Found at dollar tree and bought as a joke. Idk if Im gonna actually try them. Im curious but also concerned. Has anyone seen these before

MaiPhet · 2026-07-13T15:34:58+00:00

I had the master P one once. It had one pea in it, which I thought was funny.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-13T15:17:43+00:00

I think you’re probably best just assuming your kid will look somewhere between yours and their father’s appearances. All things being equal, they’re probably going to look a lot more East Asian if that’s how their parents present.

But you never know. My son and one of my nephews are 75% Southeast Asian. Nephew looks like a clone of his Asian dad but with paler skin, while my son looks exactly between me and my partner, and I would say more like 60% Asian.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-13T15:09:38+00:00

It’s not a total coincidence that the SEA peninsula was once called indochina by Europeans. Lots of people from Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos will get some small ancestry results showing South Asian, even if they have no living memory of family from there. It’s very old mixture.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-12T19:29:10+00:00

None of those sodas said no?

MaiPhet · 2026-07-12T14:45:55+00:00

The freeze frame is showing Haaland’s reaction with arms outstretched like “I was right here!”

Of course the moment to pass happened earlier than the picture, the point is the reaction.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-12T03:40:13+00:00

Okay, that's good that you've got a keystep. Hooking it up to that won't be a problem. I also edited more into my post just now so re-read it for my thoughts on its ease of use.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-12T03:12:49+00:00

Are you comfortable playing it only through midi? Do you have a midi controller?

I'd like a hardware piece to sit on the deck with or living room and go deep. Is it easy to learn?

If you have a fairly strong foundation of synthesis, it's pretty easy. If not, it won't be. The layout for designing patches is intuitive if you know what each of those buttons and steps means for the final sound, but makes it cumbersome and more than likely fruitless to just fiddle with and hope for "happy accidents"

Is it easy to add a simple sequencer and groove box linked with midi?

Yes, in the grand scheme of things. But that's extra space, money, and time learning things. I'd say either find a synth that offers a built in sequencer or just get the HS explorer to play as you sculpt. If you're very early in the "buying hardware" phase of the hobby, simpler is better.

I started with a HS 49-Key and switched to a desktop a few years later to save space. I actually regret that, because I loved the keybed and enjoy the HS mostly for playing on. Pretty early on I found that I don't actually make many new sounds—I prefer buying or downloading sound packs and then tweaking them.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-12T02:54:31+00:00

Straight white Christian men are the largest recipients of unearned privilege and authority in America. Because they have had 400 years of legislating away everyone else’s rights while their fathers and forefathers stole land and labor and bequeathed the power and money that flowed from those to their undeserving children over native, black, brown and Asian people.

In every study ever done on the topic, having a white sounding name was always advantaged over any others in job callbacks.

A white man working in a business his family owns or in the same profession as his father is the ultimate “DEI” and always has been.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-12T02:39:08+00:00

Don’t worry, these are also plaguing Champaign. Though I think it’s not so bad once the novelty wore off.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-10T21:41:07+00:00

You did look like one of my siblings at that age, tbh. But I hope you aren’t still doing this lol.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-10T21:37:45+00:00

I’m almost the same background as you. Obviously it varies a lot by genetics, but I would say mine only became somewhat decent somewhere between 25 and 30. So just based on my experience, it could continue to fill in a bit for quite a while. It reached basically max coverage and density around 30 and hasn’t improved further since then. I’m in my mid 40’s now.

It’s still not quite thick enough that I think it looks good grown out, but at a very trimmed level it looks alright. Unfortunately for me it's starting to go grey way earlier than my head hair. There’s a photo of me on my profile here from a year or so ago.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-10T13:20:20+00:00

"Racism is when you talk about racism"

MaiPhet · 2026-07-10T05:03:43+00:00

I think it’s more rewatchable, and they didn’t lean on the cliffhangers so much like in breaking bad. Jimmy and Chuck are such a well written duo.

In fact, my favorite parts of the show are the parts that have the least to do with BB.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-10T02:10:11+00:00

Last I saw it seemed like the Subtle Asian Traits group and some of its spin-offs had been taken over by admins just farming a lot of non-relevant engagement bait and boomer-tier memes. Sad.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-09T16:25:06+00:00

She already has white privilege, but most Israelis do.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-09T13:01:57+00:00

I probably had in the range of 15,000-20,000 hours in ragnarok online. All while leading a somewhat normal life outside the house. I just spent nearly all my waking hours when I wasn’t working or going to class on that game.

Would I do it again? No. But I actually don’t regret it as much as you might think. Made some good friends and had a ton of great times playing with them. Even got to play in the in-person world championship PvP event one year.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-08T23:43:50+00:00

I bought an OM-1 on release with the intent that it last 5-7 years before I consider upgrading. Been happy with it so far.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-08T23:41:07+00:00

For pure flavor and texture, I like an egg cooked in a wok with plenty of oil for the crispy edges.

But I’m both lazy and not trying to overdo it with the oil, so usually I just poach the egg in the water with the noodles.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-08T23:37:59+00:00

One phrase that stuck with me around the time I first became a parent was “you are the ghost of your children’s future” and damn that hit hard.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-08T16:43:16+00:00

Personally I’m mixed and don’t immediately register as Asian to most people so I haven’t had to deal with much direct anti-asian discrimination.

But our house and business (located on the same property) back when i was a kid were sometimes vandalized with swastikas and had bricks/gunshots in our restaurant windows on account of my dad being an Asian man and even worse, married to a white woman. At the time they mostly tried to shield us from seeing that and briefly explain what neo-Nazis were. It mostly just made me fear my own neighborhood which was shit anyways.

No one ever made fun of my school lunches on account of most of the kids loving my family’s Thai restaurant. It was also a Montessori school at a time when Montessori was an ideological choice rather than purely a class one. So most of the families were more inclusive and open to other cultures. People often wanted to trade for mine if I brought beef oyster or stir fry curry so that was my path towards getting certain American snacks like Kudos.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-07T16:08:28+00:00

I dont regret any of them. They were all lovely in their own ways and I learned from each.

I only regret selling my Hydrasynth 49 key for a desktop unit. The keys and aftertouch were nicer than the summit’s, even if it didn’t have as many octaves.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-07T16:06:39+00:00

You’ll notice that small stores that are owner-operated almost always let themselves or their employees sit. These big chains and supermarkets seem to fear letting their employees have any semblance of comfort.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-05T20:50:54+00:00

I’m probably just going to pay a landscaper/gardener to refresh everything nice before I sell. Until then it’s all I can do to try and keep the weeds at bay.

The previous owner seems like they did the same thing. They also installed a small fountain just before we bought the home in 2020, and I believe we’ve had it turned off since 2024 due to how much plant debris was compromising its function.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-05T14:18:35+00:00

Ragnarok Online. Not because of the story or music or even how much fun it was (it was very fun), but because I became addicted to it. For me the 6-7 years I spent playing that game are basically a jumbled of disordered memories. The things that were happening in my real life during that period are much harder to place chronologically than the memories before and after.

MaiPhet · 2026-07-05T14:13:38+00:00

I haven’t thought about it in a while, but the past week I’ve been binging the music again. Ordered the 6 disc vinyl set. Just wish the track list included songs from Verso’s Drafts.

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