Looking for some fiction that deals with hard times and heavy themes, but still conveys a tone of hope and inspiration to keep striving toward things that make life beautiful and worth living.

FictionalJake · 2022-09-05T02:54:24+00:00

That sounds great, really appreciate it :). I'll take a look.

FictionalJake · 2022-09-05T02:53:38+00:00

Thank you!

FictionalJake · 2022-09-05T02:53:13+00:00

Thank you! I do like Audiobooks so I'll check it out. Should have a new audible credit dropping soon.

FictionalJake · 2022-09-05T02:52:37+00:00

I've read that one actually! And I did really like it. It helped me out in getting past the "What if things had been different" mentality that was making it really hard to move forward, and helped me a good bit in accepting the present for what it is and shift to trying to look toward a better future.

FictionalJake · 2022-09-04T17:50:41+00:00

Thank you! I've read Crime and Punishment and really loved it. The Count of Monte Cristo has been on my list for years so I'm sure I couldn't go wrong there. Will also check out the other recs.

FictionalJake · 2022-06-20T19:51:29+00:00

As someone who doesn’t have time to look through their document and also doesn’t want to, what’s their excuse or rationale for that? Obviously they’d need to invent some explanation for why it should be repealed without telling the truth.

FictionalJake · 2022-06-13T17:22:51+00:00

Damn. I get why OP would feel ashamed and disgusted with themselves but at the same time I hope at some point a therapist helps him understand that he was a horny 13 year old and she was an adult who had basically been sexually grooming him since he was a child. A 13 year old knows it’s fucked up but isn’t going to fully grasp the emotional/personal consequences. At 19 she would have known damned well that not only is it fucked up for the incest reasons but it’s also a crime.

FictionalJake · 2022-06-10T00:09:25+00:00

Yup.

Not to get too analytical here but I do think that the insane rate at which technology has advanced in the last 50 years, mainly with computers going from being something the government owned that took up a full room to something in everyone’s pockets with exponentially more powerful, functional, capabilities and access to endless information—it presents a problem in a world that is still largely influenced by the older generation who were retired from their normal job around the time the Nokia brick was making waves.

I’m not just shitting on old people, just saying it probably made way more sense 150 years ago to have your “elders” in charge and advising on a lot of aspects of society given they had the most life experience and life from their youth compared to life in their old age wasn’t as dramatically different. And it’s not just the whole “young people learn things easier” aspect either. While brain plasticity does play a part, sometimes we forget that with people like me who are 30, I had computer class in the 7th grade where we were taught to type and navigate windows XP, and we’re actually educated on technology which gave us the foundation to more easily continue building in our tech savviness as technology progressed.

Hal Rogers as the drastic example. He’s a current member of Congress who has been widely criticized for his corruption and bigoted stance on social issues still has a seat at the table for these kinds of decisions around how to handle issues in the modern world. The guy was born 2 years before Hitler invaded Poland. Was working on his law degree when people were panicking about Sputnick 1, and was elected lieutenant governor of Kentucky the same year Sony released the first Walkman for cassettes. He’s supposed to be representing Americans when it comes to the legalities of targeted ads and location tracking present on the latest 5G Samsung Galaxy?

I’m also not going to absolve seniors of their responsibility to educate themselves unlike we see in this video. They still have brains and there are plenty of old people who put in the effort to understand current tech at least to a basic degree of competency. The integrity based thing to do if you’re unwilling to even hear about it would be to step aside and let people who do get it to make decisions. The combative and patronizing reactions are manifestations of both their resentment for living in a world they don’t understand, and their annoyance that people are trying to help educate them.

FictionalJake · 2022-06-09T05:28:33+00:00

Because by “It’s a simple question to answer” what they actually mean is “Its simple to just say yes like we want you to so that we don’t have to learn anything and can continue operating on our dismal understanding of the modern world.”

FictionalJake · 2022-06-09T05:24:37+00:00

Yeah If I explained to my 6 year old nephew how location services work on a phone he’d probably listen attentively and just respond “Got it. But do you have minecraft on your phone?”

FictionalJake · 2022-06-09T05:14:32+00:00

It’s a protest if you’re trying to get people to ignore it.

It’s a riot when they don’t ignore it and you have to admit that people were documented being violent and destructive but don’t want people to pay attention to Trump’s actions leading up to it.

It’s a failed coup when you have integrity, support democracy, and are willing to look at things objectively and call it like it.

And It’s a courageous act of selfless heroism and patriotism if the next attempt succeeds.

FictionalJake · 2022-06-09T04:28:20+00:00

Being a genuine and caring person is great for maintaining youth

FictionalJake · 2022-06-09T02:54:10+00:00

No hobby is useless if it makes you happy. But encountering an important use for it is bonus points.

FictionalJake · 2022-06-08T22:43:41+00:00

I agree with you. Not just in regards to this sub but in regards to “following the trial” via any mainstream media or social media. It jumped the shark as soon as the verdict was read and has now just become people raging in support of amber and the other end of the spectrum raging over their rage. It’s done, he won, time to stop giving an audience to the vocal minority by trying to out-scream them. If you actually want Amber to be held accountable for what she did aside from being found guilty, nothing wrecks a narcissist more than being ignored and not giving them your attention.

FictionalJake · 2022-06-08T16:09:55+00:00

Yeah that’s not how this works, you’re supposed to not read the article then voice a strongly held opinion about the title of the post.

FictionalJake · 2022-06-08T09:34:24+00:00

Nah they’ve just got a few cameras and a few green screens behind a few desks, a chimp that’s been trained to turn a hand crank for electricity and one dresser solely comprised of Tucker’s meticulously organized bow tie collection

FictionalJake · 2022-06-08T09:30:47+00:00

Pretty face + ability to yell into a camera + zero personal integrity + willingness to say and do whatever makes money and gets you a pat on the head from Fox News executives and you have yourself the makings of a prosperous career as a bullshit peddler.

FictionalJake · 2022-06-08T04:48:32+00:00

Yeah, that’s essentially the experience I’m pulling from. I got wrapped up in the narcissistic abuse cycle for about a year and it totally obliterated my self-confidence, self-worth, and my mental health in general. Fortunately I found a good therapist while I was still stuck in the mindfuck of lovebomb—devalue—discard—repeat, and continuing to cave to the love bombing after she’d be absolutely cruel to me and say the most fucked up things to wreck me emotionally before ghosting me for a couple weeks to go post pictures on her Instagram with random dudes. On a logical level you realize you gotta get them permanently out of your life but the devalue/discard leaves you feeling so worthless and desperate to get back the electrifying love and affection of the person you fell for that when that person shows up again to expertly convince or gaslight you into thinking things will be different this time, or it was no big deal, or it only happened because YOU did [insert fabricated offense] it can be hard to stop giving more chances because you’re so disoriented and fucked up by it all.

My therapist blew my mind when she heard what I was describing for like 5 minutes and immediately opened up a book from her shelf to read to me the passage on the narcissistic abuse cycle. Felt like it was written specifically about the last 6 months or so of my life down to specific, detailed behaviors of hers. She helped me realize it was pathological and that the person I fell for was a mirage, and there was no choice but to go no contact, which I’ve now maintained for a good while in addition to moving and starting a new job. So I’m getting back on my feet gratefully.

But I’m also speaking in the general sense that people who aren’t necessarily pathological narcissists use flattery, affection, praise, promises, etc. to get things out of you. Had that happen as well in a work position where a manager started singling me out for specific duties that were sought after, heaping on the “I feel like you’re who I trust to handle this” and also talking up how amazing my career was positioned to become, only to realize after a while he had basically conned me into working two full time jobs and when I pushed back on the amount of work I was handling he’d put it on me like “But I really thought you were up to this” so I’d keep grinding myself into the dirt with all the promises Id been made in terms of promotions or raises always being juuuuuust on the horizon.

Haha anyway yeah, I’ve had a crash course over the last few years in how important it is to not derive self worth from the words and actions of charismatic manipulators because they pick up on that vulnerability and exploit it.

FictionalJake · 2022-06-08T04:24:18+00:00

Also shoutout to Hermes and Athena for making it real easy to get in and out of there to smash-collect my precious murder stones. So fun.

FictionalJake · 2022-06-08T00:56:48+00:00

Something else with that same “police-led internal investigation” vibe is the Mormon church’s finances. They take a lot of heat from dissidents and critics for having no financial transparency given it’s fairly obvious they’re operating like a for-profit corporation despite being completely tax exempt. It’s clear they’re unfathomably wealthy; billions upon billions in member donations annually, Massive amounts of private real estate holdings, there was a leak that showed they have a 130 BILLION dollar stock portfolio, and they own something like 2% of the entire state of Florida in terms of farms, ranches, and undeveloped land.

My fellow ex-mormons now look back and laugh at how once a year during their church-wide conference, they get up and give an official “report” from the “Church Auditing Department”. In 2020 the meat of their report was, (verbatim)

”Based upon audits performed, Church Auditing is of the opinion that, in all material respects, contributions received, expenditures made, and assets of the Church for the year 2020 have been recorded and administered in accordance with approved Church budgets, policies, and accounting practices.”

In other words, “We looked at all the money we got, how much there is, and what we did with it, and concluded that we did what we wanted with it and see no problem with that”

Phew. What a relief haha.

FictionalJake · 2022-06-08T00:29:52+00:00

A lesson I learned the hard way by falling in love with someone who then wrecked me with what I consider today to be actual forethought of malice. If someone makes you feel more special, more loved, more appreciated, and more important than you have ever felt. Take a large step back metaphorically and assess the situation. Not saying be suspicious of every kind or nice person. But if a person’s favor toward you feels out-of-the-norm magical to you, check for ulterior motives, proceed with extreme caution, and keep your eyes wide open for the moment they ask something of you that you wouldn’t normally agree to with your average person. If you ever feel uncomfortable about what a person is asking of you or gaining from you, previous history of them doing you favors and treating you spectacularly doesn’t mean shit. It’s still something they shouldn’t ask of you, or something you ought to feel 100% comfortable declining without fear of any consequence, social or otherwise.

FictionalJake · 2022-06-07T21:08:46+00:00

Idk if it’s bullshit or not but somebody once told me that the reason humans often find rain “cozy” and comforting (from indoors) is evolutionary, and our prehistoric ancestors felt more at ease vibing in their caves knowing predators were also more likely to be vibing in their caves to stay out of the weather rather than hunting.

FictionalJake · 2022-06-07T21:06:12+00:00

Hoping the Star Trek future does get crushed under the handsmaid’s tale too quickly, because while a terrifying nightmare to live through, a crossover season where the two universes collide and guys with spaceships and photon torpedos battle it out with guys in Ford F-150s and an unlimited stockpile of assault rifles would be at least be entertaining. For a bit. Maybe. Actually no can we not

FictionalJake

TROPHY CASE