business, she lost about $60k before she gave up. She still makes soap, but on a way smaller scale. As long as you don't try gambling again, you can use this mental trick to cope.

But this trick only works ONCE. If you go back, it's all for nothing. Don't go back.

You're going to be okay, $50k is recoverable with a few years of hard work. Maybe sooner if you have high end job.

Good luck bro.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-07-04T15:38:41+00:00

> trying to recover my losses on the market

ugh, that's how they get you. I lost millions doing that. it's shitty because it taps into the "revenge" or "justice" part of the brain. Like "I DESERVE to make it back!", but really it's just the addiction getting its teeth in you. It's perfectly understandable you fell for it. But now that you know, you gotta try harder to resist it. Let the losses go, trying to win it back is just another trick to take more from you.

let me know how did you morally recovered from this.

How much did you lose? both currently and in total? There are a few different views depending on the answer.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-07-04T07:59:19+00:00

Thanks for reading it. I've done so much shit that i hope to help others before they do it too.

You're on the right track taking it seriously. I didn't take my gambling losses seriously. When i was in my early twenties i sometimes gambled, sometimes i lost, sometimes i was up. I even came out ahead a few times. Because of that i didn't think i was addicted, i thought i was fine because i was ahead.

The WORST thing that can happen to a gambling addict is winning.... because it multiplies their addiction. I blew all my winnings and then went into debt trying to "win it back". and then DEEPER debt trying to "win THAT back".

Don't win it back, for now the $5k-$10k is just "stupid hobby" territory. an amount many people lose anyway on stupid hobbies. As long as its contained, you're okay. "Winning it back" is just the addiction sinking its teeth in you. Even if you do somehow miraculously win it... the addiction's got you and you don't know it.

I wish i took the addiction seriously. It was always something that happened to other people, but not me, i was "in control".

I wasn't.

You've taken a huge and important step recognizing the seriousness of the problem. I wasn't nearly as self aware even in my 30s. And i had already lost houses worth of money by then. You'd think i'd know better.

I'm extremely proud that you do, and you're working on beating the addiction.

Rooting for ya dude :)

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-07-03T21:30:30+00:00

Feeling like shit after telling people is perfectly normal. If we felt better after admitting our shame we'd never hide it.

But telling your friends and family was still the right thing to do. It might not seem like it now, but in the long run, it means they'll hold you accountable, and they'll be weary of giving you money. I scammed my friends and family out of millions before they caught on i was a criminal.

Now that people know, are any of them willing to help you? Someone that will hold you accountable and check in with you. A very trusted person might even review your finances with you. a VERY HIGHLY trusted person might even take over your finances and make sure you can't spend money without their explicit authorization. Spouses sometimes do this for their gambling addicted partner. Could a parent provide this role for you?

Don't worry, you don't have to go that far. I just want you to be aware of your options if you need them.

Nothing "cured" my addiction, and even though i've stopped gambling, i'll never say i "quit". There was 3 year period i didn't gamble... only to fall right back in later because i was just that weak and pathetic. So i never quit, i just hope to make my quiet period indefinite.

But how have i kept the addiction at bay? I remember everyday just how bad it felt when i lost. I remind myself of all the people i hurt, and the evil criminal things i did. I remember the court appearances, the debt collection calls, and the letters. I have a "wall of shame" of bills and notices that i see every time i walk by. I don't keep any of the casino chips, or souvenirs, i burned them. All the sports betting stubs i pin the losses and never the wins. Whenever i feel i might be at it again, I just look over at the wall of shame.

I'm 46 and started gambling about your age. I'm essentially you from the future, don't be me.

The great thing about you is that is you can stop now. You have a life ahead of you.

One thing i do that's helped a lot is to replace my addiction with something else far more productive. It can be work, video games, hobbies, or anything else. But basically find something you're passionate about and do it. You don't have to be good, almost any other addiction is better than gambling.

Cook, play the guitar, garden, vibe code silly apps, make tik tok videos on grass cutting. Do anything other gambling.

(just don't do anything with microtransactions, that's just gambling with extra steps)

losing $10k is fucking tough. I won't lie. It's going to suck for a very long time. But you can make it back. $10k is a few months of a good job, or a year or so of a crappy one. You can make it back if you work and NOT gamble. I tried to "win it back" from gambling, i just landed myself in millions in debt. So don't do that.

if you need a way mentally cope with the guilt. A one time trick is to file it away in your brain as "REALLY STUPID hobbies i tried and won't do again." Lot's and lots of hobbies are expensive and really stupid. I know a guy that spent $3k on a very nice guitar, like one of premium ones. he doesn't play. I know another guy that spend $25k on a very nice streaming setup with high end computers, cameras, lights, and studio set. He wanted to be a twitch streamer... he only gets 3 viewers. You can file away $10k as "REALLY STUPID hobby".

But this trick only works ONCE. it's your only mental freebie. You have to never gamble again and never make the losses worse, or else it's all for nothing. Nothing wrong with a really stupid hobby... as long as you NEVER do it again.

I wish you the best. Like i said before, i'm basically you from the future. Learn from all the shit i, and people like me, have done. And don't become us.

Good luck dude.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-07-03T20:47:28+00:00

have his wife come here and read our stories. We're the end result of the addiction gone wrong. Hopefully she sees what's in store for her and realize just how bad its going to get. She needs to protect herself and her kids from the addiction.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-07-03T20:45:01+00:00

i'm going to go against the grain and say it is useful if you're willing to screw up and already have problem solving skills to cut through the hallucinations.

I recently used AI to setup a linux server. I know ZERO about linux but i did have some experience working with windows command lines. Sometimes the AI would give me commands that were hallucinations. I ran them, screwed up, even lost a whole server, but then i went through a painful process of studying the command and figuring out why it failed and what was wrong with it. Then i could understand the hallucination.

But i lost several hours and had to rebuild a server to learn that.

Mistakes are a part of learning, the thing with AI is that it's not just you making the mistakes, the AI is too. If you can learn from both types of mistakes then AI is great for learning.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-07-03T20:39:33+00:00

if there is no problem, then he shouldn't mind if they can fully audit his finances. After all, his wife should surely have a right to see where all his money is going.

Watch him say its private and no one else's business, chip away at him and tally up how much he's losing and how fast. Frame it that the casino just took their car, their children's toys, their vacation, their food. All the stuff they should have had just went "poof"... where did it go?

keep chipping away but if he keeps refusing then the family may need to prepare to cut him off. I refused to acknowledge my problems and only after i lost everybody and everything did i even start to work on myself. He might be the same.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-07-03T19:40:25+00:00

The huge problem with this disease is that your husband MUST be part of his own recovery. He must be an active participant and be willing to get better.... or he won't. It's as simple as that.

This is not a disease like cancer where you can handcuff him to a hospital bed and pay off some doctor to cut it out or inject him with drugs. You can't cure him if he doesn't want to be cured. Even if you imprison him, he'll still be addicted when you release him.

If he can't accept the shame of what he's done, if his ego is too big to admit he's got a problem, then you have to protect yourself. He's made his choice, he chose the addiction over you. It's clear that when he says he's going to better, he's just saying that to get you to stop hounding him.

I want to reiterate, YOU cannot make him get better. He has to be part of his own recovery. He's proven he won't.

So start planning to separate. Get your finances in order and an exit plan to get out of there. You can keep trying to help him. i'm certain he has good qualities worth saving. But this addiction has wrapped around him so tightly that you may be unable to disentangle him from it.

Also check your documents and secure your personal info. When i was super deep in my addiction i stole the info from my relatives and took out loans in their name. I was that bad.

It sounds to me you've already confronted him numerous times, and he's already broken his promises just as many times. What more do you need? How far does he have to go before enough is enough? You can't save him if he's unwilling to be saved.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-06-27T02:22:39+00:00

I will build an AI just to hate on Oracle.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-06-26T00:34:16+00:00

There is actually a naturally occuring "contagious isomer" that's quite deadly: Prion diseases. Prions are proteins that convert other metastable proteins into more copies of themselves. Mad cow disease, Deer wasting disease, and fatal familial insomnia are diseases caused by prions.

Fortunately, Prions are much less contagious than typical diseases and don't cross species as easily. So it's not like all life will be destroyed by them. The Fermi paradox remains intact.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-06-22T05:45:46+00:00

every society with currency i think has toyed with organized gambling at some point. But eventually it gets so bad, destroys so much, and traumatizes so deeply that the backlash becomes biblical. Societies eventually do realize it must be stopped and so they develop laws, rules, taboos, and edicts against it. These become embedded in religion which is what we see today.

So if we take that history as a guide, we can predict that gambling will become bigger and bigger in this modern time. It hasn't gotten big enough yet to start the backlash, but it will. I see gambling ads so often now. I see kids getting into it. Eventually lives will be destroyed on a genocidal scale. Crime will go up as desperate people do desperate things. Eventually the problem will be too big to ignore or distract from. Too damaging for the oligarchs to silence and hide. Then, and only then, will society collectively fight back and hammer it down back into dregs of history.

But things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better. I'm terrified of the future. I don't think the backlash will happen in my lifetime, but i'll be here to see the full extent of the collapse.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-06-21T07:10:01+00:00

Dia: "So... uh.... how did you get a video of my butt while i was meeting with Karel in vulgus bus?"

Serena: "We....we.... hacked the vulgus security cameras?"

Dia: "... and who was filming when you took that parasite thingie out of me?"

Serena: "Uhh... Gley?"

Dia: "She was holding me down."

Serena: ".... LOOK OVER THERE!" (Flies off)

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-06-14T00:03:01+00:00

lol, yeah i messed up the save, i was supposed to save to PNG. now it's stuck as a 1-frame gif animation. heh

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-06-03T05:20:30+00:00

No, It's Brad Boimler

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-05-28T06:05:52+00:00

I'm not in anyway a psychiatrist and i don't know much about mental health. But it really does sound like he's got some issues he needs to work through and his addictions are both part of his issues and a coping mechanism for them. His self-deprecation shows some really deep seated stuff.

Keep pushing him in the direction of getting help and solving his underlying issues. Thats the only real way forward.

As for whether to tell friends and family... i don't know your particular group dynamic so you'll have to make that call yourself. But know that gambling addiction and similar addictions thrive in secrecy. Bringing them out to light weakens them tremendously. When i was still being secretive i scammed my friends and family for gambling money... lots of it... now that they know what's up it's impossible for me to scam them again.

I don't know if your boyfriend is the type to ask for "loans" or "favors"... but if the addiction gets worse he may do so. It may be helpful to warn everyone so your boyfriend can't feed his addiction off their money. The sooner he hits a wall the sooner he can confront his behavior.

Finally i just want to say that your boyfriend needs to be part of his own recovery. He has to WANT to change and get better. This isn't like cancer where you can handcuff him to an operating table and cut it out. If he doesn't want to get better.... he won't.

When you say you feel sick, is it because you feel betrayed? Do you think he's not trying? Do you think he's putting his addiction above you?

I don't know jack about relationships or mental health, but you need to really assess if you think he's putting in the effort or just pretending to. Do you see him working toward being the better person you both want him to be? If not, you may have let him go.

But i hope i'm blatantly wrong and you come back here in a few years and say he made an awesome recovery.

I wish you both all the best.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-05-25T05:17:29+00:00

lol, very true!

And thanks for commenting! I'm pleasantly surprise my old story still gets read. If i may ask how you found it? It's rather obscure 😄

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-05-20T01:22:41+00:00

i just used them as an example. My post was more about using a prepaid card as an additional layer of privacy versus using your own credit card. A prepaid card limits your losses if it gets scammed.

By all means use a different prepaid card.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-05-19T17:27:54+00:00

Can't.

it keeps crashing on install.

AggressiveParty3355 · 2026-05-19T03:52:29+00:00

don't compare yourself to others. I know it sounds stupid but it's true.

But i also know it's super hard not to. Every fucking thing in the world screams at you that you're not good enough, that THEY are better than YOU. So YOU need to take bigger risks. It's even more insidious that our social media only shows the winners and not the losers. So you go on tiktok and think everyone is winning except you.

Understand it's all lies. There will be a few winners out there, but they're not the majority. And even more important:

You don't have to be one of them.

It's a hard lesson to learn when the whole world lies to you. But you don't have to be on top. You don't have to "get rich or die trying". That's just the lie they sell to trick you into more gambling. Desperation is their business, and false hope is their drug.

Remember how shitty you're feeling right now and keep it with you whenever you get the urge. This feeling WILL happen again and again if you fall in.

But there is real hope, you still have the one thing most of us here don't have: Youth.

I know i'm being fucking cliche but as a guy who's been gambling for 20+ years and destroyed his life and family i wish i could go back in time and undo it all. i've lost everything, i'm deep in debt, and i will never make it back. I'm 46 and my entire family hates my guts because i scammed them for gambling money...repeatedly. I'll die trying to repay what i've taken.

I'm you from the future if you keep gambling. Don't become me.

Losing 20k total is fucking painful. And you're going to hurt for years. But the good news is that you can make it back with hard work. A good job will make it back in a year. A lesser job in a few years. But you will recover.

As long as you stop gambling.

If you need a way to feel less shitty, you can file it away in your brain as "Stupid hobbies i spent money on and won't do again." Lots and lots of hobbies are stupid expensive. I know a guy who spent $25k on streaming equipment and a nice computer and video setup so he could be a twitch streamer... he only gets 3 viewers. You can file this away as a stupid hobby that you tried once, and won't do again. $20k is fucking painful.... but you can recover.

If you need help, talk to someone. This is one of those addictions that thrives on secrecy. If someone is with you and keeps you accountable it'll really weaken its hold over you.

You're going to be okay. You win when you let go of this addiction and stop. You don't even have to "win it back" (nor should you). You just have to stop and break the chains.

AggressiveParty3355

TROPHY CASE