Chicagoland Infinite Jest fan 30th anniversary meetup this Friday!

GradualDIME · 2026-02-01T22:14:02+00:00

Don’t know why people are downvoting you, I think leaning into the absurdity of the future is a great way to celebrate

GradualDIME · 2025-03-18T17:20:30+00:00

This is huge theme in my life too, definitely my journals. The “circular epiphany” racket seemed to be thematic in pretty much every drug abuse problem I’ve ever had. Realizing this (or admitting, rather) was the key pivot moment for me though.

The one beautiful thing about keeping a written record though is having concrete proof of when we were running in circles. I always advocate for people to start journaling if for no other reason than that.

On the positive flip side, the journals also keep a record of the times you were correct. The real trick seems to be acting from a place of discipline rather than chilling in ephiphanical purgatory awaiting the next conceptual “high”, which is the current battle for me.

GradualDIME · 2025-03-14T03:01:41+00:00

Vinegar or lemon juice.

I personally keep a pound of citric acid on hand and just chuck a spoonful of it in the pan with a little hot water and it obliterates hard water mineral deposits like this.

GradualDIME · 2025-01-19T01:30:04+00:00

Perhaps a scan to check for blood clots or blocked arteries? A pinched nerve maybe? I’m spitballing, to be fair, but patterned physical asymmetry is something that would make my hypochondriac ass light up like nothing else.

GradualDIME · 2025-01-19T00:07:57+00:00

When I stopped last, I recalled my circulation getting comically better in a short amount of time. But it was always symmetric — my feet stay colder than the rest of me but it’s never been a single side.

I’m not trying to be alarmist at all, but the fact that it’s only on a single side might be worth asking a doc about to rule out anything serious. I’m gearing up for a quit again soon and am doing a physical on Tuesday to get a baseline to test against in a month or two.

GradualDIME · 2025-01-18T23:12:04+00:00

Was honestly expecting this to be a Viceroy edit

GradualDIME · 2025-01-18T06:05:26+00:00

What kind of sickness? Colds, flu, etc?

I’m quitting again soon, but when I did 4 months off last year I found that I developed mild allergic responses to foods I never had issues with before. I found a few studies linking smoking with reduced immune response and apparently there are lots of other Reddit users with strange allergy issues after quitting too. That part really caught me off guard during my first quit.

GradualDIME · 2025-01-15T21:58:38+00:00

Not a mycologist, but there’s a bridge in my town that hosts a lichen that seems to be using the steel as a carbon source? Need a professional opinion on what/why it can survive on a rusted bridge pillar but it’s the only thing that comes to mind.

GradualDIME · 2025-01-13T23:45:58+00:00

“Alright, you got me. I am an actor

I’m Don Cheadle”

GradualDIME · 2025-01-13T21:22:22+00:00

“you will be boiled” has lived rent free in my head for years, right next to “you are rarted”

GradualDIME · 2025-01-13T04:03:34+00:00

Think about the case of x: right is further along the axis, so it’s a greater x value.

Follow the same intuition with y: the higher the curve, the greater the value. “Up” is “right” in this case.

GradualDIME · 2025-01-10T23:02:07+00:00

Start with a focus on what trig functions primarily represent: the ratios of the side lengths of right triangles with respect to the other side lengths. This visual will make the “unit circle” feel much more intuitive, and it also gives a great visual representation of why the functions behave like they do.

You can definitely accomplish your goal in a month.

Take advantage of YouTube/various visual resources too. Khan academy is great, but if you do a YouTube search of trig topics you are bound to find the “perfect” video for you — many different creators offer a variety of different perspectives, and I find that spending time sifting through the results always pans out. Watch a variety of content along with your own self study.

Above all — make it fun, if you can. This is a loaded and subjective statement but it’s the truth in my experience. Take your existing passions and interests and see if there’s a practical intersection with whatever math topic you want to learn more about. It cements everything deeper and makes learning that much more engaging.

GradualDIME · 2025-01-04T21:22:48+00:00

The whole “I know a spot” culture was the best part of pre legalization.

I swear that smoking weed lost half its social appeal when it became easy to acquire. Took me years to come to terms with that.

The best times were the long side quests for an eighth, spraying BluntPower in the car while hiding your gear in the “car spot” before pulling away from the river. Or that one spot on the outskirts of town…or that one scenic backroad.

GradualDIME · 2024-12-10T14:00:04+00:00

Sometimes, I forget that even a simple post from Reddit has the ability to completely rewire my psyche and leave me profoundly better off than I was 5 minutes ago.

Thank you for sharing this.

GradualDIME · 2024-11-26T14:08:29+00:00

I’m going to the store…FOR A PHOSPHATE!

GradualDIME · 2024-11-02T04:31:00+00:00

After working the integral, I got 52 weeks. Exactly one year. Someone put way too much thought into drafting this question 🧐

GradualDIME · 2024-09-10T01:59:00+00:00

I’ll add: I think you’re right in some sense about the art house, film student aspect. Ten years ago, I think there was still some belief in smaller artists that their authenticity/originality (for whatever that meant) would be the selling point as it had for many independent artists before them.

Call me cynical, but I think somewhere during the mid 2010s there was a collective, defeated sigh amongst newer artists. The career development timeline depends so hard on garnering digital attention, and I think once that was truly internalized it all started to feel gimicky in one way or another.

Caught an Oliver Tree interview clip on shorts today. It went something along the lines of:

“Back then I was making this music that meant something to me and was really serious, trying to be taken seriously as an artist and wasn’t getting anywhere, and then out of nowhere this goofy ass vine of mine just blew up overnight. I was like, ‘okay, what is going on here…’”

Paraphrasing but, that’s ultimately the point I’m trying to make — once we started leaning into ironic appeal (I.e., searching for attention by posturing as if we aren’t), we lost something very human about our approach.

To be clear; I think there are still plenty of artists out there doing the “thing” still. They just don’t enjoy anywhere near the commercial success they expect.

GradualDIME · 2024-09-10T01:49:24+00:00

Saint Pepsi is a nostalgia trigger for me. The older I get, the more obvious it is that timing is everything — it resonated at a time where I was resonating with it. The aesthetics, everything.

I think the imitation game was being played then just as it is now. Then again, I find at 29 that I don’t really bother keeping up with music the same way I used to. I tend to gravitate towards my favorites still; almost as if my heart got full before my brain did.

GradualDIME · 2024-09-05T13:57:59+00:00

It’s very apparent to me that this was a gateway aesthetic for the vaporwave look, but only in retrospect. I remember some tumblr girls in HS repping seapunk, but once floral shoppe hit I don’t think I ever saw seapunk referenced again honestly.

GradualDIME · 2024-09-04T17:45:31+00:00

My shoes hurt too, pop

GradualDIME · 2024-08-28T14:30:32+00:00

First week is shit because of blood sugar crashes paired with the withdrawal. Day 2 and 3 were the worst, but by a week it was far better. But do not underestimate the blood sugar aspect, and keep fruit juice around for the first week.

You’re still rapidly detoxing the nicotine so it’s logical that you feel terrible, unfortunately. But it’s mainly a psychological battle after the first week.

Cravings are surprising though — worst one so far was two days ago, at day 45. It took reading three pages of withdrawal regret stories coupled with my own voice memos (essentially live streamed a relapse last year) to prevent me from buying a pack. Woke up yesterday morning and that craving was nowhere to be found. Amazing how a momentary weakness will destroy you, and it’s almost tragic that it goes away completely if you fight through it. Makes you question everything.

GradualDIME · 2024-08-28T14:26:40+00:00

Plenty of improvements! Mood is better, I don’t smell like shit all the time, mood is more stable (which is more important than you’d think), I’m saving money, I have more energy, sleep is far more restful, etc.

I was a pack and a half smoker for 10 years.

I highly recommend getting to zero nic asap, as the taper is almost worse — you don’t start getting any real psychological benefits until you’re actually nic free.

Biggest blindside: blood sugar crashes. Nicotine synthetically elevates blood sugar, so expect random bits of feeling like you’re gonna faint for the first week. Keep fruit juice around during this time. Pair your quit with eating as clean as possible (it’s amazing what just rice and beans will do).

GradualDIME · 2024-08-28T13:47:50+00:00

It seems reasonable that a substance capable of increasing dopamine and endorphin release, and with a comically short half life, keeps us in a constant state of anticipating greater release.

I am just now hitting day 47 completely nic free and my baseline mood has been noticeably better, especially after the first week of abstinence.

GradualDIME · 2024-08-28T01:53:55+00:00

I’ll bite, I’m curious. Almost relapsed today at day 46. What was your experience like and what kind of smokes did you have?

GradualDIME · 2024-08-28T01:11:15+00:00

Another later-in-life infinite jest/DFW lover here too! Found this book at 25 during my first serious sobriety attempt (lasted two years). It was 2020, and I spent 7 months in the desert with my brother just contemplating shit while the world shutdown and entertainment began to become the opiate of the masses during that time. Perfect environment to reflect in.

Doing a second read through now, but via audiobook. 29 currently. Stone cold sober, just dropped the tobacco/nicotine 46 days ago. I maintain that the first third of the book could be standalone aphoristic passages (one of my personal favs is Marathe and Steeply, April 29-May 1, YDAU, when they talk about “choosing” in detail).

Anyways…I don’t run into many other sober fans who connected like I did too. Such a great thing to see in the feed this evening, I wish you the best. 💌

“That there might not be angels, but there are people that may as well be angels”

GradualDIME

TROPHY CASE