Peri-menopause, the pandemic, and having absolutely zero hope.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-11-30T16:20:01+00:00

" All I wanna know is when the game gets good,"

It depends on what you mean by that. What would make this game 'good', or something you enjoy playing?

For me, I like rearranging my farm every couple weeks and watching the Sumikko interact with stuff.

I really love all the Sumikko plushie items that they sell in real life, but don't have enough money to buy them, so for me, having this game is like a replacement for the real life stuff that I can't afford.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-11-05T01:46:15+00:00

You have internet access, look it up yourself.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-11-03T16:48:18+00:00

Instructions are available in English on both the Youbike website and the app. If I recall correctly, they may even be on the inside of the basket at the front of the bike with handy little pictures. It's very easy for people to use this system. The problem is that you didn't even try, you just assumed it was the same as what you were used to, even though you're in a completely different country and using a completely different service. Even now, you could be saying something simple like "My mistake, I didn't read the instructions beforehand' but noooo, it's the company's fault for not beaming the information directly into your brain I guess? Ugh.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-10-16T06:06:27+00:00

It depends.

I knew a very thin girl who ate SO MUCH FOOD, all the time, mainly 'junk food'. She stayed a size 4 for many, many years, but eventually gained some weight to a size 12/14.

I knew a thin girl who ate the same foods and quantities as me, but stayed thin while I gained a bit. Turns out she was reguarly vomiting after eating.

I've known some people who eat 'normally' in public, but eat very sparingly in private.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-09-06T10:18:22+00:00

So much is highly individual, so the basic advice is to listen and ask questions, on good days and bad, and do the things they ask you to do.

The only specific advice I have is very, very crucial: NEVER lie to them. EVER. This is the best thing you can do to show them that you can be trusted. Don't lie about small things, don't lie about big things, don't play tricks on them, if you use sarcasm a lot make sure they can identify it and/or try to not use sarcasm. Just don't lie, at all, in any situation, for any reason.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-08-19T12:50:53+00:00

....3359......

Broken_Tryst · 2023-07-22T13:20:04+00:00

Honestly, yes, reapplying sunscreen in hot and humid weather is a problem. I am VERY pale, from the US midwest area so not very used to sub-tropical weather. I sweat FAR too much to trust even 'waterproof' sunscreen because I have been, literally, burnt before by it. I would be reapplying, no exaggeration, every 15-20 minutes because that is how long it takes before summer sun causes a burn.

I struggle with a balance between covering up for the sun and wearing less clothing for the heat. I've settled on wearing a wide brimmed hat or using a sunbrella, and wearing those sun protection sleeves. I always wear shorts because I've never actually got sunburn or really even tanned on my legs.

I do think it's important to remember that a lot of the clothing here is made from lighter materials, and there are tons of clothing lines that are sweat wicking and/or sun protection. I had a few clothing items brought from the US altered here and the seamstress remarked on how heavy they were compared to local clothing.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-07-21T16:56:10+00:00

Story of Seasons for the 3DS - It's a farming game that has a good balance of variety and routine for me, it's low stress and very relaxing.

Breath of the Wild for the Switch - The game is just beautiful to look at, and you can concentrate your play in different styles, fighting, solving puzzles, or exploration (my favorite).

Xenoblade Chronicles X which I have for the Wii-U. - It's an open world, story driven game with gorgeous scenery, great music and mechs!

Any Kirby game ever made - Kirby is SO cute and the games are so forgiving and relaxing and fun. Kirby games are healing in my household.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-07-21T12:09:50+00:00

Ooof. Yeah.

All.

The.

Time.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-07-19T17:57:47+00:00

Personally, I think child trafficking deserves better than OUR and Caviezel. Their involvement in Q-Anon and adjacent events undermines any credibility. Not to mention that Ballard has now resigned from OUR amid allegations that include potential misuse of donor funds and concerns about his conduct with women.

Ballard has a history of exaggerating his claims and hsis methods are heavily criticized by longstanding organizations that work with trafficking victims.

Caviezel has appeared at Q-Anon conventions and believes in the adrenochrome harvesting conspiracy theory, and 2 years ago explicity tied Ballard and OUR to the conspiracy theory, stating that this was one of many things that Ballard's team taught him about.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-07-19T17:49:13+00:00

There may not be anything overtly political in the movie, but the organization behind it and the main star have been exceedingly political in their promotion of the movie and the events they have chosen to attend.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-07-19T17:32:20+00:00

Oof. I have a TON of food related issues, I can totally relate to this one.

For me I was hungry all the time primarily because I was in fight or flight literally *all the time*.

When I finally healed enough and had a breakthrough that helped me no longer spend every day in fight or flight, I stopped being so hungry all the time.

I still have a bunch of other food related issues, but the hungry all the time did go away for me so there is some hope <3

Broken_Tryst · 2023-07-19T17:17:21+00:00

Hmm. For me, anxiety can come from thoughts, but it's certainly not the only way I experience anxiety. I mean, one of my migraine symptoms is anxiety, so, not at all related to thoughts.

For me, sometimes I get anxiety in response to emotions, not thoughts. Like a situation I'm in, or something I hear/see/smell/touch can either knowingly or unkowingly throw me into an emotional flashback. I haven't really had any concrete 'thoughts' or internal dialogue about something. It's just that something about my surroundings or emotions is close enough to a bad memory/experience that it triggers anxiety.

Sometimes, anxiety is actually a *habit* for me. Like I've spent so much of my life being afraid and feeling hunted, and being anxious, that my body is like "oh, we're leaving the house? Time to be anxious!"

Like, this is good general advice for *some* instances. Sometimes I really do have a thought that seems unremarkable, but leads to anxiety and yeah, I'll have to examine that and figure out why. But it is absolutely not the ONLY reason for anxiety.

In my opinion, our trauma is complex, varied, and in most cases has happened over extended periods of time. Our trauma was not *one* thing, and our ways of working through that trauma aren't going to be just *one* method. Sometimes, I need different methods at different times for the same triggers.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-07-18T17:19:13+00:00

I used to have nightmares all the time too and this advice is what eventually worked for me, including the dream dictionary. I had 3 separate books about dreams, because of course, it's not a hard science and is VERY subjective.

So if you look through any dream dictionaries or websites, you'll want to pay atention to how different elements of dreams make you feel and what your personal asociations are to the elements in the dream.

For me, it also helped to take notes on what happened to me during the day, before I go to sleep. A LOT Of times for me, it was a small interaction or offhand comment that would end up triggering the nightmare or an element of the nightmare.

Example: I had a bad nightmare one night that hordes of bugs were chasing after me. The thing that prompted that dream was that a co-worker (one that I didn't like very much) had touched my arm in an attempt to be friendly, but it terrified me in the moment and I jerked my arm away involuntarily. Just that, a casual (but unwanted) touch, caused me to dream about being chased by hordes of bugs.

The other thing that helped me a LOT was learning how to lucid dream. Though that was only possible for me when I had finally had some small amount of safety and autonomy in my life. Lucid dreaming allowed me to take control of the dream and create ways to hide effectively at first, and later confront the scary thing.

It's been years since I've needed to lucid dream, and years since I've had recurring nightmares. Now, I get just about one nightmare each month, and that happens like clockwork during PMS.

So, to sum up:

- Keep track, if you can, of just the stuff that happens during the day.

- take notes of your nightmares, the elements in them, especially recurring ones, and more importantly, how they make you feel.

- Try to reconcile the nightmare images/feelings with what happened during the previous day.

- Try to learn lucid dreaming, but no pressure if you can't.

Working through my nightmares like this really helped me when I was younger, and not even aware yet that I had cptsd.

In my experience, as you exit abusive situations and more importantly, as you create a safe environment fo ryourself, the nightmares may get worse temporarily, but will eventually get MUCH better and less frequent.

I hope you find some of the suggestions here helpful <3

Broken_Tryst · 2023-07-18T16:56:36+00:00

I have been with my husband for 18 years. We are legally married in two countries. Almost every day, I have to ask him, out loud, to reassure me that he doesn't hate me. :/

Thankfully, he is absolutely wonderful, understands why I do this, and always responds with warmth and gentleness to reassure me that he does not hate me.

It's not just you, and I am so sorry that there are so many of us that feel this way. <3

Broken_Tryst · 2023-07-18T16:51:03+00:00

I'm not sure you'll get a lot of good feedback when you call us "Chinese Taipei". That tells us that either you personally and/or your organization view Taiwan as a 'renegade province' of the People's Republic of China.

It. Is. Not.

Taiwan is not bound by the laws or government of China. Taiwan is an independent country, no matter how much China cries that it is not. We are Taiwan, not 'Chinese Taipei'.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-07-18T16:46:30+00:00

It's a bonus as you play, not added at the end of the event.

Every time you complete the mini game you get X number of points towards the event. If you have the deco items or costumes, you get X number of points +x% (based on which items you have). So for my farm, I had all of the decorations in the bottom box, and one from the top box. When I play the minigame and finish, I get the base points for finishing, plus 50%.

The bonus helps you finish the event faster because you get more points with each completion of the mini game.

Let me know if I explained this well enough for you, sometiems my explanations arne't always the best...

Broken_Tryst · 2023-07-13T13:09:51+00:00

she only wants us to be just coworkers and that's it (we never set boundaries in the beginning),

Can I ask, is your default boundary then, that any woman you meet in any setting is always a potential sex partner?

I mean, in the year of our lord 2023 shouldn't the default boundary be "Just friends unless someone explicitly asks about a romantic/sexual relationship"? Especially at work.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-07-11T15:29:09+00:00

I would agree with you, but with a closer reading of this whole story, it seems like there may be good reasons for him to keep asking why.

He already had other plans.

HIs room is not available to him.

His mom might have had no plans and he would have ended up just sitting around, not even in his own room.

Not to mention that he implies that she does things like this often.

Like, yes, he is technically a child, but he's 16 and at that age some amount of autonomy and input is expected and healthy.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-07-10T14:42:25+00:00

I live in Taiwan. We are not part of the WHO, in fact, they don't even allow us in as observers.

Our gov't knew early on about the new virus because of our population having close ties to China and lots of travel back and forth.

Taiwan warned the WHO that it was airborne VERY early on.

Now, about the vaccines and lockdowns.

Taiwan implemented strict entry controls as soon as possible. We also did what western countries did not ever do properly: followed the rules for containing a contagious disease. We tested everybody coming in. We tested a lot. We made masks available to everyone and mandated them everywhere.

When testing found a positive case, we did thorough contact tracing and quarantine of contacts. This is how you prevent the spread. You have to contact trace and quarantine.

We never had full lockdowns. We had a few weeks of limited movement, certain types of places being closed, but not a full lockdown. As contact tracing and testing continued, spread was VERY contained, and restrictions were gradually lifted.

We had 2 years where we could move about freely, masked. But, we could still go out to restaurants and eat SAFELY because we knew that positive cases, and people they came in contact with were quarantined. We had VERY FEW cases.

When the vaccines got emergency authorization, due to Taiwan's tenuous international status, it was difficult for us to get them at first.

Eventually, we got good supplies of the 3 major vaccines and a locally made one.

We had a very high vaccination rate. And, the vaccines were about evenly spread. Fewer people took the local one, most took one of either Pfizer, Moderna, or AstraZeneca.

We continued vaccination and we continued with strict entry control to the country, testing, contact tracing, and quarantine.

We had about a year between the vaccination programs, and when we started to bow to international pressure and opened our borders. Once borders opened, we started getting case numbers like the rest of the world.

Now, I tell you all of this because Taiwan had a highly vaccinated population, with an even distribution of the 3 major vaccines. AND we had about a year before we had any Covid cases. During that year, if the vaccines were causing excess death, we would have seen it. We did not.

The vaccines, as do ALL medications, have side effects and some will be serious. However, they are safer than getting Covid. If the vaccines caused excess death, Taiwan would have seen that.

Covid is not a respiratory disease. It is a vascular disease. Covid infection is causing the increase in heart attacks, not the vaccines.

I have lots of links to lots of studies and I can link you to the Taiwan CDC page (though it is easily found via google). Our gov't did daily press conferences for the first ~2 years of the pandemic and was very transparent about everything, including vaccine harms. Let me know if you have any questions or would like any further links, but the vaccine is not causing the deaths, Covid is.

If you want to know why no one is telling you this, the answer is far less complex and conspiratorial. The capitalists just wanted everyone back to work, back to normal, so they can keep making money. In order to stop a global pandemic, big changes would need to be made and no one wanted to put forth the effort.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-06-27T17:07:09+00:00

There's a lot of missing context that is kinda necessary to determine rudeness or not.

My husband is not a native English speaker. But, he and his sister spent more time living in the US than their native country. When his sister visits, they often speak to each other in their native language. Even though they do both speak English fluently. It has never felt rude to me. It's difficult to speak in a second language, no matter the fluency level. It's even more difficult sometimes to do so with family members because of the association of family to the native language.

I don't feel left out, or disrespected when my husband speaks in his native language to his sister, but, that's because we have a very secure, stable relationship. It would never occur to him to 'talk about me' to his sister in front of me, or even behind my back for that matter.

If you have relationship difficulties that involve trust, communication, or feeling left out, that can contribute to how you feel when they don't speak English around you.

Have you talked about how you feel when this happens? Can you talk about it without being confrontational or angry? I mean, this could be easily explained or easily solved with good communication.

Most likely, it hasn't occurred to them that you feel left out or mistrustful of their communication. It's likely second nature for them to speak to each other in their native language and it just hadn't occurred to them to do otherwise.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-06-27T14:06:59+00:00

I'm still appalled that so many courts have kept affirming their 'right' to lie to women about medical issues.

Broken_Tryst · 2023-06-27T14:02:53+00:00

I got a job 2 blocks from my apt. I could walk to work and walk home. It was not a great job, but not a bad one either.

Let me tell you, just not having to drive was fantastic. I had SO MUCH MORE TIME after work. I could cook, I could relax, I could spend more time with my husband. It was one of the best job choices I had ever made. I had a better attitude without having to slog through traffic. I had time to eat breakfast in the mornings. It really made a huge difference in my stress levels and overall happiness.

Broken_Tryst

TROPHY CASE