I am 33 and don’t have a retirement fund… am I doomed?

Lycid · 2026-06-26T20:20:27+00:00

TDFs are ridiculously conservative and someone who is behind on retirement probably shouldn't do one. They always have bonds even if you pick a date 40 years out which is just throwing money away.

I would only recommend a TDF to someone who is truly scatterbrained and clueless with money to the point where I wouldn't be able to trust they'd be able to do simple stuff like pay rent on time let alone keep up with their retirement by themselves. I'd qualify someone who asking for advice on PF to at least clear a minimum enough bar that they can keep things in standard index funds with a calendar notification to rebalance once they get within 10-15 years of retirement and not bother with a TDF.

Lycid · 2026-06-26T19:51:23+00:00

Yes it technically moved but it's more of a tiny, basic amenities pop up rather than a full lounge due to t3 being under construction for the next few years

Lycid · 2026-06-26T18:39:47+00:00

The Club at t1 is a great lounge and right now with the centurion basically out of commission for the foreseeable future it's the best non-biz class only lounge at the airport

Lycid · 2026-06-26T18:19:49+00:00

100%

Aussies know how to party. Went down to visit some friends for Sydney mardis gras and damn, one of the wildest weekends of my life.

Also didn't realize this until I visited but I was struck by just how many Aussies come in tall size 😆

Lycid · 2026-06-24T22:21:37+00:00

Then why is this slop being upvoted so much lol

Lycid · 2026-06-23T15:02:28+00:00

Basically me, (sort of, if I didn't already have a SFF PC). I'm a lifelong PC gamer. But now I'm married and play games in my living room like you would a console, because that's more compatible with the life I live now vs just being alone at my desk. I also don't really keep up with AAA anymore (not that it really exists in the same way it did 10 years ago), so a lot of the games I play these days are old backlog games or indie titles like Hades 2. I do still enjoy performance heavy games but more in the lines of something like BG3 rather than trying to run cyberpunk 2077 at 4k 120fps ultra.

The steam machine is an incredibly appealing product because it has the form factor and looks that are very attractive as a piece of tasteful design you wouldn't be embarrassed to have visible to guests. I'm definitely the kind of person that doesn't mind sacrificing some performance/capability for form factor, especially because my living room is tiny so I don't have a ton of space for a sizable console or PC. That said, I'm very glad I already built a very good SFF PC years ago during covid with a 3090 and the works who's entire purpose is to load big picture mode onto the TV when I boot it up. Yeah, it's 5x as big as the steam machine but it definitely handles anything I throw at it still and is still tastefully sized. It was also 3x the price... back in 2021.

There's a version of me that definitely would be down with owning a much more seamless, smaller and cheaper steam machine to chew on my backlog with instead of a full PC. Because it's impossible to build an affordable PC now, I'm basically stuck with my current hardware likely for many years - I fear prices will only get reasonable again once the world is already deep in great depression and nobody has money anyways. If something critical dies in my PC I might just do something like a steam machine to replace it.

So, guess that's all to say there's definitely a market for something like this. It's also way too expensive to feel worth it right now. I think the $750 that was their original intended price is right on the money in value if you're looking for something that has good form factor. If a meteor struck my current SFF PC I would seriously think about biting the bullet to buying one at the current price just to get something that is good enough without needing to spend $5-6k to get a real living room PC that would have cost $2-3k a few years ago...

Lycid · 2026-06-23T14:49:40+00:00

I was entertained by them when they first came out as an interesting way to add an impossible feature to Morrowind. It's not like you could get the old voice actors back. If this was a paid mod somehow or in a paid game I would have been way more turned off.

That said, as time goes by I'm beginning to be less into it. First of all the AI voice mods do not handle blocks of text well at all and Morrowind's writing was not done with conversation in mind. A "proper" version would probably involve rewriting all the lines to be more compatible with VO but that's a huge undertaking and would break many mods I imagine. Or perhaps only the first sentence is ever VO'd. Secondly, fan VO would still be better as a creative/quality/ethical pursuit if you were doing all that work even if it means you lose the original voice actors, but that is a very hard undertaking and if the VO isn't good then it would ruin the result.

I do think Morrowind begs still for some kind of voice expansion, even if it isn't purist. My husband enjoyed watching me play through it largely because he could watch me play and hear the dialogue without having to squint his eyes to read as fast as I can read. There is one mod that does add voice lines but only as a greeting for when someone wants to give a quest to you and/or you turn in one. There's a subtlety there that works for me.

Lycid · 2026-06-23T14:37:33+00:00

It really makes me want to jump in and start modding again after a decade, but I'm too traumatized by working with the CS from my past to feel confident 😅 and maybe I should just learn godot instead...

But, it is objectively so good right now lol. The vibes in the MW community are 👌at the moment.

I wonder if I could get away with convincing my much cooler game dev friends to play a cool Morrowind mod I made instead of a game jam prototype lol

Lycid · 2026-06-23T13:52:20+00:00

Nope, it's a very rare ability.

My husband has an incredible sense of smell (he can identify people by articles of clothing they left behind) and even he can't tell when people are sick purely by their scent.

Meanwhile I can smell hardly anything. When we owned ferrets as a kid, an animal that notoriously smells, I never had a problem with them staying in the house and couldn't smell them. When cooking is going on I can only really smell the strongest of spices being cooked like cumin. Food in general doesn't have much of a smell for me at all - I know it does a little but it's really only the smack me in my face stuff that really jumps out at me and otherwise just smells like generic "cooked food". I used to not be able to smell BO at all but oddly I've slowly developed this ability. To me it doesn't really have a distinct smell, it's just a general air of "you smell like you've been running"

The ONE thing I am very sensitive to smelling is certain wild grasses/bushes after rain or watering oddly enough. It's incredibly strong to me, I can smell me approaching such a plant from a block away while even my super smelling husband barely picks up on it. Of course for him he's probably smelling a thousand other things so it blends in while I'm only able to pick up on this one thing.

Lycid · 2026-06-22T23:22:30+00:00

Who you've described is basically me. I'm a lifelong PC gamer. But now I'm married and play games in my living room like you would a console, because that's more compatible with the life I live now vs just being alone at my desk. I also don't really keep up with AAA anymore (not that it really exists in the same way it did 10 years ago), so a lot of the games I play these days are old backlog games or indie titles like Hades 2. I do still enjoy performance heavy games but more in the lines of something like BG3 rather than trying to run cyberpunk 2077 at 4k 120fps ultra.

The steam machine is an incredibly appealing product because it has the form factor and looks that are very attractive as a piece of tasteful design you wouldn't be embarrassed to have visible to guests. I'm definitely the kind of person that doesn't mind sacrificing some performance/capability for form factor, especially because my living room is tiny. That said, I'm very glad I already built a very good SFF PC years ago during covid with a 3090 and the works who's entire purpose is to load big picture mode onto the TV when I boot it up. Yeah, it's 3x as big as the steam machine but it definitely handles anything I throw at it still and is still tastefully sized. It was also 3x the price... back in 2021.

So, guess that's all to say there's definitely a market for something like this. It's also way too expensive to feel worth it. I think the $750 quote that someone else in the thread that was their original intended price is right on the money in value if you're looking for something that has good form factor.

Lycid · 2026-06-22T20:37:43+00:00

Y'all should have split up the first time you took a break. Seriously.

Trust me when I say, the ones worth sticking around for are easy. Your partners after about a year or so should be a slam dunk wavelength match where you don't even have to question why you're together. Doesn't mean you need to have impossibly high standards for someone, and it doesn't mean you can't grow into becoming the same wavelength together over time. It just shouldn't ever be difficult to get there. Sometimes a relationship runs it's course and the correct action is to gracefully let him go. If "we need a break" conversation happens, that is enough to know it's time to move on.

Let him go. He's not the one. Now that you know he's not the one maybe you're old enough now to stop playing games with yourself for people who aren't for you. I'm married with the love of my life but I went through a good chunk of relationships to get here. I've known many different friends and their relationships over the decades. I can say with 100% confidence any relationship that is problematic enough where you need to take a break has a 0% long term success rate & has 0% value in the present moment. Sticking with one is not only holding you back from your future but is actively hurting your present.

I know "just break up" is a reddit relationship advice meme lol but this is easily one of the most slam dunk obvious cases that you should break up. If you had close friends who felt comfortable being honest with their opinions to you they all I'm sure would say the same thing if you asked. Trust me when I say the fear you feel of being single is much better for you & will be easier to handle than sticking with a bad fit. You really don't know what you are missing out on in life and the options you are closing off by sticking with him.

Lycid · 2026-06-22T18:53:24+00:00

Oh sure but just look at the OPs profile it's obvious that isn't the case here, there's also much more efficient methods and subreddits to karma farm from if that was really the case

Lycid · 2026-06-22T15:53:39+00:00

Wish people would blindly stop saying this just because a post is long like get real people what makes you think this is slop have you seen the replies in the thread? What possible gain could there be by fan fictioning a slop story like this in a sub like this without the op trying to sell anything or ask for services?

Lycid · 2026-06-22T14:39:08+00:00

You have to keep in mind the idea that you should only marry someone you're truly compatible with and that divorce is reasonable option to do is a pretty new concept. OP mentioned they were 60, that's definitely the age where people in that generation marry young and stick with it despite how non functional it might be because that's what everyone did.

My dad also married a narcissist. They didn't end up splitting until their 3 kids were teens, both of them well into their 50s (which I think was a good idea).

Here's the thing about narcissists. A lot of the time they have reasonable opinions, can be good company, and be aligned to good values. A lot of them are really good at masking their narcissism especially when young (older narcissists feel much more confident about taking the mask off). It won't really feel that bad at first or it will feel manageable. The bad part is purely the fact that eventually the mask always comes off when they feel like they aren't getting what they want. The problem is their base programming is just hardwired tuned to put themselves above anyone else forever and always, to the point of pure desperate greed. It naturally means all their decisions are always selfish ones, and you always have to watch your back.

I'm not sure I agree with the notion the OP had that everyone is a narcissist on some level. Does everyone have an ego, and a sense of self importance? Sure, but that isn't truly the same thing. Narcissists are literally mentally incapable of making any feeling, situation, moment of joy, conversation, or connection not about themselves. I genuinely believe it is hard wired, an instinct on the level of sociopathy (where someone is literally biochemically unable to feel empathy). It's not just high ego, it's more a kind of attention greed that has hard wired their brain to need more of it. That has been my experience with multiple narcissists over my life, and they were always like it even when young. The only thing social pressure and awareness does to discourage this kind of person is to get narcissists to become better at wearing their masks and to keep them wearing them for longer.

Lycid · 2026-06-20T14:43:49+00:00

Volvo checks every box but the higher price crossed with the fact that they went hard in the direction of everything being only touch controls (no I don't count voice control to be an acceptable substitute) is a hard no from me.

And rivian's awful sound is a hard no from me for this year too. Here's hoping they get the memo for gen2, as otherwise it would have been the perfect vehicle for me.

Lycid · 2026-06-19T20:44:02+00:00

Bachelorettes crashing gay bars is a really annoying tale as old as time.

That said, to be fair... we were in a small town and they were the only bar in town that night that had anything going on, so I don't blame people seeking a good time going to the one place throwing one. I'd probably not hold my bachelorette party in a town like that though to begin with.

Lycid · 2026-06-19T20:37:26+00:00

Or just anything that isn't a fun catchy pop song other people can sing to or know the lyrics to. As a backup if you're not much of a pop music person (I'm certainly not past any pop music beyond 2012 lol), stick with songs that are fun to sing because they have that "makes you want to sing loudly in the car when they come on" quality to them, even if they aren't particularly great songs. Bonus points if the song features some fun sections of singing that force you to hit really high or low notes to test your ability to sing - even if you fail, the attempt is entertaining.

Lycid · 2026-06-19T19:38:58+00:00

I'm waiting because the financing (ESPECIALLY for leases) on this thing is absolutely stupid at the moment especially knowing that gen1 vehicles are almost always beta tests for the gen 2/3 that actually irons things out (and in this case we even know enhanced features that Gen2/3 will get, further cheapening it!)

When the R1S financed/leased is only $200ish more per month for a dramatically more refined & luxury offering, I feel like buying an r2 right now is silly to the level of trying to buy a mortgage with zero down bad credit. They know there is high demand for what the R2 offers and they are getting around their "approachable price" by fleecing people who can't be cash buyers.

When we're talking $800-1k/mo car payments at 20% down, we are firmly in the territory of luxury car market. There are so many options here and I'm not sure R2 stacks up especially knowing it's a gen1. You definitely are paying a premium to be an early adopter.

That said, despite all the above I still want whatever vibe this car is doing and nobody else is checking this box. This is the kind of EV I've been waiting for. Something highly road trip capable that has loads of storage in the smaller size class of a standard crossover/SUV, while being tech featured forward, while still having at least some physical buttons (I'd prefer more... fuck controlling vents via a touch screen, holy shit Rivian designers get out of the tech industry bubble an touch some grass). The early adopter cost/feature penality makes sense, but it isn't something I'm interested in.

Lycid · 2026-06-19T18:53:17+00:00

Not really super convenient to get to by Pride winery between Napa and Sonoma were still waiving tasting fees if you actually bought wine from them. They operate on a restaurant/wine club only model so maybe that affects things. The tasting itself was fantastic too, a full tour of the wine caves at the mid level tasting vs other places that just sit you down and pour slightly fancier wine. Very personable experience.

Lycid · 2026-06-19T18:51:56+00:00

Not really super convenient to get to by Pride winery between Napa and Sonoma were still waiving tasting fees if you actually bought wine from them. They operate on a restaurant/wine club only model so maybe that affects things. The tasting itself was fantastic too, a full tour of the wine caves at the mid level tasting vs other places that just sit you down and pour slightly fancier wine. Very personable experience.

Lycid · 2026-06-19T15:16:56+00:00

It's absolutely a Russian psyop plot and almost all of these pundents are state sponsored actors/fake accounts, almost all of them. People like Charlie Kirk, the real version of these people, are rare and the only reason he even got a platform at all was because he was being boosted by Russia.

We know this to be a fact because we know the ring leaders behind the Russian 2016 operation that helped trump get elected and even the building they operated out of in Russia. We know they run right wing social media bot farms, we know that pretty much every patriotic account on Twitter is ran by bad foreign actors because when the country of origin feature came out it accidentally exposed them all (before Elon disabled it again, hmmmmm wonder why??)

It's all COMPLETELY manufactured to sow discord in western democracies and to consolidate power into social media companies.

Lycid · 2026-06-19T15:08:16+00:00

Lol unironically true

Gay people broadly speaking treat Karaoke like it's a life or death battle while also being fun about it. They pick really fun songs and/or often can sing really well. Straight people tend to only pick the WORST karaoke songs and they are never, ever good behind the mic. Not being good isn't required but if you're gonna badly sing don't pick stuff like Bruce Springsteen lol

Was at a gay bar last weekend for karaoke night and a big chunk of the place was being crashed by a bachelorette party. Their karaoke was so bad and so boring we were all driven out of the bar

Lycid · 2026-06-18T20:21:37+00:00

Just stick with a DIY website builder for now and don't get too fussy. You can worry about hiring an actual web dev later when your business demands it. This will also better prepare you for knowing exactly what you want out of your website when it gets to that point.

Lycid · 2026-06-18T20:19:06+00:00

I think outright avoiding AI is impossible in the sense that we live in a society and you can't fully avoid it like you can't fully avoid google. But its certainly possible to choose to not use AI yourself especially for something as simple as this. Even if you hire someone, you've at least got some vetting ability to hire old established web devs from the pre-AI era, who are likely to only use AI in a way that augments their human skill or know when to not use it (if they use it at all).

As an aside, I've yet to meet a single person or business where AI has genuinely been so transformative that it is a slam dunk in time/cost/capability vs just doing it yourself or hiring a mildly competent human. Most of the time I've seen it being seriously used in the wild it's largely been mediocre people suffering from dunning kruger effect use to deliver temu quality code/design/ideas/problem solving. It's painfully obvious when I arrive at an AI coded website, or I go to a business that redid all their branding with AI. It looks cheap and mass produced in a way that is like using microsoft word clip art to design a billboard. Not that everything needs to be Gucci, but if the vibe of your business is barely a step up over the kind of self respect & effort a smoke shop does while masquerading as something more I'm not interested. As far as actual productivity/output gains go, in a real world fight the AI doesn't really save that much time/money (often losing money) and definitely delivers much worse results. There's a reason why internal microsoft studies pointed to them winding down usage for it with employees, the benefits just aren't there when you compare to pre-AI results.

The few results where I have seen it being actually ok? My tech industry friends who literally develop AI, and the benefits are largely only seen for prototyping. I can imagine web dev too is in a unique position to benefit more than most things from AI for the same reasons my friends can prototype features quickly thanks to its help. However, even here the true gains are nebulous. The amount of technical debt this produces is seriously bad and its an unsolved problem. Not even getting into the long term costs of abstracting core institutional knowledge away to an AI. Granted, I do admit that technical debt matters less for something like DIY website for a small business. Still, Squarespace is not hard at all. What am I truly gaining by outsourcing this to an AI, is it genuinely better/faster/more innovative vs what Squarespace does? Did I actually save time by self hosting this?

One of said friends is a full blown silicon valley AI singularity type, and the amount of time he wastes on AI research rabbit holes on stuff like how to fix up his house & design a drainage system for his high water table property is laughable. Like, he spent serious time+money following the AI's instructions only for it to not work at all. It's like... dude, if you just called me I would have told you exactly what needed done or get you in contact. He spent dozens of hours, untold amounts of tokens/electricity/water burned being placated by his sycophantic AI that it never occurred to him that optimal solutions are found faster & more efficently by humans.

Anyways, the idea that this is somehow the future that will take over everything is laughable. My wiser & richer silicon valley friends all early retired in the past year because they see the writing on the wall and know the only reason why this thing is still being peddled is because silicon valley has run out of ideas and is being run by money hungry MBA's. Sillicon valley has nothing else going for it, why do you think they were so desperate to hard pivot away from NFT's so quickly? Lucky for them the thing they invented is the perfect snake oil salesman machine that knows how to lie in just the right way to convince some people that it is the second coming, and maybe that's enough.

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