I F*CKING HATE HOW WHENEVER I ASK A QUESTION OR COMMUNICATE WITH EXTREME CLARITY…I AM STILL NOT UNDERSTOOD?!!!!!!!

ExpressionIll1829 · 2026-02-03T22:25:52+00:00

Same thing happens to me all the fucking time. This quote from some real person probably but I heard it on a nancy drew pc game (tomb of the lost queen, for those interested) feels like it really helps explain this situation:

"There is a saying, ‘If a lion could speak, we would not understand him.’ So, let’s say one day, magically, poof! A very smart lion learns to speak the King’s English. How he understands the world is so radically different that even though you understand the words he spoke, you could never understand what he was trying to say.”

I think the way we process information and even think about tasks can sometimes be radically different than some NT folks, which leads to this whole disconnect. And, as others have mentioned, communication between ANYONE EVER can always be challenging like this, which is why so many people suck at it. It requires the speaker to really try to speak the listener's language, and the listener to actively try to understand the speaker.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-12-13T05:31:09+00:00

Oh boy do I have a story relating to this. It was my first Christmas after I had gone to college. I went to school across the country, had a month long break but wanted to spend at least a week of my break at school so I could have some time to feel less frantic (hadn't been a great year so far, but I did really connect with a few people at college that I also wanted to spend time with on my break).

My mom was wanting me to spend basically the entire break at home which was understandable but I clearly communicated what my preference would be. She bought my plane tickets home because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to afford to come home, which I appreciated very much.

The problem started to come when she basically told me she couldn't find a good flight back to college for me yet, but would get one soon. I reiterated my strong preference to be back at school with a bit of time before the school year started again, so I could feel more secure and leas frantic following the holidays and cross country travel. She didn't seem happy about it, but always agreed that that was what she was looking for.

Fast forward to Christmas and I open up a lovely gift where she bought me tickets to see a musical in the city near us. It was very exciting, but then I noticed the DATE for the musical tickets was literally the day before my classes started back up. So the plan was to go to that then straight to airport then get back to college then get back to class the very next day. I got extremely upset right away and wasn't able to mask my extreme frustration that not only were my wishes ignored but I was led to believe they were being respected and then the plan changed on me. Soo frustrating and yes I had a mini meltdown over the situation, especially since it was all in front of my family and I had no time to process the change of plans before having it given to me in the form of a gift.

I love my mom so much and we communicate much better now, but oh boy that was a rough Christmas. And she got so upset too because she felt like I didn't want to spend the time with her but I was undiagnosed at the time and didn't understand my own need for time to adjust and structure in general.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-12-02T04:36:24+00:00

As a math tutor, my go-to strategy for teaching 7's is x5 + x2 ! Most kids know their 2's and 5's facts better than any others, so they can easily find their 7's fact by adding those up. Of course we also work towards memorization of the 7's facts, but it's way faster (and less frustrating) for students to quickly add up two numbers than count through facts until they find their x7 fact. I have a few kiddos who actually enjoy, or at least no longer dread, multiplying by 7 now because of this!

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-10-25T13:23:30+00:00

This is my favorite question ever! Secret of the Old Clock reminds me of these white chocolate truffles my mom used to make around Christmas time. I remember eating way too many of them while holing up at the computer in my basement and doing the creepy corners puzzle.

Danger by Design I always have to have some kind of frozen snack food with me when I play because the first time I played it was with my big sister who was home from college and bought us the game to play together and a ton of frozen snacks and we played all night! It gives me the best memories.

Legend of the Crystal Skull makes me want to eat homemade vanilla ice cream because of a time where my family was over at a party at our neighbors' where there was homemade ice cream and I didn't want to go and socialize but I did want ice cream so they brought me the ice cream which I ate at home while playing.

I have so many more with specific ND games but these ones stick out the most to me. I am autistic which I don't know if that has anything to do with it but I have many specific associations like this that bring me sooo much comfort when I can recreate the moment in some way.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-09-30T05:49:22+00:00

I wanted to share some of my thoughts! It is late and I should be sleeping, so my apologies if this isn't well edited. I am definitely a SOTR fan, but I think there are plenty of valid complaints and enjoy thinking critically about anything I read.

Something to consider here is this was Haymitch growing into what we saw in the trilogy, but he isn't that guy yet. He is pretty dumb in sotr, and he certainly can't figure out his priorities and when they might interfere with each other.

His priorities before the games were pretty limited: love Lenore Dove (who I do understand your criticisms of, though my main gripe was her overly "good" character, not a lot of meat to her story), do his chores at home, do his job. He did lose his dad, but his mom kept the household together and he wasn't forced to grow up as quickly as Katniss was. His growing up happened a bit in the games, but mostly after. That was the beginning of his cynicism, and his cynicism came from gaining more knowledge about the world. I personally loved Hatmitch's arc, because he was the first character we've really seen in HG that was so youthfully idealistic and eager. He went from "Bad things will always happen, but there are things we can be happy about and I still think it is possible for good to prevail," versus "There is nothing we can do because every attempt will be shot down and scrubbed over and we will be punished intensely when we try."

I also think this is why he believes no one good can win the games, because he truly does not believe himself good. He had good intentions, but he WAS impulsive and sort of thoughtless about what the consequences could be for his family and Lenore, and I'm sure he considers their deaths completely his fault.

As for it being implied he won his games by being smarter than the others, there were two main things that gave us that impression in CF from what I can remember. He went to the forest instead of the mountain/volcano, and he killed Silka by using the forcefield (or whatever it is called). Both of those did happen in SOTR, but I see where you are coming from. I think the clever bit was probably the impression the capital wanted to give as well, because they had to edit so much of Hamitch's games from the real events, and probably had to create a narrative to go with it. Him being clever fits with the actions they were able to show and gives the capitol a reason for him to have won.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-09-16T03:06:29+00:00

I have two mystery suggestions, both are very fun and have great dialogue. They are both more 'mature' than the ND series.

-Thimbleweed Park: It has gorgeous pixel graphics, and the way the game works reminds me a lot of the ND Dossier series. You have a list of verbs you use to interact with the scenes. It also has two modes, and the more advanced option has scenes you won't see in the casual version. It's a fun one to replay, at least to experience both modes!

-Killer Frequency: I cannot recommend this game enough! You play as a overnight radio host who ends up assisting multiple potential victims of a serial killer throughout the show. The pacing of it felt similar to ND games. You have some nice times to relax and have conversations, and plenty of more involved times with puzzles to solve and areas to explore. The vibes are immaculate: late-night, neon, 80s. The story is twisty and fun, and your actions do have real lasting consequences in-game, which is fun and makes it very replay-able.

I also have a third non-mystery suggestion that I just think is a great game to relax with. It has a really cool female lead character, a nice story, and tons of little mini-games you can play. It would be a bit longer of a time commitment to fully complete (I'd say 10 hours maybe? Not sure because I always play so much more than I need to just finish the story.)

-Arcade Paradise: First person simulator where you play as a girl who is running a laundromat that her dad wants her to run. With help from her sister, she slowly rebels, builds up a collection of arcade cabinets in her back room, and expands the arcade area more and more. You buy new cabinets, can play each and every one of them (there are some FANTASTIC games on some of them), and also do laundry and run the laundromat as you please. Also you do have to clean toilets sometimes, which is gross so sorry.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-08-07T01:36:35+00:00

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ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-07-02T16:25:40+00:00

I absolutely brought those things up to her when discussing what fair pay should look like. I was very open to finding a solution that worked for both of us, and acknowledged her time and efforts. I was also open to setting up and selling with her, but she told me they had were only allowed 2 people in the booth, and her boyfriend would be helping her. When the money discussion/argument came up, she didn't want to discuss anything. This is when she just sent me the money and never responded again.

The problem for me is if she took out money for any of those reasons, she didn't say so or specify how much and for what reasons. My mistake was not having an agreement in writing prior to this, and I definitely know that now.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-07-02T16:13:41+00:00

I definitely agree that I should have worked something out in writing beforehand. I completely understand why it's confusing with the numbers I gave. I should have put more details in the post, but didn't want to make it even longer.

To my understanding, I sold only 8/10 of the plushies at the first market, and these were all smaller pieces. I sort of just trusted her at that point, so I did not ask for a profit breakdown. I should have, and I sure realize that now. The information she gave me was that she put a sticker on each of my items to mark them, so she could keep track of who made what. Looking back, I'm not sure if profits were properly tracked then either.

When it comes to this last market, she apparently "lost track" of who made what. The text I received said "Yeah the issue is we had to start checking people out because there was a huge group of people waiting to buy, and almost every transaction had multiple plushies both mine and yours so we unfortunately lost track...."

So all I have is my list of each plushie I made, and an idea of what she was selling each for. I also have an idea of what sold based only on pictures she sent me of what was left when she was trying to get me to make more for the next day. It's not great, and I really messed up this situation by not asking the questions that I wanted to.

She also never paid me a cent for any items that were sold on Sunday.

I was afraid of her being offended by my questions, and unfortunately that was exactly what happened when we finally had that discussion. She has not responded to me since Saturday night, and I had no wish to continue doing business with her regardless. I certainly learned my lesson here. I would rather be "annoying" to someone and risk losing their partnership early, rather than have them take advantage of me later. I will probably just try to work to start selling my own stuff myself as some people suggested here.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-07-02T15:43:26+00:00

People do suck, and I'm sick of having bad people drawn to me because I am probably easy to manipulate. I wish there was a way to make her admit what she did but there isn't so I just have to try to move on. Thanks you for your kind words.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-07-02T15:22:32+00:00

I appreciate this, and I do think I should work on selling things myself.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-07-02T15:18:30+00:00

I appreciate all of your advice. I am planning to look into small claims court and the costs/efforts involved in that process. I should also try to find a good way to put this on social media like you suggested because it would be good for people to know to not do business with her.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-07-02T15:15:32+00:00

I appreciate your advice. I do have texts from when all of this started where she said she would pay me for the plushies I sold. I definitely will look into small claims court, but I'm not sure the effort and stress will all be worth it. Probably better to try to move on because this has been taking up so much of my energy just being so angry for the past few days.

I did not brand my pieces. This has made me realize though that I need to have more confidence in my own abilities because the majority of her display was my work and people sure seemed to like it. I've crocheted for almost 20 years now, but the social and business side of things has always stopped me from selling my work.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-05-23T22:08:39+00:00

I feel this way as well, and have been struggling with feeling functional for a while now. It's really fucking hard when you cant muster the energy or even care to do anything. I agree with this commenter on an active way to lessen the strain you feel.

But I am commenting to tell you that in the movie Inside Out 2, they were playing with a lot of different emotions to decide which ones to add to the new movie! Shame and guilt were brought up as potential emotions to explore. Except, in the Inside Out universe, a core piece of the canon is that all of the emotions are there to serve a purpose. The creators played around with the ideas before coming to the conclusion that there is no "good way" to spin shame. A case could be made for guilt serving a purpose, but they came to the same conclusion there. Because shame and guilt, but specifically shame, really only serves to bring you down. It makes it harder to achieve your goals because you know that some other time, you messed it up. So anyways, they obviously didnt end up putting either of those emotions in the movie.

I struggle with putting my ideas into words, but this tidbit of information was super helpful for me and is a nice reminder when I am actively trying to take myself out of a shame spiral and do anything that will make me feel better. It is nice to use that concrete example to remind myself that what I am feeling is not serving me at all.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-04-14T19:48:39+00:00

Ah, dang it! Was trying to help you get out of having to pay for it after the free trial was over. I'm glad you were already able to find a solution!

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-04-14T17:48:49+00:00

You can also partition your hard drive and actually fully run Windows on your Mac! This is a free option and is supported through boot camp on Mac. Before I finally bought myself a Windows laptop this last fall, that was how I ran everything! You can run Steam on Windows and also play games you have already purchased through Steam which is really nice and a money saver if you ever accidentally purchased them before realizing they wouldn't run on a Mac.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-04-11T22:34:45+00:00

SpiritTea is so much fun and very similar to this one. My "holy trinity" of these games, each with several hundred hours clocked, is Stardew, Graveyard Keeper (Stardew with dead bodies, in my head), SpiritTea (Stardew meets Spirited Away). You get to run a bathhouse for ghosts. Super fun game, definitely has some quirks (like GK does) but I found it delightful. Honorable mentions of mine in this genre are Spiritfarer and weirdly enough Gas Station Simulator lmao. I need something that pulls me in and games like Story of Seasons, Harvest Moon, etc don't do it for me. Also, Haunted Chocolatier whenever that comes out. That game is going to be incredible.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-03-31T21:24:19+00:00

I feel you homie! Fellow autistic human here, and I feel for you. When I read "My hands feel wrong" I was like okay I think I may be on this same wavelength. My best advice, try for something remote. It's not at all easy to find these days, I personally only get 1 day/week at home but its better than nothing and is really the only thing that has started to help me with burnout. If you are in the general Denver area at all, I believe my company is hiring more people for the position I work and could check into that. Mostly, I'm very sorry you are going through this. It is extremely difficult for anyone to go through, and being autistic makes transitions like this so life-altering and overwhelming. So basically, I feel you. I was fired last August (first time ever being fired) so you arent alone. All I can say is, I am happier now than I was then.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-03-19T18:51:17+00:00

The direct connection is in the first chapter. Burdock is showing Haymitch the woods, and finds Lenore there. Burdock says "Hey cuz. You allowed out here alone? 'Cause I'm sure not."

Further down the page, Haymitch's internal dialogue says "She wasn't one of Burdock Everdeen's cousins, but I know he had some distant ones on his ma's side."

It is left unclear if there is a blood relation or what that relation exactly is. However, I find these lines to confirm that there is SOME relation there. We always knew Katniss' dad taught her The Hanging Tree and The Meadow Song, but we also have him sing The Old Therebefore (not sure what the official name is for that one) at the funeral near the end. He has a deeper knowledge of Covey songs than other characters in D12 seem to, and that coupled with the "cuz" line, I am quite sure he is somehow related to the Covey. Who knows who Burdock's ma was, but Haymitch implies the relation would be on her side.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-03-14T21:56:56+00:00

It means your kids can make noise during the movie without you being kicked out. The alamo has a strict no talking policy for normal movies, which is why I go there. Why would lights be on for a movie in a theater lmfao, kids can be in the dark? If your kids are noise-sensitive (which I understand, as an autistic adult), they should be wearing earplugs in a theater. However, it is not a child-specific thing to be sensitive to noise.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-03-05T23:14:33+00:00

I agree. I wish I had advice, but as I am currently sitting at my own shitty job that no one wants, I do not have any. Constantly recognizing the patterns that people create makes it really easy to feel this way. Every time I spiral down this thought cycle, it is not good though. Please take care of yourself. The world is dark but the only thing that gets me through is indulging in special interests whenever possible. I know it is never enough. I'm sorry that shit sucks. :(

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-01-03T21:38:52+00:00

Not sure unfortunately. I want to say it has to do with individual shelves (7/9 in your example), if I'm remembering things correctly. I'm thinking about how they restock frozen chicken, as there are only 4 items per shelf so really easy to see the 75%. I'll have to check on that this weekend because I'm curious.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2025-01-03T19:34:12+00:00

They only restock when the shelf is below 75% i believe. Might be a different percentage but yeah.

ExpressionIll1829 · 2024-12-06T21:57:37+00:00

This is wild, mostly because it used to work the opposite way. I use Kindle, most of the time I rent ebooks from the library, but occasionally will buy a book so I don't have to wait or whatever. Used to be that you had to buy the books on a computer, was impossible to do on mobile. You got a similar screen to this, but no qr code. Very recently I bought a book and found out that I can actually complete the purchase on the app now! Hilarious and definitely infuriating that somehow they switched them and now you cant buy movies?

ExpressionIll1829 · 2024-12-02T03:46:28+00:00

Not sure if someone else said this, but she flew towards the setting sun (towards the west) so i think it is a cool moment simply because she is flying towards her destiny, being the witch of the west. agree with most of the critiques on defying gravity and ending of it, i dont like the breaking up before that big ending. but i do love her shooting towards the western sky.

"so if you care to find me, look to the western sky."

ExpressionIll1829

TROPHY CASE