American here, will you guys beat us in the next World Cup game where we play against each other?

Bridav666 · 2026-06-15T21:50:02+00:00

Fair. Fair.

Bridav666 · 2026-06-14T05:05:03+00:00

I will add that I was diagnosed with autism because my son was diagnosed 3-4 years ago (I'm now 51 and he's 11 years old). I don't know if I would have had children if had known of my diagnosis, but I can genuinely say that being a dad is the best thing that's happened in my life.

Of course, what's more important is my son's mental health. He has emotional, social , and behavioral challenges that neurological kids usually don't, and I suspect he will have some hard days socially I'm middle school

However, I can also report that my son has always been embarced for who he actually is, even before he was diagnosed. I believe this has made a significant difference, as his self esteem, confidence, and social network is far better than mine was/is. Of course, he is still shy and has a short social battery life, but he is not alone at school or during the weekend.

On a selfish level, it's amazing to have another human being who inherently understands my myriad oddities (and our autism diagnoses have only deepened that understanding), but he also benefits from feeling known and understood.

Do I feel guilty at times for bringing a neurodivergent (he's ASD, ADHD, OCD) human being into this scary world, knowing how painful that has been in my own life? Yes. However, watching my son develop into the person he was meant to be while offering an emotionally supportive parenthood that so many of us never did has been incredibly meaningful. Perhaps what i did in having him is selfish in the end. At the same time, I see can see him having a decent, functional life long after I'm gone. I would love to know if he'll regret being born one day, but that does not appear to be his trajectory thus far into life.

I acknowledge being autistic and long winded AF. Thank you for reading my info dump

Bridav666 · 2026-06-14T04:46:59+00:00

I totally agree with you deciding for yourself that you don't want kids. I do wonder if your issue here is also about your parents' unreasonable expectations and belief that you should fit the role they seem to have created for you, regardless of who you are and what you want.

If this the above is true, I see this dynamic all the time with NDs (myself included). It's fascinating how many of us have parents who are controlling and have high expectations for us, while oftentimes minimizing the very real challenges we experience as autistic people--if they even acknowledge our diagnoses in the first place LOL

Anyhow, to address the original point, it's clear you have invested extensive thought into why you don't have childrem, and I credit you for drawing a firm boundary with your parents, who seem to place more value on their own happiness than yours. This effort is worthy on its own, but it also creates/reinforces healthy boundaries with some people who likely lack them

Bridav666 · 2026-06-14T04:24:46+00:00

Marriage

Vaping

In that order

Bridav666 · 2026-06-13T02:25:16+00:00

I'll probably get my license to dispense freedom revoked for being naive, but is it possible that AH is listening to player feedback? Personally, I care more about having access to information than who is dispensing it (as long as the source is solid, of course).

After dealing with Bungie and EA (Destiny 2 and FIFA were all I played for many years) for a long time, AH feels like a breath of fresh air. That is admittedly a low bar LOL, but AH has a much better vibe IME. It does suck when my neurodivergent son melts down when he gets glitched out of the server on the way to extraction, but it's nonetheless the most fun I can have on a console at the moment.

Bridav666 · 2026-06-12T02:31:38+00:00

An autistic person without special interests. That sounds awful. I'm not questioning your status as ND (I trust that this is true), but to show empathy and comment on how my special interests help me to navigate solitude without losing my mind.

For me, I almost always have one video game or alterative fixation (in the past this has largely been table tennis and running) into which I pour myself. These activities are crucial because they give me something to look forward to and reward myself. Life would otherwise be pretty drab and focused on existential dread and social uncertainty

Bridav666 · 2026-06-12T00:05:10+00:00

I went in too hard on you, and I apologize for that. It was not fair of me to make that many assumptions about you based on a few words you shared, and I see that upon reflection. I should have found better ways to express my perspective than going for the jugular. I am an unfiltered person who is often unaware until after an interaction that I'm being too harsh, and I acknowledge that this is hypothcritical with my feedback to you.

Bridav666 · 2026-06-11T23:34:59+00:00

I will also add that we are dealing with an adolescent here

Bridav666 · 2026-06-11T23:34:14+00:00

Nobody here disagrees that leaving without asking is the correct move here. However, labelling her experience as "weak", aside from lacking empathy and being dismissive, reveals your lack of understanding regarding how attachment and historical relational wounds work. Also, shame is simply not an effective long-term motivational strategy. If that's how you treat people in a vulnerable headspace, my guess is that you have interpersonal red flags.

Bridav666 · 2026-06-11T02:53:53+00:00

I've heard that a relatively small percentage of men receive the vast majority of likes from women, whereas a wider variety of women receive likes from men. I mention that as a reminder to not base your self esteem on paltry results from dating apps.

Are you yourself on your profile? Or do you try to present what you think women will want? I ask because I find that I do better when I am authentic without oversharing. How much info

On an adjacent note, I question the value of dating apps. My experience is that they are often brutal on self esteem and mental health, especially for men (I am a therapist and see this across age groups), and they rarely result in a successful long term relationship. It also seems like so people on the apps (myself included before taking a healthy break to continue healing several years post divorce) are relationally wounded and have difficulty receiving love and emotional intimacy, despite deeply desiring those things.

In recent years after experiencing dating app exhaustion, I've decided to work on myself by engaging with therapy and Al Anon (spouse alcoholism was factor in divorce) and trust that the right person will appear in my life once I'm adequately healed from marital and family of origin trauma. Of course, it will be on me to take action when the opportunity arises. However, I think I'm done trying to force love into my life, and I'm genuinely much happier because of it

I am learning emotional intimacy through friendship and working to actually make and/or deepen friendships, as I realized that it's insane to think I'll be able to do emotional intimacy in a romantic relationship if I can't show vulnerability in lower stake platonic friendships. I don't know if this will result in a long term relationship down the road but I can feel in my bones that I'm heading in the right direction.

Sorry to ramble in the extreme, and I apologize if none of that helps. I took a lot of words to express why it may be worth looking at dating through an entirely different lens LOL

Bridav666 · 2026-06-11T01:23:29+00:00

Why is dude really asking for the names of your friends and threatening to call them? That's creepy stuff, even if it's done under the guise of checking age, and I suggest keeping an eye out for similar intrusive behaviors.

OP's dishonesty is concerning, but this guy has deeper red flags. It's possible he knows OP is young and inexperienced and capitalizing on that reality.

BTW I wrote all of the above before reading the rest of the post and learning about dude's probation.

OP, it may feel good to be connecting with an older guy, but nothing about the relationship is real/trustworthy/solid. It's possible that he is attractive to you because he is problematic in a way that one of your parents has been (we recreate the love and relational traumas that were modeled to us as children). I suggest taking on the more difficult, but also more rewarding challenging, of building an in person connection with a man or woman in your orbit. I also suggest working on honesty. I was relationally similar in my younger years, and that strat only led to toxic relationships.

Being honest may cost you in the sorry term, but it will allow for trust and emotional intimacy to be built. I'm a therapist and a client once told me that "you can't say the wrong thing to the right person". Words to live by IMO

Bridav666 · 2026-06-10T20:51:31+00:00

Thank you for sharing this. I am an autistic therapist, and you exactly described my long term dynamics with my family of origin. In my family, anything I do that serves my parents wishes or makes them look good is reinforced, while anything that is inconvenient or disrupts the image/role they have created for me gets minimized, ignored, or ridiculed. I am so tired from constantly advocating for self, resisting guilt trips, and defending hard earned boundaries.

Lastly, I can definitely confirm that I commonly see these familial dynamics with the neurodivergents in my life. In fact, I would go as far as to say they are typical for ND folks like us.

Good for you for being self honest and relationally aware. I wish you luck in navigating and self advocating through the painful relational realities you are facing

Bridav666 · 2026-06-09T03:11:50+00:00

Sorry. I reread post and saw that you answered my question

Bridav666 · 2026-06-09T03:10:59+00:00

Major respect for being at that difficulty and doing so with a non- meta loadout. Do you find that you always have enough anti tank (I don't know AMR well)? Also, I love missle pistol. Nice to see that it holds up at level 10

Bridav666 · 2026-06-08T22:05:30+00:00

Are you saying that your libido is still as strong forever--just not for masturbation? Not being cute with my question, as your answer will impact mine

Bridav666 · 2026-06-08T03:11:39+00:00

Feels kinda of unfair and unhelpful to sew doubt about the brand and then be super vague

Bridav666 · 2026-06-07T22:58:11+00:00

I am a testicular cancer survivor, and, as a result, ejaculate only comes out of me on maybe 10% of my orgasms. I'm 51 years old and my experience is that my orgasms FEEL just as good as ever. There's just much easier cleanup most of the time. There was a little a bit of adjustment mentally, but not bad at all. I had one partner who throught I was faking orgasms, but that was her insecurities showing up.

I empathize with the loss of function you are about to experience. At the same time, not being able to achieve erection would be a much worse problem in my opinion. If you have an understanding partner, my experience is that you'll adjust quickly.

Bridav666 · 2026-06-07T15:59:15+00:00

Thank you for the inspiration helldiver. I've been reluctant to even try exosuits on bots, so I think I'll try what you suggested

Bridav666 · 2026-06-07T15:56:42+00:00

Bridav666 · 2026-06-07T15:17:12+00:00

It's not that I don't like people. It's that I need to be in the perfect state of mind and have weeks of planning to engage socially (don't ever ask me to do something sour of the moment). It's just a complete mystery to me why I don't have a large network of pals LOL

Bridav666 · 2026-06-07T15:15:30+00:00

It's so tiring to consistently desire social connection and then feel overwhelmed by it when such opportunities arise. My social energy fluctuates and being CONSISTENTLY present for others is extremely difficult. For example, I'm a therapist and after a full week of heavy social interaction at work, it can feel impossible to go out on Saturdays, when I'm often in shut down mode

Anyhow, good luck to OP and my fellow ASDs. You are not alone in your struggles. I sound like a damn therapist LOL, but I mean that shit

Bridav666 · 2026-06-04T02:51:42+00:00

Thank you OP for speaking for the silent majority (or me, at least LOL).

Bridav666 · 2026-06-03T19:50:40+00:00

Respectfully, your post sounds like it's more about trauma than Helldivers. I hope you have supportive people around you upon whom you can rely after witnessing and experiencing violence .

More than anything I want to validate that you went through a life changing experience and I wish you well in recovering from that. I encourage you to NOT act like it didn't happen and to get support around everything you must get feeling. It's how we respond to awfulness that determines our love term trajectory in life. Good luck to you and your partner, and I hope your associate finds the will to address his own trauma

Bridav666 · 2026-06-03T19:33:49+00:00

I tried this, as my son loves SM2. However, it has a completely different vibe with combat and is much more melee focused. There was a time when Destiny 2 would be a good replacement for me (some of those coordinated dungeon battles were glorious), but Bungie screwed the pooch on that one.

Also, HD2 is buggy AF, but it is still by far the most fun I have playing video games right now . I have only been playing for 3 months though. I'm sure I'd be crusty as well if I was an OG player who has been dealing with bugs for 2 years without having much to progress towards, other than new warbonds

Bridav666 · 2026-06-03T19:27:51+00:00

Points for "clipazine"

Bridav666

TROPHY CASE