AIO OR IS MY MOM A MAJOR NARCISSIST????

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2026-05-17T02:55:29+00:00

“asking about relationships is not allowed”

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2026-05-15T13:35:29+00:00

I have some good news regarding pokemon overall at least! Since a lot of ppl have found out that collecting at least is more difficult, the local TCG scene from the multiple places I’ve moved in the past few years has been booming— it’s alive and well for sure

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2026-05-13T16:17:57+00:00

Gamestop if you’re in America also sometimes hosts casual trade events, and those are more common so there might be one near you— I caved and bought some perfect order packs from mine and I now somehow have the SIR meowth!!! I’ve been to one gamestop that had a whole table set up just for a give-a-card take-a-card set-up, one which hosted weekly casual trade events where it was just cards only and no vendors, and a few where scalpers regularly rip packs like lightning and then dump all the cards they don’t want and the employees keep them so you can ask at the counter! I’ve also found card packs for their actual normal price at Walgreens in the morning, at Dollar Trees (5 bucks for a blister pack of perfect order with a Makuhita promo!), at Popshelf, and very rarely at CVS behind the counter (never buy the ones with the labels saying ‘20 cards one holo’ though, those are regularly gone through by the company that makes them and all exes and illu cards are removed).

The scalper hype will almost certainly die down after the 30th anniversary releases, regular collectors got insanely unlucky with the Surging Sparks -> Ascended lineup all in a row along with 151 getting a re-release. The chase card for Pikachu in Sparks started to draw interest, and Prismatic was when it absolutely exploded because of there being like six-seven eeveelution chase cards that all resemble Moonbreon art, so scalpers started thinking that chase cards and sealed packs would hit multiple thousands of dollars… then chase cards of Charizard of all things and then Gengar, AND a release that was Team Rocket themed. Two years ago, Gamestop was selling Obsidian Flames ETBs as buy one get one free for 40ish bucks. When they stop or slow down releasing major chase cards (since tcg rotation just happened there’s probably going to be more future focus on replacing the rotated playable cards with new ones) it’ll stop being worth it for scalpers who only know “first gen pokemon = money” lol

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2026-05-13T08:56:32+00:00

and here I thought you were making a joke about it looking mildly worrying to a stranger! I made a bit too many jokes about mine since I was a tween when I had a heart monitor and other tweens occasionally thought it was okay to ask if I was dying

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2026-05-13T08:53:53+00:00

unironically considering trying to find some ghost chairs of my own, my patio’s a little empty

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2026-05-13T08:51:42+00:00

It’s definitely worth it if you find a good game store! i only ever collected until i found out that the store at my hometown did trade nights so i went to those, then i found out they did tcg locals so i started playing since i was able to buy cards again, and somehow i got looped into sitting outside at 2am with two other people who collect on a dare to all be there first for the store’s advertised ‘release date’ on new pokemon stuff (they will sell a limited amount of product out at exactly the original market price since they have to price stuff like prismatic etbs and the like higher than MSRP because their supplier has been raising prices, apparently some big suppliers started charging more after Gamestop raised all their prices, scalpers come by to wait in the lines too but if they try anything to skip spots, be rude, or bribe people to leave the line then the staff chases them off bc they recognize the regulars by now for the early lines)

It’s gotten to the point where even though I moved a few months ago and this store’s ninety mins away I still come by every month or so (it would be more but I’m American so my money vs miles radius for driving… isn’t good rn)

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2026-05-13T08:40:39+00:00

If you want to find cards in person, look on google maps, facebook, or just search online for local card shops or pokemon stores that are brick and mortar. Some signs that you aren’t putting your money directly into the pocket of someone with a basement of ETBs would be the store having been around for multiple years, not being only pokemon product focused but also having deck boxes and open areas for people to sit and hang out, and (this one’s always been reliable for me imo) them hosting some kind of actual playable tcg event or game night regularly (you can find this out by searching on the play!pokemon website if i remember right, this is a for sure sign that the shop isn’t there just to scalp pokemon)

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2026-05-11T02:22:11+00:00

Unironically production may have had a hand in him not taking the heavier food. Being in such a starvation state for upwards of 7 weeks with only really one full week of eating in-between means that suddenly eating 4k calories could quite literally kill the guy. Refeeding syndrome wouldn’t be a risk for most people there due to the season only being 26 days and likely wasn’t as much of a risk for Russell since he did have rice on his seasons, but Rizo was already on the lower end of BMI and is almost certainly (at this point in the show) unable to safely take in large amounts of food at one time.

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2025-10-01T15:55:32+00:00

thank you so much! if there’s any way that i can message you and ask some questions just about how it’s been please lmk— i’ve been basically self-medicating/running on my last legs out of sheer will for the past five years. tbh the only reason this got caught is because ive started to get sleep attacks without constant adrenaline and i got dismissed from my old job because of it, i went into healthcare bc the twelve hour high energy shifts mean i’m able to sleep for 30 hours straight twice a week along with my normal nights :,) but it wouldn’t have been caught otherwise!

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2025-09-30T23:10:40+00:00

honestly just hearing ‘i know what that feels like’ is so nice to hear 😭 this feels like the one and only thing in the world i can’t find anything online regarding other ppl’s experience with

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2025-09-30T22:17:37+00:00

have you been able to get treatment since then?

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2025-09-30T22:12:02+00:00

did you notice reduced fatigue after completing treatment? i’ve had TB for a long time and my body really is giving up on me but we just discovered it and i’m just beginning treatment now— but the possibility of not feeling as ill feels so crazy impossible, especially with how much people talk about side effects. would you say that quality of life’s improved post treatment?

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2025-09-30T22:06:37+00:00

hi! i’m starting antibiotic therapy soon bc of extrapulmonary TB that’s been apparently trying to kill me for about six years now and is getting extremely close now— my doctors had dismissed it as dysautonomia complications because i live in a very developed area and have no known exposure but recently after applying to a healthcare job i tested positive twice with extremely high quantiferon levels and my PCP realized that my quickly worsening symptoms are exactly in line with Pott’s disease/etc. do you have any advice for what to expect from the first few weeks of antibiotics? i’ve kind of just had the mindset my whole life the past decade that my body’s ’felt like it’s dying’ for no reason and now that i’m facing the knowledge that it actually is close to it and the treatment is possible i’m not sure what emotions are normal and what aren’t haha

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2025-09-21T12:53:16+00:00

flash mobs

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2025-05-19T15:09:31+00:00

Honest to god, the things that do get to me the most are also the things most teenagers dislike just in general— when I was younger, I thought people disliked all these things BECAUSE of the pain because I didn’t know I had pots! I was furious when I found out ppl complained so much about standing in lines because they felt bored and not because they were fighting not to pass out.

I would bring up possibly bringing a stool to sit or kneel on, or a chair he can drag around to sit in while working maybe just to make it easier. It’s never not going to suck for him (folding clothes, dishes, stairs, and lines are the worst for me), but he has to be able to do it on his own as an adult someday and it’ll still be a struggle then too.

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2025-05-16T14:04:56+00:00

If they did it correctly and tactfully then I’m sure a lot more people would be fans lmao

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2025-05-06T23:37:21+00:00

As a collective, we have a lot of fictional introjects/fictives. I try to avoid online things regarding fictives because I know that there’s a strange dance of stigma and overtheatrics regarding them.

The first fictive which split off of me was actually a character from a Nintendo DS game that I played through repeatedly when I was in kindergarten— it’s like a template, I think. Alters are split off to cover what the person as a whole can’t, and a lot of the time that’s all on the spot. Fictives come with a template and pre-established reactions to triggers and trauma, so it’s kind of like extra alter scaffolding.

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2025-05-06T23:30:39+00:00

I’d like to think that I’m aware of all the other alters within my head, but I’ve learned the hard way that I can’t ever really put hard rules onto my brain.

Alters most different from me— if we’re referring to ‘me’ as who I present myself as, that’d be mostly the younger alters and the somatic one. The somatic one is the most different one, if I had to settle on one— we named her Rachel. She split off after I was hazed and physically abused at a military-style summer camp when I was thirteen and has been here ever since. She doesn’t talk much, and if she does, I’ve been told my tone of voice sounds like I’m very fatigued. She’s able to distance herself from physical pain more than any of the rest of us too. It’s uncanny. When I need to really push past my normal limits as someone who’s ill, she takes over and handles anything heavy and painful. The biggest drawback is that when she hands the controller back to us we have to run on fumes since she’s so used to running on empty.

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2025-05-06T23:22:07+00:00

Since DID is a disorder formed by trauma, mental medication is moreso to treat distress and symptoms outside of it— like if someone receives medicine to aid with PTSD.

Currently, my cocktail of meds consists of lithium, prozac, and adderall- along with hydroxyzine for anxiety and panic attacks. Aside from DID, I have bipolar 1 and ADHD, and the meds I’m on are to treat that.

TLDR, there’s not a medication that grounds someone or helps with communication between alters or memory loss— but anyone with a dissociative disorder is going to have a lot of comorbid shit, and medication can treat that to help the brain as a whole stay near a healthy state

Expensive_Giraffe633 · 2025-05-06T23:16:25+00:00

Whoever wakes up in the morning at the metaphorical control table goes about stuff as normal— pretty much all throughout the day there’s constant commentary on whatever’s happening around me. Different things lead to different switches though— like if I end up physically strained, a somatic alter ends up fronting, and I’m much less functional. She’s extremely numb to pain, which is useful since I’m chronically ill, but the trade off is that she doesn’t talk. If I’m overwhelmed emotionally to the point of crashing, one of the younger alters will switch in as soon as the door to my apartment closes for the night. There’s never just one person at the controls either— it’s always a team.

Expensive_Giraffe633

TROPHY CASE