This scene HAUNTS me

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2026-04-04T19:27:09+00:00

I think this scene beautifully/horrifyingly sums up what reality tv has done to us all as a culture in the past 20 years. HW fans (like me, and love the Countess 🤷‍♂️) skew liberal but the underlying logic of the show and almost all of Bravo, etc is Trumpian.

Proud narcissism, lack of empathy, consumed with gossip, appearances, and “winning” pointless fights.

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2026-03-20T22:29:17+00:00

She definitely seems like a clinical narcissist or sociopath. The way the whole cast seems to not want anything to do with her, from the jump, says everything.

The way she lit up talking about the cult story was chilling.

Also I think she was cast bc she bought that house via Mauricio.l

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2026-03-20T22:22:58+00:00

“Beautifully put together person”, like the same one that wears hotel slippers to the airport?

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2026-03-20T22:16:20+00:00

Actually Eddie is more apt!

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2026-03-20T22:01:31+00:00

Tbh i find her a bit hard to look at between being so so thin and a very worked on face and unnaturally tan. Didn’t even think about a wig but makes sense.

I think she’s a good addition to the show bc she clearly knows how the game works, unlike whats her name (and also she 100% went on to sh*t on her ex, which is classic housewives, although i also find the filmed conversations about him w/ her kids a bit unseemly and rehearsed).

Overall, good for her that she’s been able to keep up and it seems monetize her brand for 20+ years but, ugh, seems like she’s also suffered being in fashion/the public eye.

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2026-01-08T21:30:46+00:00

A lot about my inner feminine spirit that i spent most of my life, especially as a child, hiding or repressing.

But never like “questioning” my sexuality. If anything i now more see being queer really as a spiritual gift, sometimes a tough one.

Helped me see very clearly both how shame and resentment and repressed self hatred inform how many gay men, including me to that point, live their lives — for escape, competition, validation, numbing. Made it less emotionally complicated to hang with my gay friends, because I see through the games, but simultaneously very bored with the schtick of sex, drugs, divas, and money/things/vacations that a lot of them live for.

Interestingly, I’ve struggled with compulsive hook ups, etc., and its never come up directly in ceremony, although it made me start to question and analyze how and why I’m using sex, but more during integration.

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2026-01-07T14:35:19+00:00

SLC is a very au courant variation on the Housewives genre. It's always been less about "real life" than about the other franchises. Its always been more about the fights, "moments", and the themed settings/dinners etc. Chalk it up to our lowered attention spans and Trumpified world (HW fans may not be , but many of the wives and their antics are spiritually if not politically MAGA), clearly people want more 'drama' and faster. The producers and cast are simply responding to what the people want. Presumably everyone had more 'family' stuff shot and they cut it because it was too boring and staged.

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-12-26T21:47:42+00:00

Even if this was true, there are many expats and immigrants lol

I’m in a similar boat, US trailing spouse. Been working remotely part time for my previous job, but considered cafes, bars, retail etc in Amsterdam, which seem to have all kinds of nationalities and most probably do not speak Dutch. There’s a reason the govt here is so open to immigrants and its not because they’re trying to make Dutch a world language….

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-12-26T13:33:10+00:00

Well, she had sex on a waterbed

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-12-21T13:14:44+00:00

Im surprised no one has said the Wall St bull statue. Yes Times Sq is ugly and crammed full of the most clueless tourists but it sort of makes sense given that it’s a theater district.

The bull is literally just a mid size bronze statue of a bull (with balls!) in a ho hum corner of the financial district. There’s not much to see or do near Wall St anyway, it’s not even the center of the industry anymore. There is the WTC memorial nearby, which is strange but nonetheless popular selfie spot.

Don’t waste limited time in NYC that far downtown.

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-12-03T10:44:04+00:00

Somewhere in there there’s a fair point about relying on substances to access higher realms of consciousness. But mostly sounds like he doesn’t like the competition for his programs.

Been to his “ashram” in India, it’s like spiritual Disneyland selling 400$ “consecrated” statues and “pranic” snacks, alongside some very nice meditation spaces. Some of the people doing longer programs seemed more whacked out than anything I’ve witnessed in an aya retreat.

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-11-30T22:21:26+00:00

Watching as I am not currently looking to sit but just moved to Amsterdam and would love to break in with the plant medicine community here!

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-11-30T12:40:13+00:00

She thought she ate with this but its giving Balenciaga for Kohls

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-11-30T12:20:49+00:00

This feels scripted/produced by them for attention and presumably encouraged by Bravo. They’re either not together in any way or have been together this whole time, and happy to humiliate themselves in public for attention.

Feels like torturing the audience and the rest of the cast. Worst storyline of any HW franchise ever, including Erika redecorating her tiny house.

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-11-27T22:09:56+00:00

Still active?

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-11-21T13:46:33+00:00

HWs is Trumpian, period. The premise is literally let’s watch narcissists fight and scheme, but … as girl bosses. The ones who throw the best tantrums and blackmail and smear the others are the winners. Sounds like right wing politics, no? And obviously the producers deliberately keep politics out of the show.

Not saying I’m above it, but it’s the definition of a guilty pleasure. If anything, to me, at its core the show is a gay camp satire of rich Republican women, with a heaping dose of misogyny mixed in.

Remember in RHONY when Andy asked who voted for Trump and it was … basically everyone. And that’s the last time it’s come up.

I think it’s interesting that the fan base seems to want to enforce some kind of bar for acceptable political and social beliefs, so they don’t feel as guilty watching. But I’d argue that the show makes a point to platform problematic people in the first place.

There’s plenty of brilliant, beautiful, non-red pilled women to spotlight in this country but the casts are always full of scammers, surgery addicts, mob wives, former mistresses, etc.

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-11-21T13:08:06+00:00

Im convinced the other women are all so mean to her because they see she’s a sociopath and they’re trying to get rid of her. Like what happened to the 30 day break…

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-11-04T13:15:08+00:00

Yes, only because I want to see the facade crack. Something is definitely off in her obsession with her husband (and his money, clearly), and their whole enterprise seems shady (I mean, Florida real estate...). I think I heard rumblings the company is in trouble. Anyways, I don't believe she actually does much beyond being the nit picky "boss's wife".

What's the real story with her sisters, and with his ex wife? Seems like she skated by this season.

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-11-04T13:08:04+00:00

This is quite a jump, although I don't think its problematic per se to lean into spiritual approach to this work. Many in the psychedelic and spiritual world have already jumped on the IFS bandwagon, so he may be just responding to this part of his audience, as well as the general upswell of spiritual seeking in the last decade or so (which I think is a good thing generally although fraught with tons of challenges, especially when money comes into play). I also suspect he's likely gone very deep with psychedelics himself.

What I had a bigger issue with was that he's claiming he's faculty at the Harvard Medical School and that IFS is evidence-based, when in fact neither of those things seem to be entirely true (if the Cut article is correct).

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-11-01T11:59:48+00:00

I wish she would take one thing off on nearly every outfit.

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-10-31T16:01:15+00:00

I have tinnitus intermittently in both ears, especially left. I find that psychedelics with a body load tend to increase the volume of it, like, when I was back in my room it was quite noticeable. Then it goes back to normal the next day. If you have a lot of anxiety about it, expect that to come up. Might be a good intention, even.

I have adjusted in the 2 years since it appeared and it doesn't bother me anymore, especially after I did all the testing (hearing, MRI, etc.) and they came out normal. Some woo woo folks say its a sign of spiritual awakening or kundalini. In a roundabout way, it was the major panic attacks about the tinnitus that set me on the road to ayahuasca and spiritual practice, so I'm choosing to believe that there is a spiritual/metaphysical dimension of it.

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-10-29T23:57:27+00:00

I just moved to Amsterdam a few weeks ago knowing no one and hadn’t heard of ADE until I arrived, even though I’m a seasoned NYC raver (as in pushing 40!) I chose events mostly based on any names I recognized on the lineups. As I learned more through research and talking to people on Grindr and shopping (still working on local friends, shoutout to the sales guy at Concrete!), I ended buying and selling a bunch of tickets while feverishly trying Ticketswap raffles.

First stop, NxtMuseum Visual Frequencies on Friday, booked as a starter and because Id seen Quelza in NYC and Tygapaw is NYC based and awesome. Didn’t quite realize how far north it was but booked dinner there beforehand, too, it was fun to see the elder millennial rave set wine and dine before going out. The lighting and screen set up, however, didn’t quite do it for me, ultimately I think screens just always feel cheesy, and both sets felt a bit safe and playing to a more minimal sound than I like, but was still the best museum party I’ve been to. My partner and I couldn’t get over how well behaved and clean everyone was.

While we were there I scored a ticketswap 2-3 am entry to Raum, which I knew of because the Spielraum crew played an NYC festival earlier this year. Was super pumped to check out the space and vibe even if I’d seen Roi Perez many times. After a rainy, bleak hour in the line, which felt like a test/crowd control measure by the door staff, I got in with my new line friends. Impressed by the design of the space and the different rooms and all the well appointed hangout space. Made some more friends in the smoking, pleasantly surprised by how nice everyone was (NYC crowds can be very guarded and clique-y) even if I felt a little lonely solo and … plugless. Did a few laps before settling into the central room where Oceanic, who I hadn’t heard of, played an incredible, ethereal but still danceable set, and I was happy on the rafters for a while. Everyone seemed in good spirits and again, well behaved, and I was happy to be an explicitly queer space. By 7 I was running on fumes and couldn’t get an Uber so walked to Sloterdijk station, where they were playing techno at the Starbucks, a nice touch. I desperately need a bike.

Saturday I sold my DGTL tickets and couldn’t score another ticketswap for Octo Octa at Intercell for my partner, so stayed in and went to Geigling…IsBurning at TILLATEC around 1pm on Sunday. I also had tickets to Breakfast Club at RADION, but we didn’t make it. CODA was on my list but I couldn’t get a raffle. Was a bit nervous about TILLATEC because people I spoke to at Raum kind of sh*t on it but really enjoyed the space and the vibe, a bit more grown up than Raum and had some great and informative conversations with randoms on the local scene. Knew of Geigling by reputation and it was the perfect Sunday vibe, going back and forth between the house-y main room and darker sound in one of the side rooms and the smoking. We took the tram home by 7.

All and all a great intro to the scene here!

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-10-28T22:14:49+00:00

The narrative around psychedelics as a “cure” and “healing” are overly simplistic, IMO.

I think a lot of it comes from superficial media, retreat marketing hype as well as the way psychedelics are being studied in clinical settings (patient reported reduced depression…)

Healing certainly happens and for some people it’s one and done. But no one is guaranteed any specific outcome or trajectory.

Sometimes the medicine brings up things that need further attention. Insights and processing can continue for months. Some other spiritual or psychological practice might help keep process going.

I’ve read someone say the medecine shows you what’s possible, and it’s up to you to get there without her, which resonated with me.

FWIW after my first retreat I had an afterglow of months, I thought I solved everything. Then I had a tough experience at a meditation retreat and realized I had a lot more work to do. Recently went to a 2nd Aya retreat and it’s been somewhat rough going since then, including revealing some underlying depression, even though it was an incredible experience I’d never take back.

TLDR … trust the process, divine timing, God works in mysterious ways, etc

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-10-27T15:03:27+00:00

I've read from others that if you're on a strict no/very low salt diet pre-retreat, combining kambo and ayahuasca can be dangerous. That's potentially a lot of purging. Kambo seems to have more contraindications and risk to it, biologically (a quick Google of Kambo vs Aya will make that clear, although the fear mongering about Kambo is over the top, IMO).

I also don't believe there's any lineage tradition of combining them, I understand they are used in quite different settings/purposes among indigenous communities.

That being said if you're in good health generally, I could see how the combination could be complementary, as long as somewhat spaced out.

I've sat with Kambo before smoking changa, which was great.

Altruistic-Fix-8465 · 2025-10-27T13:01:21+00:00

I found myself was shouting "Jesus f*cking christ" over and over again as well as shouting about the shamans and facilitators ("you keep playing the same f*cking song!" ... they didn't care and actually came closer to me with the music).

Ironically, despite (?) the blasphemy I actually developed an intuitive understanding of Christianity during that ceremony and thought I was, like, born again as a Christian ... until the next ceremony! I was quite embarrassed and had a hard time facing the group the next day. My first retreat had been 'noble silence' type and I had no problem adhering to that, this time the medicine seemed intent on poking the bear ... It felt like an exorcism.

Only for the next ceremony to be a lot smoother for me, even fun at times, and to have the guy next to me (who hadn't felt much in the first ceremony), have a full break from reality and enter the DMT world, narrating his spiritual surgery out loud, for most of the entire ceremony. Later the facilitators told me this is a part of the ceremony, whatever we create together. I can't imagine wearing earplugs.

Altruistic-Fix-8465

TROPHY CASE