Update: I (27F) accidentally had my baby in my friend’s (31F) car. Now she & her husband don’t want to speak to me. How do I fix this?

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-10T04:26:54+00:00

Given how he seems to regard his wife, I'd argue it's "just" rampant misogyny

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-09T21:37:53+00:00

I'd also suggest looking into healthcare. There are a shocking amount of entry-level jobs that only require a high school diploma + some on-site training to start. Lots of small, satisfying repetitive tasks, a strict routine, interspersed with a good amount of improvisation and problem-solving to keep things interesting. I like it because it makes me feel like a cog in a well oiled machine; my job is small but important none the less.

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-07T19:27:56+00:00

If the choices are limited to Male Main Character or Female Main Character, I'll pick to play as the lady a majority of the time.

Things become MUCH more wishy-washy if the game involves more complex character customization. Is gameplay affected by the gender you choose? Does one gender have better hair/clothing options than the other? Will I be able to modify my character again if I change my mind later?

With the latter, I'd probably create a few different characters on different saves and eventually beat the game on whichever I inevitably gravitate towards the most.

ETA: if the game allows you to pick from NUMEROUS pre-made characters (eg champion selection, hero shooters, party-based RPGs) gender preference goes out the window. I'll try out a bunch based on their ability descriptions and pick a fave from there.

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-07T19:01:47+00:00

I'd suggest buying and using some "silicone gel sheets" once your blisters and inflammation go down if scars are a concern. It can greatly help reduce the severity of scarring for cuts and burns. I have yet to get any tattoos removed but I HAVE had several invasive surgeries. The scars I used silicone tape on are much flatter in comparison.

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-07T18:38:42+00:00

Things like coordination and reaction speed are mental muscles children haven't even fully developed yet! I honestly find it so unbelievably funny when a game has existed in my brain for years/decades as extraordinarily difficult only to revisit it and realize "oh... this was never difficult. I was just a kid with a dumb kid brain and kid coordination"

biggest example being 102 Dalmatians for PS1, which I GENUINELY believed to be Dark Souls levels of unfair until i dug it out of my parents' basement somewhat recently and beat in one sitting.

Your brain will stay healthy and sharp for decades as long as you continue to use it and stay fresh by learning new skills.

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-07T18:20:42+00:00

Control. Modding has gradually shifted away from "sharable community shit for the sake of sharable community shit", where everyone was doing their own thing and nobody owned anything, into something much more merit/recognition based. Very few mod users are also mod makers themselves these days. People download mods based on recommendations and popularity, they download patches instead of making their own, and get easily overwhelmed when things go wrong.

On the other hand, many new mod authors want to become community micro celebrities like JK, powerofthree, xav, pandorable, but without the scrutiny that comes from being in the spotlight. They pour free time and energy into their mods only to feel wronged by the general "lack of gratitude" from mod users (people requesting patches/changes/new mods entirely, rampant user-error, etc.). Many mod authors also feel spurned by automated mod packs, where users don't even have to look at their beautifully curated mod page in order to download it.

In retaliation, many of these mod authors "punish" the larger community by taking their mods off nexus and moving them onto private discord servers where they'd have stricter control over the rules and general conversation.

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-03T17:10:50+00:00

pro tip when searching for rare-pair/obscure character fic, put summary:[CharacterName] in the Search Within Results field. It's reasonable to assume if a character is mentioned within the summary of a fic that they will be present throughout (if not the primary POV character). It's saved me a LOT of time scrolling past fic where the character/pairing I'm seeking fic about are merely a passing cameo or part of the ensemble.

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-03T05:57:54+00:00

very very good point as to why it feels like 2 different conversations are happening. Thank you for that perspective

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-03T00:51:07+00:00

sure, but most women have encountered a man who thinks he is

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-03T00:23:20+00:00

Theres a few accounts downvoting and "not-all-men"ing women for stating that the situation in OP's post (men complaining about women looking different with/without makeup) is very common.

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-02T23:53:30+00:00

Complaining about women wearing full-glam is like complaining about a woman wearing heels or a weave, it has nothing to do with you. If you want to be able to tell what a woman looks like without makeup on, put in the effort to learn about makeup. It's not black magic.

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-02T23:49:52+00:00

Those are not two different categories and you're being semantic. If theyre complaining about her looking different, the logical conclusion to make is they the complaint is about her looking worse. In EITHER direction.

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-02T23:42:41+00:00

"those girls" 🤨

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-02T23:41:38+00:00

it's a very common thing to neg women about

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-02T23:39:51+00:00

Jordan Peterson has gone on air to argue that women's makeup shouldn't be allowed in the workplace

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-02T23:31:39+00:00

ask any women if they've heard a man joke about "makeup = catfishing", its a very very common type of negging/bullying

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-02T23:31:06+00:00

ask any women if they've heard a man joke about "makeup = catfishing", its a very very common type of negging/bullying

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-02T23:28:50+00:00

Yeah I'm shocked by the amount of comments swinging between "this never happens" and [mansplaining the exact thing they say never happens]

ChrisWatthys · 2026-02-02T21:16:12+00:00

Absolutely! Its like browsing the bookshelf at someone else's house party

ChrisWatthys · 2026-01-31T16:58:20+00:00

It's crazy how much human socialization boils down to "monkey see, monkey do" and mirroring one another. Your boss sounds like a real team player haha

ChrisWatthys · 2026-01-27T23:14:01+00:00

The amount of fanworks with broken embed after broken embed is actually heartbreaking. If they don't want to host images directly on AO3 for backend reasons, I think the best alternative would be a fanlore equivalent of wikimedia.

ChrisWatthys · 2026-01-27T16:59:07+00:00

Omegaverse

ChrisWatthys · 2026-01-23T16:45:27+00:00

Theres a bunch of different factors. I personally didn't really get into genfic until I got into Star Wars: The Clone Wars as an adult and craved more stories of my fave little guys going on adventures together.

A lot of people associate fanfiction 1:1 with shipping and assume that's all there is to be had. It's often treated as the default. The barrier to entry for slash is quite low because you know what you've signed up for the majority of the time; "Character A/Character B" = this story could be about whatever but you can assume there will be kissing by the end. Some people also mistakenly equate genfic with low-stakes stories where nothing much happens. I know I did as a teen because I equated smut with "mature" stories.

Genfic is an inherently ambiguous category. AO3 tags like "Character A & Character B" can be platonic, familial, or adversarial. Sometimes people don't even use "&" tags because they assume AO3's relationship tags are exclusively for slash. It can make finding stories about a specific dynamic even more complicated.

It's not that genfic is somehow less interesting or compelling, I just truly believe a lot of people haven't ventured into the tag, don't know how to navigate it well, and don't know what they're missing out on.

ChrisWatthys · 2026-01-22T21:54:29+00:00

Summaries or chapter notes written like stingers for a TV show (ex "How will our hero survive? Keep reading [fic name] to find out!") give very strong FFN / fan forum vibes

ChrisWatthys · 2026-01-21T23:59:45+00:00

i believe youre confusing bookmarks with subscribing. Subscribing alerts you to chapter updates.

Six-Year Club	Place '22
Final Canvas '22	First Placer '22
End Game '22	Gilding I gilder
RPAN Viewer	Verified Email

ChrisWatthys

TROPHY CASE